[Voiceover] Working in a school,
you're the only principal there.
[Voiceover] Everyone was excited by this tool
that they could use to actually think
about themselves as a leader.
[Voiceover] It really does help leaders
to ask some of those more challenging questions
and challenge their own practice.
[Voiceover] The Leadership Profiles
were developed from the Australian Professional Standard for Principals
They're a set of 80 statements that together
describe the actions of school leaders
as they carry out their work
across a range of practices.
They reveal detailed pathways for development
as leaders increase in proficiency
throughout their career.
AITSL set out to see how the Profiles are being used
by new and experienced school principals,
and their system and network leaders.
AITSL's Leadership Profiles,
which consists of those 80 statements,
are a really complete and detailed set
of the length and breadth and depth
of the school principal role in Australia.
As leaders we lead teaching and learning,
we lead the management of the school,
we lead community development.
But to actually unpack those
and get a deep understanding
of what the values are,
what the knowledge is,
and what the personal qualities are
that I needed to have to be exceeding
in all of those areas, has been very useful.
It also breaks down the job of the school leader
into the operational, relational, systemic
roles which you go through all day.
If I got a particular challenge,
going to a tool like the Leadership Profiles
affirms the work that I'm doing,
helps guide the way forward
and also, it helps me connect
with the work of the principal.
Because working in a school you're the only principal there.
I really love the way that the Profiles
draw the responsibility into the profession
for ensuring that every student's learning every day,
and really clearly articulate
what steps need to be happening
for principals in their development
in order to create the appropriate learning environment,
to lead the teaching and learning,
to ensure that they're building
the capacity of their staff,
to ensure that they're engaging
and providing inclusive environments
that support every single child.
I mean, it's all there
and that all roads in the Leadership Profiles for me
lead to student learning outcomes.
What the Leadership Profiles have done
is to introduce a broad vocabulary
and some broad concepts about the roles
that we have responsibility for in our schools
that we can now share when we talk with our colleagues,
and when we talk with our families
and our communities and our staff,
we have this common understanding of,
and ways to describe the responsibilities
that we have in school leadership.
And it enables us to have that common language
that we can share with each other
and identify the areas of development
for either each deputy and myself,
or as a school as a whole.
Principals are saying for the first time,
'I feel like (we are),
I am talking with my supervisor,
my network leader, about my leadership as a school principal.'
Using the Profiles shifted the conversation
in a direction that enabled the focus to be on their leadership,
rather than on their school improvement plan,
on their accountability to the Directorate,
all of which are very important and critical to the role,
but the shift in the conversation was,
'How are you going in your leadership?'
'Where are the strengths of your leadership behaviours
and what areas of your leadership
have using the Profiles highlighted?'
So I took the Profiles to a network meeting
where we meet together twice a term
and I just shared what I was doing
as part of the trial.
I showed my colleagues the Profiles,
I showed them the interactive online tool,
and I challenged them to have a go
at mapping themselves on the Profiles
for a following meeting.
The reaction that I got from colleagues
was quite interesting at that meeting.
Everyone was excited by this tool
that they could use to actually think about
themselves as a leader.
We formed a strengths register,
and people were able to look at that strengths register
when they needed a bit of help.
So if someone wanted some help in
building an inclusive culture for example in the school,
they could look into,
well, 'Who's got that really
student-centered approach down pat
and what have they done?'
And then colleagues could call each other
and talk through areas that they wanted to get better at.
One of the tools that I found most useful
with the Profiles was the interactive tool online.
Being able to really target an area of my practice
and look at exactly what that entailed,
has been very useful.
As you work to sort and filter
and gain a snapshot of what you're going to look at
is at the end of the process
are some absolutely fabulous resources
that are great to be able to use personally
but also with your staff,
depending on what you're doing at that point in time,
for professional learning,
or understanding around what's going on in the school.
I think the Profiles are particularly strong
in making the aspects of leading
teaching and learning visible,
so we're actually able to see, 'What are the actual behaviours?'
'What are the strategies that I need to put in place
to lead teaching and learning in my school?'
To know that we're doing a particular area
leading improvement, innovation and change
at a particular level is good,
but also there's a higher level
that I can actually aspire to in my leadership.
Coming to a new school, a new setting,
a new age group,
I'm finding that as I sit down and look at
the Profiles and using those tools again,
that I'm actually putting myself in a different spot,
and that's purely because of the change of
the leadership that this school requires,
and it's a change in my skills,
and so I'm actually developing skills in other areas
that I didn't particularly need at my previous school
but I do need now.
And I have a very good example about
using the leadership emphasis
to reflect meaningfully on a particular challenge.
When we considered the situation strategically,
thinking about that leadership emphasis,
it caused us to think about the situation more broadly,
and think, 'What was the missing piece
that enabled that situation to occur in the bigger picture?'
So our conversations went in a different direction,
in a richer and deeper direction,
and we were able to really address an issue in our school
that was not about fixing the immediate problem,
but it was about considering
why and how that situation arose.
The area that I found most interesting to delve into
was the leading improvement, innovation and change.
Using the Profile I was able to actually go
deeper into, 'What are the values,
the knowledge that I needed
and the personal qualities that I needed
to actually be doing that well in my day-to-day work?'
As a site leader, you've got a very busy role,
it's a lot of management,
it's a lot of families, a lot of children,
a lot of things that drag you away from development.
So it's a simple way to focus back on yourself
and your development
and the development of your teams.
The Leadership Profiles really support
professional reflection
because they challenge leaders to really think about,
'What am I doing'?
'How am I working through
and developing my own skills?'
If you look at the progression
through the professional practice
you can see that growth.
So it really does help leaders
to ask some of those more challenging questions
and challenge their own practice.
The Profiles help me
in developing that relationship with others
and that trust with others to let them lead,
lead the work that was happening,
and also to be a mentor in continuing that work
and as a reflection tool for seeing
the effectiveness of the work we've done
and where to go next.
So the Profiles guide my work
in working with my team to
have those tricky conversations
and just push each other a little bit further.
So as a reflection tool,
as a tool that offers alternative pathways
for enacting our roles,
and for zeroing in on areas
for potential professional growth,
they're a very rich
and important resource for our profession.
And if I didn't have the Profiles there
I'd probably do little bits of development
but it wouldn't be as organised and on track,
and as reflective as it is with the Profiles.
So, I think it's a good way to help new leaders
and also help leaders that are already in the role
and leaders that have been doing the role
for a long time, who may think that
they've got all this but it's a good way to
reflect back and go, 'Right,
well, how can I do it even better?'
[Voiceover] So what are we hearing about
how principals can benefit from using the Profiles?
Leading a school involves many roles and responsibilities.
Examining the professional practices
and statements that make up the Profiles
can help principals develop
a deeper understanding of the role.
The Profiles add valuable structure to conversations
when principals draw on the common language
of leadership they provide.
By identifying their current practice
within the Interactive Profiles,
principals can view a developmental pathway
for increasing proficiency,
and discover strategies and resources
relevant to their professional growth.
The Profiles are also helping principals
to grow the capacity of their leadership teams
by providing a clear framework and focus
for performance and development processes.
Supported by the Profiles,
principals can build on their collaborative networks
with other leaders for more strategic
professional learning experiences,
best practise responses to common challenges in schools
and a shared understanding of just what it will take
to lead their schools like the best.
I've been a leader for two years
so I've been using the Profiles
for probably the majority of that time.
So in terms of changing my way as a leader, maybe not,
but it's definitely shaped the leader I am
and the leader that I'm going to continue to be.