Passion and commitment to the fore

Passion and commitment are an inherent part of the life of a school trustee, whether it’s at the local board level or as an active participant in an organisation such as NZSTA says NZSTA President Lorraine Kerr.

A good example of this passion and commitment was NZSTA’s 11 Regional Executives meeting in Wellington last weekend to discuss a wide-ranging agenda including digital assessment , ERO reviews, statutory interventions, IES, and recent expansion of NZSTA’s Professional Development (PD), HR and Health and Safety resources and pilot programmes.

“These are exciting and vibrant meetings to be part of,” Lorraine says. “They really demonstrate the passion and commitment that community trustees bring not only to governing their schools effectively, but to contributing to the bigger picture. Our external visitors also really enjoy the positive vibe and the competence and willingness to learn that comes through in the discussions.”

NZSTA’s regional executives are trustees in their own right, who have been elected to head their regional NZSTA, and to collectively provide a comprehensive regional network to assist NZSTA to support boards of trustees across the country.

“Trustees are often asked to send representatives to meetings in the education sector at both a regional and a national level, and those meetings are almost always held during normal office hours,” Kerr says “and it’s not well understood that for trustees to attend these meetings often means sacrificing a day’s pay or taking annual leave while other sector representatives will be paid their normal salaries.”

“We acknowledge and applaud the passion and commitment our trustees bring to their work locally regionally and nationally, and it is work that contributes to the NZSTA vision of all schools being effectively governed by a board of trustees whose primary focus is every student achieving their highest possible educational potential”, Lorraine says.

Ends

© Scoop Media