title: Confidence and competence? The capacity of New Zealand Boards of Trustees to appoint highly effective school principals

authors: Morrison, Michele

subjects: school principals

abstract: Academics and lay persons alike freely acknowledge that principals exert enormous influence over the creation, maintenance and enhancement of the learning environment in schools. They recognise that a turbulent educational world presents principals with multiple challenges in sustaining the conditions necessary for student achievement, and that some principals are more successful in this endeavour than others.
This small-scale qualitative study uses a semi-structured interview process to gather data from five Chairpersons of Boards of Trustees who have appointed a principal within the preceding twelve months. The study discusses the professional capabilities that theoretical and empirical research suggests distinguish highly effective principals from capable performers. It adopts a bipartite approach to the literature, examining both academic understandings and the degree to which available official publications inform the thinking of Boards of Trustees prior to embarking on the principal appointment process. The study then explores the extent to which these understandings influence the decision-making of five Boards of Trustees in appointing a new principal.
Research findings reveal a dichotomy between the theory underpinning concepts of highly effective principals and the practice of Boards of Trustees in appointing a principal. Largely unaware of the academic literature and inadequately informed by official publications, Boards of Trustees adopt a problematic generic recruitment and selection process. Uncritical acceptance of the professional knowledge and standing of external consultants and misplaced trust in the advice they proffer leads Boards to proceed on a questionable perceptual basis. Secure in the knowledge that they have obtained the educational expertise they freely acknowledge they lack, Boards are further exposed to prevailing market discourses and internal prejudices which undermine their ability to identify and appoint a principal who possesses the capabilities necessary to exercise highly effective, contextually specific leadership.
This study suggests that the autonomy of Boards of Trustees in their role as employer be sustained but supported through the mandatory appointment of an appropriately qualified advisor and that the involvement of existing advisors be further scrutinized.

text: Confidence and competence? The capacity of New Zealand Boards of Trustees to appoint highly effective school principals Academics and lay persons alike freely acknowledge that principals exert enormous influence over the creation, maintenance and enhancement of the learning environment in schools. They recognise that a turbulent educational world presents principals with multiple challenges in sustaining the conditions necessary for student achievement, and that some principals are more successful in this endeavour than others.
This small-scale qualitative study uses a semi-structured interview process to gather data from five Chairpersons of Boards of Trustees who have appointed a principal within the preceding twelve months. The study discusses the professional capabilities that theoretical and empirical research suggests distinguish highly effective principals from capable performers. It adopts a bipartite approach to the literature, examining both academic understandings and the degree to which available official publications inform the thinking of Boards of Trustees prior to embarking on the principal appointment process. The study then explores the extent to which these understandings influence the decision-making of five Boards of Trustees in appointing a new principal.
Research findings reveal a dichotomy between the theory underpinning concepts of highly effective principals and the practice of Boards of Trustees in appointing a principal. Largely unaware of the academic literature and inadequately informed by official publications, Boards of Trustees adopt a problematic generic recruitment and selection process. Uncritical acceptance of the professional knowledge and standing of external consultants and misplaced trust in the advice they proffer leads Boards to proceed on a questionable perceptual basis. Secure in the knowledge that they have obtained the educational expertise they freely acknowledge they lack, Boards are further exposed to prevailing market discourses and internal prejudices which undermine their ability to identify and appoint a principal who possesses the capabilities necessary to exercise highly effective, contextually specific leadership.
This study suggests that the autonomy of Boards of Trustees in their role as employer be sustained but supported through the mandatory appointment of an appropriately qualified advisor and that the involvement of existing advisors be further scrutinized.

year: 2006

title: Missing men and unacknowledged women: Explaining gender disparities in New Zealand’s prime adult age groups 1986 – 2006

authors: Bedford, Richard

abstract: Questions concerning the widening disparity in numbers of males and females in the prime working age groups in New Zealand’s population have attracted attention from researchers and the media in recent years. This paper reviews some of the findings from research for a FRST-funded programme that has been investigating several inequalities based on gender and ethnicity in New Zealand’s population. The analysis here complements and extends that in our paper published in the New Zealand Population Review in May 2006. Our main finding is that a complex combination of issues related to the way our stock (census) and flow (arrival/departure) data are used to compile population estimates (the base for population projections), have contributed to exaggerating apparent gender disparities in the 20-49 year age groups at successive censuses. There is no single explanation for this, and the main new finding from our analysis is that gender disparities in the prime adult age groups in New Zealand’s population are as much a function of ‘unacknowledged women’ as of ‘missing men’.

text: Missing men and unacknowledged women: Explaining gender disparities in New Zealand’s prime adult age groups 1986 – 2006 Questions concerning the widening disparity in numbers of males and females in the prime working age groups in New Zealand’s population have attracted attention from researchers and the media in recent years. This paper reviews some of the findings from research for a FRST-funded programme that has been investigating several inequalities based on gender and ethnicity in New Zealand’s population. The analysis here complements and extends that in our paper published in the New Zealand Population Review in May 2006. Our main finding is that a complex combination of issues related to the way our stock (census) and flow (arrival/departure) data are used to compile population estimates (the base for population projections), have contributed to exaggerating apparent gender disparities in the 20-49 year age groups at successive censuses. There is no single explanation for this, and the main new finding from our analysis is that gender disparities in the prime adult age groups in New Zealand’s population are as much a function of ‘unacknowledged women’ as of ‘missing men’.

year: 2010

title: Taunakitia Te Marae: A Te Arawa perspective of Marae wellbeing: Final Report

authors: Tiakiwai, Sarah-Jane

abstract: In collaboration with Nga Pae o te Maramatanga, Waikato Tainui College for Research and Development and Te Kotahi Research Institute, Te Arawa Tangata conducted a research project named Taunakitia Te Marae, aimed at understanding and enhancing the wellbeing of Te Arawa marae. The research took a marae-centred view of how marae can foster and support Te Arawa hapū and iwi wellbeing and development.

text: Taunakitia Te Marae: A Te Arawa perspective of Marae wellbeing: Final Report In collaboration with Nga Pae o te Maramatanga, Waikato Tainui College for Research and Development and Te Kotahi Research Institute, Te Arawa Tangata conducted a research project named Taunakitia Te Marae, aimed at understanding and enhancing the wellbeing of Te Arawa marae. The research took a marae-centred view of how marae can foster and support Te Arawa hapū and iwi wellbeing and development.

year: 2015