Abstract
This chapter provides a deep exploration of the policy conditions that were governing the work of public school principals in Queensland at the time of this study. In this chapter, I examine the global, national, and local policies, as well as the government and systemic expectations influencing principals’ work. I focus in particular on discourses found within performative cultures and the ways these impacted upon the principals in this context, who were working in a rapidly shifting policy and discourse landscape, which required them to be able to cope with ongoing changes in expectations for school leaders.
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Notes
- 1.
Media reports included: ‘NAPLAN is Driving our Students Backwards’ (Peter Job, The Age, 15/5/13); ‘Tests “must bring change, not teacher bashing”’ (Anna Patty, Sydney Morning Herald, 14/5/13); ‘Fight for Schools’ (The Advertiser [Canberra], 23/5/2012); ‘Excessive Testing Minus Fairness Equals Failure’ (Alexandra Smith, Sun Herald, 15/6/2014); ‘Public Schools Pass The Test’ (Kim Arlington, Sun Herald, 3/7/2011).
- 2.
The Queensland Studies Authority was rebranded the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority [QCAA] in 2014.
- 3.
Teaching and Learning Audits have since been renamed to ‘School Reviews’, although the process uses the same auditing tool, is undertaken at the same interval, and by the same groups of auditors (now termed ‘reviewers’). I maintain the use of the ‘Teaching and Learning Audit’ nomenclature to align with the data collected, as the process was still in place during the fieldwork phase of this study.
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Heffernan, A. (2018). The Queensland Context: A Site of Rapid and Urgent Reform. In: The Principal and School Improvement. Educational Leadership Theory. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1495-7_3
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