Leading Edge

Kaua e mate wheke mate ururoa   

This whakataukī speaks to the tenacity of the hammerhead shark, symbolising resilience and determination. Just as the shark never gives up, we can draw inspiration for our mahi, mindsets, and drive to raise achievement and reduce disparity. Let your pursuits be guided by resilience, determination, and unwavering resolve. 

Build on your strengths and improve your ability to shape the transformation of teaching and learning in your kura.  

Join the Leading Edge programme to unlock your potential.  

Do you feel as though you have had little learning about how to strategically lead improvement?  

You’re not alone.  

Many middle and senior leaders are caught between leadership and classroom duties.   

We recognise how middle and senior leaders are caught between leadership and classroom duties.   

In this systematic, year-long partnership, you will attend a face to face 2-day workshop, followed by 6 online sessions working with a coach and a small group of fellow leaders to help you refine your leadership knowledge and enhance your leadership practice.   The year will conclude with a conference to celebrate your learning and strengthen your networks with fellow leaders.  

This programme will support you as you lead specific leadership challenges that are deeply connected to your kura’s annual plan and goals while maintaining your wellbeing and sustaining your passion for your job.  

The approach is deeply embedded in the middle leaders’ work and therefore very much designed in an Aotearoa context. The coaching iteratively addresses the challenges that middle leaders face when leading the improvement of teaching and learning. You can read the research conducted by one of our programme designers, Dr. Jacqui Patuawa, by visiting this link. This article might also be helpful.

This game-changing opportunity will elevate your leadership impact.  

Imagine a world in which you feel more:  

• equipped to troubleshoot and solve problems of practice relating to your goals  

• confident to use evidence-based tools to lead up-coming changes in curriculum, assessment, and qualifications  

• empowered to have important conversations and provide actionable feedback to teachers  

• emboldened to tackle tough issues and make significant progress in leading your team to improve teaching and learning?  

Who wouldn’t want to feel better equipped, more confident, more empowered, and more emboldened?  

You will learn to:

• use evidence-based tools to lead improvements in curriculum, assessment, and qualifications.  

• troubleshoot and solve problems of practice in relation to your goals.  

• navigate important conversations and provide actionable feedback to teachers.  

• tackle tough issues and make significant progress in leading your team to improve teaching and learning.  

• weave the leadership and cultural capabilities needed to help ākonga Māori thrive throughout.    

Structure

• 2-day interactive workshop, facilitated by expert leadership consultants.  

• 6 online sessions* with a coach and a small group of fellow leaders to build your ability to solve complex leadership problems.  

• 2 online master classes* with leading educational experts, including Professor Emeritus Viviane Robinson and Dr Melanie Riwai-Couch.  

• A conference to celebrate your learning and network with fellow leaders.  

* Coaching sessions and masterclasses will be scheduled in consultation with participants to find mutually convenient times. 

Leading Edge goes beyond disconnected theory and one-off tips. It focuses on real-world challenges.  

Following an initial 2-day face to face workshop, you will work with a small group of fellow leaders and a coach, to tackle specific leadership challenges that are directly aligned with the annual plan and goals of your kura or Kāhui Ako.  

Through tailored coaching, you'll gain insights into overcoming barriers and achieving progress in real-time, responding to the emerging needs of your team. Soon you’ll be leading effective teams like a seasoned leader.  

This isn't just professional development; it's a collaborative journey designed to empower you to lead improvement, raise achievement, and reduce disparity within your kura or Kāhui Ako.  

Here’s what education leaders say about our existing leadership programmes  

Your investment

This programme is $1550 + GST per person.

Who is this for?

• Deputy Principals, Assistant Principals, Associate Principals 

• Leaders of Learning (LOL) 

• Heads of Faculty (HOF) 

• Heads of Department (HOD) 

• Kāhui Ako Across School and Within School Teachers

• Deans  

• Team/syndicate leaders

Meet the co-designers

Dr Jacqui Patuawa  

Jacqui is passionate about supporting school leaders to help their schools achieve the best possible outcomes for all students and firmly believes that school improvement is impossible without quality leadership. Jacqui is a sought-after facilitator in New Zealand and internationally.  

With three decades as a classroom teacher, deputy principal, and principal in primary schools, Jacqui co-lead and mentored in the FTPP, has been a leadership adviser, and a facilitator and trainer at the Principals’ Development and Planning Centre. In 2010, she was presented with the NEITA Award for Excellence in Leadership.  

Her doctoral research suggests that when leaders focus on effective problem solving through conversations, it simultaneously improves practice and maintains relationships, which are explicitly linked to a focused goal or target setting, resulting in better outcomes for all students.  

Mel Stopford  

Mel is a skilled facilitator, coach, and mentor whose expertise lies in adult learning and leadership team development.   

Dedicated to helping leaders improve themselves and their teams Mel has been the project lead for the Unlocking Potential Principal Preparation Program at the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership in Australia since 2021.  

In New Zealand, Mel continues to work closely with Joan Dalton and David Anderson, a partnership that has spanned over 20 years. Mel leads the Leading Adult Learning Team of 10 facilitators from across Aotearoa. An accredited DiSC facilitator, Mel uses her DiSC expertise and deep knowledge of Joan Dalton’s Learning Talk material to enhance team effectiveness, helping leaders achieve strategic goals that were otherwise unattainable.  

Mary Chamberlain  

Mary is a thought leader in curriculum and one of New Zealand’s most highly respected educators. She has been a teacher, principal, and adviser to schools.  

With deep knowledge about what it takes to design an effective education system, Mary spent 10 years as a group and senior manager in the Ministry of Education, where she led the development of the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum.   

She was Chair of the 2018 Curriculum, Progress, and Achievement Ministerial Advisory Group that recommended the New Zealand Curriculum be refreshed and she was a member of the NZQA board from 2017-2023. Mary became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in 2012 for her services to education.  

She currently works with school leadership teams, Kāhui Ako and other organisations on education projects.  

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