A Revolution Needs Leaders
By Dr Bryan Cowling
Posted on 07 April 2009
All over the country, bureaucrats and a coterie of educational practitioners are working feverishly around the clock to flesh out the details of the National Partnerships between the Commonwealth and the States and Territories through which the next stage of Kevin Rudd’s ‘Education Revolution’ will be implemented by schools. There’s no doubt COAG (the Council of Australian Governments) is committed to making radical changes in school education over the next four years. The agenda is huge, expectations are very high and the speed with which COAG wants to see results is breath-taking.
Mind you, a lot of the things they want to achieve are long overdue and quite laudable. These include reducing the education disadvantage of Indigenous children, improving overall levels of literacy and numeracy, providing more support for students with special needs and setting high standards and expectations for all students. As a Christian educator, however, I cringe when the phrase ‘human capital’ is used in the official documents to describe the young people and teachers in our schools and ‘enhancing economic productivity’ is cited as the ultimate purpose of education.
I welcome the emphasis on enhancing the quality of teaching and learning and the recognition that an important contributor to this is the investment in the development of school leaders and support for school principals. Each of these aligns well with the Diocesan Education Policy endorsed by Synod in 2007.
The position of principal is pivotal to the tone and well-being of every school and it is recognised, at least in the rhetoric, as being critical to the success of Rudd’s education revolution. Principals are the gatekeepers to their school; they are the ones who shape and sustain the school’s culture; they are the face of the school to parents and the wider community. Their beliefs, values, priorities and character carry more weight and influence in the life of a school than any other person. This applies to government, Catholic, Anglican and other independent schools.
Yet across this nation, the number of teachers and middle-level school executives who aspire to be principals appears to be diminishing. There are lots of reasons for this. We cannot ignore it.
The Next Generation of Principals
As Christians, we want to see more schools led by men and women who are biblically-informed, whole-life disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, thoroughly grounded in a wholesome view of education. Men and women of such character and quality don’t just ‘turn up.’ They need to be developed and they need to see the principalship as an opportunity to serve as much as to lead and to bring honour and glory to God.
That’s why the Anglican Education Commission has begun a long-term project to identify, nurture and support the next generation of Christian educational leaders. Whilst there are many good courses that can be attended and many good books that can be read, the Commission’s goal is to facilitate access by the next generation of leaders to mentoring, coaching and networking that will help to prepare them to become authentically Christian leaders. Readers who know an aspiring Christian leader should encourage them to contact the Commission.
