$250,000 to Centre for education leadership

A Centre for Education Leadership Excellence is to be established to build leadership across the education system, Education Minister Hekia Parata announced today.

The centre will be established by the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, the newly formed professional body for teachers, and will be partially funded by the Ministry of Education which is contributing $250,000 to its set-up costs. Its initial focus will be the principals who have been selected to lead the new Communities of Learning established to foster systematic collaboration across the education system.

“I am particularly pleased that the Education Council will be leading professional development for this group of principals,” Ms Parata says. “The Council was established to raise the quality and status of the teaching profession and this is a practical demonstration of how it plans to fulfil its mandate.

“Research tells us that quality leadership is one of the two most important in-school influences on student learning. Growing leadership capability across our education system will make a material difference to student engagement and achievement.”

Ms Parata says the new centre will strengthen links between early learning centres, schools and education researchers in tertiary institutions.

One of its first tasks will be to work with the achievement challenge leaders of Communities of Learning.