Improving School Leadership Activity Education and Training Policy Division http://www.oecd.org/edu/schoolleadership DIRECTORATE FOR EDUCATION IMPROVING SCHOOL LEADERSHIP COUNTRY BACKGROUND REPORT FOR NEW ZEALAND This report was prepared for the New Zealand Ministry of Education for the OECD Activity Improving School Leadership following common guidelines the OECD provided to all countries participating in the activity. Country background reports can be found at www.oecd.org/edu/schoolleadership. New Zealand has granted the OECD permission to include this document on the OECD Internet Home Page. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the national authority, the OECD or its Member countries. The copyright conditions governing access to information on the OECD Home Page are provided at www.oecd.org/rights 1 CONTENTS Index of tables ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Index of Figures .................................................................................................................................. 4 Chapter One – The national context of schooling ............................................................................... 5 1.1 Economic, social and cultural background ........................................................................ 5 1.2 Broad population trends ..................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Economic and labour market trends with implications for schools ................................... 7 Chapter Two – Description of the school system ................................................................................ 9 2.1 Structural features of the school system ............................................................................ 9 2.2 Availability of public and private resources .................................................................... 13 2.3 Governance and regulatory framework............................................................................ 14 2.4 Goals and objectives of the school system....................................................................... 15 2.5 Teacher unions and professional associations ................................................................. 16 2.6 Public perceptions ............................................................................................................ 17 Chapter Three – School governance and leadership ......................................................................... 18 3.1 How school leadership is conceptualised......................................................................... 18 3.2 The regulatory framework ............................................................................................... 20 3.3 Challenges faced by school leadership ............................................................................ 21 3.4 Distribution of decision making between government and schools................................. 24 3.5 Governance structure of schools ...................................................................................... 26 3.6 Division of responsibility between governance and management ................................... 27 3.7 Autonomy, transparency and responsibility..................................................................... 28 3.8 Organisation and leadership structures ............................................................................ 29 3.9 Relative weighting of different leadership responsibilities .............................................. 30 3.10 Collaborative networks .................................................................................................... 31 3.11 Schools' role in community service and development ..................................................... 32 3.12 Leadership competencies across different types of schools ............................................. 32 3.13 Core competencies ........................................................................................................... 32 3.14 Recent innovations in school leadership .......................................................................... 34 Chapter Four – Enhancing learning and school leadership ............................................................... 36 4.1 The quality of teaching, learning and assessment ............................................................ 36 4.2 The role of leadership in developing policies for teaching, learning and assessment ..... 37 4.3 School accountability ....................................................................................................... 38 4.4 Processes for monitoring students' behaviour, learning and outcomes ............................ 39 4.5 Processes for monitoring curriculum delivery and implementation ................................ 41 4.6 Teaching responsibility of school leaders ........................................................................ 42 4.7 Instituted processes for teacher observation, peer coaching and mentoring .................... 42 4.8 Evaluating teacher performance ...................................................................................... 43 4.9 Teacher professional development .................................................................................. 45 4.10 Leadership and promotion of learning ............................................................................. 45 4.11 Contexts and conditions for learning centred leadership ................................................. 47 4.12 Policy initiatives which support learning-centred leadership .......................................... 47 4.13 Future policy priorities to support learning centred leadership ....................................... 48 Chapter Five – The attractiveness of school leaders' roles ................................................................ 50 5.1 Supply and quality of school leaders ............................................................................... 50 5.2 Monitoring the supply and demand of school leaders ..................................................... 51 5.3 Number and composition of school leaders ..................................................................... 52 5.4 Disincentives to school leadership ................................................................................... 53 5.5 Candidates for school leadership ..................................................................................... 54 5.6 Processes for filling school leadership positions ............................................................. 54 5.7 Employment Agreements ................................................................................................. 55 5.8 Evaluation of school leaders ............................................................................................ 55 5.9 Salary scales ..................................................................................................................... 56 5.10 Comparison of salaries, financial and non-financial rewards with other professions ...... 57 5.11 Duration of tenure ............................................................................................................ 58 2 5.12 Retention .......................................................................................................................... 58 5.13 Retirement age ................................................................................................................. 59 5.14 Succession ........................................................................................................................ 59 5.15 Policy initiatives to support recruitment and retention .................................................... 59 5.16 Future policy planned to support recruitment and retention ............................................ 60 Chapter Six – Training and professional development of school leaders ......................................... 62 6.1 Policy concerns ............................................................................................................... 62 6.2 Pathways to school leadership ......................................................................................... 63 6.3 Requirement for school leadership .................................................................................. 64 6.4 Regulatory framework and legislation for school leadership preparation ....................... 64 6.5 Agencies and organisations involved in the regulatory framework ................................. 64 6.6 Support and induction ...................................................................................................... 65 6.7 Professional development options ................................................................................... 65 6.8 Professional development requirements .......................................................................... 66 6.9 Features of school leadership preparation and development ........................................... 66 6.10 Policy initiatives to improve the quality of school leadership preparation ...................... 67 6.11 Priorities for future policy development .......................................................................... 68 6.12 Recent innovations ........................................................................................................... 68 Chapter