Authentic school leadership change in New Zealand: rhetoric or reality?

The purpose of this paper is to suggest that without an educational environmental shift in New Zealand it will be difficult to achieve authentic school leadership change. The paper is based largely on the results of a study of the leadership perceptions of 94 secondary school principals in New Zealand (Slowley, 2012) and therefore is mostly about how difficult it is for secondary school principals in New Zealand to make changes in their leadership. However, it also points to a dichotomy that exists for principals at all levels and school types, between the leadership assumptions that permeate the schools' self-management system in New Zealand and the new leadership forms being called for by the government and its advisors and by some educationalists. This paper argues that dichotomy exists because the current schools' self-management system compels principals to be focused on the demands generated by an education market and by the government's expectations that principals should be effective administrators. To illustrate this dichotomy, the paper outlines the impact on the leadership of the individual principal of the accountabilities and leadership assumptions they are subject to on a daily basis. In so doing, the paper raises important questions about the value of providing principals with models of good leadership practice when those leadership models contrast with the inherent leadership assumptions within the current education environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]