Grammar Gazette- Issue 2, 1997

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^antiess New Lead r in'ID Setting the scene uniq"e and subst",,, iai contributions to Ihe welfare of society. As we have seem, the growing importance of ed"calfo, I, Ihe central role given to Ie@ming. is ino

We are living in a period of unprecedented change. The prediction of A1vin Tomer in F"mre Snort and The Third W@ve as wein as Marshall MCLuhan's global vnlage have become a reality. Each day we are reminded of the tremendous impact that technology is making on the socio-economic frameworks in which we have fuictioned for so many years The world is now either local or global - there is nothing in between and our children with a click, become citizens of that world. Change for our young people is an accepted way of life. As educational leaders how can we keep pace with change and the impact it has on our students?

Adapted from a paper delivered by Judith A Hancock, chair of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia, Sixth Biennial Conference, Hobart, 21 August, 1997

guard", ee that schools will keep a priority place. For that. they must show that what they cam do cannot be matched by other

means

A. the 1995 AmSA Conference in Addaide, 10hii Abbott challenged us to focus on how we should approach educating people for the changing environment in which w find ourselves He gave us a clear insight into the paradigm shi 'n contemporary human altars and called on us to recognise that

in responding to such pressures management of our sthoo s has bcco increasingly complex, but uniformimtely, at times deflected us from oar raison d'etre. While

dimension into the focal educational context of the institution

Herein lies our first challenge. in the

national interest 11

no-one w atgu that school management should not reflect good

Is Imperative uirless we respond proactiveIy to these that reamties, schools as we know them, might education be part of the problem in the cry for and educational reform especially cumculum His latest efforts to develop a blueprint decision for education are based upon the best making do research and development into the nature not tau of learntng and examine the implications into the for education, work and the development hands of of cornununities world-wide. those who

Since their inception, largely during the

business

last cerium, schools as we know them an the way teachers teach have remained practices and that we can relatively unchanged, despite learn from the extraordinary transfonnaiions in society, business technology and the way students Iconi secior, we IBM captured this perception of the must never relatively static nature of schooling with an advertisement it placed in the United forget that our core States in 1994, prior to the release of its business is a blueprint for school refonn, Reinve", ing uruque ER"cado". it highlights the unchanged process with nadire of classroom structures and uruque delivery when everything else around is

simply equale roomal education with

This of coarse de rids on how one describes the curriculum. This is the problem inherent in plainimg for an essentially unkiiown tutore. despite the speculation of futurists. There are thos who believe that ther are some elements CMr, ic"!"in designed for a paper and palci! technology. If yo" ch@,, ge the feeh"o108y. then Ihe CMm'ci, !am and inner, else Jin"s also change John continues to challenge us with the concept that good schools alone win never be good enough to meet challenges of the 21st Ceriumy - a sobentig thought indeed. in summary he argues that we are still living wirh Ih@t

outcomes focusing on developing the hearts, minds and bodies of Ih young

vocational willing. Work is vital. jobs are a prime necessity, but hopefully there to human life than ajob! Is ino One often fears that those pushing coltonnist, comumtist and laissez-faire outtook of econointc rationaltsm, s ro ti aschoo systemw to resnot give students a broad perspective and the abUity to question an critique

changing, and is a sobering reminder of the realities in many schools both

people coriumitted to our care

nation any and internationally

This requires very special talents only to be round in the professional and highly s also demands that trained educator school admitstmtors are f more good As leaders in our field we managers cannot abdicate oar professional responsibilities in this area and must endeavour to ensure that whatever is decided reflects educational values and directions for the future

On the other hand. there have been major changes in the way we try to increase our school efficiency. Daring the 1980s we began to embrace the concept of excellence in schooling, as Hedley Beam at at (1989 p21) remind us, was based upon an international, economic concept focussing on market forces. According to Beam, lunar scliools rook 11p 111e issues of etcel!e"ce. it was in file conlexi of serving clie"Js, i, ,CFe"sip, g pmd"clipity. yeso"Fee ,, kindge", e, ,, styles, ,""rket "ICJies. deco, mmbi"ty to 5/@keho!ders. edi, carto, , us in, export commodity. ed"cations' co, 11nb, ,lion to the natto, in eco, ,0, ,Iy. ",, d being re$po, wipe to ,, I@rket forces

The National Association of Secondary

School

ipals in the United States of of cumculum as weU as som values America, in parmership with the Carnegie which are eternally valid and that without Foundation for the Advancement of them we win create a desolate tiltirre Schools do not exist simply to perpetuale Teaching, took up this challenge in 1995 which does not ensure the flexibitity and effective organisational structure or to when members recognized that as those adaptability needed in a post-modem achieve efficient fiscal management. The responsible for the day-to-day opemtions world leadership demanded is more essentially o their schools. they needed to develop a about promoting the flowering of the plan for educational refonn rather than individual human spint and accept what was being imposed on them encoumging students to question, critique, challenge, and even resist current Peter Senge in 1996 challenged us in a sinitlar way to Abbott, when he stated that perhaps o11r instr", 110, is a, Id lenderslijp The result is definitive study of what they dye. by and large. gin, ,"ded I, , a way of

The increasing tendency 10 see schools essentially as businesses 100 often in the ideological, economic and SOCietal w financial sense, is reflected in the assumptions. As Romans 12:2, reminds us, Do ,10, be co, !Ibrmed to Ihis world. bi,

believ are the key elements essential to Ihi, Iki, ,g abo, ,, Ihe M. ond 11/01 is reform of America's schools. The report, I, ICreasi, 18n, obsoleie a, ,d coll"re, - Bredki, Ig Ranks: Cl, tinging @11 America, I prodi, cling. Perlmps Inat is I'llv we itr instr, ", ion. highlights the need for Jani"g apa, r. Whai is lasting in this consistency and stability of leadership in perspective, however, is the way in which schools, panicularly if any individual Ih importance of continuity between the school is serious about making a past. present and future appears to be of difference little considemtion and is indeed at times overlooked

which way in many members of governing bodies approach their roles. Although legally directors of the relevant incorpomtedbody, many fail to understand the importance of the professional educatorfor the success of the school While many governing bodies endeavour to appoint leaders with vision to take the school into the future, the

The leadership is about promoting the flowering of the human spirit and encouraging students to question, critique, challenge, and even resist current ideological, economic and SOCietal assumptions

The recommendations apply to any type of school whether it be independent or state and demonstrates the value of pro active co-operation between sectors and shared vision for future action Do we as educators feel as strongly about school futums in this country? How can we use our collective vision 10 strengthen AUStra"an schools? This chaUenge was reinforced by Professor Phil"p Hughes at the recent Chatmien of Governors Conference in May o this year

The new is not necessarily better. Change is not a vime in itself and can only be considered so if it leads to overall Minq"errio"ing aceep!@,, ce of received wisdo"I is no longer relevant in the world we find Dunelves <1995, p447) Feline Feinandez-Amiesto notes in Millennium. a recent history of the last thousand years, that learning in the western tradition, based on old cert@intres of traditional discipline, obedience and

be Iransy'Dame by Ihe renewal of yo"r in, ..

management role appears to remain paraniount in the majority of oar schools.

it our schools

to help students

Worse SIi", such attitudes are supported

effectiveIy embrac Ih future, we must by those with major input into government policy. Take David Kamin's be leaders who appreciate Ih challenging realities, but also appreciate the impact report E"rerunsing Natto, , which that these realities win have on our reviewed private sector business practices, charges. This demands that the school and the Inliner Report on Coin tinon leader is free 10 set the vision and Policy. They are perceived by many in priorities for the schools putsu the core government and the educational and business of the school and. in partnership wider community as relevant to all sectors with other professionals incorpomte the of private enterprise, including the broader, non-academic management independent school sector

improvement. We need therefore to be able to plan, shape and direct desired change and resist what is undesired 11 is ,10 exagger", I " to say Inat then, ,I, re change. Perhaps that is what leadership is of schools as we know Ihe, " is in do"bt all about, in contrast to passively Like all o"r instrmiio, is. as o"r society managing imposed change

reinuents iise!I: alter is ino g""runtse of conri"nity. All our IFisti",!tolls nave to prove filemselves capable of, ,Iaki"g

For those who remain confident that what

GRAMMAR GAZETTE OCTOBER 1997 - Page 10