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:
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:
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:
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?