Last week was very busy for our Cohort 4 participants in the Aspiring Principals Leadership Program (APLP), who took part in two online seminars with leading international education experts.

The week started with a thought-provoking session on professional collaboration with Professor Andy Hargreaves, the Director of Chenine ((Change, Engagement and Innovation in Education) at the University of Ottawa.

Prof Hargreaves said it was crucial for school leaders to engage students and staff in order to lay the foundation for meaningful collaboration.

He discussed the four dimensions of student engagement: emotional engagement, behavioural engagement, cognitive engagement and spiritual engagement.

Prof Hargreaves also unpacked collaborative professionalism and what this looks like in practice for school leaders. Effective collaboration has multiple benefits for school and students including improved student learning and wellbeing, stronger teacher engagement and improved teacher retention rates, he said.

The week concluded with the second leadership seminar which looked at leading authentic improvement and complex problem solving with Professor Viviane Robinson from the University of Auckland.

Prof Robinson spoke about the importance of understanding your current situation in a school before attempting to implement improvement.

“Don’t design the future until you deeply understand the present,” she told participants.

She also spoke about how to evaluate leadership practices that develop the professional capabilities of teachers in order to improve student learning.

These seminars were the final sessions for APLP Cohort 4 participants this year.

Find out more about the APLP.