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- President Update
- Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey
- BTS Spark Leadership Booster
- Media Advocacy
- Election Advocacy
- Chapter News
- New Facebook page
- 2022 Membership - renew now
- Links to other Professional Learning Opportunities, Publications, and Professional Reading:
- Wellbeing Corner
Dear Members,
Kirsten shared this graph and the importance of planning and leading during our Response and Recovery after what has been an intense, demanding and prolonged event in our schools. Taking the time to reflect and evaluate what worked, what didn’t, what could we do better or as Kirsten stated ‘The leader and teams explicitly undertake activities and strategies. Accelerated recovery and resilience occurs with the right investments of time and energy’.
So not only is it important to do this with your school teams but for you as the school’s leader to take the time to reflect and recover as part of being proactive for your own wellbeing. NTPA have been advocating for an additional PD day to provide your schools with this time and allow you to lead your Response and Recovery. Hopefully we will get a positive response.
Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey
The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2021 was released a couple of weeks ago. The good news was that NT principals have the highest levels of job satisfaction across Australia! The bad news was that not much has changed over the past 11 years for principal wellbeing, burnout and stress.
A copy of the summary can be found here:
The full report here:
Please see attached the media release from NTPA on this matter.
We encourage all school leaders to complete this annual survey to ensure the collective NT voice is captured.
For the full summary of recommendations keep reading in the next article of this newsletter.
School Leader Wellbeing Action Plan
The NTPA executive team are working side by side with the Department to ensure fidelity in the actioning of the School Leader Wellbeing Action Plan. We have advocated for an immediate audit of Principal Workloads, alongside the work which will be started on the Teacher Workload Audit. This is important work to ensure schools retain autonomy without the overwhelming compliance and administrative requests.
NTPA Wellbeing Survey
The NTPA Wellbeing Survey was sent out to all members and 50 responded. The number one issue which prevents seeking wellbeing support is workload; the most prevalent response to what support do you need right now was: regular opportunities to meet with colleagues to discuss mental health and wellbeing strategies. NTPA Chapter meetings provide a forum for connection and an opportunity to further discuss this important topic. This has also been feedback to the Department to ensure school leaders have opportunities to connect professionally and talk about issues at Principal Collaboration Days, other than what is already on the agenda.
I am currently assisting with feedback on numerous policies within the department including the Pay Progression policy and Principal Transfer and Unattaching policy. I am sure these will provide greater clarity for principals taking up ongoing principal positions.
There is lots of information in this newsletter so please enjoy all the updates and be sure to reach out.
Please stay well.
Warm regards,
ph. 0400 146 693
President Email: ntpa.admin@education.nt.gov.au or ntpa.president@education.nt.gov.au
The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2021 was released a couple of weeks ago. The good news was that NT principals have the highest levels of job satisfaction across Australia! The bad news was that not much has changed over the past 11 years for principal wellbeing, burnout and stress.
A copy of the summary can be found here:
The full report here:
Please see attached the media release from NTPA on this matter:
A summary of the RECOMMENDATIONS:
Support school leaders by reshaping work practices, role demands, and targeting professional learning.
- The number one stress is the sheer quantity of work. Qualitative comments reported concerns about increasing bureaucratic and compliance work. There is frustration with administrative work that does not improve student learning. We need a national conversation with system and school leaders to develop comprehensive reform of the role.
- Teacher shortages are now at their highest rank as a source of stress since the survey commenced. Cooperative system planning across all sectors can redress these shortages.
- There are significant differences in levels of Burnout, Stress, and Job Satisfaction between inexperienced and experienced principals. Associations and governments can provide more targeted principal preparation and early career support
- Female school leaders reported higher results than male school leaders for all five COPSOQ Demands at Work subscales. This trend may result in more female principals experiencing higher levels of Stress and Burnout. We need further research to understand these differences and their causes.
- Create a shared dialogue to address bullying and violence.
- It is good there were minor declines in adult-on-adult bullying, threats of violence, and actual violence. Nonetheless, these remain too high, and far more than that experienced by the general population. Government policies to support principals are only part of the solution. Some wider community members need to change personal and online behaviour towards principal.
- 84% of Australian school leaders reported at least one form Offensive Behaviour.
We encourage all school leaders to complete this annual survey to ensure the collective NT voice is captured.
Book now… use later to qualify for the reduced rate or the special bonus.
NTPA members can access a special NTPA Leadership Booster to help you recharge and reflect on how you want to lead your school through this school year. Take 30 minutes to review your leadership strengths and priorities for development using an online self-reflection tool, and then spend an hour getting one-to-one support from a professional leadership coach. Usually priced at $300, NTPA members can enrol in this experience for just $150. Check out the attached flier for more information.
Further information can also be found here:
President of the Australian Secondary Principals’ Association, Andrew Pierpoint recently wrote a piece in The Australian titled Taking stock of what Covid has taught us. Andrew is on point in his observations regarding the Digital Inequity issue. Something which is an ongoing issue for all schools in the NT and being advocated for by NTPA.
You can read the article here:
NTPA, along with our other Peak Associations: ASPA, AGPPA and APPA were disappointed with the recent public comments made by our Federal Education Minister.
Please see the attached media release in response to this:
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Education Minister blames 'dud teachers' for declining education results Stuart Robert said private schools did not have the teacher quality issue, prompting the education union to accuse him of failing to prioritise public education. |
With an upcoming Federal Election, our Peak Associations have created Election Priority papers and have had conversations with the Opposition Federal Education Minister Tanya Plibersek and Greens Senator Faruqi.
At this stage, we have not heard back from the Federal Education Minister.
ASPA Election priorities:
AGPPA Election priorities:
APPA Election priorities:
You might find this an interesting read:
Still waiting for Gonski- a great book about the sorry tale of school funding
Elected Chapter representatives:
Congratulations to Jackie Roberts and Lorraine Evans who have both been voted to continue as Chapter Chairs for the Darwin and Palmerston Chapters.
Congratulations to Natalie Banks who has taken on the interim role as Vice President Secondary for the NTPA executive team. Natalie brings her strong knowledge of the secondary sector to the team.
For a full list of our NTPA Executive and chapter reps please see here:
Big Rivers Chapter meeting
It was great to connect with members at the Big Rivers Principal Collaboration Days and to feel the strong collegiality amongst the group. Robyn took the opportunity to hear perspectives of working and leading schools in our rural and remote communities the challenges and the joys! What was very evident was the commitment and passion to improve the outcomes for our learners. Congratulations to all.
One issue that was raised was the process for re-evaluating Principal Position Levels. The Business Case document to be completed can be found here, Pages- Principal Position Review, along with the policy.
If you would like to discuss this please speak to Robyn or your Chapter Rep.
Frustratingly, our Northern Territory Principals’ Association Facebook site was hacked by a video creator group! And we have not been able to find a resolution.
We recommend you block this site: Old facebook site
Then follow this one: New NTPA facebook page
Thank you!
New members are welcome and encouraged.
Please email completed forms to Ntpa.admin@education.nt.gov.au
https://www.englishliteracyconference.com.au/
VET Delivery
PwC has been engaged by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment to undertake a landscape review of the provision of VET Delivered to Secondary Students across Australia, with one of the key streams of work focused on VET delivered to secondary students in regional, rural and remote (RRR) areas. They are requesting you to complete the survey below. The survey aims to build an understanding of the current arrangements for VET delivery in these areas, explore the barriers to delivery and identify examples of excellence and best practice.
The survey should take approximately 10 minutes to complete and all answers will remain anonymous. If you have any issues completing the survey, please reach out to Georgia Wells from PwC at georgia.wells@pwc.com.
Survey link:https://survey.pwc.com/jfe/form/SV_eYdDZ3wsojIJnw2
Dear Member and colleagues,
The ICP Executive call upon members to make a contribution to the next edition of the ICP Magazine.
As you would be aware each magazine has a theme – the theme for our first magazine in 2022 is: Connecting People to their Purpose.
To inspire your writing, Past President Alta who has a wonderful knack of finding powerful quotes, has provided the following quote from Jake Herway…
'Purpose becomes personal when a person is doing what they do best to further what they care about most.'
Some questions to prompt your thinking and inspire you to write your story, the story of your school and teachers, your association.
- What is your purpose and how does it connect to your leadership?
- What have you done to enable staff to discover their personal purpose?
- How does your personal purpose connect or fit with the purpose of the school/association ?
- What strategies have you used to keep staff engaged and connected to their purpose?
- The impact on performance/productivity of people who are connected to their purpose. (Franklin Covey: Connecting People, Purpose, Performance)
- Any research done regarding 'purpose' in the different regions
All articles can be forwarded to alta@sunlands.co.za
We look forward to reading your contributions
The following podcasts have been released over the past two weeks –Great conversations, thought provoking and different perspectives from across the regions.
All can be found at https://icpvoices.podbean.com/ or by visiting the ICP website https://icponline.org/ and clicking on the podcast link.
Who they are
Good360 Australia is a matchmaker, connecting the spare brand new goods of business with Australians in need. Good360 is a Not for Profit and works with over 3,000 charities and schools Australia-wide, matching the right goods to the right people at the right time, helping to provide hope and dignity to their local community.
Good360 membership is FREE, the goods are FREE, handling (on most items) is FREE for eligible schools with an ICSEA ranking <1,000. You only pay a small shipping cost to get the goods delivered directly to your door. If your school is based in Sydney, you can use Click & Collect and pick up the goods FREE from the Good360 ReDistribution Centre in Smithfield.
Schools can order the goods they need from the Good360 website. Since launching in Australia in 2015, Good360 has matched over 2 million brand new items, valued at $16.2 million to 419 schools around the country, including LEGO, hats, t-shirts, socks, backpacks, stationery, arts and crafts supplies, hygiene and toiletry items just to name a few.
Good360 members write beautiful Impact Stories about how the goods have helped their community - read this story ‘Joy comes in a backpack for students at Wewak Street School’ click here.
Good360 wants all eligible schools around Australia to benefit from membership and help your local community thrive. A Good360 State Partnership Manager can work with your school about your specific needs and how to get the most from your membership.
Check out Good360 Australia at their website https://good360.org.au/
You can Register for membership or browse the goods they currently have on their catalogue.
Having trouble sleeping?
Insomnia is a common issue amongst School Leaders.
The Insomnia Coach app was created for everyone to help manage insomnia. The app is based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia and is free to use.
Features include:
Guided, weekly training plan to help you track and improve sleep
Sleep coach with tips for sleeping and personal feedback about your sleep
Interactive sleep diary to help you keep track of daily changes
17 tools to help you get your sleep back on track
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/insomnia-coach/id1341944736
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.va.mobilehealth.ncptsd.insomniacoach
Introduction to the Insomnia Coach App Video:
Insomnia Coach - PTSD: National Center for PTSD (va.gov)