COVID-19 continues to cause problems – but for some much more than others.   The pandemic and subsequent economic impacts have, in many cases, exacerbated long-standing inequity across education. From access to digital resources to questions around what a normal learning environment truly is, there are many questions that continue to go unanswered.   To explore these issues and shine a light on some seldom heard perspectives on COVID’s impact in education, Springboard has been working with esteemed Maori academic Te Tuhi Robust. The result is our new limited series podcast, Voices in the Room.   Episode One: Paul Murphy available on Acast and on Spotify - listen now! Over the coming weeks, we will be releasing a series of conversations Te Tuhi has held with his colleagues from across the political and academic spectrum, focusing on Māori perspectives on education under COVID-19.   The interviewees come from a swathe of backgrounds – from academia to pilot training – yet all have the same keen focus: how we are going to improve conditions for Māori and Pasifika students in the wake of such a devastating crisis. The podcast title, we hope, exemplifies one of the key questions in this: how do we make sure New Zealand’s marginalised voices are in the room when decisions on their future are made?   We hope these free-flowing, invigorating conversations that Te Tuhi has brought together will start similar conversations in your home, your workplace and your community. Perhaps most of all, we hope you enjoy the series. 

It’s Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa 2020 – a time to celebrate Samoan language, culture and identity. And this year, the theme is Tapena sau ōso mo lau malaga, which translates to “prepare yourself a gift for your travels”.   So, in line with this – and our recent focus on resilience during a crisis – we would like to highlight a model of wellbeing that all leaders can learn from, one that finds its roots in Samoa: the Fonofale model of health.   What is the Fonofale model of health?  Developed by Samoan-born academic Fuimaono Karl Pulotu-Endemann, the Fonofale model of health is a system of wellbeing that acknowledges and embraces Pacific perspectives.   It is a model built around a simple idea: the Samoan fale, or house. However, it includes elements from many nations, including the Cook Islands, Niue, Fiji, Tokelau and Tonga.   This fale represents one’s overall wellbeing, and is comprised of multiple individual elements.   The floor, or foundation, represents aiga – family. Not just your immediate relatives, but extended family and anyone you are linked to by partnership or agreement.   The roof is your culture, your beliefs and value system that provide protection and shelter. Pulotu-Endemann notes that this can be traditional beliefs tied to a specific Pacific identity, but can also focus more on Palagi identity and values.   These two parts of the fale structure are then supported – figuratively and literally – by four pou (pillars). They represent the spiritual, the physical, mental and ‘other’ aspects of your wellbeing. Other includes elements like sexuality, socio-economic status and gender.   No one part of this fale stands in isolation – they are all reliant on and supportive of one another. Then, all around the fale, sits a circle, boundary or cocoon that has the final three elements:  The environment surrounds the fale, and is focused on the physical setting, no matter where you are.   Time and context relate to, respectively, a point in time that impacts Pacific people and the surrounding socio-economic, political, legal or personal context that shapes who you are.   For many people, this might be a new way of looking at wellbeing. Typically, we might only consider two or three elements of this when looking at how we’re feeling, or what we can change to improve our situation. But in times when we need to take the utmost care with our wellbeing, models like Fonofale show us a different way of approaching ourselves.  Why are models like Fonofale so important?   In New Zealand, it is critical that we apply a culturally competent lens to everything we do that involves Pacific or indigenous people - especially in schools.   Helping people learn and grow as themselves is paramount, and models like Fonofale (or Hauora, Te Vaka Atafaga, Kalaka and Fa’afaletui) help both leaders and learners do that. It also provides a far better framework when looking at issues like our widening mental health gap for Pacific youth.   And beyond cultural responsiveness, the Fonofale model of health has a lot it can teach about resilience and wellbeing. Mackay et al have noted that Māori and Pacific models have a strong focus on both connection and reciprocity which, in addition to adhering to the overarching principles of Te Tiriti, are likely to help the practice of looking after your wellbeing. On top of this, it has recently been foundational for helping older people reconnect with their identity and culture.   At a time when we’re emerging from two months of disconnect and relative isolation, Fonofale gives us a model for taking stock of everything in our lives, identifying what’s going well (and not), and charting a clear path to resilience and wellbeing.  

There are three places in everyone’s life. The first is home – the space we live in, our comfortable surroundings. The second is our place of work – the space that, outside of our home, we spend most of our time.   Then there is the third place – something that Ray Oldenburg argues is critical for a healthy society. This third place differs from person to person, but it is always where you go to enjoy yourself, or more generally partake in society. It might be your favourite café or bookstore, perhaps your local church, or even a nearby park you like to take a walk in.   But under COVID-19 and the lockdown restrictions, our ability to access these three places is greatly limited. So what we’d like to explore today is, can you possibly have the three places accessible from your own home?   The problem with place in a remote working environment  Work-life boundaries were already difficult to maintain prior to lockdown. Researchers like Leonardi, Treem and Jackson have highlighted how information technology – the bridge between us when working remotely – often acts as the ultimate boundary eliminator, making us feel connected to work no matter what space we occupy.   In our current conditions, the distinction becomes even harder to maintain. At least one space in your home has to be converted to a work environment, and the majority of people’s third places will be closed until we reach at least level two. There are those who will have already done this courtesy of work from home arrangements – but Stats NZ indicates that this is only 16% of New Zealanders. This drastic shift to remote has many impacts – and often negative ones.   Further reading: MBIE Flexible Work Toolkit Grant, Wallace and Spurgeon found a tendency to over-work in remote environments (for those with high motivation), as well as minimal time to recover. By the same token, remote work also lowered productivity among those with an existing lack of motivation. Then there are also new barriers put in place through remote working arrangements – ease of access to physical resources, tech literacy gaps and the conflation of home and work boundaries are the beginning.   Of course, it isn’t all bad. Grant, Wallace and Spurgeon noted increased autonomy and confidence, as well as reduced travel- and family- related stress. The freedom afforded by remote working gives us all a greater sense of control over the way we work.   But the fact remains that with this situation put upon everyone who continues to work, there needs to be boundaries – spaces – for each element of someone’s life. So how can we make that happen?  Creating a first and second space in the home   The first space is the easiest to create in a remote working environment – in that it doesn’t need to be created at all. Rather, it is a task of maintaining boundaries in your pre-existing home – which in turn creates the second space.   This can be as simple as marking out a specific room that is the ‘work room’ - a study, lounge or kitchen for example. You can do work in this environment, and maintain a ‘home’ boundary at the edges of the room.   However, this makes some assumptions about one’s living environment. Many people will be working without such a space available to them – co-working households, flatting situations or smaller properties may lack the space to create a separate work environment.   In these cases, boundaries may have to be actions, rather than physical borders. Going for walks to mark breaks or the end of the day, changing into work attire, using a work-specific chair and desk or strict working hours can demarcate your lockdown workplace effectively. The Springboard Team has their own tips for doing this here.   An interesting note to add here as well is the use of our home’s outdoor spaces. Khajehzadeh and Vale found that even in summer, New Zealanders average just 0.55 hours a day spent outdoors at their own home – perhaps an underutilised space for all of us.   Creating a third space in the home   This can be more difficult. When someone’s third space is a commercial premises (like a café or bar), or even a non-essential service venue (libraries, meeting halls), it is difficult to recreate.   You can create areas of the home for specific activities (reading, watching films) that typically form part of your third place, although this can have cross-over with home activities.   For others, the third place may be (or become) an action. The popularity of the daily walk in our current environment offers one way people are creating this third place, while for others something as simple as the dairy queue might be all they need.   Then, of course, there is the virtual. The third place does not have to be a physical environment or action – it is the sense of participation, creativity and relationship-building that defines it. Zoom or HouseParty calls, playing board games with a friend online, or perhaps even logging on to Twitter or Facebook could constitute visiting a third place for many.   These online communities, ever-present in modern life, reflect real-world social environments in many ways. Crowd participation, the ability to have private exchanges, learn new ideas, even argue – for some, a third place may just be a Stuff comments section.  Food for thought: The body as the work-life boundary  For a final point of discussion, we have to acknowledge that many remote workers do not have those clear boundaries – they are comfortable performing domestic, working and social functions in quick succession or even simultaneously.   For example Koslowski, Linehan and Tietze argue that the body is the “ultimate boundary object”, in that it is part of every space in the home and controls what that space is being used for – work, home, or something else. This includes the mind, where we will often feel the pull of all three spaces at once, clouding our needs and creating confusion.   They use examples of this like someone answering emails on their laptop while talking in bed with their partner. In this situation, a person is acting in both a home and work environment, turning home furniture into work furniture, and performing both personal and professional acts at once.   There are limits, of course. The researchers use the example of parents working from home to highlight that a home / work duality only properly works when one party does not demand active attention – for example, if a child is sleeping on their lap rather than asking for something.   But the fact remains that no matter how we create and maintain our spaces, we are capable of blending multiple roles into one action. They key is understanding your limits, your comfort zone and which parts of the house you want to reserve for a particular kind of space. 

A brand new pilot for leadership development. Every year, the Springboard team reviews its programmes, with input from principals, volunteers and programme managers, to tweak and improve our delivery for the following year.   Obviously, this year has thrown a few wrenches into the delivery system – and we’re trying out some new pilots as a result. Perhaps the most exciting of these is the virtual SLPP cohort for 2021 – here's how (and why) we’re making this shift.   Why a virtual cohort?   COVID-19 has reinforced the need for every organisation to be able to operate to at least some degree in the digital space – but that isn’t the only reason we want to pilot a virtual cohort.   Typically, we operate in many regions across New Zealand, from the far north to south Canterbury. Since 2007, we have worked with approximately 20% of NZ principals. But we don’t reach every school  in the country, and that’s something we would like to address.   With a virtual cohort, our fully-funded Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme can be accessed by any principal anywhere in New Zealand. It’s a really exciting opportunity for us to grow, and to work with other school leaders in all-new areas for Springboard.  How will the virtual cohort work?   Just like our traditional SLPP delivery, principals will work with a volunteer Capacity Partner under the guidance of a volunteer Facilitator and our own Programme Managers.   The content will also remain the same, focusing on principals’ strategic planning and leadership , creating a plan on a page for their school and exploring annual planning. However, we’ll be doing all of the workshops and working sessions online.   Principals will have full access to our Canvas Learning Management System, with course materials, supplementary resources and access to other cohort members through this. Workshops will happen on group video calls, which some of this year’s principals and volunteers are already very familiar with!   With the course taking place online, there is also a lot of built-in flexibility for everyone involved. No transport to or from workshops, and the ability to access everything you need, when you need it.  Fundamentally, it is still the same Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme. But by taking things online, we’re opening up a whole new realm of possibilities for our leaders’ learning.   Interested in the virtual cohort?   As mentioned above, our virtual cohort will be available to principals across New Zealand, no matter their location.  All you need is a reliable internet connection. If you’re interested in creating the conditions for change in your school, strengthening your professional development or becoming a better leader – get in touch with our team or apply for SLPP below!

Kia ora tatou,  The first lockdown showed us a lot about ourselves. As part of our work with principals throughout COVID-19, we have been asking and listening on what they feel they have done well, what challenged them, and what concerns they have about our recovery as a nation.   A key point raised by many principals in the last few months has been the way COVID-19 perpetuated and highlighted existing structural inequities in education. From device access to learners having to financially support their families, there are stories from all corners of how the pandemic affected some significantly more than others.   As we face down the prospect of another flare-up of the pandemic, it seems an appropriate time to let you know how we plan to focus on these issues of equity in the months ahead. Springboard Trust is an educational change organisation – we aren’t going to fix inequity with our programmes and workshops. But we do create intimate, trusting relationships with principals – most of whom have their own variation on the stories above. And as an organisation aiming to improve outcomes for all young New Zealanders, we’d like to step up our focus in this area.   That begins with a focus on equity in educational leadership. How decisions are made, what voices are represented when that happens, and who gets left out – and why. Over the coming months, we will be presenting perspectives from both within and without education on the issue of equity, with a laser focus on what leaders can do to affect change. Practical actions and steps that take all New Zealand schools closer to equitable opportunities for all.   You'll see some results of this work very soon, with our new podcast from esteemed Māori academic Te Tuhi Robust. Bringing together a massive range of perspectives on education, his limited series will be essential listening. Our focus will continue in events on Leading for Equity throughout Spring, with a range of world-class speakers tackling what it means to develop equitable practice in school leadership. More information on one such event below. We will be telling the stories of school leaders who are working to help marginalised learners learn as themselves, actively centering those traditionally on the fringes. We will be bringing this focus into every conversation we have - at every level. Education should be fair and inclusive for all – yet as COVID-19 has shown us, there are significant structural barriers to that being reality.   Join us on the learning journey of how educational leadership could change – how it must change – to create a fairer playing field for everyone.   Ngā mihi nui,  Dale Bailey, CEO, Springboard Trust 

Does my school make Māori learners and whānau feel welcome?  It’s a question at the heart of several ongoing projects for Carol Bevis, principal at Bledisloe School in Taradale. With a vested interest in tackling issues of race, class and equity in the community, she has been putting into practice some key critical ideas.  “It’s not my job to tell people how to run their spaces – but we all have such a big opportunity to think more critically about what we offer our students, what world we want them to grow up in and what kind of leaders we want them to be.”  This year, that means – in addition to working through our Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme – Carol is auditing the entire look and feel of her school. A means to change the view Carol has long been interested in tackling the white spaces in New Zealand education. Having discovered Dr Ann Milne’s work with her Travelling Fellowship research, she has done extensive research and work in this area.  That includes working with Hoana Pearson on Māori Achievement Collaboratives, Associate Professor Melinda Webber at UoA on how Māori learners can thrive in education, and a recent sabbatical based on “Cultural relationships for responsive pedagogy: a bicultural mana ōrite perspective”,  Research Information for Teachers; SET, no.1, pp3-9.  Professor Mere Berryman ONZM, M., Lawrence, D., & Lamont, R. (2018). All of this has fed into Carol’s practice, and resulted in some challenging, critical and absolutely necessary work in her school.  “This year we’re working through Dr Milne’s White Spaces Audit - thinking really hard about what our school environment reflects. Asking questions like what our space says to Māori learners and whānau, whose voices are represented on the face of our school.”  A seven-step process, the White Spaces Audit is designed to help schools consider the environment they create from a Māori perspective – effectively, evaluating to what extent students can learn as themselves.  That means consulting with staff, whānau and students. With a roll comprising nearly 45% Māori students, Carol understands how critical it is to empower everyone in the school.  “The audit starts with the physical spaces: for example, we’re considering adding a Māori name to our school. But we have to go deeper, moving beyond the ‘lovely’ but sometimes tokenistic knowledge; developing Matauranga Māori, redesigning our localised curriculum to have a true bicultural lens and increasing our capability in using  Te Reo.”  “We can’t do that without input from everyone – which becomes a balancing act, but a challenge we’re excited to take on.” Creating the culture for change For many, the idea of identifying and addressing whiteness – even recognising it as a distinct concept – can be a challenge to the way they view the world. As Carol explains, schools have to take the right steps before they move into these critical conversions.  “Before any critique of the white spaces happened, I had to make sure the school culture would allow it to happen. You have to develop respect, trust and distributed leadership with your whole team – people have to know their views will be valued, even if they are dissenting. Driving that conflict underground just creates more problems.”  It’s an approach that has expanded beyond the school – taking the focus on representing all voices and making it happen from the outset.  “You have to be authentic and honest in who you are, what you know and what you don’t. I’m originally from Australia – I can’t speak for the Māori community in terms of how they are represented in our school.” “You have to look to experts, those in the community who have the mana to support and challenge you. Listen to their voices, balance everyone’s perspectives – above everything, you’re empowering people, students included, to think critically about their environment. That’s what’s going to bring real change in the future.” The partners Māori deserve With an increasing Māori roll in a region that often looks starkly different, Carol is keenly aware of the challenges that the white spaces audit will introduce for many.  “You’re dancing on the precipice a lot, trying to ensure everyone has their voice heard. You just have to be balanced, steady, careful and kind. Have a clear sense of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it – and don’t let anyone involved in something like a white spaces audit be taken by surprise.” For Carol, that purpose was distilled into something incredibly simple but profound by a colleague, Liz Eley of Poutama Pounamu (Waikato University).  “She told me that a school leaders’ job is to be the Treaty partner that Māori thought they were signing up for. That comment has stuck with me – it's so clear in its identification of why this work is so important.”  “Challenging and critiquing the spaces in our school that don’t give every learner a place of their own – that's making good on our promise to students. We have to be courageous, but the challenge is what makes it all worthwhile.”

Applications are now open for our Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme (SLPP) and Strategic Leadership for Rural Teaching Principals (SLRTP).   Since 2007, Springboard has been delivering SLPP to principals in need across New Zealand. Our vision is to dramatically improve outcomes for NZ learners, and we do this by improving principals’ strategic leadership.   The Springboard model is unique: we operate across sectors, partnering principals with volunteer experts from the public, private and philanthropic realms. Principals gain the tools and frameworks they need to improve conditions – and outcomes – for students.  SLPP and SLRTP: What’s the difference?   SLPP is our flagship programme, teaching the core tenets of strategic leadership over approximately 10 months, with workshops and meetings throughout. You can find out more about the programme details here.   SLRTP is one of our latest offerings, and the first programme of its kind in New Zealand. Originally piloted in 2020, this programme incorporates elements of SLPP and our High Performing Leaders programme, delivering leadership capability development that is specifically tailored to rural teaching principals. You’ll find more about that programme here.   2021 application details  The application process is simple – you fill out our form for your preferred programme, and we’ll be in touch about availability and next steps.  For 2021, we have 72 places for principals available across these two programmes. As part of this, we are piloting our very first virtual cohort  - accessible to principals from anywhere in New Zealand and a key development in our post-COVID approach.   If you’re ready to apply for either programme, details are below. If you’re a volunteer looking to develop your own skills and work with a principal, you’ll find more details here.