Jan 31, 2025
My interest was sparked by a friend’s daughter, an industrial engineer, who works for one of the big four accounting firms. She accepted a transfer from Johannesburg to Dublin this January. What interested me was that she had been headhunted with the sole purpose of training corporate professionals to collaborate smarter, and, importantly, faster. That’s her job; teaching collaboration to highly trained, certified accountants.
Collaboration is a skill listed in nearly all advertisements, and, strangely, we all think it’s something we can do well. That’s, actually, quite far from the truth. As an example, carefully peruse this modern advertisement:
‘Project Manager: This role requires collaborating with cross-functional teams, stakeholders and clients to deliver projects on time, within budget, and to the required quality standards.’
Those three phrases – ‘on time’, ‘within budget’ and ’required quality standards’ are the real challenges which make the collaboration so vitally important. They ring true for school leaders, teachers and even Moms and Dads.
In a school sense, collaboration means working together with other teachers with a view to enhancing classroom practice. This means talking not only about what exactly will be done, but how something will be taught – ensuring total mastery of the content and the skills involved, sharing resources like flash cards, worksheets and online material.
In many schools, classrooms tend to be silos. Too many teachers walk into the classroom, shut the door and tend to their own learners irrespective of their own content proficiency and teaching prowess. I suggest you read the 2018 Needu Report, ‘Breaking the Walls of Classrooms through Teacher Collaboration : How do top-performing schools turn a teacher’s best practice into a school-wide best practice?’
When a novice teacher is hired in Grade 1, the most important challenge is learning to do the right thing – the best methodology for the context in question. That’s a huge ask which requires the total support and involvement (the collaboration) of the school’s collective foundation phase capital. It needs to be shared quickly, like daily, openly and very practically. It’s not just about what we are going to teach in Grade 1 next week, but how best we are going to teach it. That is collaboration and its often more useful than any professional development workshop, because it focuses on active teaching practice in the classroom at hand. Successful collaboration makes an instant impact. Teachers are better prepared, more confident and effective.
Teachers who are natural collaborators are gold. I love Shulman and Shulman’s definition of an accomplished teacher – one who is ready (possesses vision), willing (is motivated), able (knowing and able to do), reflective (learns from experience) and communal (part of a professional community). Do you have such priceless teachers? Encourage them to add value to your department as a whole.
In my experience, it takes one department and a switched-on portfolio head in the school to lead the way. Our best subject team was a group of experienced Grade 12 Mathematics teachers, who, having to teach five Gr 9 classes between them one year, got together for a weekly collaboration where they refreshed their knowledge of the next week’s work, did the teaching individually out loud, each did a few exercises and shared best practice. They walked out ready, willing, able and reflective and far better off because of their communal commitment. Their learners were the actual winners.
One of South Africa’s biggest education issues is the competence of its system – what percentage of Gr 6 or Gr 9 Mathematics teachers demonstrate – in a professional assessment – a fair ability to themselves master the concepts they are teaching? Even in Gr 6 it’s less than half and there are genuine historical explanations. Collaboration which focuses on how best to teach a concept is the most effective local option in pursuing quality teaching in any grade.
I serve two special schools: Molenbeek – in the grounds of Alexandra Hospital; and Mary Harding School in Athlone. They are experts in a beautifully different form of collaboration. Members of an inclusive learning community – class teacher, principal or representative, perhaps a family member as well as occupational-, speech- and physio- therapists combine their efforts to plan and implement strategies in the best interest of an individual child’s needs. Such collaboration may not only be life-changing; it builds trust, brings together different skills and experience, keeps everyone on the same page and boosts a child’s social and learning engagement.
You’re the principal. If you want to promote collaborative practice in your school, you have to lead by example. Celebrate the sort of collaboration you want by recognising and highlighting it when you see it in action. Openly champion a culture of mutual respect which puts workplace politics aside in the interests of better outcomes.
I became a better principal by collaborating with other schools and their principals. I was in another principal’s office a few times every month of my decades-long principalship. All good doctors, engineers or teachers know that no one person or organisation has all the answers.
Stronger together, as Rassie would say.
Paul
Coach/Mentor
The Principals Academy Trust
No: 02/25
31 January 2025
Video link: https://youtu.be/C3l-XqUC0Ik
Jan 10, 2025
I like to think that the process of coming back from a summer holiday is somewhat like reconditioning a bus with a new battery, an oil change, clean filters, re-upholstered seats, re-treads and a navigation software upgrade. Ready for another hundred thousand kilometres.
The driver has been mentally readied for the new journey – it took a few days – but, first stop is picking up the staff. They leave the holiday spirit at the bus stop and are welcomed into the freshness, excitement and positivity of a reconditioned bus. The 2025 bus route is well-planned, well sign-posted, crystal clear and aimed at an agreed destination.
The principal in me marvelled at the reconditioning – actually, the return to glory – of the Notre Dame in Paris at year end using the best of our civilisation, generosity and special skills. I had been in the Cathedral just months before the 2019 fire. I know I’m stretching it a bit, but a school is as much a beacon of hope to a community in need as that cathedral is to the diverse and currently divided French nation.
I certainly get that feeling driving into schools I have served, like Dunoon Primary, Sinenjongo High in Marconi Beam, Welwitschia Primary in Delft or Siyazakha Primary in Browns Farm. Notre Dame may have cost nearly a billion dollars to restore to its remarkable splendour, but your very own centre of excellence in Khayelitsha shines a light which is priceless. School leaders are the architects of that climate of hope and achievement. Learners must be able to buy into the credible imagery of a school that inspires futures just like that cathedral. Not only should a school be a place of beauty, but every classroom in this cathedral should be a source of inspiration.
Remind every teacher of the importance of lesson number one in 2025. In that first twenty minutes, Prof Jonathan Jansen reminds us, the learners should notice: this teacher knows her thing, this teacher is fully prepared. He knows where we’re headed this year, this term, this week. This teacher exudes and instils confidence. In the years to come learners will recall that phenomenal classroom atmosphere and the wonderful way each individual was made to feel. That’s what great teaching is.
A new year offers teachers – novice and experienced – the chance to up aspects of their game especially their classroom management skills, their teaching techniques and their effective use of baseline assessment. You either start well or you invite mediocrity.
Ask yourself: was any teacher at your school or in your department a better teacher in 2024 because of you? That’s the idea of instructional leadership and that’s not just the role of the principal, but of every team leader in the school. Actually, most teachers report that they become better teachers because of the example, inspiration and expertise of peers usually within their phase or subject.
Going into 2025, goals are important: goals about self, family, work. Planning for the future – the weeks and months ahead – is infinitely better than looking back with regret. This week I read in the Wall Street Journal about a 71-year-old guy, Ron Shaich, who writes, not new year resolutions, but ‘premortems’. He looks ahead to his final days and wants to have a sense of completion, peace and, most importantly, self-respect. So, he asks himself what he can do now to ensure that. He has been doing premortems since the 1990s. His book is entitled ‘Know What Matters’.
High schools should be ready for NSC results day on Tuesday. Everyone should know their part – the photocopiers, the collection desk operators, the help desk experts, the official record keepers, the good story writers. Don’t hide any disappointments. Own them. Analyse the implications of those weaker subject results and the performance of your statistical neighbours (those schools closest to you in context). Break them down to key learning opportunities.
On Monday and Tuesday teachers will be in and out of the staffroom and meeting venues, but on Wednesday those seats should be empty from early till late as teachers engage learners from arrival to assembly points, to classrooms with register teachers, to a planned programme and to timetable in place. No teacher or assistant should be waiting for things to happen. Weak links on day one place that all-important climate at risk.
This week I scrolled upon US principal Chanavia Patterson, a champion of women in school leadership, who used her favourite holiday binge on the newly added Netflix movie – Six Triple Eight – to turn five key quotes from Major Charity Adams into Lessons in Leadership for Back-to-School professional development and team meetings. I have watched the movie – the true story of the first and only Women’s Army Corps unit of colour to serve overseas in WW11 as they overcame sexism, racism and gruelling conditions to serve their country. All this just to share Patterson’s lesson from Adams, but I think it’s worth the extra words:
‘As school leader, your team is always watching you – your decisions, your actions, your leadership. This is the responsibility we signed up for. It’s time to own it. Your leadership sets the tone for the team, so lead with confidence, integrity and purpose. They’re watching, and what they see will inspire how they show up.’
Just remember, you are the driver of that bus. You have your hand on that lever. Yes, YOU are the lever for change in the school. Drive safely, but get to your destination on time.
Paul
Coach/Mentor
The Principals Academy Trust
No: 01/25
09 January 2025
Video link: https://youtu.be/0L7AOyZrxM4
Nov 29, 2024
This newsletter outreach to principals started when COVID hit in 2020 and so it was called Keeping in Touch in Tough Times. Well, it’s more than four years later and times are undoubtedly still tough. We still need massive personal and professional support, and the Principals Academy has shown it has the insight, integrity and expertise to help principals become the kind of school leaders South Africa desperately needs right now.
Going Forward – is what makes a school relevant and successful. I wrote recently to the principals I coach, ‘One day your photo will be on the wall in the passage because the school chose YOU to take it FORWARD.
This letter is a joint effort by my colleague coaches and my partner principals to share observations on 2024 and ideas for 2025 which you can use as you reflect or as you prepare that end of year staff hour or that first staff session of next year. These perceptions are from practitioners who currently manage schools in the Western Cape or visit and mentor five or six principals per week in their busy offices. Interrogate the points below to take your school forward.
One of the deputies I coach, Monia Lewis, who finished her UCT GSB year on Saturday writes, ‘My key objective as Deputy will be to optimise record-keeping processes and improve classroom management techniques ensuring a more efficient, effective and supportive learning environment for learners and their teachers.’ I love the focus of her goals for the new year.
Another graduate, Sharon Poole, challenges us all by simply saying, ‘I’m looking forward to 2025 with my newfound knowledge and experience.’ Are you looking forward to 2025? Perhaps this time next month!
One principal highlighted an issue we all recognise ‘2024 taught me not to get hooked by staff personal agendas. Stay focused on the goals and do not get distracted by the noise.’
Another principal, Isaac Morkel, has committed his staff to a ‘collaborative, focused, target-driven push for academic and holistic prowess in 2025 through planned actions, diplomatic finesse and a whole lot of elbow grease’. Nothing about getting better is easy.
Coach Gavin Fish noted, ‘Take time to reflect on what went well in the year past and plan to build on it in 2025. Our default position is the Negativity Bias where we tend to remember the unpleasant, our “failures” and frustrations. Find time to celebrate the good and, if you are battling to remember such, ask a trusted colleague or three.’
Our CEO, Keith Richardson, reminds us that health initiatives – especially as a result of COVID – have shown us the potential of working together. What can we improve in our schools if principals work together? I cannot stress this more.
He also makes the point that AI is going to revolutionise education. It provides amazing tools for teachers in any setting. Are we ready for it? Have we interacted with teachers who are using AI to take teaching and learning to new levels? How open and flexible are we, as principals, to exploring AI, to encouraging and supporting teachers who lead the way.
The most common comment from coaches was on the importance of staff collaboration and the power of teamwork. Midge Hilton-Green stressed the continual development (and acknowledgment) of staff, both individually and as a team, in a way that is on-going, monitored and measured. There can be nothing haphazard about the subject-specific, technological and team aspects of readying teachers for today’s educational challenge.
In my experience subjects flourish at a school in direct proportion, not only to the quality of the teachers but, more specifically, to the quality of leadership and accountability of the subject head and the lead collaborators in each of the grades. Subject or literacy or numeracy improvement is an intensive weekly drive to plan, to put in the time and to master and monitor the skills required.
Gregg King, coach and former principal and circuit manager, urges principals to pace themselves so as not to get bogged down in red tape and administration. That pacing is important to invest enough time in building positive staff relationships, in making ‘me’ time for themselves and supporting their staff – teaching and non-teaching – to do the same. It is important for their mental health and longevity in education, he says.
This time last year I wrote a letter entitled ‘Lessons from the Springboks to the Staff Team’. Alan Clarke, author of the PAT 2025 Planning Document, stresses that John Hattie, New Zealand’s most highly respected educationist, confirms that ‘Collective Teacher Efficacy’ is strongly correlated to improved learning outcomes. Use Rassie’s amazing ability to ingrain this concept in the entire Springbok squad as what needs to happen in every grade team, phase team, subject team, portfolio and school management team. I repeat that word ‘team’ on purpose. It’s the basis of collective efficacy and the most necessary step for going forward. And don’t just stick to the Springboks. How about Saturday’s Carling Cup Final where Mogesi FC beat Sundowns? Thanks for a telling point, Alan.
I loved Deloitte Africa CEO Ruwayda Redfeam’s speech at the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies Awards Dinner last week. ‘Tonight is not just about recognition of business excellence and outstanding achievements of companies and individuals – it’s about celebrating and acknowledging the journey that got you here. We recognise that behind every achievement is a story of grit, resilience, and often the courage to fail, but most importantly to keep going when things are tough.’
We all agree, times are tough, but our country needs genuine leadership at every level. You are that leader. The country’s future is in your hands. End your year off on a high and send your staff off to rest, recharge and return with energy and enthusiasm.
Till 2025.
Paul
Coach/Mentor
The Principals Academy Trust
No: 16/24
27 November 2024
Oct 9, 2024
How many senior managers do municipalities or government departments appoint in a year? Many hundreds, I’m sure. What percentage of these will prove to be above average performers? About 50%, I suppose. And how many will become super effective leaders?
South Africa appoints about 1000 principals a year. We all know just how tough the job is, especially post-covid and in 2025. Globally, there is a huge demand for great principals – those top performers (let’s realistically say a third) who take schools to new heights. The truth is, (and I learned this from Dr Babar Dharani at the GSB recently), too many leaders are stuck in the authoritarian and positional power of principalship, rather than the distributed, transformational, situational and servant aspects of the role.
Some countries identify promising deputies, remove them from school, and then prepare them for top leadership. Even then they don’t all succeed and, as a principal, you know why. You have to put the candidate in the hot seat and, only then, will you see how he or she brings people together, creates a positive climate, digs deep into technical issues, handles pressure, leads from the front and takes a school forward.
So, what makes that third succeed on a global stage? Just like the high-end skills any new CEO needs to succeed, principals in that top third have five or six scarce skills which set them apart. So, what are those critical skills? The problem is they’re not as simple as they sound. Here are six to delve into, reflect on and work at improving:
The first is an in-depth understanding of the routines, processes and practices which need to happen in classrooms, staffrooms and schools, to take all learners, despite their challenging circumstances, to functional literacy and numeracy. That means principals understanding the mechanics of reading in Gr 1 and the gaps in numeracy by Gr 3 and who can identify and put remediation in place to allow all learners, with great teachers, to reach their potential. All the way to Gr 12. Very few of us have this deep committed understanding of the art and the craft and the science (these days the neuroscience) of truly effective instructional leadership.
The second is the ability to take a whole team of teachers to achieve the high standard outlined above. The great principal, in a South African reality, takes the staff from where they are to where they need to be, especially in terms of subject specific capacitation and accountability.
The third is the ability to influence individual teachers on a one-on-one basis to take responsibility for their own professional development, to work within their teams, to collaborate with like minds at other schools, in districts and at marking centres, so as to develop and grow into great teachers and teacher-leaders.
The fourth is to turn the natural energy, enthusiasm and hope which so many principals have into action plans which are less often implemented, term after term. Taking the long list of improvement plans and targets and actually implementing, measuring and recording them is the scarcest of skills.
The fifth is the ability, as a principal, to develop grade and subject heads, phase and department heads, and deputy principals within one school, to be readily transferable and promotable at any school. Dispersing and developing leadership within a school’s systems to such a professionally broad extent is the hallmark of a great principal.
And the last identified critical skill is that leadership which successfully promotes a staff mindset of resourcefulness which, despite the usual constraints, succeeds in creatively and committedly engaging learners interactively with home-made instructional aids, clever group activities, online tools and extensive use of available materials.
No principals achieve the scarce skills above on their own. They actively engage mentors, colleagues on the staff, carefully chosen experts at other schools, curriculum advisers, the CTLI and PBOs and a plethora of online sources. Upgrading teaching skills is the modern teacher’s permanent mantra.
In the last few weeks, we have been visiting schools and interviewing newly appointed principals for inclusion into our programme in the next year or two. I’m taken back to my first year as a principal and to an appreciation of making a difference in a community which is seriously underserved.
Most new principals are in their fifties. We have to assess whether it makes business sense o invest thousands of rands in a person just four or five years from retirement. To me, positivity and committed intent trump most other criteria. A great principal influences hundreds of lives in a year. That’s pretty invaluable.
I’ve seldom been more impressed by a novice principal than meeting a 36-year-old school leader on my first visit to Heideveld. What impressed me was not what she was going to do but what she and her team had achieved in her first three terms. Not just small wins, but a range of successes within and beyond classrooms. Originally from Heideveld and a past learner of the school, she has made it clear to a supportive community that the school, under her leadership, is on an upward trajectory.
If you acknowledge that principalship is one of the most critical leadership roles in our country – and you know why – and you never stop trying to be at your best, you are enough.
Till next time.
Paul
Coach/Mentor
The Principals Academy Trust
No: 15/24
09 October 2024
Sep 13, 2024
As an experienced principal I have always regarded high expectations as one of the drivers of successful teaching and learning. Things don’t happen just because of expectations, though. No, expectation is something set through high quality example, daily practice and collective commitment.
Only when a school has established clear behavioural expectations and consistent routines that promote both teacher and learner accountability and mutual respect, do you build a climate which promotes the genuine belief that all learners can succeed, which balances rigour with compassion and which, in turn, empowers high expectations.
When the principal, the teachers and the learners walk through that school gate in the morning they should all, in a great school, expect more of themselves. And, in a modern world, and in our country, in particular, learners have the right to expect more from their teachers.
But, as school leaders, we need to remind ourselves often, and, in a very reflective way, what our different stakeholders expect of us:
Let’s start with our LEARNERS. They’re too young to know what they want from their principal, but any foundation phase teacher will tell you. They want to be proud of their school – the best school. They want a principal they look up to with great respect who will ensure that the school brings out the best in them. They want to belong, to be known and recognised. They want a safe place and a fun place – a haven, a little bit of heaven, actually.
What do PARENTS want of the principal? They want the same for their children, but, when their child is in need, they want a principal who is available and approachable and one who will listen, who has wisdom, sensitivity and understanding.
What do TEACHERS want in a principal? They want a leader they can trust, meaning they want integrity and authenticity. They greatly appreciate someone who has compassion, especially for their personal circumstances. And, although they want to be included, they want a principal who has a vision for the school that is easily articulated and understood. They want to be shown the way with clarity, consistency and leadership.
What do GOVERNING BODIES want in the principal they, themselves, have recommended for appointment? They want a CEO who can earn and sustain the confidence of the school’s stakeholders including the community and the department. They want a skilled communicator and a problem-solver who gets things done and takes the school forward.
What does the WCED/DBE want of a principal? That’s easy. Just someone who can implement policy, manage people and programmes, who has business acumen and ethics, who can navigate the legal and constitutional framework, who understands diversity, who can lead and inspire and produce results, and especially every year in Grades 3, 6, 9 and 12!
What does SOUTH AFRICA need? Here’s the difficult one. Principals who have the courage to lead from the front and to stand for a standard; and the all-important tenacity to transform institutions which often just tick boxes into schools that work and schools that change lives. The Principals Academy, I remind you, wants school leaders to be the lever for that change.
Four years ago, the PANDEMIC required principals with fortitude – that strength of mind needed to face crises, week after week, with resilience and a sense of purpose which enabled them to think clearly, on their feet, and in the best interests of children, teachers and their school. Much like now when 2 407 posts must disappear.
By the way, what do I, your COACH, want? I want you to take care of yourself, to be more mindful, more reflective, more future-focused, and, most importantly, I want you and your teachers to be at your best.
If you have a spare hour, I can tell you about my weaknesses as a principal, but this stakeholder approach to expectations helped to remind me where to focus, and, more importantly, where to bring in my team to counter those weaknesses and to build attention to detail.
In conclusion, I’m reminded of a speaker I once had at school, Paddy Glover, Anglican Archbishop of Bloemfontein. He explained expectation in a unique way which really got me thinking. He urges young people starting out “to contribute to this world by striving to become better parents to your children, than your parents have been to you”.
My Mom was widowed at 37 with yours truly being the eldest. So, for me that’s a tall order, but it’s the nature of expecting more of oneself, of doing one’s best.
Till next time.
Paul
Coach/Mentor
The Principals Academy Trust
No: 14/24
12 September 2024
Aug 28, 2024
Do you remember your very first day as a principal? I remember walking into a staffroom filled with women I did not know. It was a girls’ high school, and I was not only the first man to lead the 112 year old school (it celebrates 150 next year) but the only man in the room. I was ready; not in the sense that I had learned the ropes as a deputy (I hadn’t been one) but I had spent weeks ensuring that my message highlighted my purpose, my vision, my respect and admiration for the social and professional capital in the room, my invitation to work as a team, my promise to do my best to serve the learners and their teachers and my determination to get the new year off to a flying start in week one. I share this to help you to build your own debut image.
I am writing this because it came to mind as I witnessed a brave young woman take the reins of a big, complex, ‘commuter’ high school in the city as the acting principal. Actually, you act as principal when the principal is at a workshop for two days. When the principal retires, you’re not acting. You are the principal. The whole school community needs you to be a strong one and, if you’re willing to take the lead, and that’s a big if, you bring energy, fresh initiative and the power of a team of willing supporters. Together you take the school forward.
When the Principals Academy works with a new principal (usually on the recommendation of a currently coached principal or a caring circuit manager) we only begin a coaching partnership after the first year. Experience tells us it is too crucial and busy a year. The new principal comes in early, leads from the front at the gate, in the staffroom or wherever the school is in action. You’re not there to keep the school going; you set the agenda, you shine the light on the targets already identified, you ensure the routines and processes are clearly understood and operational and you strengthen leadership in every subject, committee or portfolio.
So, when does experience begin to count? Well, that depends. In your first week you learn to listen to learners, teachers and parents, you work with a team in preparing for the weeks ahead and you get to test your ability to deal with the many crises that characterise any school week. They vary from the personal tragedies and setbacks that befall the larger school community, the disruption caused by four teachers absent on the same day, the sudden request for detailed information from an authority, the need to deal with a serious disciplinary issue and on-going admission fall-out, conflict resolution, safety concerns and labour issues. We all know the story.
Getting through that first week as a principal was a memorable experience. But, actually, it only counts as experience if we quickly appreciate the value of taking the time to reflect, to learn the lessons of every day, to understand our and our school’s strengths and weaknesses. That reflection and the willingness to make it count are the key to self and school improvement. And each crisis – there are a few every day – builds our confidence as effective leaders.
Hopefully, being the boss helps you to prioritise people management skills. You quickly understand your responsibility for the wellness as well as the professional development of your staff. This happens best when you view leadership as service and when you learn to put yourself in the shoes of others once in a while.
New principals are strong on improvement plans but the real test comes in executing those strategies. That’s what earns the respect of your stakeholders – plans that work. You learn quickly, too, not to take the credit for the success of your team.
One of the first challenges that principals face is delivering the climate for teachers and learners to succeed. Late-coming and punctuality are often first on the list of improvements. What counts here is tackling the issues in a systemic matter, understanding root causes, how they impact the situation, possible strategies, implementation, monitoring, refining and embedding. New principals can bring entirely different approaches to making schools work more efficiently. Leadership makes you think differently and forces you to make sense of everyday happenings.
The new principal hits the ground running on day one. Ideally, on day two, you’re a better principal.
Till next time.
Paul
Coach/Mentor
The Principals Academy Trust
No: 13/24
28 August 2024
