__ LIPS – Leading in Public Schools

Here we are at the end of another year.  In NSW the year has been an eventful one as the pressure has mounted on government to deliver services in a massively constraine resource environment.  Coupled with the global economic credit crisis, the huge shift in opinion in the US which has seen the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency sends a signal that we are on the verge of some new ages in thinking.  Maybe it is a time where we will need to develop and ability to rapidly ‘zoom’ between a close view and a long view.  We need now, more than ever before, the ability to ‘think globally, act locally.’ That is, we need to be able to appreciate both the bigger picture context  and then micro actions which can create a difference at the local level.

 Readers of this blog may notice that the title has changed.  It has moved from being for ‘Leaders in Public Schools’ to a focus on ‘Leading in Proactive Schools.’  Basically this reflects a shift toward a view that it is the desire to take action, to make a difference, to plan for better futures which is the thing which makes the most difference.  Recently, our public schools in NSW have seen an upward trend in outcomes. Media sources have acknowledged that this is teh result of some fundamental optimism and a commitment to maintaining high expectations.  This is, for all of us, the way forward.

As 2008 ends and 2009 looms on the horizon, let’s look forward to a year where we are leading, in whatever sector of education, in schools which claim back the sense of an authoratitive voice in what might be good for the future: proactive schools.