Principals are the keys to quality teaching and learning in classrooms, Mark Scott, secretary of the NSW Department of Education, told the region's head teachers in Armidale on Wednesday.
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Nearly 100 of them - from Tamworth north to Inverell, and from Armidale and Glen Innes west to Moree and Mullaley - attended the New England North West Education Forum for Principals at the Armidale Bowling Club.
The forum provided principals with resources to support their leadership: with classroom teaching, one of the two great drivers of quality education.
"We know that the magic all happens in schools," Mr Scott said. "Strong leaders who work effectively with their leadership teams, and have clarity around their strategies, are those we see bringing about a real lift in learning outcomes."
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The state's 2200 public schools' ongoing dedication to improvement and transformation were helping to achieve the department's vision of being Australia's best education system and one of the finest in the world, Mr Scott told the principals.
"We are working to ensure that every student is successfully prepared for further education, training and work, and that our education system reduces the impact of disadvantage," he said.
This was one of 12 seminars the department is running across the state through May; Mr Scott expected to talk to some 2000 principals.
Three local principals - Marion Tame, Narrabri Public; Rodney Jones, Peel High; and Danny Spillane, Kentucky Public - talked about their own leadership journeys, their successes, and what they had learnt.
Mr Scott and the department's officials were also eager to learn how they could better support principals; if the department inhibited their effectiveness and ability to lead; and challenges about leading and teaching in this part of the state.
New England, Mr Scott said, was characterised by big schools in cities, and groups of small, remote schools. There were outstanding pockets of excellence in both types; one principal had significantly lifted learning outcomes in their small school.
Nevertheless, the region's schools had problems attracting and keeping top-quality staff, and maintaining a pool of casuals.
One solution was for education students to gain practical experience in regional, rural schools. Those most likely to teach in regional areas are those who went to school there.
"If they've grown up in a metropolitan area or big city, they may not have thought of it," Mr Scott said. "They can find it a good lifestyle, with very attractive professional opportunities."
He noted that students with the same ATAR were more likely to attend university if they had studied in cities than in regional areas.
It was also important to create mid-career pathways into teaching for people in their mid-thirties or forties.
Rethinking the importance of vocational education in secondary school was necessary, Mr Scott argued. Many students - according to Attila Brungs, vice-chancellor of the University of Technology Sydney - graduate from university, then go on to TAFE. Teachers should make it clear that vocational training may be part of the learning journey for all students, in some way.
The first 2000 days of life were vital for early childhood education. The single best prediction of a child's educational attainment on the last day of school is that child's level of educational attainment on the first day.
"Our shared purpose is to put students at the centre of everything we do," Mr Scott said. "Our work must be driven, and judged, by a focus on the individual child and on constant improvement in every school and classroom. We have to make sure that every child is known, valued and cared for."