Pedagogy

Professional Standards for Primary Principals

PEDAGOGY Create a learning environment in which there is an expectation that all students will experience success in learning.

Promote, participate in, and support ongoing professional learning linked to student progress. Demonstrate leadership through engaging with staff and sharing knowledge about effective teaching and learning in the context of the New Zealand Curriculum documents. Ensure staff members engage in professional learning to establish and sustain effective teacher/learner relationships with all students, with a particular focus on Māori students. Ensure that the review and design of school programmes is informed by school-based and other evidence. Maintain a professional learning community within which staff members are provided with feedback and support on their professional practice. Analyse and act upon school-wide evidence on student learning to maximise learning for all students, with a particular focus on Māori and Pasifika students.

Pedagogy: Knowledge about teaching and learning

Principals who foster an environment where there is an expectation that all students will experience learning success:

• participate in professional learning and are recognised as “leading learners” in their school
• are regarded and consulted as professional leaders with significant knowledge about teaching and learning
• have direct, hands-on involvement with curriculum design and implementation
• understand what teachers do and build a professional learning community that supports, challenges, and inquires into its own professional practice
• keep assessment for national qualifications at levels that are manageable and reasonable for students
• enable teachers to explore the links between their teaching practice and the learning of each student
• encourage innovative teacher practice linked to each student’s learning needs and outcomes
• demonstrate understanding of, and support all teachers to use, assessment for improving student learning
• ensure that teaching and learning programmes are informed by ongoing self-review and evaluation processes using student achievement data.

Successful schools are organised around learning. Their principals are knowledgeable about effective pedagogy and about what works for the individual needs of different students in their particular contexts. They are recognised in their schools for their professional knowledge and strength as pedagogical leaders. They involve the whole school community in setting clear goals for teaching and learning. They recognise that teacher learning is crucial to improving achievement and other valued outcomes for students. They create opportunities for professional learning communities to flourish throughout the school so that teachers can work collaboratively and share evidence-informed practice with each other (Coburn, 2003).