The Importance of Leaders in Neocolonial Education Reforms: The Case of Australian and Maori Leadership

• In Event: 42.021 - Future International Directions in Educational Leadership: Can We Locate and Expand Equal Opportunities?

Abstract

This paper considers how the range of educational experiences among Australian Women and Māori students to demonstrate both progress and barriers to educational opportunities in these two countries. In New Zealand, in a number of mainstream secondary schools have been vastly improved through a process of theory based, school-wide reform. While this paper will acknowledge likely reasons for the disparities of indigenous peoples around the world, it will also highlight school-leadership experiences together with Māori student data to illustrate and understand the importance of decolonization and the dynamics of disparities as responses.

In Australia, there are today more women principals and leaders within schools now and in leadership roles in professional organisations and unions and in government agencies - though men are still over-represented among principals in terms of their proportion among teachers. More distributed leadership in schools giving more leadership development opportunities to women as well as raising their confidence.We can see clearly, more women supporting each other than ever before.

Authors

• Mere Berryman, University of Waikato

• Dawn Lawrence

• Jane Wilkinson, Monash University