New Zealand Principals: Autonomy at a Cost

Can professional development of teachers reduce disparity in student achievement?

“…In addition, schools and teachers within the New Zealand context are highly autonomous relative to schooling systems internationally (Hanushek, Link, & Woessmann, 2013;Wylie, Cosslett, & Burgon, 2016). Since 1989, individual schools have been independent, self-managing administrative units.…”

“…Boards are elected on a three-yearly cycle, and are responsible for the overall running and performance of the school. Teaching staff numbers (including teacher aides and special education staffing) are determined nationally and funding is allocated by the Ministry of Education, but each board is individually responsible for hiring staff, allocating operational funding and ensuring the budgets are met (Wylie et al, 2016). In addition, while there is a national curriculum, it is only a framework and each school creates and revises its own curriculum, drawing on this framework.…”

Making work private: Autonomy, intensification and accountability

“…This reform has often been referred to as 'tight-loose-tight' (Fiske and Ladd, 2001), with the 'managerial' principal steered from the centre through national legislation (Court and O'Neill, 2011), including curriculum statements and performance measures. Wylie et al (2016) argue the role of the public school principal in NZ is particularly diverse, including the administration and staffing of schools, and oversight of school property, finances, employment and student learning and achievement. Data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) suggest that NZ principals spend more time on administration and less time on supervising and evaluating teachers compared to principals in other countries (Wylie et al, 2016).…”

“…Wylie et al (2016) argue the role of the public school principal in NZ is particularly diverse, including the administration and staffing of schools, and oversight of school property, finances, employment and student learning and achievement. Data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) suggest that NZ principals spend more time on administration and less time on supervising and evaluating teachers compared to principals in other countries (Wylie et al, 2016).…”

Learning for principals: New Zealand secondary principals describe their reality

“…There is also considerable literature that addresses the support needed for the organizational socialization of beginning principals (Bengston, 2014; Matthews and Crow, 2010). However, there appears to be little research that explores the ongoing needs of principals beyond the first two years in the role, suggesting that by that time it is expected they will have learned the knowledge, values and dispositions related to the role in their particular setting (O’Neill and Glasson, 2018; Wylie and Burgon, 2016).…”