ICP NEWS
Asia and Oceania Region
International Confederation of Principals
Email: Fiona.Forbes@education.wa.edu.au
Website: www.icponline.org
Phone: 61 409 409 901
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ICP-Leaders-Connect/263952367107997
Twitter: @icpconnect
Welcome to the First Edition of ICP News
HELSINKI 2015 Register Now
Countdown to Helsinki Council Meeting
For all registrations and information please contact the ICP Executive Secretary Sheree Vertigan - Sheree@vertiganpartners.com.au
Regional Round Up
Singapore
2nd Asia-Pacific Educational Assessment Conference (APEAC) 2015 September 11th and 12th. This conference is for school leaders, teachers, academics, researchers, and policy makers. The theme is Assessment with Purpose. This conference will look at questions such as What are we measuring and why are we measuring it? For more information and registrations go to:
Australia
Australian Primary Principals Association Conference - The Heart of Leadership - Grand Chancellor Hotel Hobart - 16th - 18th September 2015. The conference theme is an attempt to capture the complex dimensions of leadership which can become lost in the day to day urgency of principalship. There will be a focus upon trust, integrity, relational skills and how leaders shape the cultures in which individuals can flourish.
To register go to
http://appaconference2015.com.au
Australian Council of Educational Leaders Conference - Courage and Commitment to Lead 2015 - Hilton Sydney - 30th Sept - 2nd Oct 2015.
To register go to:
New Zealand
New Zealand Principals Federation Conference - Everyday of seeing is a way of not seeing... Wellington - June 30th - 3rd July 2015
The conference will look at leadership and education through a series of different lens e.g., leaders, students, policy, and the lens of tomorrow.
To register go to
http://www.nzpf.ac.nz/2015-conference
I know there are many opportunities that have already past in 2015 that have been very successful. Please send any upcoming events to Fiona.Forbes@education.wa.edu.au
Ari Polka - ICP President
Leading the most important leaders in the world.
Almost twenty years ago I made one of my best professional decisions. I had just started in my first position as a principal. My colleague, Mr Jorma Lempinen, a very familiar person to many older members of ICP, brought me an invoice of Finnish Association of Principals (SURE-FIRE). It was a turning point in my professional career, although I did not understand what it meant at the time. It was also the starting point to becoming an international principal. SURE-FIRE was my university that helped me to develop a deeper understanding of school leadership. It gave me a possibility to develop my skills and knowledge at a national and international level. Now I'm taking one of the most challenging steps in my career, I am to lead ICP, the professional network of principals all over the world.
Education needs people who are ready to change. Behind every change in the school, we can see the Principal or School Head. Principals work on the borderline, or at the edge. They combine education policy, school funding, human resources, developments and daily school life. More and more, we see that the Principal is like a Minister of Foreign Affairs. He or she is the face for the school, builds and connects to different kinds of networks and gives families his or her promise, that the school will do the best for every pupil and teacher. The Principal’s role is essential in bringing new ideas and new visions to the school. That's why Principals need a professional network. That is the one of the main strategic goals of ICP.
Schools need people who are ready to defend a child’s rights to an education. I think that one of the most important values for all of us, is to deeply understand that every child must have an opportunity to a peaceful and safe school life. As we know that's not a reality for every child in our world. International Confederation of Principals sees this value as central to our most important mission. We have done a lot of great work in this area, especially in the girls’ education. I strongly believe, that there are still a lot of things to do and we can play a more active role in the development, review and implementation of world education policy.
It is a challenging time in history for school leaders. Information is constantly changing and changing rapidly within our global community. Teaching and learning is no longer the privilege of schools. Education and access to information can come from multiple sources. The economic situation is very difficult. School rankings, and worldwide evaluation is putting pressure to develop schools that are more and more similar. My friend, Mr. Pasi Sahlberg, speaks about the education virus, GERM (General Education Reform Movement). I believe strongly that every school must have the right to develop their own school culture. School leaders understand their context and the Principal’s role is essential in building something that their community will own. ICP is a great platform to compare how schools and colleges in the different countries and cultures build their own learning and teaching environment, their own school and personal school culture. ICP is about learning through sharing.
The next two years will be a great personal challenge for me. It will also be a great challenge for you, because after many years I am the first President who does not speak English as a mother language. On the other hand, I hope that it also sends a clear message, that ICP is a home for all of us, irrespective of our nationality and our language. My personal message comes from a great speech of President John F. Kennedy. It has been my clear vision in all my association work: " Don't ask what ICP can do for you. Ask, what you can do for ICP.
I hope that we can work together and I promise to be active and easily connect President. Together we can make small miracles. A miracle is to give our children, all children, the best school and the best education. I hope that we will see each other during the next two years.
Let's begin 2015 by working to create small miracles right now.
Ari Pokka
President of International Confederation of Principals
Finally...
I look forward to meeting many of you in Helsinki in August.
Fiona Forbes
ICP Asia/Oceania Regional Representative