Principals as Literacy Leaders: Confident, Credible and Connected

Abstract

This book is the result of research conducted during the Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) Pilot Project. PALL was funded by the Australian Government under the Literacy and Numeracy Pilots in Low SES Communities program. Some 60 Government, Catholic, and Independent school principals, 15 each in South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, and the Northern Territory took part. They did so in a project hosted by the South Australian Department of Education and Children’s Services; managed by the Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA); supported by the relevant State and Territory education systems; and designed and delivered collaboratively by three universities – Griffith University, Edith Cowan University and the Australian Catholic University. The ultimate purpose of the project was to undertake interventions which would enhance the literacy learning and achievement of children in schools, where doing so had proved difficult for many in the past. Part of the motivation for the project was the knowledge that while it is well documented in the literature that within the school, classroom teachers affect student learning outcomes most and that the influence of school principals is second to this, no turnaround in the achievement trajectory of students has occurred without the dedicated action of school leaders (Leithwood, Day, Sammons, Harris, & Hopkins, 2006). With this and the significance of literacy in primary schools in mind, the project partners used two questions in designing the pilot which research and scholarly writing indicated were important if the daily work of principals was to be connected productively to children’s learning and achievement. The two questions were: (i) What capabilities do principals need in literacy? (ii) What capabilities do principals need in leadership?