Conference inspires remote principal
15 May 2007
Alyangula Area School Principal Dr Gerry McKeown has returned from a New Zealand conference enthused and inspired.
Gerry attended the International Confederation of Principals’ Conference in Auckland in early April, thanks to a Remote Area Workforce Development Scholarship from the Commissioner of Public Employment’s office and the support of DEET.
“I felt very fortunate to attend the conference, which was attended by about 1700 delegates from 30 different countries including Iceland, the United Kingdom, Tanzania and Sweden – it was fantastic!” he said.
Keynote speakers included Sir Ken Robinson, who has served as an advisor to governments of Hong Kong and Singapore, the European Commission, and Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. He is currently senior advisor to the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles. He spoke about the importance of creativity, its relative importance in the traditional hierarchy of subject status, how we perceive it within ourselves, how we often separate it from “intelligence” and how it goes unnoticed and how its decline can be often be determined by years of schooling.
“Being on first name terms with Paul (McCartney), Sir Ken related the story of how no-one recognised McCartney’s musical talent the whole time he was in school as a result of a focus on other things,” Gerry said.
Another speaker, Mark Treadwell, observed that we are now involved in a new education paradigm which, based on the internet, is far more powerful than the first, book-based, paradigm over 500 years ago.
Li Cunxin, author of Mao’s Last Dancer, spoke of his life and his determination, perseverance, vision, courage and hard work drove him to become one of the best dancers in the world.
Todd Whitaker, author of Dealing With Difficult Teachers, What Great Principals Do Differently and What Great Teachers Do Differently, spoke on instructional improvement, change, leadership effectiveness, technology, and middle level practices.
“I am keen to pursue his publications and programs much further,” Gerry said. “We have great teachers and we want to keep them!”