Moving into this new New Zealand curriculum paradigm (you know, the one that needs to be implemented by 2010!) we are going to need strong and effective pedagogical leadership.  This will take courage from school leaders to develop plans for what amounts to significant change in teachers’ beliefs, values and of course, practice.  Successful curriculum implementation, including all of those wonderful curriculum frameworks being developed by schools around the country, will not occur without these shifts in teachers values, beliefs and practice.  Also none of this will happen unless it (the change) is planned for and actioned with a great deal of critical reflection (in my humble view).

So what do we do to get ourselves ready for New Zealand Curriculum implementation?  I have chosen 4 key ideas to explore briefly in this post…

1. Involving teachers as ‘experts’.

School leaders need to involve teacher leaders as ‘experts’ and principals should acknowledge this expertise and build on it through strategic decision making and providing opportunity for staff to be involved, not only in the delivery of PD, but in the planning for change in teacher values, beliefs and practice.

2. Communication of the goals and plans

These plans and associated goals need to be clearly communicated with staff and communities.  Time frames should be set and specific indicators should inform evaluation and reflection on progress and reviews of plans.

3. Make it a ‘lifestyle’ change

What we are talking about here is a major cultural change in schools, not simply another ‘thing to do’.  Much like the dieting analogy (you’ve probably heard this one)… this is not a change to your diet… it is a change to your lifestyle!  You need to change more than your curriculum for there to be successful integration.  This needs alignment to school vision, policy, strategy, pedagogy, values and beliefs, plus many other big and minor players.

4. Involvement of the principal

The school principal needs to lead by example here.  Be passionate about the changes, model effective practice and take pride in the achievements (and failures), and never take your eyes of the prize… improved learning outcomes for students.  Principals need to participate in all of the professional development and communicate with, and involve stakeholders (teachers included) in how things are going.  Plus being the coach to support everyone through the process at the individual and collective levels.  The principal is the driver of the change, this shouldn’t be confused for being the ‘imposer’ of the change.

The school is a ‘place of learning’ and as such all learners (adults too) need to feel empowered and be ‘enabled’ to engage with the curriculum and for the curriculum developments.  As I stated earlier, this development must be based firmly on quality teacher values, beliefs and practice and where possible helping teachers change their own paradigms (as Stephen Covey states – in order to change someone’s behaviour, you need to look first to change their paradigm).

I will add more about this later… it seems to be evolving the more I think about it.