4. The challenges are worth it
Middle leaders at Mangere Central School understand classroom teachers need particular skills, dispositions and capabilities to do this work, so targeted professional learning is an important part of the ongoing inquiry process. They provide the kind of educational leadership that will support the learning of the teachers in their teams.
Making the pedagogical transformation required to inquire rigorously into classroom practice has not been easy and some staff have moved on as a result. However senior leaders are working to reduce the challenges and barriers that teachers face by focusing on resourcing appropriately, and detecting and responding to system level problems.
While some teachers have moved on because of the challenges this way of working presented, others have moved on because they have been promoted to take up positions of responsibility with a greater sphere of influence suited to their growing leadership capacity.
Reflective question
- It took three years to achieve a shared collective, coherent vision at Mangere Central School. This meant every teacher and leader had to take personal responsibility for student achievement. This was challenging for a lot of staff. Think about your own school challenges and how you could prepare your leaders to face them.
