National conversation on leadership pathways

Caroline is new to the principalship – this is her second year as principal of Wirreanda Secondary School – but she is not new to leadership. As an assistant and deputy principal, Caroline benefited from working with different principals with some now being mentors to her, encouraging her to take on unfamiliar challenges and further build her skill set.

Esther Djayhgurrnga and Sue Trimble are co-principals of Gunbalanya School. Esther left the community of 1,600 in Gunbalanya to attend secondary school and then university in Darwin and has returned as one of the very early Indigenous principals in the Northern Territory. She credits her relatives and elders in the community for their support to overcome obstacles and cope with the pressure on her pathway to being a principal.

Geoff’s father was a teacher and school principal, often teaching him in the small country towns they lived in. Geoff followed in his father’s footsteps, moving around the state to seek promotion and other opportunities in South Kalgoorlie, Kununurra, Port Hedland, Dalwallinu, Walpole and East Kalgoorlie.

Iris came from Ireland on a working holiday and took up her first teaching position here. She was amazed by the workload of teaching but experienced a real sense of achievement by making a difference to the lives of young people.

Special education has been Jennie’s dream from a young age. She began her career as a teacher of students with multiple impairments and moved states in order to gain a specialist qualification. Since then Jennie has had diverse leadership experiences in schools in Australia and overseas as well as departmental administrative roles, community and nationally at AITSL.

Jonathan started his career as an outdoor education specialist with his first formal exposure to school leadership running an outdoor education campus. Jonathan developed his confidence and a strong grounding in evidence-based practice by taking a master’s degree in school leadership. His leadership was also influenced by two principals, from whom he developed the capacity to set a vision for change and take people along with him.