Pacific Island principal to research minority school leadership

Enosa Auva’a.

Mount Albert Primary School principal Enosa Auva’a will research ethnic minority leadership in American schools at the University of Hawai’i next year, as the second recipient of the Fulbright-Cognition Education Research Trust Scholar Award.

He hopes his research can identify ways to inspire more minority school leaders in NZ.

“Minority leadership in education is a serious concern in NZ,” says Mr Auva’a, “but it is recognised that ethnic minority leaders can make a significant contribution in efforts to raise student achievement, by role modelling success and achieving rapport with ethnic communities and families.”

Research has shown that the diversity of students in NZ schools is not reflected in leadership roles, where Maori and Pacific people are under-represented in both senior management and principalship positions.

A primary school principal since 1991, Mr Auva’a recently completed a Master of Educational Leadership and Management degree at Unitec with a thesis entitled Aspiring towards principalship: A Pacific Island perspective.

His research found only 1.1 per cent of the 2,700 principals leading NZ schools to be of Pacific Island origin, compared to around 10 per cent of students.

Mr Auva’a’s Fulbright research will study the stories and experiences of minority school leaders in the US, to find out how aspiring minority teachers are encouraged towards leadership positions including principalship.

He believes NZ can learn a lot from the US with its greater population and involvement of ethnic minorities in school leadership, and hopes his research can contribute to the limited knowledge of this field in NZ.

“I hope this research will promote reflections on the type of leadership required for a multi-cultural school,” he says.

“My ultimate wish is to influence policymakers to consider a policy of developing critical mass for aspiring minority leaders. I would like to see a deliberate plan to have more Pacific Islanders aspiring towards school principalship level.”