Context, Curriculum, and Community Matter: Leadership Practices of Primary School Principals in the Otago Province of New Zealand

Research on leadership abounds (see e.g., Hallinger & Heck, 1996, 1998, 2002; Leithwood, Day, Sammons, Harris, & Hopkins, 2006; Robertson, Hohepa, & Lloyd, 2009); research on leadership in the rural context is not as plentiful. Yet, there can be little doubt that the environment in which a leader works strongly influences the effectiveness of the leadership. As Southworth (2002) noted, "One of the most robust findings from leadership research is that context matters" (p. 451). Ewington et al. (2008) observed, however, that although context affects the ability to lead a school, the literature has not attended to how specific school environments differentially affect leadership practices.Part of the problem has been in determining what constitutes being rural (Coladarci, 2006; Starr & White, 2008; Bollman & Alasia 2011). According to the official United States Census Bureau, rural refers to a community in which there are fewer than 2,500 inhabitants (US Economic Research Service, 2012). In Australia rural and remote settlements are defined as towns of less than a 1,000 people (Australian Burea of Statistics, 2011). The Australian Government (2013) however, defined rural as meaning centres with less than 10,000 people. Other countries define rural on a different basis and take into account economic activity and service availibililty (Pizzili & Gong, 2007).However, for schools in New Zealand, there is now an important difference. In 2002, as part of Targeted Funding for Isolation (NZ Ministry of Education 2012), an Isolation Index was introduced. The Isolation Index uses a weighted calculation based on each rural school's distance from population centres of 5,000, 20,000, and 100,000 (that provide the range of goods and services needed to operate schools and deliver the curriculum). Schools with an isolation index of 1.65 or higher receive isolation funding. Schools with an isolation index under 1.65 do not, even though they may be rural or semi-rural by location.Having past ties to the community influenced a principal's ability to secure the position (Schuman, 2010). Growing up in a rural district or school community created the perception of credibility amongst the community and showed that the principal shared a common set of values and beliefs generally consistent with members of the school community (Foster & Goodard, 2003; Lock, Budgen, Lunlay, 2012; Schuman, 2010). The opposite was also evident where principals who did not share similar values and beliefs were considered to be outsiders and viewed with a degree of scepticism or mistrust (Keddie & Niesche, 2012).The New Zealand ContextSchools in NZ became independent and selfmanaging with the introduction of education reforms in 1989 (Wylie, 1999). Being selfmanaging places a wide range of responsibilities on principals, who must manage all aspects of a school, from maintaining the physical plant and deciding how many pencils to order, to all manner of staffing issues. It should be noted that over 70% of New Zealand's primary schools are small rural schools, in which the principals also teach (Statistics New Zealand, 2012).From its inception in 1992, the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) has encouraged schools to develop a curriculum that meets the needs of their particular students and communities (NZ Ministry of Education, 2007). For rural schools, community and curriculum are as interrelated as school and community. Miller (1995) identified the community as curriculum approach (known in the United States as place-based curriculum) as a means through which strong relationships between schools and communities can be built. However, the introduction of National Standards in New Zealand in 2010 (NZ Curriculum Online, 2012) has translated to ever-increasing pressure to raise achievement within its stated parameters, especially for low-achieving and disadvantaged students, and on accountability for schools. Although much of what the National Standards are trying to effect is commendable, there may well prove to be an impact on the community as curriculum appproach used in rural schools. …