2007 study award winners:

Debbie Dawson

Parent elected trustee and chairperson at Christchurch Boys' High School

Debbie is undertaking a study tour to Victoria, Australia, to investigate a number of initiatives that support teaching excellence with a particular focus on strengthening professional development structures and systems for school staff.  The initiatives are the result of extensive consultation across the whole school community.  There are two strategies with particular relevance to the New Zealand situation that Debbie wishes to investigate: Building Leadership, and Creating and Supporting a Performance and Developnment Culture.

Many of the issues boards are faced with - such as recruitment, retention, adequate numbers of people willing to take on leadership positions, employee satisfaction, and the levels of student achievement - can all be traced back to staff professonal development.  Teaching is the core activity in schools, so as governers we need to do all we can to ensure that the environment allows the best practice possible.

David Gray

Parent elected trustee at Pukekohe High

David attended the Policy Governance Academy offered by the United Kingdom Policy Governance Association during March 2007.

Policy governance is a comprehensive, integrated operating system covering all aspects of governance, from foundation principles to practical details.  The system was developed by Dr John Carver.  David's goal on completion of his training in the system from its designer, Dr John Carver, is to simulate the formaton of a community of New Zealand schools committed to this sytem of governance.

Anna Morgan

Parent elected trustee at New Brighton Catholic School, Christchurch

Anna is undertaking study at Canterbury University as a mature student, taking two education papers, one management paper, and a psychology paper.  Anna is aiming to complete a BA in Education in order to further her knowledge for her roles both as a board of trustees' member and as an adult educator.

Anna believes that by continued study, both in management and organisation, and in the study of education at all levels, she will gain valuable knowledge and greater understanding to continue to deal with decision making, processes and procedure development, communication, and human resource management/development in relationships with both professional and lay people within the education sector.

Rosemary Vickers

Parent elected trustee and chairperson, Naenae Primary School.

Rosemary has previously established a marketing plan for the school as part of her studies and her goal for 2007 is to enhance the board's knowledge of accounting by more in-depth understanding of the way the accounts are written for the school.  She believes this will enable the board to be better informed about financial performance thereby making more informed decisions.  Rosemary's continued studies will improve understanding within the school of communication, promotion, property responsibilities, and ensuring the safety of the school community whilst on school premises.