Episode 1: Congratulations, you’re a school principal - now what?

Welcome to The Principals, a podcast series for new school principals in Aotearoa New Zealand.

 

This week, we’re talking about the basics of the tumuaki role – how it differs from other senior leadership roles in a school, your new responsibilities as principal, and how the role changes depending on the kura itself. 

 

My guests this week are:

• Leanne Otene, president of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation, on secondment from her role as principal at Manaia View School in Whangarei
• Vaughan Couillault, Secondary Principals’ Association of New Zealand president and tumuaki of Papatoetoe High School in Auckland
• Bruce Jepsen, manukura of Te Akatea Maori Principals’ Association and tumuaki of Te Akau Ki Papamoa Primary School in Tauranga
• Andrew King, president of the New Zealand Rural and Area Schools Leadership Association and principal of Oropi School in the Bay of Plenty.

 

This podcast was produced for the Ministry of Education as part of Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals.

 

You can learn more about this topic by accessing Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals e-learning modules on the Education LMS.

 

Show notes

 

Episode themes:

• Overview of tumuaki role, and different hats principals wear
• Differences between other roles in a school and tumuaki role
• How assumptions about how the tumuaki role changed once our guests became principals
• How the context of a school changes the nature of the role
• What new tumuaki should focus on when they first start
• Advice for new principals, from those who’ve been there before.

 

To learn more about this topic, see Section 1 of Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals e-learning modules [link].

 

Guest information:

• Leanne Otene, president of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation, on secondment from her role as principal at Manaia View School in Whangarei
  • New Zealand Principals’ Federation https://nzpf.ac.nz
• Vaughan Couillault, Secondary Principals’ Association of New Zealand president and tumuaki of Papatoetoe High School in Auckland
  • Secondary Principals’ Association of New Zealand https://www.spanz.school.nz
  • SPANZ FAQs https://www.spanz.school.nz/general-faq
• Bruce Jepsen, manukura of Te Akatea Maori Principals’ Association and tumuaki of Te Akau Ki Papamoa Primary School in Tauranga
  • Te Akatea Maori Principals’ Association https://www.teakatea.co.nz
  • Huia Kaimanawa https://www.teakatea.co.nz/huia-kaimanawa/about-huia-kaimanawa
• Andrew King, president of the New Zealand Rural and Area Schools Leadership Association and principal of Oropi School in the Bay of Plenty.
  • NZRASLA https://www.nzrasla.ac.nz
  • Principals’ toolkit https://www.nzrasla.ac.nz/15/pages/11-nzei-principals-toolkit

 

Questions:

2:19 [to Andrew] How much of a jump was it moving from a team leader role into the role of tumuaki? 

 

3:02 [to Bruce] When you first started as tumuaki what did you think the role would be, and how different was it than what you first thought? 

 

4:17 [to Leanne] Thinking back to when you first started, did you have assumptions about the role and what it would be like? 

 

5:39 [to Vaughn] You’d had some senior leadership roles in some pretty big schools before you became tumuaki. How does the tumuaki role differ from those other senior management roles, in your experience? 

 

6:59 [to Andrew] So you all wear so many hats as principals, and I imagine that the hats that you wear can be different from day to day. What kinds of issues you could be dealing with in a in a typical week, if there is such a thing? 

 

7:58 [to Vaughan] When we spoke previously you mentioned things like drainage issues on the property, you know things that I would never think that a principal would have to deal with

 

8:44 [to Bruce and Leanne] You agree that it's a CEO role, but it's way more than that? 

 

10:00 [to Bruce] Do you think there’a a way to prepare yourself for these things that you don't know you don't know until you realize you don't know them. 

 

11:09 [to all] How does the context of a school change the principal role?

 

14:04 [to all] Do you think relationship building is the most important thing for a tumuaki to focus on when they first start in the role? 

 

18:10 [to all] If you could give any advice to incoming tumuaki one piece of advice, what would it be?  

 

19:40  [to all] What is your favourite thing about being tumuaki?

 

21:50 [to all] Anything to add before we wrap up?