Positivity, Creativity, Growth

Kia ora koutou

I trust you all had a wonderful and refreshing Christmas break. The new year has had a very ‘steamy’ start to date and no doubt like me you will be finding creative ways to keep yourself cool.

There is much on the education agenda from early childhood to tertiary in terms of the proposed educational reforms. The steamy start to the year could continue in other ways as the grand plans turn into action and reality. It will be a year of change, some we will embrace and others will be not so favoured. As we go through change processes we go through a range of emotional zones; comfort, fear, learning and finally growth. As educators and leaders when we experience these emotions and zones we need to keep a positive, creative and growth mind set as this is what we will need to support our learners, whānau, and communities no matter what sector we are engaged in.

A plea to you all; it has been very difficult to get copy for Leading Lights lately. Consider how can you contribute to this community of learners? What inspirational professional learning have you been to that you can share? What books have you read that you could review to arouse interest in others? What study have you been doing that you could write a think piece from, and what stories of fabulous practice have you got that might enthuse others?

In this issue you will enjoy research from a Peggy Burrow’s PhD thesis - Ahurea Tuakiri: Cultural Identity and the consequences of Pākehā monolingualism on Maori Student Identity, Andrew King discusses Leading and Enabling an Effective Intercultural Strategy in New Zealand schools, while Juliette Hayes reminds us of the power of reflective practice.

Mai I kopae ke te urupa, tātou ako tonu ai.
From the cradle to the grave we are forever learning.

Nga mihi nui, Annette