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Ross Kennedy and Trudy Francis
College Street Normal School
Palmerston North, Manawatu, Wanganui • New Zealand
Introduction staff when I was appointed as principal at CSNS twelve
years ago. From my reading of Hopkins, Ainscow
This article explains how College Street Normal School and West’s (1994) work, the CSNS culture was at the
(CSNS) has grown and sustained a vision for the Habits time somewhere between ‘stuck’ and ‘promenading’.
of Mind over many years. We describe how the school Relatively ideal teaching conditions meant that staff
community has maintained and deepened the value it turnover was low, that there were deeply entrenched
places on the Habits of beliefs as to what constituted effective teaching and little
Mind while at the same time responding and adapting alignment between individual teachers’ perception of
to a range of influences such as: changes in staffing, their responsibilities and the collective expectations of
changes to national curriculum, reflection on our own the school. Not the easiest school culture within which
teaching practice, and how to differentiate across the to initiate change, least of all to introduce the Habits of
p-6 school, to name just a few. Mind.
Principal Ross Kennedy will share from a principal’s Not surprisingly the new principal’s enthusiasm for the
perspective the challenges of leading a school focus on Habits of Mind was a source of amusement for some
Habits of Mind. He discusses how to initiate change, and an irritant for others. Thankfully, after constant
distribute leadership, and ensure that the professional talking over a number of months a handful of staff began
development of staff is directly related to school goals so to show some interest. A pilot group was formed and
that teachers feel high levels of ownership. the journey was under way. Initially, we literally stuttered
along, reading the literature and talking to teachers in
Teachers at CSNS have the freedom to be innovative other schools, all the time trying to develop a deeper
and to take risks with their classroom practice. Assistant understanding of the Habits of Mind, and how we might
Principal Trudy Francis describes how, under the teach them. Although many of our initial efforts had scant
umbrella of their collective vision, teachers develop new impact on the students’ learning, more importantly we
ways of using the Habits of Mind in their classrooms. were thinking and ‘having a go’.
This ensures high levels of commitment and integrity and
results in teachers becoming authentic role models by Art Costa’s visit to CSNS in 2003 was the ‘clincher’.
developing the Habits in their own lives. His unpretentious, compelling presentation convinced
teachers and parents that schooling for the 21st Century
Schools working to sustain a focus on Habits of Mind had to be different – radically different! It was at this point
are often faced with the challenges of changing priorities that the journey began in earnest! Over the intervening
and curricula imposed from the Ministry of Education. years as our depth of understanding has grown so has
Research at CSNS conducted as part of a Ministry of our teaching of the Habits of Mind. We have progressed
Education contract focuses on how clusters of Habits from being confused about the relationship between the
of Mind can be used to address the development of the Habits of Mind and Thinking Skills, from trying to teach
Key Competencies within the New Zealand Curriculum the habits in isolation, one a term across the whole
due for release in October 2007. school within an industrial model of curriculum delivery,
to embedding them naturally using a ‘best fit’ approach
Changing a Culture at College Street within our own integrated curriculum model.
Normal School Immersing the Habits of Mind within an authentic
learning context has given them real meaning and
Ross Kennedy (Principal) created greater opportunity for the students to develop
Initiating and sustaining change, particularly when it’s and internalise them. Our most recent development
associated with classroom instruction, has throughout has been the introduction of ‘back planning’ from
my career as a principal been the greatest challenge. I a sociocultural matrix, referred to by Wiggins and
suspect that few would disagree that school leadership McTighe (1998) as backward design. Included within
should be primarily about the guidance and direction of the matrix are the three sociocultural lenses, the Habits
instructional improvement, yet so often it’s romanticised of Mind, Thinking Skills and Jay McTighe’s facets of
so that it seems to be more about the personal understanding. After co-construction, students goal
characteristics of principals; their ability, for example set from the matrix and at regular intervals monitor their
to be masters of human relationships and to attend to progress through reflective writing.
all the conflicts and disagreements that arise among How, you might ask, have you achieved this across a
students, teachers and parents. These perceptions relatively large staff of 29 teachers? There have been a
of school leadership were alive and well amongst the number of key elements.
Australian National Schools Network and Learning Network New Zealand • 5