Patterns of Reform Failure

Our education system stands at a critical juncture. Despite declarations of intent to create an inclusive, learner-centred system, we remain tethered to outdated paradigms that fail our tamariki and rangatahi. The statistics tell a stark story, particularly for Māori and Pasifika youth, whose disproportionate rates of academic failure, depression and suicide attempts reveal the human cost of our systematic shortcomings.

In addition to our struggle with addressing equity issues for Māori and other underserved learners, we are also falling short in preparing students for an ever-changing future. Despite the New Zealand Curriculum being designed to be enabling and future-focused, its potential has yet to be fully realised. The system’s child-centred approach, rooted in outdated industrial-era models, is failing to equip students with the skills needed for jobs that haven’t been created yet. This misalignment between education and future workforce needs is evident in the fact that 34% of students believe their schools are not preparing them for success in the job market.

Despite decades of reform efforts, the education system consistently struggles to implement meaningful change. This persistent failure stems from a complex interplay of factors that inhibit transformation. The system’s resistance to loss, coupled with the tendency to underestimate the complexity of change, further compounds these issues. As a result, many well-intentioned initiatives fall short of their goals, leaving a residue of failure that accumulates over time and makes future reforms even more challenging to implement.

This paper explores some of the key reasons behind our failure to introduce the change we set out to achieve, and includes a call to action that identifies a number of things that could become actions for anyone in the education system, including teachers, school leaders, and system leaders.

Preview and download the paper below…

Patterns of Reform Failure-compressed Download

Did you find this publication helpful?

All of the work that is done to develop these resources and to maintain the information on the FutureMakers website (including Derek’s Blog) is my contribution to support fellow educators.

If you have found this resource or others in the series valuable in the work you do I invite you to help this work to continue and reach more people.

Creating FutureMakers

Educators today face a confusing landscape of competing pedagogical approaches – each claiming to offer the answer to effective learning. Project-based learning, competency-based education, learner agency, futures literacy – these frameworks are often presented as separate initiatives, leaving teachers feeling pulled in multiple directions and uncertain about where to focus their efforts.

Creating FutureMakers offers a different approach. This framework shows how these seemingly disparate approaches actually work together to support a unified vision: developing young people as future makers – humans equipped with the knowledge, capabilities, agency, and futures orientation needed to actively construct better possible worlds.

The framework addresses four essential dimensions:

WHO (Learner Agency) – Positioning students as active agents in their own learning, with genuine control over meaningful decisions including assessment
WHAT (Capabilities Development) – Building transferable capabilities grounded in robust, connected knowledge foundations
HOW (Authentic, Sustained Inquiry) – Creating extended investigations through project-based learning, community engagement, and education beyond classroom walls
WHY (Future Ready) – Developing students’ capacity to imagine and shape multiple possible futures, not just respond to predetermined ones

What makes this framework practical is that it acknowledges the real tensions educators face – particularly the current emphasis on explicit teaching, knowledge building, and literacy/numeracy instruction. Rather than asking teachers to choose between these mandates and more progressive approaches, the framework shows how explicit teaching and knowledge building can serve larger purposes of capability development and future-making.

The resource includes:

Deep explorations of each dimension with expanded explanations
Reflection prompts for examining current practice and identifying next steps
Concrete examples showing how explicit teaching integrates with inquiry-based, agency-rich learning
A step-by-step planning challenge to help educators design integrated learning experiences
Links to supporting resources and frameworks

This framework is for educators who want to move beyond the either/or debates – who recognize that explicit teaching and student agency aren’t contradictory, that knowledge building and capability development are inseparable, and that preparing future makers requires intentionally integrating multiple pedagogical approaches in service of what matters most for young people.

Whether you’re a classroom teacher, school leader, or educational designer, this framework provides both the conceptual clarity and practical tools to navigate the complexities of contemporary education while keeping your focus on developing the future makers our world urgently needs.

Preview and download the paper below…

Creating FutureMakers PUB-compressed Download

Did you find this publication helpful?

All of the work that is done to develop these resources and to maintain the information on the FutureMakers website (including Derek’s Blog) is my contribution to support fellow educators.

If you have found this resource or others in the series valuable in the work you do I invite you to help this work to continue and reach more people.

System Persistence

This post is taken from some thinking I’ve been doing as I begin to construct my next ‘thought piece’. The motivation comes from reflecting on many years of effort in our education system to address many systemic issues that create pressure on schools, educators – and ultimately impact on the quality of educational experience of our tāmariki. As I’ve been working again in schools as yet another school year begins and witness the anxiety, confusion and frustration being expressed in so many places, I’ve been pondering again the challenge of the ‘revolution vs evolution’ argument re system change, and the extent to which system persistence represents a significant barrier to meaningful education reform.

Beyond Reform: The Case for Transformation

Our education system is not broken – it is functioning exactly as it was designed. This is precisely the problem. Created in an industrial era to produce standardised outcomes, sort learners into predetermined categories, and maintain existing social structures, the system continues to fulfil its original purpose with ruthless efficiency. The issue is not that the system needs improvement or reform – it needs complete transformation.

When we frame the challenge as one of “reform” or “improvement,” we perpetuate the fundamental misconception that the current system’s basic premises are sound. We cannot simply enhance a system designed for a bygone era with different societal needs, values, and understanding of human potential.

The Current Reality

Our education system stands at a critical juncture. Despite promises of reform and declarations of intent to create an inclusive, learner-centred system, we remain tethered to outdated paradigms that fail our tamariki and rangatahi. The statistics tell a stark story, particularly for Māori and Pasifika youth, whose disproportionate rates of academic failure, depression and suicide attempts reveal the human cost of our systematic shortcomings.

When you consider the current changes in education being made in New Zealand – and around the world – they reflect the ‘reform and improvement’ mindset, rather than transformation (with a few significant exceptions). Concerns about falling literacy and numeracy rates are being addressed by initiatives aimed at improving the way maths and reading are taught – and assessed. Solutions for poor attendance are seen as involving a range of measures to get students back to school, and difficulties with attracting and retaining suitably qualified teachers are being addressed through lowering entry standards and time for training. We continue to seek improvement without seriously challenging many of the assumptions upon which our current system is based.

Learning from Past Reform Efforts

The history of education reform in recent years in Aotearoa New Zealand provides compelling evidence for why transformation, rather than reform, is essential. Consider these examples:

Initiative	What was Promised	Shortcomings
Tomorrow’s Schools (1989)	Increased local autonomy and community involvement in school governance Improved educational opportunities and achievement for disadvantaged groups, particularly Māori children and those from low-income homes More efficient and less bureaucratic administration of schools Enhanced home-school partnerships Better targeted resource allocation to schools	Greater competition Wide variability in performance both between and within schools Widened gaps between communities – greater inequities Increased administrative burden Uneven outcomes between schools over time Reinvention of the wheel in many schools without overall system improvement
NZ Curriculum (2007)	A vision for young people as lifelong learners who are confident, creative, connected, and actively involved A curriculum that reflects New Zealand’s cultural diversity and values the histories and traditions of all its people Capabilities alongside content Flexibility for local contexts “Learner-centred” pedagogy	Emphasis on the ‘back half’ only Achievement objectives dominate planning Significant reduction in prescribed content compared to previous curricula, potentially leading to knowledge gaps Overemphasis on preparing students for workplaces at the expense of broader educational goals Concerns about a decline in academic achievement and persistent disparities between advantaged and disadvantaged students
Kahui Ako (Communities of Learning)	Develop collective responses to local challenges Build professional capability through collaboration Focus on student achievement challenges Create pathways across education levels Enable smoother transitions for learners between schools	Achievement challenges often became compliance exercises Leadership roles sometimes created tension within and between schools Bureaucratic requirements overshadowed genuine collaboration Time and resource constraints limited meaningful engagement Artificial groupings that didn’t always reflect natural communities Funding model reinforced hierarchical rather than collaborative relationships
Ka Hikitia	Māori achieving success as Māori Building cultural responsiveness System-wide change for equity	Focus on activities rather than deep change Limited impact of core teaching practices Overburdened Māori staff – system barriers
NCEA	Recognition of diverse forms of learning Promoting lifelong learning competencies Recognising success as progression	Schools continued to translate achievement standards into traditional numerical grades The focus shifted to credit accumulation rather than genuine learning progression Assessment became more granular and bureaucratic, rather than holistic The system’s flexibility became viewed as a weakness rather than a strength Its potential for recognising diverse forms of achievement was largely unrealised
Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs)	Fostering creativity, collaboration and student-centred learning Intentional linking of pedagogy and space	Adoption of physical changes without transforming pedagogical approaches Teachers were expected to work in new spaces without adequate professional development in new ways of teaching Traditional timetabling, curriculum delivery, and assessment practices remained unchanged Tension between innovative spaces and conventional practices leading to frustration and calls to return to single-cell classrooms
Modern Learning Practice (MLP)	Learner-centred approaches Project/problem-based learning Digital integration, collaborative teaching Flexible learning pathways	Technology being used to replicate traditional practices Collaborative teaching hindered by traditional timetabling Assessment requirements limiting innovation Professional development not matching ambition Parent resistance to unfamiliar approaches
National Standards (2010 – 2017)	Clear expectations of achievement Better information for parents and whānau Earlier identification of learning needs Ability to target resourcing to areas of need based on data	A narrowed curriculum focus Increased testing and labelling Contradictions with NZ Curriculum’s flexibility Creating artificial benchmarks Damaging student confidence and motivation

As illustrated in the table above, each of these large-scale, system-change initiatives has been introduced with the best of intentions, with promises made of delivering positive change that addresses identified areas of need that will ultimately benefit the learners we are seeking to serve. The column titled ‘shortcomings’ illustrates that, despite these best intentions, and the fact that there are unquestioningly many benefits that have been gained from them, the scale of impact that may have been achieved has not been fully realised – certainly not in a sustainable manner.

Structural Persistence

A key reason for these shortcomings existing is the issue of structural persistence – the deep-rooted tendency of educational institutions and broader educational systems to maintain their fundamental structures despite reform efforts.

At the school level, this manifests through the unwavering adherence to traditional organisational elements that have defined schools for generations. The rigid timetable structure, with its fixed periods and subject-based divisions, continues to dictate the rhythm of learning, leaving little room for more flexible, integrated approaches. Similarly, the classification of students by age into year levels persists, even when evidence suggests that ability-based or mixed-age groupings might better serve learning needs.

Equally significant are the system-wide structures that resist change: standardised funding models that perpetuate resource inequities, inflexible teacher accreditation systems that may not recognise diverse forms of expertise or emerging pedagogical approaches, and policy frameworks that struggle to adapt to rapidly evolving societal needs and technological possibilities. These entrenched structures at both levels – institutional and systemic – create a complex web of resistance to meaningful change.

Traditional approaches to assessment represent another critical aspect of system persistence. Despite calls for more authentic evaluation approaches, standardised testing and summative assessments continue to dominate educational practice. These assessment structures often drive teaching methodologies backward, encouraging educators to “teach to the test” rather than embrace innovative pedagogical approaches. This assessment-driven culture reinforces conventional teaching methods and can stifle attempts to implement more progressive, student-centred learning experiences.

Perhaps most significantly, system persistence manifests in the maintenance of existing power relationships within educational institutions. Traditional hierarchies between officials, leaders, teachers, and students remain largely unchanged, with decision-making power concentrated at the top. This power structure can resist bottom-up innovation and limit the agency of both teachers and students in shaping their educational experience. When combined with entrenched structural practices, these power dynamics create a self-reinforcing system that naturally resists substantial change.

Where to from here?

Over the next few weeks I intend to continue exploring this thinking and in my next post I’ll write about three more things I see as contributing to reform failure: (a) Implementation gaps, (b) cultural resistance and (c) system contradictions. I’m also building a set of ideas and actions that may be useful for people at any level of our education system to become more thoughtful about the need for transformation in the work they do.

In this post I’ve attempted to develop a compelling argument for transformation over reform in education, highlighting the persistent structures and shortcomings of past initiatives. Here are some questions you might like to ponder and discuss with your colleagues as you think about what I’ve written…

“In what ways might the deeply ingrained power dynamics within educational institutions – from national agencies to classrooms – be the most significant barrier to transformative change? What strategies can be employed to redistribute decision-making power and empower teachers and students to shape their educational experiences more fully?”
“Given the history of well-intentioned but ultimately limited reforms in Aotearoa New Zealand, how can educators and policymakers move beyond incremental changes to address the core structural issues that perpetuate inequities – in particular for Māori and Pasifika youth?”
“Reflecting on the persistence of traditional structures like rigid timetables and age-based groupings in schools, what innovative, practical steps can you take in your context to foster more flexible, learner-centred environments within the existing system, even while advocating for broader systemic change?”

Tags education leadership, educational change, educational transformation, school leadership

Leading for Transformation

One of the amazing things was how well this group from across a range of sectors and experience levels in leadership just came together and supported each other a grew together.
2024 Programme Participant

Around this time last year I caught up with friend and colleague, Maurie Abraham, who had recently retired after 11 years as foundation principal at Hobsonville Point Secondary School. Maurie was keen to canvas some thoughts on how he might work with a small group of principals who were keen to engage with him now that he’d retired, to learn more about how they might develop further in their leadership journey.

During our conversation we discussed how principals have access to a wide range of professional learning opportunities that fall broadly into the following areas of focus:

Maintaining – Developing the ‘mechanics’ of principalship – understanding their role as leaders of organisations. Equipping them with the knowledge and skills required to function as a leader in the school as it exists, ensuring they can manage and sustain current practices that focus on providing a quality education experience for their students. These programmes assume the system is operating effectively and focus on inducting leaders into understanding how to sustain it.
Improving – Recognising the need to make changes that address areas of weakness or concern in what is happening (e.g, student motivation and engagement, achievement in identified areas, attendance, the capability of staff etc.) and introducing specific strategies to change/lift performance and monitor outcomes. These programmes operate on the assumption that the current organisational structures are fit for purpose, but that there are areas where the school system should or could be adapted, modified or improved to deliver on better outcomes for all learners.
Transforming – Questioning the systemic factors that shape how schools operate, and unpacking the reason and purpose behind these things. Involves connecting with the ‘why’ behind what is being done currently and being prepared to challenge and change these things. Recognising that simply improving things won’t achieve the systemic change required to achieve an equitable, future-focused approach to teaching and learning for all. These programmes require a high level of commitment, buy-in and trust and support for pushing the boundaries to make change happen.

The image below provides a more simplified way of thinking about this relationship…

Maurie and I agree that there is value in all three of these approaches, but that while there are many opportunities available for school leaders to engage in the first two types of professional learning – there are far fewer in the third, and that of these, few are designed to fully support the transformation actually happening back in schools. This is because such change initiatives will inevitably encounter all sorts of roadblocks and challenges, causing leaders to loop back to the things addressed in the ‘maintaining’ or ‘improving’ approaches.

We talked about the approach that would be most appropriate for achieving the sort of transformational change that we were discussing I referred to the research-based principles I’ve referenced previously in which I identified following four characteristics of effective professional development:

It is in-depth

It is sustained over time

It is related to practice

It is contextually relevant

With these principles in mind, we set about designing an experience for school leaders with a vision for transformation within their school and the education system. As we explored this further we agreed that whatever we did needed to address the needs of participants at three levels:

Changing themselves – helping participants understand what motivates and drives them as a leader, the beliefs that shape their practice and the strategies they have to care for self in the midst of a challenging and demanding role.
Changing others – learning how to build trust so that others will be motivated to engage with and contribute to the change. Providing support for individuals while building a sense of collective ownership around an agreed direction and purpose.
Changing the environment – developing a ‘system mindset’ – understanding the school as a system and as part of a wider system, and the ‘connectedness’ between various parts of the system. Understanding how change made in one area will inevitably impact other areas.

(Astute readers will recognise this framework from our Agency By Design playbook)

And so the foundation for a programme we’ve called “Refresh, Reconnect, Refocus” was laid, and over the next few weeks we worked to design the elements of the programme and advertise it among our networks to see if we might find a group of principals willing to participate. The rest is history – the initial programme began with a retreat held at Hanmer Springs in March of this year, concluding with a day of celebration in July where participants were able to share the changes they’d achieved in their local contexts.

The programme we designed, as described on our web page, was spread over a period of 20 weeks, beginning with the retreat where relationships were formed, key themes and ideas explored, and tools to guide further action introduced. Over the following 20 weeks participants were involved in regular one-on-one coaching sessions with Maurie and I, ongoing contact with a participant ‘buddy’, and periodic group sessions where they could engage with international experts in different aspects of educational transformation. The programme concluded with the ‘celebration’ event where each participant shared what had been achieved in their personal context.

Sarah Martin was one of the participants in our 2024 cohort. Sarah has been principal at Stonefields School in Auckland for more than a decade, and she had this to say about her experience of the programme and how these elements wove together to help shift her practice and thinking as a school leader:

Much of what Sarah says here is captured by the feedback received by another of our participants in this year’s programme:

“It’s not often that you will find a professional learning programme that reignites your leadership fire for education! As well as being supported and encouraged throughout the six months; I feel like I have had an over-qualified cheerleader working alongside me! This programme offers all the good stuff: a retreat but guilt-free workshop, a new network, practical and tested ideas for leadership, future of education insights, 1:1 coaching, ongoing peer support and bite size professional learning invites – all with just the right amount for busy Principals to engage with.“

Weaving all of these things together to provide the right balance of personal reflection and growth alongside developing the capacity and capability to lead change lay at the heart of our programme design, and lies behind choosing the name ‘Refresh, Reconnect, Refocus“.

As we suspected, the importance of maintaining a purposeful, supportive connection with and between participants during the 20-week period proved to be a key element of the programme. This is highlighted well in the feedback from another 2024 participant, Dyane Stokes who is at the start of her principalship journey at Paparoa Street School in Christchurch:

Each of these participant views highlight the success, for them, of the programme design and how this has helped them in their personal and professional motivation to achieve the goals they have for their schools, their staff and their students – and for themselves as leaders.

Throughout the process Maurie and I emphasised the importance for participants to think of themselves as system leaders, rather than simply leaders of an organisation. While it is both inevitable and important that attention is given to addressing the everyday and often urgent matters that face leaders within the organisational context of a school, to be effective as a transformational leader you need also to sustain a broader scan of the education environment, and be skilled at understanding and managing the complexity of relationships that exist within the learning ecosystem.

Would you like to be involved?

Now that we’ve crafted a successful programme design, Maurie and I are offering this opportunity to fresh cohorts in 2025. Next year we’ll be offering a repeat of the programme for principals beginning with a retreat at Hanmer Springs from 13-15 March.

In response to numerous requests from a number of people, we’re also offering a modified version of the programme to specifically address the needs of AP/DPs, beginning with a two-day hui in Wellington on 23-24 January.

In addition, we’re working with the Lutheran Schools Network in Australia to co-construct a variation of the programme for a mixed group of principals and senior leaders in Melbourne, starting in April.

One of the key benefits of these programmes is the level of personal attention you will receive. We have deliberately designed for smaller cohorts of around 20 participants, so that there is a greater degree of intimacy and personal connection in the experience.

If this sounds like you please click on the image below to take you to a page where you can find additional information and links to the registration forms. I encourage you to share this post with anyone in your network that you think may benefit from being a part of a programme to support them in becoming a leader of transformation in their school or context.

Tags education leadership, educational change, educational transformation, environment scan, school leadership

Looking for more ambition in 2024!

Photo by Leif Christoph Gottwald on Unsplash
Rocket image: https://www.needpix.com/photo/174049/

“There’s no definite roadmap for a successful moonshot; the path is littered with obstacles and failure. It takes passion, grit, luck and sometimes a decade or more of hard work to see a moonshot materialise, much less succeed.”
Peter Diamandis, entrepreneur, futurist, technologist, New York Times Bestselling Author

I was at secondary school when the Apollo 11 mission made a successful moon landing. I was one of those completely caught up in the wonder of that event – I still have the scrapbook I kept of every newspaper clipping I could lay my hands on at the time! 1300 of us gathered in the school assembly hall and sat in silence for almost three hours, listening to the broadcast on a single speaker that had been set up on the stage. (Yes, no live-stream TV in those days – in fact, no colour TV even, we watched the fuzzy, black and white images a day or two later!)

That was 1969! Just a few years earlier, in 1962, US President, John F. Kennedy, planted the seeds of a dream when he declared “We choose to go to the moon this decade.” At the time this must have seemed near impossible to many, yet it inspired a nation to believe – and to act. The president didn’t say precisely how it was going to happen – he simply set a timeframe for something ambitious, something incredible to happen. It was his ‘moonshot’ moment.

Decades later this concept has become known as ‘moonshot thinking’, when you choose a huge problem, such as climate change, and propose to create a radical solution to the problem using a disruptive technology.

I reckon we could do with some ‘moonshot thinking’ in education at present. There’s no shortage of huge challenges facing us, but there is a distinct lack of any ambition in the solutions being proposed. Mostly we see the same old ideas being re-cycled like the re-runs of Home Alone movies at Christmas. It all seems so tired, unambitious and focused narrowly on short-term wins that pander to the populist vote. It’s been like that for many years now, and there appear to be no changes on the horizon despite a change in government. The table below illustrates just a few examples of the challenges schools face currently and the responses we are seeing…

Consider our current approach…

Problem	Solution	Concerns
Students not attending school, truancy.	Employ people to track students down and bring them back to school. Punish parents for not sending them to school.	Why are they choosing not to attend in the first place? How might we make schools and learning more engaging and meaningful for all learners?
Digital Distraction.	Ban mobile devices at school.	How do we prepare young people (and teachers!) to function effectively in an increasingly digital world – including understanding the safety and moral issues of being a digital citizen?
Declining literacy and numeracy achievement.	Spend more time on structured approaches to reading, writing and maths, focusing primarily on the mechanics.	How do we inspire writers, authors and mathematicians for the future? How to sustain an interest in literature, story-telling and mathematics in the world around us?
Bullying.	More supervision, more punitive measures for those responsible.	How to address the social influences and generational patterns of behaviour that are behind this sort of behaviour?
Recruitment and retention of high quality teachers.	Introduce teaching standards, recognition of excellent teachers and punitive measures for those not performing.	How to make teaching a profession that attracts the very best candidates. How best to design initial teacher education programmes and professional learning programmes that sustains a dynamic profession?
Low level of participation in STEM subjects to meet demand for employment in the tech sector.	Privilege resourcing of STEM programmes and STEM teachers.	What about the arts subjects where creativity (a key element in innovation) is cultivated?
Increasing numbers of learners with special learning needs (incl. ADHD, autism etc.)	Limited funding for special needs teachers and support people. Teachers expected to become skilled in dealing with these demands.	What are the conditions that are most suitable for these learners, and what support is most helpful? How can we personalise/individualise programmes within the traditional one-class, one-teacher structures?
Ongoing disruption and change (e.g. natural disasters, weather events, pandemics etc.)	Short term mitigations, targeted resourcing to bridge the gap until things ‘return to normal’.	What if ongoing disruption of this nature is the ‘new normal?’. How might we structure schooling to take account of the ongoing challenge to sustain an approach that is historically dependent on attendance at a single site?

As the table above attempts to illustrate, it’s not that the solutions being suggested or implemented are inherently wrong – indeed, many have sound research supporting their use in defined contexts. The issue is that while they may provide an effective solution for particular learners in particular contexts, they are unlikely to address some of the wider (and more complex) concerns that are a part of the problem they are attempting to address. It’s not a binary argument – it’s about understanding the broader, richer and more complicated tapestry of interactions among and between these areas that create the current form and function of schools and schooling.

I believe we need to see more ambition our efforts to identify (and courage to follow through on) solutions that matter. Of course, there’s plenty of ambition around at a personal level, with individuals seeking to ‘climb the ladder’ of personal success, or schools seeking to outdo their rivals down the road – but this sort of ambition is counter-productive in terms of achieving the solutions required to some of our ‘wicked problems’ in education.

I’m talking about the sort of ambition that is linked with taking risks (something that is frowned upon in our current bureaucratic structures), to ‘stretch’ beyond the current limits and push the boundaries of educational possibility. This sort of ambition sets aside personal interest for the corporate good. It involves releasing dreams and capturing the interest and trust of others to pursue those dreams. It’s about letting go of conventional thinking and ways of working, and experimenting with new forms of teaching, schooling and learning to find what works and what will help us achieve our ‘moonshot’ ambitions.

In the table below I’ve shared just a handful of ideas that could form the basis of the sort of ambitious ‘moonshot’ thinking that we’re talking about here. There will, of course, be others you can think of (hopefully!), so regard these as they are intended – something to stimulate your thinking. It might be helpful to consider taking one or more of these and using them as a starter for a conversation with colleagues, or at a start of year staff meeting – anything to help stimulate conversation and lift the level of thinking beyond ‘the ordinary’ as we seek to find ways of resolving the increasingly challenging problems we face in education.

Could these be your moonshot…?

Moonshot 1:
Agency and Joy!

Imagine if…

…we were to create schools where learners come curious and leave inspired? Where learners were eager to attend because they found what happens there, day by day, exciting, engaging and relevant to their needs and interests. Where learners ( and teachers) experience JOY each day, where their physical, mental, social and academic health and wellbeing were all being addressed as a matter of course. Where there is a definite ‘shift in ownership’ of learning, and learners (and teachers) experience agency in all aspects of their learning.

Moonshot2:
Learning Laboratories

Imagine if…

…we were to design our schools as learning laboratories, and our learning programmes around a culture of experimentation, where teachers and learners are open to risk and learn from failure? What if our approach to learning across the curriculum left space for teachers and students to experiment with new ideas and pursue the questions that are important to them. What if, instead of following prescribed methodologies we encouraged innovative approaches to solving problems, including how to address individual learning challenges or needs (e.g. as those in the medical profession do when making a diagnosis).

Moonshot 3:
Boundary-less Schools

Imagine if…

…we conceived of schools as ‘boundary-less’ entities, as nodes in a network or learning ecosystem. Where physical attendance to participate in social, sporting, cultural and collaborative activities, is valued alongside access specialist teachers in other contexts, including community settings and virtually. And what if that learning was all recorded and tracked in a single ‘record of learning’ that recognises the value of what is learned in all of these contexts? What if we recognised the roles of those providing support for learners differently – as specialist teachers, as pastoral support, as virtual teachers etc. as opposed to assigning all tasks to a ‘generic’ teacher. How might we include the link with home and partnership with parents as an essential aspect of this ‘boundary-less-ness’?

Moonshot 4:
AI Enhanced Personalisation

Imagine if…

…we could harness the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create truly personalised programmes of learning for both individuals and for groups based on an analysis of their needs and preferences? What if the AI platform could then provide personalised support and feedback as the learner/group worked on the learning task, scaffolding and shaping the learning activity based on the learner response and evidence provided. What if the platform could also maintain a record of learning for each learner with dynamic links to the evidence provided by the learner to illustrate achievement against the criteria set.

Moonshot 5:
New Structures

Imagine if…

…we were to completely suspend all of the structures around which our current school system is designed – learning spaces, timetables, curriculum, staffing allocations, assessments/exams etc. How would we design things differently? How would the school day work? What would the curriculum look like? What if we were to create the opportunity for learners to be immersed in learning for as long as it takes for them to become accomplished in what they are doing? How might we keep track of what is being learned, how it is being learned and when it has been learned?
What would be the role(s) of educators in all of this? How would they be supported?

Moonshot 6:
New Measures of Success

Imagine if…

…we adopted completely different ways of measuring success? Where exams and summative assessments were replaced by more dynamic and ‘real-time’ provision of evidence to match against the progression indicators linked to criteria established at the beginning of the learning activity? What if learners were actively involved in the decisions around the criteria and the indicators? Instead of designing learning to match the assessment criteria, what if learners were able to immerse themselves in meaningful learning activity, and then select the criteria that they have evidence for – from across different ‘subjects’ and different levels?

[Rocket image: https://www.needpix.com/photo/174049/]

None of the scenarios above are particularly original. In fact, examples of each of these innovative approaches already exist in various jurisdictions and contexts around the world. As William Gibson once said, “the future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed yet‘. Also, while the scenarios have been separated out here to emphasise a specific idea, there are many overlaps between them and in most cases, a ‘moonshot’ idea will likely include elements from two or more of the scenarios above (and others not mentioned here).

Create your own moonshot:

Being ambitious in our thinking like this doesn’t come naturally. For many of you reading the list of ‘imagine if’ statements above you may find yourself thinking immediately of all the reasons why this couldn’t happen. That’s quite normal. It’s how we’ve been programmed – a consequence of the education we’ve received and the structures and systems we conform to. But you can break the habit – all it takes is some courage to allow yourself a little space to dream and ponder.

The important thing is that, like JFK, you don’t have to have it all sorted from the beginning. You simply have to imagine, put the idea(s) out there, and be relentless in seeking to find ways of making it happen.

Peter Diamandis, entrepreneur, futurist, technologist, and writer of the TechBlog has a simple five step approach for MoonShot Planning:

5-Year Goal: Briefly describe your 5-year Moonshot goal in a clear, objective fashion using specific dates and numbers.
1-Year Goal: What concrete, measurable milestones can you achieve in 12 months that will put you on track? Remember, your progress is exponential. You just need to hit 6.25% of the target.
30-Day Goal: What can you do in the next 30 days to test and ‘de-risk’ your 1-year and 5-year objectives?
PROOF: What evidence can you provide to your team that this Moonshot is possible?
ACTION: What single action can you take right now to make immediate progress? (Do it in the next hour).

Why not use this framework to create your own moonshot and consider the ambitious approach you want to take in 2024? You don’t have to do this alone. In fact, it’s best if you do it in collaboration with others. Build the dream collectively. Get the buy-in of those who need to be involved and for whom it matters.

Imagine if, across the country, school leaders and teachers found time in these last few weeks before the next school year begins to work through the five steps outlined above, so that as you return to school for 2024 it isn’t simply to repeat what you did in 2023 with a few minor tweaks and improvements, but is something more revolutionary, more purposeful and more life-changing!

Instead of planning to get ‘back to normal’, let’s make 2024 a year of being extra-ordinary, of being ambitious in what we seek to achieve for our learners and our schools!

Check out some of these links for further ideas…

Tags education leadership, educational change, educational transformation, learner agency, learner engagement, school leadership

Growing as Principals

Announcing an exciting opportunity for New Zealand principals to engage in an innovative professional learning programme in 2024!

Are you a primary or secondary school principal in a New Zealand School who is…

passionate about making a difference for your students?
looking for fresh and innovative ways to engage them in powerful learning?
seeking ideas and support to manage the complex task of leading change in your school?
wanting to push the boundaries of the traditional model of schooling?

Then read on… this post is for you. (If this isn’t you, then please forward this post to someone you think would appreciate hearing about it!)

Over the past few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with a friend and colleague, Maurie Abraham, to design and develop a unique professional learning opportunity for principals which we’ll be offering in early 2024.

Until recently, Maurie was the principal of Hobsonville Point Secondary School – a highly innovative secondary school in Auckland, a school that emphasises project-based learning and has a strong focus on digital technology and innovation. It also promotes a collaborative and inclusive learning environment. Having been principal at HPSS since it started back in , Maurie now heads up his own consultancy called How Might We Lead.

Our recent collaboration has resulted in the development of a powerful and sustainable approach to support principal wellbeing which focuses on leaders reconnecting with their personal ‘why’ and being equipped with tools to bring that to life in their schools, supported by a strong network of like-minded leaders who maintain a strong connection throughout the 20 week programme.

We’ve called our programme Refresh, Reconnect, Refocus – highlighting the triple focus we have incorporated into our programme design:

Refresh – We provide opportunities to address physical, mental and social well-being, and introduce tools that you can use beyond the time of this experience.
Reconnect – You will explore your personal ‘why’ – the things that motivate and drive you in the work you do. We introduce tools and processes to help you focus on what’s important and to plan forward from there.
Refocus – We will be designing a personal and collective view of a future-focused approach of schooling, supported by a community of other like-minded people. We assist you to plan out practical steps to make this happen in your context.

We believe that while addressing personal wellbeing as school principals is crucial, true transformation lies beyond individual practices. Merely attending to personal wellness, while essential, may not resolve the foundational issues contributing to the lack of wellbeing in the first place. To truly rejuvenate, principals must dare to envision a new paradigm for their schools. This demands the courage to reimagine the very essence of their educational institutions and take bold steps toward profound systemic changes. It necessitates a radical shift in how staff, students, and the entire school community collaborate and operate together. Only by embracing this courageous approach to rethinking and reshaping can principals pave the way for lasting, holistic transformation within their educational ecosystems.

If you or someone you know would like to join us for this 20 week programme please check out the details here, and register your interest in participating. We’ll send you more details of what’s involved and how you can secure your place in the programme which we have limited to just 20 principals. Already half of the places have been taken since we first let people know about it less than a week ago.

Click here to register your interest

Tags education leadership, educational change, school leadership

A theory of stupid

Photo by Andrea Lightfoot on Unsplash

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

When I read the quote above it’s difficult to imagine how on earth we might achieve the status of being a ‘moral society’ when we consider the prevalence of inequity and injustice that exists in so many areas of our society and world – along with the evidence of corruption, dishonesty, lack of integrity and failures in leadership at so many levels.

It’s easy to focus simply on what we see as the problem and find someone to blame for it all. Blame is, after all, is the fodder of politicians around election time – with problems orchestrated, blame apportioned and ‘quick-fix’ solutions promoted in order to win favour at the ballot box. Seldom to we engage in an informed and constructive debate that looks beneath the ‘tip of the iceberg’ that is the problem or issue we can see or is affecting us, to explore the underlying conditions that gave rise to that in the first place, and the underpinning mental models and beliefs from which they arise.

In this process we too often focus our attention on those we see as the ones responsible for the dilemmas – the decision-makers, politicians, business and community leaders etc. And often this perception is justified – we are constrained by particular policy for example, alienated because we don’t qualify for a particular support or impacted because of a decision that affects us in a negative way (e.g. being made redundant at work, losing a home due to the rise in interest rates or being unable to meet transportation needs due to rising cost of fuel etc.)

We see this sort of behaviour in various jurisdictions around the world (including NZ) – with political leaders being held to account for all sorts of problems, whether they are responsible for initiating war or suppressing the rights of citizens, or are trying to introduce policies and legislation that isn’t welcomed by some groups in society (e.g. reducing CO2 emissions, capital gains tax, anti-racism legislation etc.)

But becoming pre-occupied with this sort of ‘blame’ mentality seldom leads to any sort of constructive solution-finding. More likely, we become consumed with negativity and end up feeling overwhelmed with the feeling that there’s noting we can do that will make a difference, and so, like sheep, we simply follow the leader and comply with what we’re being told to do. Worst case is that we end up suffering from depression or more serious mental health issues arising from our feelings of personal powerlessness.

So how do we achieve a state where we have good and effective leadership, where decisions are made and agreements reached on the basis of a strong sense of moral purpose? And what is the responsibility of every citizen in this process?

In a country or organisation led by those who are patently corrupt or even ‘evil’ this can seem impossible. It’s the challenge contemplated by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian who spent that last 18 months of World War 2 in prison (until his execution in April, 1945) as a result of his opposition to the Hitler regime. While imprisoned by the Nazis for his involvement in the resistance, Bonhoeffer continued to write prolifically. His prison writings reveal a profound moral and spiritual struggle, as well as a keen analysis of the political and ethical implications of the Nazi regime.

In an article titled We have more to fear from stupid people than evil ones, Oxford University lecturer Jonny Thomson references Dietrich Bonhoeffer saying that “stupidity is worse than evil because stupidity can be manipulated and used by evil.” Thomson’s article and the short video below provides a succinct overview of this thinking…

The transcript of this video can be found on the Sprouts site here.

While in prison, Bonhoeffer wrestled with how it could be that so many people could end up being persuaded to submit to such a corrupt system. Reflecting on this he argues that stupidity tends to go hand-in-hand with acquiring power — and that being in power so often means we surrender our individual critical faculties.

Thomson sums up the Bonhoeffer perspective by saying…

Because evil people find it hard to take power, they need stupid people to do their work. Like sheep in a field, a stupid person can be guided, steered, and manipulated to do any number of things.
Jonny Thomson

So while Bonhoeffer identifies the perpetrators of the terrible things going on around him at the time as ‘evil’, the more serious problem he sees is the ‘stupidity’ of the population who have bought into the ways of thinking and behaving that are patently dehumanising and corrupt – victims of the relentless campaigns of mis-information and propaganda.

This is an important message for educators. In an era of mis-information and conspiracy theory, our focus should be less on the evil of the messaging and more on addressing the “stupidity” [where stupidity equates to the lack of critically-informed engagement] that causes people to subscribe to these ideas in the first place.

Instead of focusing on the “evil” of the messaging or the messenger, we should be addressing the “stupidity” that causes people to subscribe to these ideas in the first place.
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The recently announced TVNZ series Web of Chaos looks to provide some interesting insights here. It promises to provide a deep dive into the world of disinformation, exploring why it’s spreading at pace throughout Aotearoa and the world, with specialists warning of striking consequences for social cohesion and democracy.

Promoting critical thinking and media literacy among our young learners is therefore and essential in our modern world, where misinformation and conspiracy theories can spread rapidly. Here are some practical ways teachers can support learners in understanding the dangers of disinformation and conspiracy theories and help them become more critically engaged in current issues:

Critical Thinking Skills: introduce activities and discussions that challenge students to consider issues from multiple perspectives, and to analyse information critically. Encourage them to question claims, examine evidence, and consider alternative viewpoints.
Media Literacy: teach students how to evaluate the credibility of sources, identify bias, and distinguish between fact and opinion. Encourage them to use reliable sources for research and information.
Debunking Activities: introduce activities where students can collaboratively research and debunk popular myths, misinformation, and conspiracy theories. This will enable them to understand the process of fact-checking and critical analysis.
Guest Speakers and Workshops: invite guest speakers, such as journalists or experts in media literacy, to hold workshops and discussions with students about the dangers of disinformation and the importance of critical thinking.
Current Events Discussions: engage students in discussions about current events and news stories. Encourage them to express their opinions while providing guidance on analyzsng information from diverse sources.
Fact-Checking Tools: Introduce fact-checking tools and websites that students can use to verify information before sharing or accepting it as true. Teach them about the importance of reliable sources and the consequences of spreading false information.
Encourage Source Diversity: teach students the value of seeking information from various sources with different perspectives. This will help them gain a more comprehensive understanding of complex issues.
Create a Safe Environment: foster an open and non-judgmental classroom environment where students feel comfortable discussing their beliefs and uncertainties. Encourage respectful debates and conversations.
Social Media Awareness: discuss the role of social media in spreading disinformation and how algorithms can create echo chambers. Encourage responsible social media usage and critical evaluation of information found on these platforms.
Role-Playing Scenarios: use role-playing scenarios where students can act as both creators and consumers of disinformation. This will help them empathise with the impact of false information and understand the responsibility of media literacy.

Tags competencies, critical thinking, education leadership, misinformation

Overwhelm

Overwhelm is the fact or feeling of not being able to cope or deal with something.
Collins Dictionary

The headline in a paper this week, quotes a new report from MFAT that says the ‘Future looks grim“. The report details what MFAT believes Kiwis should know about risks to NZ’s security, and that conflict in our region ‘could occur’. According to the report the globe is experiencing “heightened strategic tensions and considerable levels of disruption and risk“, with New Zealand just as affected as others due to its interconnectedness, the changing nature of the Pacific and the evolution of new threats. Grim reading indeed!

All of this on top of the disruptions we have faced through pandemics, weather events, political unrest and the impact of rising interest rates and housing (un)affordability! It really is a bit overwhelming.

As if that’s not enough, in education there’s yet another avalanche of disruption and change being experienced as a result of declining achievement in key areas, the introduction of a new curriculum, changes in assessment practices, changes in PLD allocations plus ongoing issues with truancy and low levels of learner engagement – just to name a few.

No wonder educators are feeling overwhelmed and looking to other career options. According to NZ’s Newshub teachers are leaving in droves currently. And not just in New Zealand. The USA Today reports that the number of teachers quitting has hit a new high, with one teacher quoted as saying ‘I just found myself struggling to keep up’.

Understanding the perceptions teachers have about all of this was the focus of a recent FutureMakers report titled Roadblocks and Drivers, which provides an analysis of the responses received through submissions to an online survey posted on the FutureMakers website in early 2023. The analysis reveals a comprehensive list of perceived drivers and roadblocks in our system, highlighting a range of complex and interconnected issues. The most prevalent challenges reported include:

initiative overload leading to fatigue and lack of follow-through
inadequate resources in terms of staffing and funding,
resistance to change driven by a focus on tradition, and
difficulties related to leadership, such as vision deficits and poor communication.

One word that sums up the feeling across all of the responses received is overwhelm. While it’s true to say that the notion of overwhelm has been impacting many for a number. of years now, the evidence in the survey analysis reinforces the view of may others that the level of change and disruption being faced in our profession (and society) is escalating rapidly, and is also becoming increasing diverse – impacting us on many fronts.

The survey responses paint a picture of teachers who are facing an increasingly challenging and overwhelming environment in schools. They are bombarded with a multitude of new initiatives and requirements, not giving them time to reflect or renew their energies. They are also overwhelmed by the constantly changing demands from parents and communities, and the evolving behaviours and learning needs of their students. This overwhelming situation can lead to a sense of paralysis within the education system.

This sense of overwhelm is captured in the following from one respondent:

“It’s just too busy. There never seems to be enough time to do the day to day job as well as learn new and better ways. When under pressure, we often revert to old ways. Teachers don’t fully adopt new ways because they don’t really understand the why and how….and they don’t get a chance to spend time on these. Usually they do want to do things better, but get caught up in their day to day work and have no capacity for more.”

Some respondents referred to the notion of ‘burden’ – the sense that everything is being added to what they are already doing, and that there really needs to be a ’letting go’ of things that they are already doing in order to create space and have the freedom to change. Others raised concerns over change initiatives occurring on multiple fronts of activity, often overlapping or causing conflict.

Addressing this level of ‘overwhelm’ must surely have to be a key focus of our system leaders you would think. But what we see at present appears to be even more layers of disruption and change being imposed – most of it appearing as a re-hash of previously tried (and failed) approaches. As Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results!” My concern is that Continuing to do what we’ve always done and expecting better results is not only a sign of insanity, it is depriving our young people of their future!

Continuing to do what we’ve always done and expecting better results is not only a sign of insanity, it is depriving our young people of their future.
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Fortunately the survey responses weren’t all negative. There were some useful suggestions provided in the responses, offering some ways to address the issue of ‘overwhelm’ including:

Streamline initiatives and requirements: Rather than overwhelming teachers with a constant influx of changes, focus on implementing a few well-thought-out initiatives that have a proven track record of effectiveness.
Provide targeted professional development and support: This may include mentoring, coaching and wellbeing programmes to provide guidance and help teachers cope with the demands they face.
Foster more collaboration: This reduces the burden on individual teachers and allows them to leverage collective knowledge and support.
Prioritise well-being and work-life balance: Provide resources and support for managing stress and burnout. Encourage schools to adopt policies that promote reasonable workloads and create opportunities for self-care and rejuvenation.
Engage stakeholders in decision-making: When stakeholders feel heard and valued, it can reduce the sense of overwhelm and foster a sense of ownership and collective responsibility.
Research and evidence-based practices: Ensure that initiatives, requirements, and interventions are based on sound research and evidence. Avoid adopting trends or fads without a solid foundation.
Advocate for systemic change: We must recognise that the sense of ‘overwhelm’ experienced by teachers may be indicative of broader systemic issues within the education system.

None of the things on this list will come as a surprise. In fact, I’d recognise most as being the things I observe in the practice of some of our more effective school leaders as they provide leadership for their staff and communities through these times of change.

In times of crisis and overwhelm one would look to the leadership at a system level and in our schools for a strong and robust response, but it would seem that this sort of practice is not uniformly experienced. This may have something to do with the quality and experience (or lack of) of our current school leadership.

A recent ERO report has found that a third of principals in our schools have less than five years of experience. It also notes the difficulty in recruiting and retaining quality leadership at principal level. How can we expect great leadership in times of disruption where the depth of experience simply isn’t there? This is yet another indicator that we have an education leadership crisis in our country.

Sure, there’s always the exception to the rule, the outstanding individual who has been well mentored and understands intuitively what to do when faced with complex issues or a crisis event, but they are a small minority. Good leadership becomes great on the basis of experience – in the same way a good athlete becomes great through putting in the ‘hard yards’ of training in all circumstances.

One thing is for certain – there is no returning to the (imagined) stable state of what we experienced in the past. Research suggests that this is a sign of an inexperienced leader – that when the chips are down they resort to using strategies they remember having experienced, and not the sorts of things that evidence is suggesting need to be employed in a VUCA world. We see evidence of this on a daily basis it seems, particularly right at the moment as the political parties are putting forth their ‘solutions’ for what they see as a failing system. These are yet more examples of what I wrote about in a previous post listing signs of system and organisational distress.

What can leaders do?

Two thoughts as suggestions occur to me. There’s no silver bullet here, but we can take responsibility for the things that fall within our locus of control, so here they are:

Start by acknowledging that the sense of ‘overwhelm’ that your staff and community may be feeling is a natural response to the pressures they may be feeling from the continual barrage of change initiatives and demands that come with that. It isn’t their fault or a sign of weakness. But it can be addressed.
Next, make time for your own personal reflection and become self-aware as a leader. The minute you find yourself falling back into the ‘old ways’ or defending actions that are indefensible, stop! Seek support, seek guidance and seek the assistance from those who can help you work through what you need to do with a fresh set of eyes.
Then, determine to do something to address this. The list of actions above provide a pretty useful starting point. Read each carefully and consider how you could take some positive steps to make this a reality in your context. Don’t waste valuable time trying to create a comprehensive plan that has everything covered before you start – just do it, reflect often and change as required. If you can’t think of anything, don’t give up – seek the counsel of a wise colleague, listen to what they have to say. And make time for some professional reading as a way of understanding what successful leaders are doing in other contexts.
Finally, understand that the pace of change that we’re currently experiencing isn’t likely to ease, and that our traditional ways of managing change are simply not fast enough or effective enough to keep up, let alone get ahead of the situation. We have to do things differently – starting with letting go of some of our sacred cows of management (e.g. complex bureaucracies, top-down management, positional authority, organisational silos, KPI-driven performance etc.) and be prepared to embrace experimentation, risk taking and learn from failures. Look to release staff to pursue short-cycle experiments that empower them to discover new ways of working where the old ones aren’t. But make sure as you’re doing this, you have a clear eye on the horizon, and are mission-led in your leadership style, and not tangled down in the weeds.

Tags education leadership, educational change, educational transformation, school leadership

Roadblocks and Drivers

This paper provides an analysis of the responses received through submissions to an online survey posted on the FutureMakers website in early 2023. An initial attempt to design a survey featuring questions with multi-choice responses was abandoned in preference of a simple survey asking two open ended questions about change in education:

What’s driving change? – list or describe the things you can think of that are currently driving change in education? Be specific, think of things in your own context that are impacting the way you and your organisation are working.
What are the roadblocks? – list or describe the things you consider are roadblocks to change – e.g. the things that inhibit or slow change down, the things that make change difficult, that cause change efforts to deviate or stop altogether.

The dataset reveals a comprehensive list of perceived drivers and roadblocks in the New Zealand education system, indicating complex and interconnected issues. The most prevalent challenges include initiative overload leading to fatigue and lack of follow-through, inadequate resources in terms of staffing and funding, resistance to change driven by a focus on tradition, and difficulties related to leadership, such as vision deficits and poor communication.

Preview and download the paper below…

Roadblocks-and-Drivers-compressed Download

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All of the work that is done to develop these resources and to maintain the information on the FutureMakers website (including Derek’s Blog) is my contribution to support fellow educators.

If you have found this resource or others in the series valuable in the work you do I invite you to help this work to continue and reach more people.

Educational Leadership Crisis

CRISIS – “an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs
in which decisive change is impending”
Miriam Webster Dictionary

A headline in yesterday’s newspaper read:

The article quotes NZEI Te Riu Roa president Mark Potter who says; “… it’s clear that New Zealand has an imminent problem with a shortage of school leadership. Even new leaders in the profession are facing burn out and ultimately, it’s the children who will suffer if we can’t attract people to the role and retain them.“

I was particularly captured by the use of the word ‘crisis’, not so much in the headline as that’s the sort of thing you expect from a media release – but in the title of the summit itself. From my experience the government, MoE and education agencies generally avoid using the term ‘crisis’ because of the inevitable door it opens for criticism, blame and fear mongering among those who have an axe to grind or who are seeking to promote their own agendas. Given the Miriam Dictionary definition at the head of this post however, I think that the word may perhaps be appropriately used here.

Which brings me then to the purpose of the gathering held in Wellington that is referred to in the newspaper article. In my Twitter feed I noted the following from a principal travelling to attend the event:

The principal appears optimistic about what may be achieved at the event. He notes that “we have admired the problem, talked the problem, worked around the problem...” before calling for concrete solutions – not surprising in a crisis situation.

I think a large number of people would agree. We have spent a lot of time debating, future-gazing, analysing etc., but all too frequently, fail to identify any actions of a significant or strategic nature that are actually actionable or followed through (another sign of failing leadership).

So what are the chances of this event achieving anything different? I guess I’m not as optimistic as my principal colleague. I’m not saying this simply to be cynical, rather, it’s my observation borne out of a number of years of experience both in participating in problem-solving and strategic fore-sight events and in facilitating them.

To clarify, here’s what I’m thinking…

There is indeed an education leadership crisis – and it exists across all levels of the system, from the offices of the Ministry of Education down to the principals in schools and even further, to the teachers-as-leaders in classrooms. Successive decades of a neo-liberal approach to how our system operates has seen significant emphasis on accountability based on assumptions about the intrinsic leadership capability of those appointed to leadership roles.

This has created a climate of competition, blame and punishment for underperformance, when what is desirable is a positive focus on building, nurturing and sustaining the qualities of good leadership in our leaders. In other words, if we want good leadership we must be focused on what that looks like and invest in what’s required to achieve that.
The problem is ill-defined. – One of the things that makes me wonder how effective this event will be over others that have been held in the past is the impression gained from reading through everything available to me (and remember, I didn’t attend or receive and invitation to attend which may have had further information available). All of the material I see, including on the NZEI website, focuses on the identification of solutions to be put in place. According the survey of principals quoted, these involve the provision of more teaching staff, more management staffing, and increased access to specialists for children with additional needs. What I don’t see is a deep analysis of the issues, concerns and problems that can then be approached in a more strategic and disciplined way.

This sort of approach is exactly what leads to inaction. We’ve all experienced it. It can feel great, at the time, to be able to give voice to the frustrations we are feeling, and even better when in an environment where we hear others saying similar things to us, and better still, when someone with positional leadership (in this case the Minister of Education) is there to share in the conversation. But as valuable as that may be, it is a classic case of the ‘externalisation‘ of the problem. By that I mean we project onto ‘them’ the things we feel need to happen, and, having voiced our concerns, leave the meeting feeling it’s now ‘their’ responsibility to get on and use what we’ve told ‘them’ to fix it.
The answers lie within – always. – in a recent blog post I referred to the concept of ‘clarity’ as a foundational attribute for an effective, transformative leader. I referenced the work of Shawn Ginwright who I met earlier this year in the US, and whose work has significantly impacted my perspective on the personal qualities required of each of us as leaders. Dr Ginwright coined the term ‘mirror work’ to describe a commitment to self-reflection and truth telling (to ourselves) about ourselves and our performance.

Clarity comes when we shed all of the barriers, confusion, distractions, indulgences and excuses that get in the way of what we really want. Without this clarity we struggle in a cloud of confusion, distraction and ambiguity. We end up feeling overwhelmed and delay important decisions and procrastinate on tasks. We fail to recognise that we, and the systems, traditions and expectations we hold so tightly to, may actually be a key part of the problem that we are busy externalising for others to take responsibility for.

My point here is that no matter how well intentioned the gathering of affected people might be, it can only really serve as a forum for expressing concerns and sharing grievances. Without the mirror work and personal clarity described by Ginwright, it’s unlikely there’ll be any ownership of the fact that a part of the problem exists in the room.
It’s difficult to lead if you don’t know why! – Clarity is tied also to our sense of purpose. When we are unclear and vague, we can simply cannot practice transformative leadership because we lose sight of our destination. This is compounded when that sense of purpose is something that is missing from our corporate understanding. I see this as a particular issue in our education system today. After years of reform efforts and the introduction of different regimes or point solutions, I’d argue that we’ve lost sight of the purpose we have for our education system.

If you asked any group of educators to explain what the purpose (i.e. our ‘why’, our aspiration) of the NZ education system is I’d wager you’d get as many different answers as there are people you asked. This could be difficult if they were all from one school. There are many schools that have done an excellent job of defining their ‘why’ and regularly referencing this with staff and the community – but there’s no real evidence of a common sense of purpose for the whole of our system.

I realise now that there’ll be a number of people who will defensively point me to statements that exist on different websites – but of that’s the case, why do so many educators struggle to recall these, and why don’t we see our system leaders more regularly in the media inspiring us to work together towards these aspirational goals?
We lack change literacy – Simply put, we don’t understand how to lead change, or even how to lead in a time of change. in a conversation with a colleague this afternoon we were discussing the qualities of principalship, and what is required to operate effectively as an education leader in today’s world. My response was change literacy (to add yet another term to our lexicon of educational jargon). My reason for this is that we live in a VUCA world, where change is the constant and the idea of achieving again the ‘stable state‘ is simply not possible.

In education we’re constantly bombarded with change, usually imposed change, change that we’re expected to implement or take responsibility for – be it change in curriculum, health and safety demands, roll growth, change in pedagogical practices for literacy etc. We all assume that those who are mandating the have a valid reason for it, and that it will produce the anticipated results – eventually in terms of outcomes for learners as they are or should be at the peak of our education value chain.

Too often we end up implementing point solutions in response to the problems we face (such as those identified by the NZEI principals above) and while not arguing the merit of these as possible solutions, we fail to understand or align these things with a theory of change that has been developed to demonstrate the causal links (or intervention logic) between the particular intervention (or ‘solution’) and our overall goals for our education system.

Not sure. if this is helpful or clarifying, but it’s certainly been a useful exercise teasing out what I’m thinking. It’s not meant to disrespect any of those who are putting in tireless hours to support their colleagues, or to those who have given up a day to address the concerns they share – I only hope that somewhere in the mix there is the will, the expertise and the commitment to address some (all?) of the things I’ve reflected on here to help us move from a position of suggesting solutions to a where we might achieve a truly transformative set of actions that will genuinely change how we work as a system, how we serve those learners in our schools and classrooms and ultimately, how all of this will contribute to a equitable and thriving future for Aotearoa/New Zealand. You can count me in on that!

Tags education leadership, educational transformation, school leadership

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