Monday 16th September - Leading Well
Breakout Session 1
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Being a Leader in Education – The Great Opportunity |
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| Presenter/s: | Lysandra Stuart, Pip Wells | |
| Type: | Leadership story | |
| Keywords: | Opportunity, excitement, privilege | |
| Room: | Tautoru | |
Discover how optimistic leadership empowers principals to innovate, inspire, and build thriving school communities through transformative educational practices.
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Teachers’ views on the conditions that will enable them to flourish: What does this mean for school leaders? |
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| Presenter/s: | Amanda Lester | |
| Type: | Research paper | |
| Keywords: | flourishing, teachers, leaders | |
| Room: | Ngā Purapura | |
Achieving a focus on well-being in the profession: teachers’ perspectives prompt a discussion for school leaders
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The Guitar Principal: A Story of Educational Leadership |
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| Presenter/s: | Wayne Davies | |
| Type: | Leadership Story | |
| Keywords: | Resilience, courage, belonging Circle of Courage Two-Eyed Seeing Community Building Theory student voice collective efficacy | |
| Room: | Auaha Hīhī | |
Leaders listening, students leading: A story of leadership, electric guitars, and how a school was brought back from the brink.
Breakout Session 2
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Empowering leadership beyond traditional hierarchies |
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| Presenter/s: | Stephen McConnachie | |
| Type: | Leadership story | |
| Keywords: | grassroots, development, mentoring | |
| Room: | Tautoru | |
Harness the untapped leadership potential in our schools, centres and institutions – insights from experience, research, and your own context
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Decolonising approach to school leadership: Possibilities and contestations |
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| Presenter/s: | Ann Lopez | |
| Type: | Research paper | |
| Keywords: | School Leadership, Decolonization, Leadership Development | |
| Room: | Ngā Purapura | |
This presentation explores decolonizing approach to school leadership that centers on building authentic relationships with communities and leadership praxis that disrupts colonial policies and practices.
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Neurodiversity: Learning Beyond the Label and Inclusive Curriculum design |
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| Presenter/s: | Lauren Wing | |
| Type: | Workshop / facilitated discussion | |
| Keywords: | Neurodiversity, Curriculum, Pedagogy | |
| Room: | Auaha Hīhī | |
How can we best support our neurodiverse learners in an inclusive, research informed, and responsive way?
Breakout Session 3
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Looking after ourselves as educational leaders: Lessons from the All Blacks and Les Misérables |
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| Presenter/s: | Ross Notman | |
| Type: | Leadership story | |
| Keywords: | Self-understanding personal leadership | |
| Room: | Tautoru | |
When we give so much to others and to children and young adults, who or what gives back to us?
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Strengthening my leadership through my cultural journey to understand Mātauranga Māori and sharing Te Maramataka practices in ECE |
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| Presenter/s: | Jenna Stone | |
| Type: | Leadership story | |
| Keywords: | shared leadership, understanding and learning | |
| Room: | Ngā Purapura | |
In 2021, my journey into Māori Languages and Pedagogies commenced under the guidance of Aumiri Pounamu at the University of Canterbury. Subsequently, inspired by this knowledge, our team began incorporating elements of Māori learning into our environment.
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Developing adaptability and agility in leadership amidst the COVID-19 crisis: Experiences of mid-career school principals |
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| Presenter/s: | Venesser Fernandes | |
| Type: | Research report | |
| Keywords: | Adaptive Leadership, Agile Leadership, Mid-career School Principals | |
| Room: | Auaha Hīhī | |
During crises, emotionally-intelligent leaders lead their schools with agility and adaptability operating unique individual leadership styles with organisational leadership approaches.
Breakout Session 4
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Teacher learning communities: Leading together |
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| Presenter/s: | Stephanie Harford, Miranda Makin | |
| Type: | Leadership story | |
| Keywords: | Leadership as Influence, Leading together, Leading for Impact | |
| Room: | Tautoru | |
Rototuna Senior High School’s use of Lesson Study to create a culture of deep powerful learning for teachers and ākonga.
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Leading proactive programme and course management strategies – whakawhitiwhiti kōrerō. Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei. Seek the treasure that you value most dearly, if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain. |
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| Presenter/s: | Raewyn Penman, Victoria Kees | |
| Type: | Leadership story | |
| Keywords: | Bicultural leadership online | |
| Room: | Ngā Purapura | |
Leading teams effectively requires collaboration and negotiation. Join us in exploring leadership within an online tertiary teacher training programme.
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“We’re all in this together!”: The role of relational trust when leading mathematics in primary school settings |
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| Presenter/s: | Matt Sexton | |
| Type: | Research paper | |
| Keywords: | Middle leading; Mathematics education; Relational trust | |
| Room: | Auaha Hīhī | |
Relationships are central to leadership work in schools, but what does this look like in mathematics leadership practice?
Breakout Session 5
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Effective leadership through the COVID-19 pandemic |
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| Presenter/s: | Jo Ellis, Rachel Taylor | |
| Type: | Leadership story | |
| Keywords: | Leadership, change, strategies | |
| Room: | Tautoru | |
Sharing research about the narratives of leaders of ECE centres navigating the COVID-19 pandemic: challenges, strategies, and effective leadership
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Leading well and leading together with Motivating Language Theory and the Four Frame Model of Reframing Organizations |
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| Presenter/s: | Toby Holmes | |
| Type: | Workshop / facilitated discussion | |
| Keywords: | Motivating Language Theory, Four Frames, Reframing Organizations | |
| Room: | Ngā Purapura | |
This session focuses on reframing and changing our organizations using leadership language and actions viewed through a Kaupapa Māori lens.
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Developing a whole school approach to lesson observation that places trust at the centre of lesson observation and post observation conversation |
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| Presenter/s: | James Heneghan | |
| Type: | Leadership story | |
| Keywords: | Observation, dialogic, trust-centred | |
| Room: | Auaha Hīhī | |
Long Bay College’s use of dialogic lesson observations to nurture a culture of outstanding teaching and learning.
Breakout Session 6
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Leadership Best Practice: The Nomad’s Journey |
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| Presenter/s: | Peggy Burrows | |
| Type: | Leadership story | |
| Keywords: | Equity, Disparities, Leadership, Indigenous Learners, Māori, Kaupapa | |
| Room: | Tautoru | |
“Don’t come to fix us, come to walk with us.” A story of the joy of school transformation.
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Tautua nei mo sou manuia taeao – Serve today for a better tomorrow |
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| Presenter/s: | Amelia Solofuti | |
| Type: | Leadership story | |
| Keywords: | Relationships, Listening, Responsive | |
| Room: | Ngā Purapura | |
Samoan leadership narratives demonstrate authentic engagement that fosters responsive and respectful relationships with tamaiti/children, faiaoga/teachers and aiga/families. These narratives elucidate critical values that underpin effective teaching and learning practices.
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Community involvement in school governance decision making in Aotearoa New Zealand: What does research say? |
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| Presenter/s: | Melanie Drake | |
| Type: | Research paper | |
| Keywords: | Self-managing schools, community participation, multi-cultural communities | |
| Room: | Auaha Hīhī | |
‘Let your voice be heard!’; Community participation and involvement in school governance decisions in Aotearoa’s self-managing schools.
Breakout Session 7
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Changing the direction of the world through youth leadership among pre-service educators |
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| Presenter/s: | Patricia Briscoe, Venesser Fernandes, Mohini Devi, Fred Ebot | |
| Type: | Leadership story | |
| Keywords: | Youth Leadership, Pre-service Educators, Commonwealth | |
| Room: | Tautoru | |
Come learn more about initiatives of the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management (CCEAM) aimed at fostering youth leadership.
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Leading shifts in school culture, challenges and progress |
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| Presenter/s: | Samantha Mortimer, Rowan Haigh | |
| Type: | Leadership story | |
| Keywords: | Relational, restorative, reflective | |
| Room: | Ngā Purapura | |
It’s a fine line leading school cultural change while balancing staff wellbeing; an honest discussion of our challenges and progress.
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The importance of leadership attitudes and actions in supporting teachers to build and sustain inclusive school contexts in the face of increasing diversity |
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| Presenter/s: | Christine Harris | |
| Type: | Research paper | |
| Keywords: | Diversity; inclusive practice; relationships | |
| Room: | Auaha Hīhī | |
The session explores ways in which school leaders can successfully shape and promote a more inclusive learning culture in their school by developing policies, curriculum, and interventions that benefit all students – not just some.
Breakout Session 8
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Developing middle leaders’ capabilities on the job |
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| Presenter/s: | Miranda Makin | |
| Type: | Research paper | |
| Keywords: | Developing leadership capabilities, Leading for learning, Examining leadership practices | |
| Room: | Tautoru | |
How do senior leaders’ approaches shape middle leaders’ capabilities to drive instructional improvement and foster critical reflection?
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“Soul and role”: An optimistic look at authentic leadership |
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| Presenter/s: | Juliette Hayes | |
| Type: | Research paper | |
| Keywords: | Faith, authentic, leadership | |
| Room: | Ngā Purapura | |
Exploring experiences of school leaders who hold a religious faith, and how this impacts their authentic selves at work.
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Exploring the leadership demands on early-career teachers: securing optimism for the future |
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| Presenter/s: | Berni Moreno | |
| Type: | Research paper | |
| Keywords: | Early-identified leaders, leadership trajectories, leadership demands, leadership pipeline | |
| Room: | Auaha Hīhī | |
As a result of the current global crisis on teacher shortages, what are the leadership demands imposed on graduate teachers?
Breakout Session 9
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Aen nistwayr aachimoo: Transformative Leadership Narratives from Four Emerging Indigenous Scholarly Practitioners Navigating Doctoral Studies in Canada |
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| Presenter/s: | Scott Lowrey, Nicole Brouwer, Wayne Davies, Lindy Phelps-Henderson, Shelly Hopper | |
| Type: | Leadership story | |
| Keywords: | Reconciliation, Decolonization, Etuaptmumk | |
| Room: | Tautoru | |
Four emerging Indigenous scholarly practitioners and one ally share transformative educational leadership narratives of navigating doctoral studies at Western University.
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Leading with optimism. The power of Critical Hope: A facilitated discussion and future research |
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| Presenter/s: | Toby Holmes | |
| Type: | Workshop / facilitated discussion | |
| Keywords: | Critical Hope, Leadership | |
| Room: | Ngā Purapura | |
Critical Hope can remove disparities and build the future. Join us in a discussion on Critical Hope in schools
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Appreciative Inquiry: Leading a strengths-based approach to appraising professional practice |
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| Presenter/s: | Debbie Ryder, Lauren Graham, Shelley Sugrue | |
| Type: | Workshop | |
| Keywords: | Appreciative Inquiry; Strengths-based leadership; Self, and staff appraisal. | |
| Room: | Auaha Hīhī | |
This workshop focuses on leading an appraisal process (Appreciative Growth Cycle) that focuses on a strengths-based approach to developing professional practice
Please click on the Breakout Session rows to pop up a list of each of the sessions in that time slot and to show the room for each session.
The Pruning Principle
The Pruning Principle (deep dive)
Optional Walking Tour - leaving from Tūranga - 3.30pm (1.5 hours)
Tuesday 17th September - Leading Together
Learning-rich Leadership
The challenge and opportunity in questioning: evaluation and self-reflection in education leadership
Wednesday 18th September - Leading with Optimism
Optimism in Educational Leadership
History, Hate and Hope
Prof. Patricia Briscoe, Carolyn Shields, Ann Lopez, Ken Brien, Mere Berryman and Margaret Grogan
A Canoe Before the Wind - An Immigrant Son's Story of Family, Adversity and Courage
Invitation to NZEALS 2026
Heart to be handed over
Our Sponsors
Thank you to these sponsors for helping to make our event happen.
Gold Sponsors
Bronze Sponsor
