Critical Questions- Prompts:
Does my experience of leading and collaborating in my work context differ from what I have read about leadership and collaboration in relevant literature? No, in terms of the fundamentals of leading and collaboration:
and yes in terms of future focused learning.
How? The learners have to be at the heart of it all and that comes through our schools core values, essential agreements, principles and strategies for learning, and character-building dispositions.
These are drawn out through the following:
Learning Design: At Haeata Community Campus, instead of organising learning into subjects there are three main parts of our curriculum-
Puna Ako- a smaller learning group with range of ākonga and one kaiako used to plan and reflect on learning together
Kaupapa Ako- the topics and concepts that kaiako and ākonga develop learning together around
Ako Ako- A time where kaiako and ākonga are learning together in the various learnign spaces we provide- makerspaces, visual and performing arts, labs, gym etc
Personalised Learning: Our approach to learning acknowledges every learner and aspires to create a personal plan for them all, which is available for whanau to view at all times.
Personal Professional Development: There will always be challenges in teaching and learning in education. A collaborative practice culture needs to be strategically designed, developed and extended. That comes with its challenges and PPD helps to deal with changes, skill development, etc.
Whanau/Community Engagement: In this collaborative environment we are always looking for opportunities to inform and involve our whanau/community inside and outside of school life.
Health & Well-being: This is not just about the Health and Safety at Work act, a smoke-free environment or civil defence plan. It's about self development, safe practice, fitness and wellness and FUN for both learners and educators!
2. How well am I able to reflect on my own leadership in order to identify areas for development?
Personal Professional Development: Always good to use your strengths to your advantage but it's also important to acknowledge areas in which you need to develop. Having a critical friend or mentor is important for support, guidance and leadership development. There should also be on-going, regular time to reflect personally on your practice. The benefit also is being in the midst of fellow colleagues that are willing to learn, share and support you in your overall development.
3. To what extent does my own leadership reflect the leadership model endorsed by most of the leaders in my organisation?
The fact that you are supported in experimenting and/or trying new things with learning and leading.
Ideas are back mapped to the vision
Co-constructed and re-visited vision
Raise leaders to replace you
Push people and let them push others
4. How adept am I at assessing my own capacity for change and my organisation’s capacity for change?
As the aforementioned suggests, change is on-going because we are living in a world that is rapidly changing. Likewise in my practice, because each learner is different, they learn at different rates and have different interests. We can support them all to be successful, if we are willing to support learning in this way, to develop and manage their learning.
Analyse the Learning Outcomes for both courses and identify the specific competencies you think are needed to achieve each outcome:
I believe all of the competencies are necessary to achieve each outcome.
Then rank these competencies in order of priority, with the one you think you need to focus on or develop at the top:
Leadership in Practice (MLED8203)
Leadership approaches, models to support professional development and effective leadership and collaborative practice.
Collaboration in Practice (MLED8204)
Critically evaluate the importance of leadership to initiate, support and improve collaborative practice in the context of contemporary education practice.
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