Abstract
In this article, we report on our initial work with the International School Leadership Development Network. In doing so, we present two cases of principals leading high-need schools, and conclude with some key observations in relation to what is distinctive about leading these schools. The first case features a principal leading a suburban school in the large metropolitan city of Melbourne prepared by Drysdale and Gurr. This school is the result of the closure and amalgamation of several failing secondary schools, in what was termed a ‘regeneration project’. The second, prepared by Wildy and Clarke, is a personal account of a principal coping with leading a small school serving an Aboriginal community in a remote location (the nearest shop is 303 km away via an unsealed dirt road).
Leading the formation and transformation of Hume Central Secondary College
Glenn Proctor (real name) was appointed the executive principal of Hume Central Secondary College (HCSC) (see: www.humecentralsc.vic.edu.au) in 2008. This was one of seven new schools built as part of the Victorian government’s Broadmeadows Regeneration Project, which saw 17 schools cooperate to improve government education in the Broadmeadows area. The school serves one of the most disadvantaged communities in Australia, with school annual reports (available at: www.vrqa.vic.gov.au) indicating that the school has an overall socio-economic profile in the lowest category and a proportion of students with English as a second language in the highest category, and with national comparisons (available at: www.myschool.edu.au) indicating that 77% of students are in the lower half for educational advantage. HCSC has three campuses and in 2012, there were 1117 students, 126 teachers and 50 non-teaching staff. Each campus is led by a campus principal. Glenn has more than 35 years’ education experience, beginning as an economics and accounting teacher before moving into school leadership. Prior to arriving at HCSC, he was principal of Mount Waverley Secondary College for 11 years, a high-performing school in a more affluent suburb of Melbourne. Glenn grew up in Broadmeadows and so he has an affinity with the area and an intimate understanding of the context.
We have conducted multiple perspective interviews with Glenn, campus principals, members of the leadership team and middle-level leaders concerning the improvement of the school. Also, one of the authors, Drysdale, has worked at the school as a critical friend since its conception (for an exploration of the role of the critical friend at this school, see Huerta Villalobos, 2014). Here, we briefly report on some of our observations focused on the areas of: building leadership capacity; formulating a comprehensive planning strategy; building teacher capacity to improve teaching and learning; restructuring the school; and developing a high expectation performance and development culture.
Building leadership capacity
Glenn focused on developing the capacity of the school’s leadership team, which consists of the campus principals, assistant principals and the 16 leading teachers from the three campuses. This includes an emphasis at meetings on professional learning (presentations by leadership team members, guest speakers, data analysis and review, strategic planning, and setting targets for improvement), the provision of intensive professional learning programmes (recent programmes have focused on coaching for success and improvement) and professional reading (each year, Glenn distributes a leadership book for review). The school regularly uses two ‘critical friends’ (a university academic, Lawrie Drysdale, and an educational consultant, Vic Zbar), who participate in leadership meetings to provide feedback and advice (see Huerta Villalobos, 2014). To support leadership development broadly, the school conducts an emerging leaders’ programme for teachers and staff who aspire to more senior leadership positions. Conducted by Drysdale, sessions run for 90 minutes, eight times a year.
Formulating a comprehensive planning strategy
A key feature of the principal’s leadership has been the relentless pressure for change that he has brought to the school. These changes are aimed at improving student performance. Based on data which showed that many students were two years or more behind their expected level of performance when enrolling in the school, Glenn set the target for student progress of two years’ learning gain in one year. This ‘2 in 1’ target has become the school’s mantra and is central to the school’s approach to improving student achievement. In one emerging leaders’ programme, staff were invited to identify the changes taking place in the school, with over 30 significant change initiatives identified, including: building leadership capacity; developing team orientation; distributing leadership; creating curriculum design teams; use of literacy and numeracy coaches; developing an explicit teaching model; enhancing student engagement; and gaining two years of learning growth in one year. Importantly, none of these changes were introduced ad hoc, as they are all part of an integrated plan or ‘road map’ developed by the leadership team. While staff were not involved in developing the overall plan, they were fully informed and consulted in the implementation of the plan. This reinforces the strong focus on the non-negotiable need for change, while still involving as many people as possible in how the change is to be implemented.
Building teacher capacity
In order to improve teaching and learning, Glenn focused on professional practice and purposeful teaching. A key strategy has been to develop a common instructional model for teaching – ‘The Hume Central SC Explicit Instructional Model’. Glenn initiated Curriculum Design Teams, which brought learning area teams of teachers together from the three campuses to develop a curriculum to better meet student needs by building teacher capacity for differentiating teaching and learning. Common assessment tasks were also set so that teachers had a common understanding of standards and what constituted satisfactory completion, and were consistent in their assessment of student progress. Another key strategy for improving teaching and learning was to focus on giving teachers better feedback on their classroom practice. A process for monitoring and improving teacher professional practice was established that required teachers to reflect on their practice and plan for improvement. A coaching culture was also established, starting with the appointment of literacy and numeracy coaches, and then introducing triads of teachers who would take turns to observe each other in the classroom.
Restructuring the school
Glenn has consistently sought to improve the school through various restructuring initiatives. One of the key aspects of restructuring of the school has been the introduction of a distributed leadership structure. Glenn believes that to secure the best from the teachers and staff, they have to be ‘empowered’, and the distributed leadership model was best able to achieve this aim. By 2012, nearly 80% of teachers had assumed some area of responsibility, compared to the 30% when the school began. Team orientation is another important aspect of how the school has been restructured. There are common team meeting procedures and protocols. There has been a focus on team development and collaborative decision-making within teams. Team leaders across the learning areas, and in other roles, meet regularly to discuss common issues and challenges.
Establishing a high-expectation performance and development culture
Finally, establishing a performance and development culture based on setting high expectations has set new benchmarks in terms of what students and staff can achieve. Glenn sets high expectations of students, teachers and the community; however, cultures take time to change. Glenn constantly questions the behaviour, norms, beliefs, attitudes and assumptions of teachers who say, ‘We can’t change student performance because of the family background, ethnic origin and socio-economic circumstances of the community.’ Glenn expects that changing low expectations into high expectations is an ongoing education for the whole school community. As one campus principal said: ‘He does not take his foot off the pedal.’
The second case portrays a challenging context of a very different kind.
At the edge of the silent centre: An Australian principal’s reflections on leading an isolated school
The community of this school is situated 40 km from Australia’s largest monolith, Mt Augustus. We are 1100 km north of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, and 460 km inland from the Indian Ocean. The community land was previously a privately owned cattle station. After the Native Title Act 1993, the property was released to its traditional owners, the Wadjarri tribe, whose families continue to roam this part of the state. The community comprises the school, a shop, a swimming pool, a health centre, an administration house, a telecentre, an oval and 50 residences. Up to 15 people will live in a house at a time, so the population varies from between 20 and 300 people. There are four classroom teachers, four Aboriginal and Islander Education Officers (AIEOs) (teacher assistants), the principal, the registrar and a gardener/cleaner. On the books, we list 61 students, but the record attendance is 53 students. We would be lucky to have 20 students on any one day. Parents do not worry too much about school. Families move around a fair bit. Like all Aboriginal community schools in this state and elsewhere in Australia, our school is richly resourced. Our classrooms are packed with teaching materials and we struggle to spend all the funds we are allocated in a year.
Our teachers are all new and inexperienced. They are not young, however. Each brings a former career and many rich life experiences. For example, our one male teacher, though recently graduated, was formerly an opera singer and he brings a background of art, music and drama to his specialist teaching responsibilities in these fields. The early years teacher, an Indigenous woman, and unofficially the deputy principal, grew up in this part of the state and spent some years as an AIEO before undertaking studies to qualify her to teach.
This is my first principal appointment. I am now halfway through my third year in that role. There was no training or induction for the principalship. On offer, though, was a remote teaching service induction programme for all those starting in the outback. I went to this but it was not very useful. I had already taught in two remote secondary schools in Western Australia and overseas in Botswana.
To some extent, the job turned out to be what I expected. I knew I would have to learn a great deal, not only about being a principal, but also about the school community. What I did not appreciate was how much I would have to learn about being the head of a school that catered for students from Kindergarten (students aged four years) right through to the end of secondary school (students aged 17 years). I thought that I would be well prepared from my years as a secondary teacher. In reality, the students performed at around low primary level, even the secondary students. I desperately needed to learn about the primary curriculum, early years teaching strategies and working closely with teachers on the curriculum and pedagogy. All this was new to me.
I am most challenged by the task of keeping on top of all the work. This job is not easy. There are seemingly endless tasks. I make a list, and by the time I knock off two of them, another 10 have been added. You never get on top of it. There are so many aspects to deal with: issues with students and their learning, behaviour, attendance, health and interpersonal matters; issues with teachers and their professional learning, social well-being and interpersonal matters; issues with parents, their relationships within the community and their lack of interest in the school and their children’s well-being; issues with the community as a unit and its financial difficulties and general dysfunction; and, finally, issues with the education system and the endless demands for bureaucratic accountability. I am also a husband and a father of two school-aged girls; I love to spend time with them. I am happy to put in a good eight hours at school each weekday but I do not believe that I can or should do more than that. I strongly believe that I am responsible for the well-being of my family. That is my top priority. If they are well and happy, then I can do my work. Having a wife and children helps me. It gives me a perspective. This is how I balance my personal life and my professional work.
I am happiest when the school is humming along. I wake up in the morning and get up with a spring in my step. I look forward to going over to the school. I am confident that all the students are learning, the teachers are getting along and the parents are not complaining. I do not have system people breathing down my neck or demanding reports from me. I am best at getting along with people. I think my greatest success here has been to build good relationships among teachers, throughout the community and between all the students. I feel comfortable in talking to parents.
I am not clear about my future. The most important thing for us as a family is to settle down in a large town with a decent school for our girls. We want them to be in one school throughout their secondary school. It has to be a good school so that they can have good career prospects. It has to be a large school so that they can build friendships with young people their own age and background. I would be unlikely to find a principal’s position in such a location because what I have described is keenly sought by all young principals. I will probably have to revert to being a deputy principal. I do not mind the backward career move, but I do worry whether I would be content to be second in charge after having been the boss. I am now used to being on my own. I have never had the experience of working as part of a leadership team. I need to learn how to do this and I expect that I will find it a challenge.
What is distinctive about leading these schools?
In keeping with the objectives of the International School Leadership Development Network (ISLDN), we have considered the distinctive features of leading a high-need school. Here, we present four suggestions.
Context matters
The cases described show how much context can determine the parameters of what a school leader can do. For the remote school case, it is a very isolated community, largely indigenous and so heavily influenced by the indigenous culture. For example, when a funeral happens, there is often no student to teach for a week or more, and as these funerals occur regularly, they can be very detrimental to processes of school effectiveness and improvement. In the amalgamated school, the principal struggles to overcome the history of three failing schools merging in his attempt to create a new culture, one that is hopeful and success-oriented.
Physical and financial resources pale in comparison to the importance of human resources
Both schools are well resourced in terms of buildings and grounds and per-student funding. It is the human side of the enterprise on which principals spend most of their energy. Constructing a performance and development culture for staff to grow professionally, engendering a sense of leadership for all, helping staff cope with the culture and context of the community and with how the school sits within this environment, and retaining talented staff are the areas that principals see as most important and to which they spend a lot of their time attending. Building capacity in staff is probably the key area for leadership in these contexts, and it includes the principal, teachers as professionals and leaders, and members of the community to enhance their active participation in the school. It is also about ensuring that the organisational arrangements and culture support a learning community focus.
Experience matters
While both of the principals depicted seem to be coping well, in the two narratives, it is the work of Glenn in the amalgamated school that has more purpose and direction. He has prior experience of successfully leading an effective school. In particular, he has good knowledge of the system, and what works in schools in general, and he is able to set a clear and ambitious direction for the school, and work hard to get everyone committed and aligned with such a preferred future. He is good at restructuring a school, at developing staff, developing direction and building school culture; all the important elements to ensure school success. He is also confident in knowing that this takes time, that there will be setbacks and false pathways, but that it can be done. The principal at the remote school, however, is new to the principal’s role, and is clearly learning much on the job. The isolation of the school means that the normal collegial networks found in city locations are not present. While the story is one of successfully coping with a difficult context, the principal is acutely aware of his own limitations as a novice in the role. After two years, he is only just feeling like he is the leader he wants to be. The contrast between the two cases begs the question, ‘Should a high-need school be a first appointment as a principal?’ Perhaps part of the preparation for leading a high-need school is to be a principal at a more mainstream school first. This, then, suggests the notion that preparation and professional learning for the principalship require a long-term development framework.
Renewing oneself
The work is demanding, and appears to be more so than in comparatively favourable settings. It is physically and mentally challenging and success is often difficult to achieve, or at least difficult to achieve according to mainstream expectations. Perseverance, tenacity, self-belief and moral purpose are needed to maintain school direction. Wider knowledge, gained through talking with colleagues, past experience, reading, attending conferences, engaging with professional associations and the like, is important for locating and understanding the work of the principal as the key school leader. Principals in these contexts need self-belief in their abilities and dispositions, and the capacity to develop those they need. They require the system to show confidence in them, and they need to have confidence in the system. Finally, they need to be able to balance work with personal, family and other commitments.
Working in these contexts is undoubtedly challenging, and none perhaps more so than the case of the Western Australian principal. Yet, this principal retains a sense of optimism and has a balanced perspective about his work. Glenn shows how an experienced, successful principal can lead the formation of a school in a challenging context, focusing on developing staff to create a high-expectation learning environment.
How these findings might link with the social justice strand of the ISLDN project
The schools that we have described here could equally be placed in the social justice strand of the ISLDN. Both principals are passionate about improving the educational situation of all students and both are serving populations that are at risk of significant educational disadvantage, as we have described. They are school leaders who are acutely aware of the social justice implications of their work. As the two strands of the ISLDN present findings, it might well be that we revisit our high-need cases to tease out implications for enhancing social justice, and vice versa.
Implications for preparation and support of leaders of high-needs schools
Regardless of context, there are several key areas that need to be addressed by principals and by those responsible for preparing and supporting principals in high-need schools. These include: building personal resilience/belief; developing wider knowledge of what works to develop school success; focusing on the development of staff; acquiring and distributing resources effectively and efficiently (financial, physical, human); and thinking about the appropriate life/professional history that will enhance leadership in these contexts.
Ongoing work
In the Victorian context, we will conduct new cases of schools in challenging contexts, and continue with the research at HCSC as the school is in the foundation phase of its improvement journey. Our research in the ISLDN overlaps with and parallels our research in the International Successful School Principalship Project (see, e.g., Doherty et al., 2014; Gurr and Day, 2014).
The University of Western Australia investigations continue into the ways in which school leadership is understood and practised in diverse contexts. More specifically, there is a burgeoning research agenda focusing on the complexity of school leadership as it is exercised in post-conflict countries (O’Donoghue and Clarke, 2013), as well as collaborative work with Chilean colleagues in examining leadership practices in schools facing adverse circumstances. Our work is beginning to portray the challenges school leaders face as they perform their work, the nature of the context within which these challenges arise and the strategies school leaders adopt to deal with the complexities of their work, as well as the reasons behind these strategies. This portrayal, it is hoped, has the potential to help shift the discourse on ‘transformational’ approaches to leadership in schools facing challenging circumstances from a predominantly normative level to one that is more descriptive. This endeavour clearly has vital connections with considerations of social justice.