A third cohort of schools complete the Secondary Teacher Leaders (STL) Program

In November, a third cohort of schools completed the Secondary Teacher Leaders (STL) Program, a 9-month professional development program for Heads of Learning Areas (HOLAs) and Level 3 teachers from EDvance secondary schools. 

Over 45 HOLA’s and Level 3 Leaders from ten EDvance schools came together for 5 workshops in 2021.

Key objectives for participants of the STL Program include:

• Developing greater clarity of their role, leading to clearer expectations of their staff.
• Gaining a deeper understanding of the principles of effective teaching and learning, particularly the teaching of new concepts.
• Enhancing their ability to lead their teams effectively by having disciplined dialogue and discussions within their learning area to bring about change.
• Describing how they will be an instructional leader through developing a performance and development team culture.
• Having a methodology for backward mapping critical concepts and skills required in each year level of the curriculum.

Fogarty EDvance understands the complex role undertaken by secondary HOLAs and Level 3 leaders in school improvement and designed a program to support secondary teacher leaders in whole school improvement. 

Feedback from program participants was very positive:

100% felt they were a more effective leader because of the program.
97% felt their learning area was having more professional discussions about learning practices.
100% felt that as a result of the program, they were able to better lead an effective team.

“ [I valued the] opportunities to network with other HoLAs and the opportunities to learn about the structure or framework of how to do certain things as a leader i.e. having clear conversations and performance management processes.” Secondary Teacher Leader Participant, 2021 Program

“It was great having the mentor, I really enjoyed the individual mentor meetings and would have liked more.” Secondary Teacher Leader Participant, 2021 Program

“I have found this program very beneficial. It has given me extra tools for my tool kit and has provided me with guidance as to how to manage staff and difficult situations.” Secondary Teacher Leader Participant, 2021 Program

To complete the program participants will all submit a ‘story of impact’, which will allow them to reflect on achievements they have made against their action plans, and identify areas where there were changes to their leadership practice.