ACER Leadership Centre

Project: Principal for a Day – National industry/education partnership program

Project Manager: Ms Viv Acker
tel: 03 9277 5617 acker@acer.edu.au

Principal for a Day commenced in Australia in 2001 and is currently delivered annually in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. Expressions of interest from other Australian States are most welcome.

Mission and Aims

The mission of Principal for a Day™ is to increase and strengthen relationships, based on knowledge and understanding, between the private sector and education. Partnerships between key leaders in education, business and the wider community are especially important. There is ample evidence, from OECD in particular, on the strong relationship between education and employment, and social harmony and economic prosperity, at individual and societal levels, is well supported.

Principal for a Day aims to:

Increase understanding and awareness between schools, business and the wider community
Provide business/community leaders with first hand and current experiences of schools
Enable school principals to develop on-going relationships with a successful leader in business or the broader community.
Increase opportunities for schools and the private sector to work together in mutually beneficial ways.

Program Components

The event component: A group of successful business/community leaders become Principals for a Day on an annual event day. The Principal for a Day ‘shadows’ the school principal, and participates in normal day-to-day activities in a primary, special or secondary school. The principal and the Principal for a Day discuss the challenges and current issues each is facing in their leadership role. Other activities usually include a tour of the school buildings and site; classes with students and meetings with staff, parents or other school agencies or groups.

The forum component: following the event day, all Principals for a Day, their host principals, and other key leaders in education and business are invited to a Forum to share their leadership experiences, observations, and knowledge.

The relationship component: Independent research has found that 93% of Principals for a Day and schools continue their relationships long after the event day is over. Results to date include professional learning exchanges, curriculum development, careers advice, job offers to students, industry and work experience visits, two-way mentoring and sharing of physical, technical and financial resources.

Program Features

The wide diversity of backgrounds and geographical locations of participating business/community leaders and school principals
An individualised matching process based on particular interests of the business (or community) leader and the school principal, their individual areas of expertise, immediate organisational priorities and geographic location.
A comprehensive information kit, including biographical and organisational profiles which enables participants to be well-briefed about each other’s background and priorities
Forums for all Principals for a Day and all school Principals, to exchange experiences, discuss observations, propose ideas for further action and ask questions of key leaders in education who also attend these Forums.

Benefits of the program

For business/community leaders

The complexity and diversity of challenges and issues facing schools
The changes in how students learn, including their sophisticated engagement with current issues
The value added to their own organisation by their participation

For school principals

Comparing management and leadership perspectives, and a new understanding of the generic nature of leadership skills
The Principal for a Day’s capacity to engage with staff and inspire students
Involving the Principal for a Day in a normal school day as well as giving him/her a ‘big picture’ understanding of the school

For the broader society

Sustained relationships between business and schools, beyond the assistance provided by the partnership.
New and ‘untapped’ resources, knowledge and skills for schools and our young people:
Leadership development of school principals
A resource of innovative models in knowledge transfer from business to government schools, for the benefit of others to use and gain inspiration.

Back Story

Principal for a Day began in 1995 as a partnership program between the New York Department of Education and the not-for-profit PENCIL [Public Education Needs Civic Involvement in Learning]. Each year, in New York alone, more than 1000 schools participate in the event day and more than one million students benefit from the activities. The program is now conducted annually in many cities around the world.