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Karen Johansen, Rongowhakaata, Te Aitanga a Mahaki, Ngai Tamanuhiri, Gisborne Girls High School Developing a Culture of Success

Leadership style Where we are at Where my ideas come from What we've been doing How do we know? Where to next?

Leadership style

"I see myself as a servant leader"

I am one of a team that empowers teachers and students to recognise and take up opportunities, and then steps back and celebrate their success. I see the school as part of the local community rather than as a separate organisation, and we strive to make connections locally, nationally and internationally.

My heart and soul are in this school. When I was at university considering my career options, I was prompted to return to school by my ex principal. She met me in the street and asked, "Karen, what are you doing? Come and see me in my office on Monday morning." One didn't say no! So I did. Suddenly, I found myself in a classroom and I was teaching. When the principal died she bequeathed her academic gown to me and it is still in my wardrobe. It reminds me of my destiny!

I'm very much wedded to the need to promote the education of women and to prepare the next generation who will continue running this country. I encourage forward thinking by using positive role models so that our students can envisage success in their future. I act as a one-woman publicity machine, continually promoting and celebrating our successes.

I lead with my heart as well as my head and I know what I value.

I'm hard working. I'm passionate. I love the school.

Reflective question

Use this question, and the page it links to, to guide your thinking about these issues.

1. Sergiovanni argues that schools are moral communities that are more akin to families. What leadership characteristics are needed to address schools as moral communities?

Where we are at

"We are a deeply bicultural community."

The challenge for me was to answer the needs of the community by bringing both Māori and Pākehā communities into the school, and by acknowledging that there are many pathways to follow, not just an academic one. Therefore one of our aims was to broaden the curriculum.

As many schools were doing when I became leader of the school, we too had spent a lot of time focusing on administrative things at our school and we had drifted away from our prime purpose – the student in the classroom.

Gisborne is an isolated region, and as such, presents a challenge. Refusing to be bowed down by that challenge, we decided to adopt a policy of internationalisation. So, I am continually looking around for opportunities to extend staff through professional development. I am like the Meer Cat on TV, head up scanning the horizon in every direction. I am constantly trying to seize opportunities to overcome what is an eminently over-comeable barrier.

We find that young women in our area are often unprepared for life in the classroom. So we have tried to create a pastoral safety net for them. This has taken considerable effort and we soon realised that we couldn't do this alone, so we invited community agencies to help.

Our school's culture is one of high expectation. It is summed up by our mantra: "Tall poppies bloom here". We have a climate of high expectations for ourselves, for our teachers, and for our students – and it's infectious. Wherever students are, whether it's on the sports field, performing in kapa haka, dabating, or reciting Shakespeare on stage, we remind them that they are tall poppies, and to hold their heads up high.

Our central strategy is that we never stop talking about ourselves; we market ourselves to the community and talk about ourselves all the time inside the school community. We create this climate of expectation. The community knows what we're doing. They understand more about what modern schools are doing. We celebrate our successes.

Reflective question

Use this question, and the page it links to, to guide your thinking about these issues.

1. How do you identify your school's culture? Are you optimising the potential of your school communities?

Where my ideas come from

"I try to empower people then step back and celebrate their successes."

My ideas come from a range of sources.

I model the leadership style of my grandfather. He taught me a lesson on humility when I was a student in 3rd form. I was talking about who I was, what I knew and how I didn't think I could possibly tell everything I knew in the allotted ten minutes. My grandfather put his arm around me and said "Darling, you just have to speak very slowly."

I've had a long apprenticeship as a deputy principal and, along with the principal at the time, we learned a great deal together. I believe also that my own school principal was a fine role model for me.

I'm an eclectic reader, and I don't model my self on any one theorist. When I've read a particular educational theory I tend to say, "Yes, I understand that is a good theory because I've tried it, and it's now in action."

I try to empower people then step back and celebrate their successes. Sergiovanni's theoretical idea of being the "servant leader" appeals to me.

Reflective question

Use this question, and the page it links to, to guide your thinking about these issues.

1. Much has been written on theories that link leadership, school culture to school effectiveness. Have you considered how these theories might relate to your school and community practice?

What we've been doing

"Students feel free to question and they feel free to make mistakes."

One of my jobs is to listen to what the community wants from the school. To meet the aim of broadening the curriculum, our goal is for all students to achieve, rather than aiming for the largest number of 'A' bursaries.

We track our student school leaders (Māori and Pākehā). Last year all of these leaders went into tertiary education or apprenticeships except for two. Today we have a top Bursary scholar, hairdressers, foresters, and lawyers. We have succeeded in developing a broader curriculum.

We have become more sensitive to the actual needs of our young women. We spend a great deal of time talking to our senior students, trying to match them with their career dreams, and then providing them with work experience. If their dream is to be a doctor, then we arrange for them to spend a day with a doctor.

To address our isolated situation, we have many international students in our school. We've also run more sausage sizzle raffles than you can imagine to raise funds to give our girls an opportunity to travel nationally and internationally.

We have successfully managed to bring community agencies into the school. This was a happy conjunction of initiatives. Along with several other schools in the area we share a cluster psychologist. We also have a health clinic complete with a GP for 1.5 days per week. In addition we have a number of social services running onsite.

Our school has a very dynamic learning support centre. Because we have worked very hard to create a mainstream centre for students with special needs, we are now a magnet school for these students. At this stage, we have 19 young women who are working successfully in this centre. The student body, as well as the staff, have embraced these young women, and they, in turn, have attained new levels of achievement. Some come into classrooms, some are enrolled for NCEA. They are young teenage women first, and disabled students second.

I believe this is a 21st century school. We all feel that we are rapidly heading along that path. The community understands our goal of having all of our students achieve a range of qualifications. The community now asks more questions and they want the school to be more accountable. I believe that schools too are much more student centred today, more flexible, and much more responsive than in the past. To be responsive we often have to take risks, trial new ideas, and stick our necks out. We find that we live in a permanent state of dissatisfaction with the status quo. Students now feel free to question just as they feel free to make mistakes.

Reflective question

Use this question, and the page it links to, to guide your thinking about these issues.

1. How do you, as leader, support the building of relationships that will help develop and enhance your school culture?

How do we know?

"Self-review is deeply embedded!"

At the heart of how we run the school is a complex cycle of self-review. We have documents saying what we believe and how we will activate those beliefs. On a regular basis we look at these policies and review our procedures. We talk about what we're doing and discuss the analyses of results. If, for example, we have a problem with senior absences, we sit and talk about it honestly and frankly. We identify who we can talk to in community to give us a hand, and then we review our current practices.

We can measure how well we are doing by the standard examination results and our performance against national benchmarks. At a school level, however, I measure the fact that we're doing a good job when students keep coming to the school or, for example, when former students come back to say, in appreciation, "schools days are the best days of your life".

I have conversations with people on the sports field or in car park where they say: "I really like what you are doing!" or "My daughter came home saying she really didn't like maths." This becomes part of our culture of reflection. I will talk to the teacher or the HOD and say "This is what I've heard – what's the other side of story." My job is to be like a traffic officer on points-duty and my job is to direct traffic to ensure that there is no road rage and that I optimise the traffic flow.

Where to next?

"We are trying to establish partnerships"

We work inside our strategic plan. One of our concerns is to improve Māori academic achievement. Two years ago we became part of trial to look at what success means in our school for our Māori students. Our definition of success is very broad.

We looked at the relationship with whānau, hapu, and iwi, and spent a great deal of time having new conversations with people (mostly younger Māori people in the community) about what they wanted the school to do for these students. Out of that grew a Māori student strategic plan. The members of the community involved in the trial now have an ongoing relationship with the school as the Komiti Awhina, which acts as a conduit for the community, and as an advisory group in partnership with the board of trustees. The strategic plan is the formal expression of that relationship.