"Towards Reconceptualising Leadership: The Implications of the Revised New Zealand Curriculum for School Leaders".

"Towards Reconceptualising Leadership: The Implications of the Revised New Zealand Curriculum for School Leaders"


I found this article very interesting as it was written shortly after the 'new' curriculum was introduced. Having only been teaching for 2 1/2 years this is the only curriculum I have worked with and therefore I was not part of the discussion when this was implement. I was also not even at school in NZ when the new curriculum came in so the only experience I have had with it is through my limited teaching career. Personally I find the NZ curriculum fantastic. The framework allows a lot of individual interpretation and I usually find myself building class programmes that suit the needs of my students then finding corresponding objectives from the curriculum not the other way round.
This article talks a lot about the 'tell me what to do' mentality. I can see how this would have been a big mindset change with the current curriculum as the objectives do not tell you what or how to teach but rather the skill that the child will end up with. This would have been very confronting for teachers who were used to working with a more prescriptive framework. The article talks about knowledge being conceptualized as a verb is something we do something with, rather than something we have (Gilbert, 2005). I think the new curriculum reflects this clearly.
From a leadership perspective the biggest challenge talked about in this article is teacher think time when facing a new reform in education. Education is constantly changing and as teachers we need to be able to change along with it. However I can relate to the feeling of 'stop the world, I want to get off!' some days. The article discusses how by distributing school leadership among staff will enable teachers to gain ownership over some of these changes. I have been very fortunate in my career to work in a school that does distribute leadership and encourages teachers to have imput into any major changes. We are consulted and our opinions valued before changes are made. This article made me realise that perhaps is isn't/wasn't the case in all schools. Frost and Durrant (2002) emphasise that teacher agency is central to school improvement. The article includes a list of characteristics of teacher leaders:

According to Wynne (2001) the literature on teacher leadership offers a profile that defines teacher leaders as those who:
 • demonstrate expertise in their instruction and share that knowledge with other professionals
• are consistently on a professional learning curve
• frequently reflect on their work to stay on the cutting edge of what is best for children
• engage in continuous action research projects that examine their effectiveness
• collaborate with their peers, parents, and communities, engaging them in dialogues of open
• inquiry/action/ assessment models of change
become socially conscious and politically involved
• mentor new teachers
• become more involved at universities in the preparation of pre-service teachers
• are risk-takers who participate in school decisions.

This list caused me to reflect on myself as a teacher leader. There are aspects of the list I feel I do confidently (consistent professional learning, reflection, collaboration) and areas that I find challenging (demonstrating expertise, mentor new teachers, socially conscious). I thought for a long time about the areas I find challenge and they are things I would like to work on. Some come down to me not feeling like an expert compared to colleagues that have been in the industry for much longer than me. Other come down to not having the brain space/time to become aware of political/social issues. These are both things Freeth mentions in his research!