The complexities of a school principal’s day

[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 1, No. 16 15 - 29 October 2007 ] By Katherine Smith
Leaders from across industry have an opportunity every year to taste the reality of school leadership and management by participating in the Principal for a Day program run by the Australian Council for Education Research.
Most come away very respectful of the energy and commitment needed to run a complex organisation subject to a huge variety of expectations. Two University of Melbourne academics – microbiologist Dr Rosa Gualano and public health expert Professor Rob Moodie – participated in this year’s program, along with such wellknown identities as John Denton, Jon Faine, Gabriel Gaté and Bronwyn Pike. Dr Gualano, of the Lung Disease Research Facility in the Department of Pharmacology, went back to her old school, Koonung Secondary College in North Box Hill.

Dr Gualano says her old school has grown a lot (with 830 students in 2007 almost doubling the student population since she was at school in the late 1980s), is more multicultural, and has become “more serious” about how it goes about business; from a stricter, more formal uniform code to developing a niche position as a great school for science. She says she was impressed with the energy and constant vigilance of the principal she shadowed. “He never seemed to switch off, and was constantly monitoring what was going on in the school environment, even in a casual walk through the playground or corridors.”

Dr Gualano's impression was that many parents have greater expectations of schools, and teachers, than when she was a student, but they were very positive about various student-led initiatives – like a recent weekend sleepover at school to raise money for homeless people in the area. “Those sorts of activities were not around when I was at Koonung, and the students seemed to be really engaged with the school beyond the classroom”. Dr Gualano spoke with many of the students about life as a research scientist, and science in general, and says information about the practical side of science seemed to really make sense to year 8 girls who had just been vaccinated against cervical cancer. “Though not involved in research in that area in any way, I talked with them about how those sorts of vaccines are developed and the role they play in public health, to which they were very responsive. Learning like that just seemed to make sense.”

Professor Moodie, of the University of Melbourne-based Nossal Institute for Global Health, is something of a veteran of the program, having been ‘principal for a day’ this year at University High School, following previous stints at Diamond Creek and Noble Park primary schools, and Essendon Keilor College. Professor Moodie was amazed at the complexity of managing Southvale Primary School in Noble Park, where students of more than 30 nationalities and many faiths attend.

“Most of the families in the school are very new to Australia and the school plays a great role in educating parents through a Wednesday Parents Learning Session, getting the children to school through several ‘Walking School Buses’, providing community liaison workers to communicate with families, and giving students a good start to the day with a Breakfast Café. They even have built their own interfaith pagoda where students can take time out if they need to. “Southvale Primary is in an area that didn’t rate too highly in The Age’s livable suburbs league table,” he says. “But in my short visit I was mightily impressed with this gem. I thought how very happy I would be if I could do my job as well as Principal Sue Barford seems to do hers.”