Secondary Principals' Assocation of New Zealand

Rau rangatira mā, e huihui nei, tēnei aku mihi māhana ki a koutou.  Kia ora tātou katoa.  Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, warm greetings to you all.

I specifically acknowledge: Patrick Walsh, President of the Secondary Principals’ Association of New Zealand and members of your Executive; and the two life members of your Association who I’m informed are here tonight – Tom Robson and Br Pat Lynch.

It is a great pleasure for Janine and me to welcome you all to Government House for this reception to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of SPANZ, the 25th Jubilee Symposium and your annual conference.

Twenty-five years in the life of an organisation is an important anniversary.  The organisation is old enough to have established credibility with those it deals with on a regular basis, and also young enough that many of the people involved at its establishment are often still involved and continue to offer their sage counsel. 

Your Association is one of the organisations that have established a reputation for representing the interests of its members and supporting them in the critical roles they undertake.  Equally, SPANZ adds to the debate around education and the development of policies related to secondary schools.  The 2012 symposium is an opportunity for you to address some of the issues of the day: student achievement, national standards, teaching standards for teachers and the vetting process for teachers.

While I have increasingly vague memories of my time at secondary school in Whanganui, in more recent times I have gained some insight into the challenges of how a secondary school is run from being a parent and from my time as a school Board of Trustees member.  My experience confirms that a principal’s job is both incredibly challenging and yet incredibly rewarding.

As a principal you are a leader of people and a manager of your school’s operations.  You set the tone and standards in your school, whether they are academic, extra-curricular, community engagement or demeanour and dress.  You are also concerned with governance.  You are the face of your school, and much like in the Army where a unit takes on the persona of its commanding officer, so too in my view schools reflect the persona of its principal.  There is a huge expectation that you will sustain the school with an emphasis on achievement and excellence.  And just to put the tempo up a little higher, you hold the future of our country in your hands.  Many of you have written the report of a future secondary school principal or mayor of your district, town or city.  One of you has written a report on a future Prime Minister or Governor-General! 

Over the recent past, I’ve commented that I had no inclination to be a Governor-General let alone Chief of Army or Chief of Defence Force when I was at school.  That sentiment would have been matched by my High School principal, and in more certain language.  However, the honest assessment that he made of me in my leavers’ testimonial spurred me on.

Working in the State sector, you also face the competing demands for better services and better outcomes, often with constrained resources.  Working with the bureaucracy also has its challenges.  As such you are very much in the public eye, accountable to parents, your board, to the community, the Ministry of Education and also, it seems, the media!

Each of these obligations is demanding, and often there are difficult and competing demands between them.  Despite the difficulties our teenagers sometimes cause us, parents place them in the care of someone else with the greatest reluctance.  While the common law legal doctrine in loco parentis has largely been replaced by specific requirements in New Zealand statute law,  it continues to symbolise the trust that parents place in teachers as guardians of our children, and the responsibilities that go with it.

The mentoring role is probably the most important of all the roles that you fill, for parents and our children.  Through our children you literally hold our future in your care.  As a parent of five progenies, I congratulate you (or more correctly four of your ilk) for your efforts.  We parents want our children to succeed in life, we are very conscious of the importance of the education they receive.  I am also mindful that some of us do not do our children any favours by trying to be their mates and some of us can be overly protective.  In the main though parents do try hard to do the right thing by their children and their school.

I have touched on your many challenges, but I also note the many rewards.  As a parent, I naturally take great pride in my children’s’ accomplishments.  As principals you see thousands of young people pass through the doors of your schools.  I’ve seen a few over the past seven months and I’ve been impressed by the calibre of young New Zealanders.

To see the teenagers in your care, grow, mature and blossom into young adults must be a wondrous thing.  To help them become the best they can be, despite the obstacles life sometimes places in their way, must be a source of great pride.  And to see them leave your care, and go on to achieve great things in their lives is a great privilege.

I want to conclude by congratulating the Secondary School Principals’ Association of New Zealand for its work and 25 years of service, and wish you all the best for the next 25 years.  Having read Patrick’s most recent “newsletters”, can I say well done on getting to this year’s symposium.  Also, I’m sure your staff will be thrilled to see you back as you try to hide the few extra kilos you’ve put on by accentuating the new dress or tie you’ve acquired and use trendy jargon in the brainstorming sessions using butcher paper, and the give-away pens, highlighters and pads. 

On a more serious note, to close, I will quote a Māori proverb that summarises well the pivotal value of the work you do as the leaders of New Zealand’s secondary schools.  It goes: “Ko te manu e kai ana i te miro, nona te ngahere. Engari, ko te manu e kai ana i te matauranga, nona te ao” which translates as: “The bird that consumes the miro berry owns the forest.  However, the bird that consumes learning owns the world!”  

Thank you.  Kia ora huihui tātou katoa.