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The end of this term will see a new chapter begin for Whangaparaoa College, with the departure of the principal, Brian O’Connell, who has been there since its formation seven years ago. Brian describes the opportunity to start up a school as a rare opportunity, and one he grasped with both hands. It proved to be a challenge that required digging deep and developing skills beyond those normally required of a principal. Brian spoke to Terry Moore about his time at the college, the role of education and achieving balance.
I grew up in Gisborne in a small, relatively poor working class family and am the first person in my family to go to university. My family thought it was weird: their attitude was ‘why would you stay at school when you could be out working?’, but education gave me opportunity and choice that I might not otherwise have had. I was good at maths and wanted to continue with it, so did a Bachelor of Science in maths and physics. My family still think it’s a bit weird, although there is a little more understanding: society has different expectations than it did 35 years ago when only a small number of people went to university, so as society’s expectations have changed, so have those of my family. I went straight into teaching, and have always taught in various parts of Auckland – apart from one year off when I looked into the possibility of becoming a scientist and worked at Lincoln University in Canterbury in soil science. I found that I enjoyed working with people too much to stay in that field.
Whangaparaoa College was built by changing the status of an existing school, Hibiscus Coast Intermediate. Starting a college in this way had never been done before in New Zealand and no one knew how to do it so there were lots of difficulties associated with that. At the time that job came up, I was principal at Otahuhu College, but the opportunity to start a new school does not come along very often. It presented a lot of challenges around meeting the demands of a new property; that took up an enormous amount of my time in the first three years of the school. I spent a lot of time with architects, engineers and project managers and that process was something that I had to learn about as I went along. Buildings always seemed to arrive after we needed them and the place was a building site, which was difficult for everyone. Becayuse those demands affected my workload, I was not able to spend as much of my time with students and staff as I would have liked.
One strength that has developed in this college is that it is about the total package of a kid, not focused on one area. It’s a holistic way of learning with leadership and outdoor education and the performing arts playing a larger role than at some other schools, so that we develop a child in all facets. Our academic achievement has gone from poor to good, and we’re pretty pleased with last year’s results. Academic achievement is very important because it gives you choice in life, but I believe that it’s also really important to be well rounded and have greater skills than just academic qualifications. I got into the outdoors a bit at school, but did more tramping, rock climbing and mountain climbing in my first year of teaching. I’ve done most of the outdoor activities at one time or another – including caving and mountaineering, but eventually gave up those activities when I had kids because of the risk. You cut back on some of the riskier activities when you have new responsibilities as a parent. Outdoor activities appealed because in my spare time I like to be physically active, but not always in competitive sports. Also, sports that involve large groups can be difficult to organise when you’re working long hours. Adventure sports provide a different type of challenge and give a better balance towards a healthy lifestyle. Education, and society in general, has got a little bit risk averse and the challenges around managing risk often mean it’s easier for an organisation not to do something. I consider one of the roles of a principal is to manage risk to allow people to do things. Management of risk is learnt activity and if you don’t put people in those situations they never learn about it. New Zealanders play with risk very well, but youth are not put in those positions so much any more. It worries me when I hear of things such as adventure playgrounds being locked up because someone might fall off them; dealing with this type of thing is important if we are to be successful adults.
Class sizes are smaller than they used to be when I was teaching, around 10 years ago, but schools have got bigger, especially in Auckland. Our current roll is 1390. Bigger schools give advantages around economies of scale and the subjects you can offer. The disadvantages are around losing individuals within large schools. You have to work hard to maintain an awareness of individuals and not turn it into ‘a factory’ approach. You have to be able to talk to kids and have them come to see you and also know your staff. We have worked hard on this, but it’s an ongoing challenge. I’ve worked in schools in many different areas and kids are kids, whatever the affluence of the area or the size or decile of the school, but there are differences around the relationship of the school with its community. This community has high expectations of its school, which is fine but I don’t think schools should be seen as the solution to all of society’s concerns. Since the turn of this century there seems to have been a lack of acceptance of responsibility from some groups of people, across the whole Western world; the issue of personal responsibility is not as strong as it used to be around learning and parenting. A good example was a recent suggestion that schools should be teaching people how to pat dogs properly so kids don’t get attacked or bitten. It seems every time there is a concern, schools are put in the front line.
Changes in teaching over the years mean that teaching now has much higher accountabilities, which is good, but there is also a greater demand to have short-term solutions rather than giving people time. There is a view that student achievement is easy, when we know it is actually very complicated and takes time. Government and the community expect instant solutions whereas in fact it can take years. I do not support National Standards because I believe that they drive teaching into a narrow range of skills and, while those skills are important, they are not all that is needed. Just by assessing, you don’t get good outcomes: it’s how well you teach. If you focus on assessment, you are assessing – not teaching. If Governments are saying we want you to do these assessments, it trickles down to the classroom, where teachers concentrate on assessment rather than teaching. Of course you can train someone to pass a test, but that does not make them a more literate or numerate person.
If you link it into human development, I think Whangaparaoa College is just moving out of childhood but that is has been a very successful childhood, which puts it in a strong position to move into the next five years. The school has great staff, great facilities and is in a strong financial position. Until you get those things right it is difficult to get other things right. It’s a strong foundation to work from. If I were to come back in five years, I’d like to see a continued improvement in achievement. One area that I’m a bit disappointed about, because I have not done as much as I would have liked, is creating links with the community. That’s another area that I would like to see improve in future. I think the school should be a centre for the community, and we’ve made a start, with things like the local Athletics Club meeting here, but I would like to see the facilities of the college being used by the whole community.
Looking ahead, my wife Stella has a job in Sydney in community development which she has already started, so I will be looking for a job there and that may be in education, or not, I haven’t decided. My wife and I have want to explore other places around the world, and look at other lifestyles. We don’t want to continue to work the 70-80 hour weeks that have been required in our current jobs, but scale back and have more time to consider other personal interests or hobbies – for me this includes the outdoors, photography and environmental matters which is something I’m keenly interested in but have had to put aside for some time now. We want opportunities to do new things too. I have two children, aged 18 and 20, and I think it’s important for parents when their children have left school to say ‘job well done’ and look at other opportunities, as we are, for the rest of our working lives. We have made no definite plans or decisions for the future and when I tell people that some are in awe, some think we’re crazy and others are envious. It is hoped we can bring some balance into our lifestyle. As a secondary school principal I have only had my job and my family; not much space for anything else so this is an exciting new page to turn.
