Student-centred
leadership
in action
at Botany Downs Secondary College
When a copy of Distinguished Professor Viviane Robinson’s book Student-Centered Leadership accidentally turned up on the desk of Botany
Downs Secondary College principal Mike Leach, he swiftly tucked it away for safe keeping. “The book was actually meant for Associate
Principal Karen Brinson and it was left on my desk by mistake,” says Mike with a grin. “I took it home, read it and thought wow, what a great
book to share with the leadership team at school.” So, the next day and twenty copies later every member of the leadership team at Botany
Downs Senior College received a personal copy of the book and Mike set about planning a professional development day to engage the
school’s leaders in discussion and critique about how they contributed to and supported student outcomes at the school.
Viviane Robinson is perhaps best known in New Zealand for her three-year research project that culminated in the publication in 2009
of the Ministry of Education’s Best Evidence Synthesis (BES) iteration School Leadership and Student Outcomes: What works and why. Her
research brought student-centred leadership to the cognisance of principals, teachers, researchers, professional development providers and
policy makers around the country by identifying the relative impact of five critical leadership dimensions on student achievement and the
knowledge and skills leaders needed to engage in the practices involved in each of the dimensions. In Student-Centered Leadership Viviane
builds on her research from the BES and transforms it into a digestible and practical resource that school leaders can use to experiment with
changing how they lead and transform schools for the better.
“I have been a principal for 14 years,” said Mike. “I was in Otara for six years when schools were bombarded with initiatives, research
and all sort of things being done to them. Most of the research we got given was written in a way that makes it hard to take, interpret
and embed into practice. Viviane’s book was not just a quick read, it was written in a way that was easy to understand and guides you
through the steps you need to take. It offers some challenging questions in itself but also creates good discussion points through some of the
comments Viviane makes in the book.”
As a principal, Mike understands that teachers come into leadership roles in a variety of different ways and for some it is simply a
matter of being in the right place at the right time. He believes that taking ownership and responsibility for raising student outcomes is
critical for school leaders and that his role, as principal, is to facilitate collaboration and professional discussion so that staff can critique and
present their various ideas.
“Schools are incredibly busy and with 1,800 kids and 150 staff at Botany, once the day starts it is full on,” says Mike. “Most school
leaders simply don’t get the time or opportunity to think and reflect about what leadership in education really looks like or how to distribute
it. After reading the book I wanted to create a space for the leadership team to engage in professional discussion around what student
engagement and student-centred learning looks like. As a Microsoft mentor school the leadership team were also talking about embedding
some of the Microsoft competencies around personalised learning, collaboration and self regulation — all of which fit nicely into the
leadership dimensions Viviane talks about.”
Mike organised a professional development day for the leadership team at the beginning of last year using the book as the primary
focus for discussion. “By creating the time and space for discussion before school started for the year our leadership team had the
opportunity to reflect on their practice,” says Mike. “I didn’t want to dictate what happened on the day so we worked in groups to discuss,
critique and present around each of Viviane’s five dimensions and three capabilities for effective student-centred leadership.”
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FA CU L T Y O F E D U CAT I ON THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND
Each group consisted of a mix of whānau and department
leaders who were asked to read and focus on one chapter in
the book. Mike asked each group to consider the dimension or
capability, why it was important and how it translated into practice
in the school. They used the reflective questions at the end of each
chapter to guide discussion, critique and debate before relating it
back specifically to their school context.
Mike asked leaders to consider how each chapter related
specifically to their practice by asking them to consider the powerful
ideas in the chapter and what they meant for their own leadership.
Each group wrote a statement about what they thought the chapter
meant and presented back to the group. “The power of writing a
statement instead of a question creates discussion,” he says. “When
you write a question it can be open ended. A statement can be
critiqued because there is no right or wrong.”
Mike equates the process the leadership team went through
to a “mini inquiry” and emphasises the importance of driving
professional discussion internally rather than relying solely on
external consultants to deliver professional development. “Unless
external work is embedded into the school it will never be effective,”
says Mike. “We have so much expertise within the school that can
be shared through this process.” For many of the school leaders this
was the first opportunity they had to think about and reflect about
what educational leadership looks like and the responsibilities
they have as leaders to improve student outcomes. “It is certainly
hard to get the time to have these discussions but the rewards are
evident when the conversation in the staff room throughout the
year moves from administration issues into discussing key things
about teaching and learning at the school.”
All the discussion notes, ideas and outcomes from the day
were then loaded into a shared OneNote, a computer application
designed for freeform information gathering and collaboration, so
that teachers could continually build on the work and reflect on
what their outcomes were throughout the year. In his reflection and
review meetings with the leadership team each term, Mike includes
questions related to aspects of the five leadership dimensions and
their reflective practice. He also meets with heads of learning and
whānau leaders each week and makes sure to include a focus
on the dimensions and capabilities. “We will talk about how their
leadership is focused on improving student outcomes and the
evidence they have to support this,” says Mike. “We also discuss
departmental goals and specific targets they are focusing on in
their learning area and why.”
Deputy Principal Michael Hart says the chapter on ensuring
quality teaching (dimension three) has had a significant impact
on how he constructs and frames conversations with heads of
learning and whānau leaders to build their confidence using data
in the school. “Viviane explains the use of data really clearly which
reinforces our impetus to use data effectively in the school,” says
Michael. “It reinforces the way we are using it and the way we have
incorporated data into our appraisal process for teachers. I had
read the BES but the important thing about this book is that it is
palatable. It isn’t new - it is accessible and more meaningful.”
Michael is responsible for the data the school is collecting
and using. He is currently examining whether the data is making
a difference to teaching practice in the school and has introduced
data mentoring for students to help them understand and interpret
their data to inform their subject choices for NCEA. Parents also
have access to the data through a new parent portal which allows
them access to student’s data in real-time. “The next step for us is
to have the data used in formative feedback and assessment-based
reporting with students,” says Michael.
Michael is also using this chapter to review the staff appraisal
system. Teachers are required to use data from their NCEA or
junior subject areas in their appraisal and make comments on
it. He uses Viviane’s reflective questions to guide discussions in
appraisal meetings. “This encourages teachers to start thinking
about using data to inform and change their practice,” says
Michael. “Some of the key questions in their teacher appraisals
are ‘what have you done this year or are doing this year to raise
student achievement?’ and ‘what evidence do you have that
achievement has been raised’,” he says. “Teachers’ professional
development goals are constructed from these as an inquiry into
their own practice.”
Michael says that while the school is making good use of
school-wide and department based data they are working on
bridging the gap for continuous data use by teachers within the
classroom. “That would be a good inquiry for me this year,” he
considers. “Does this actually make a difference?”
Mike also found Viviane’s guidance on building relational
trust, one of the three capabilities of student–centred leadership,
particularly valuable when he faced some challenges managing
staff through change last year. He went back to the book and
realised they hadn’t spent enough time on building relational trust
with staff before implementing the changes. “It is so important to
embed change and bring staff alongside,” says Mike. “So we built
on this by attending a session run by Viviane. This certainly helped
to guide us through the process and look at how we could do things
differently.”
“One of the things about this book and what we have started
is that the potential is unlimited,” says Mike. “It is how you use it,
whether it is to start a professional discussion, or a reminder about
what it means to be a good leader. It is simple to read and gives
very good messages. There are few books you can read as an
educational leader in 2-3 hours and get a full picture of what you
should be doing.”
Michael agrees: “The key message for me is that our leadership
should be around raising student achievement. We have to manage
the school well, we have to do NZQA, we have to ensure the school
functions efficiently but the key to our leadership is to make sure we
are raising student outcomes and that we can verify what we are
doing.”
As a principal Mike feels it is important that professional
development opportunities like this are open to all teachers, and
this year he is planning to share what the leadership team have
learned with other teachers in the school. “I see leadership in
education every time a teacher walks into a classroom or into a
meeting,” he says. “Leadership is not bound by age or hierarchical
systems, it is bound by situation. We have teachers in the school
with incredible leadership capabilities. For me the value of StudentCentered Leadership is summed up in Viviane’s opening statement:
“The more leaders focus their leadership, their work, and their
learning on the core business of teaching and learning, the greater
will be their influence on student outcomes.”
Student Centered Leadership by Viviane Robinson is
available from Kohia Education Centre.
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student-centered-leadership
TE KUAKA ISSUE 1 2013
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