Technical Leadership : Thinking and Planning Strategically

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Technical Leadership Thinking and Planning
Strategically

• Margaret Graham
• Ultranet Coach
• DEECD - Gippsland Region
• Mentor Heather Stone

Title Developing a regional approach for
working with schools.
Never, ever to lose sight of the number one
objective education of children. Brent Davies
Leading the Strategically Focused School NCSL
study quote P32
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• Purpose Development of a strategic approach for
  working with Gippsland schools in preparation for
  the Ultranet.
• Strategic Intent Supporting schools with the
  integration of ICT and eLearning into their
  teaching and learning program.
• Key Personnel Gippsland Ultranet team Cara
  Brasier, Jeff Curwood, Robert King, Jason Pell
  and myself.

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What is the Ultranet?

• The Ultranet brings together a range of key
  functions that support teaching, learning and
  administration.
• All information related to students is
  centralised and will remain with the student as
  the student moves through the education system.

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What is the Ultranet?
Whole school, program and teacher curriculum
planning and delivery Student assessment,
submission and feedback Digital learning content
Student report cards Standard reports
Ad-hoc reports
Shared curriculum/lesson plans Collaboration
tools Discussion forums Messaging
Blogs
Ultranet A tool for school improvement
Management of Attendance
Timetable Calendar Resources
Records
Staff profile Staff timetable
Profile
Timetable Calendar
Committees
Clubs organisations
Student profile
Student results Course enrolment
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Ultranet Readiness

• The components which schools will need to address
  as part of school readiness are
• School Leadership
• Workforce Capability
• Teaching and Learning
• Community
• Data/Content
• Infrastructure

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Processes we worked through

• Development of team and a team strategy
• Building relationships
• Building sustainable leadership
• Building capacity and creating involvement
• Developing evaluation tools

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My Objective

• I chose to use this opportunity to lead the team
  in the structure of our regional approach for
  working with schools in order to ensure
  consistency.
• In doing so I was guided by the principles and
  techniques of strategic planning.

Strategic Processes
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1. Conceptualisation

• Reflection

• Strategic Thinking

• Analysis

I believed that

• Our approach with schools needed to be consistent
  
• A well planned and documented strategic approach
  and structure would support this process
• A documented agreement format at the beginning
  would make evaluation at the completion of the
  support more targeted

In many instances the process of developing the
strategy is actually as important as the strategy
itself. How you do something can be just as
important as what you do. Brent Davies Day 1
conference workshop
Back
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2. Engaging People

• Conversations

• Participation

• Motivation

• Capability

This was ongoing and easy to find time for in a
high performing team who met regularly and used
online communications such as Communicator, our
Wiki and email. The team supported my thinking
and gave constructive feedback on working
documents. When I proposed or suggested actions
which they were unfamiliar with I organised
professional learning for the team. For example
when I suggested we include ICT Peer Coaching
as one of our strategies I organised a whole day
training session for the team to familiarise
themselves with this.
Participation
Back
The iterative nature of alignment and capability.
Brent Davies
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3. Articulation

• Oral

• Written

• Structural

• Once we had developed a clear picture of how we
  wanted to process we, as a team, needed to get
  the message out there so that we could actually
  start supporting our schools.
• We planned to do this using a variety of methods
  including
• Development of a Gippsland Ultranet Wiki
  http//gippslandultranet.wikispaces.com/
• Visits to each of our schools no matter how big
  or small or remote
• Principal Briefings run in networks
• Primary and Secondary eLearning Leaders Forums
  run in networks
• Updates in the Regional weekly newsletter to
  school called Gippsmail

The key is to communicate where you are going in
words that make sense Brent Davies Day 1
Conference workshop
Back
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4. Implementation

• Action planning

• Alignment

• Implementation

• Timing

• Our approach to how we would support our
  schools was one that had been well thought out
  and reviewed at each stage. We however were not
  content to simply implement our plan once it had
  been mapped out. We made time to regularly
  reflect on how it was proceeding via our regular
  conversations with each other, our wiki, email
  and regular team meetings.
• At team meetings we give progress reports to
  each other and review how we are going in terms
  of our strategic plan / what is working / what
  may need a different approach.
• Team meetings also provide the opportunity to
  share and reflect on feedback from schools in
  relation to our work.

Deciding on something doesnt mean it will
happen. Brent Davies Day 1 Conference workshop
Back
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Products produced to support the process include

• Expression of interest document
• Working with schools discussion doc
• Working with schools agreement doc
• Principal and teacher evaluations
• ePotential guidelines for leaders
• eLearning guidelines for leaders

As stated previously I believed it was important
that our approach with schools needed to be a
consistent one. The documentation I produced
would support this concept and ensure that we
were recording the same information in the same
way.
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Expression of Interest (EOI)
After completion of individual school visits and
Principal briefings to explain our role to
leadership teams it was necessary to put in place
a formal structure for schools to request the
support of a coach. This document was created
and emailed to all schools. It clearly outlined
the type of support the Ultranet team could offer
schools. It was also used to collect data on the
status of our schools in terms of ePotential and
eLearning Planning.
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Working with schools ? discussion
template
Once a schools EOI had been accepted this
document was used at the next stage of the
process. A first contact visit was made with the
school.
Checklist to help determine readiness and prompt
discussion
Initial school request copied into here
Principles of highly effective professional
learning included to prompt discussion
Area to take notes during the discussion process
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Working with schools ? agreement
template

• This document was then completed based on the
  discussion document.
• Once signed by the principal copies of this
  document are to be supplied to
• The participating school
• The Ultranet team manager for collation
• The schools RNL to keep them informed of
  process

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Working with schools ? Principal
evaluation
It was not only necessary to be strategic in
documenting our work but to also collect
evaluation data which could be reflected on when
reviewing our strategy. This document is to be
given to the Principal at the completion of the
agreement. It allows for reflection on the
service provided in terms of how well the
agreement has been met. the working relationship
of the Ultranet coach with the school and a
chance to provide suggestions for improvement.
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Working with schools ? Teacher
evaluation
This document is to be given to the individual
teachers at the completion of the agreement. It
allows for reflection from the teacher regarding
the coaching arrangement and the impact of the
experience on both teaching and learning and
curriculum planning using ICT
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ePotential Guidelines for School Leaders.
This booklet was created to support school
leaders in understanding the potential of
ePotential and to guide them step by step on how
to interpret the data
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eLearning Planning Guidelines for School Leaders.
This booklet was created to support school
leaders in understanding how to integrate
eLearning planning into their school Strategic
Plan.
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What have I learnt?
The need to begin with reflection on where you
are then plan .
Long Term
Short Term
Where you want to go. AND What support you need
to get there.