School leaders will have greater clarity and certainty with the School Leadership Institute’s (SLI) release of the updated Principal Role Description and a new Deputy Principal Role Description.

The updated Principal Role Description builds on the previous version by affirming the expertise and capabilities that principals bring to their role and is a clear recognition of how important school leadership is in supporting students and lifting achievement.

The SLI worked extensively with colleagues and stakeholders to develop a more accurate and detailed description of the great work that principals are already doing in leading their schools.

This release also marks the first time a role description has been developed for deputy principals in NSW public schools. It will help support their development and growth in their roles while providing clarity and certainty about their leadership.

The role descriptions provides clarity and certainty, reflecting the key accountabilities and expertise of both the principal and deputy principal roles in NSW public schools. They set out the professional practices of both roles under the key areas of the Australian Standard for Principals:

• Leading teaching and learning
• Developing self and others
• Leading improvement, innovation and change
• Leading and managing the school
• Engaging and working with the community.

Each role description is accompanied by a companion resource which provide more detail around each of the key accountabilities in the role descriptions and what they look like in practice. They also provide links to tools that leaders can use in their practice.

Copies of the role descriptions and the companion resources can be found on our Leadership Resources pages.