| C1 Futures Project Overview |
| C2 Rationale |
| C3 Methodologies & Technologies |
C1.1 Introduction
The New South Wales Secondary Principals Council believes it is important that all key stakeholders in education participate in a process to develop a preferred future for the students in publicly funded secondary schools in NSW.
Secondary principals and the Council are key stakeholders. It is vital that the New South Wales Secondary Principals Council take a pro-active role in the decisions made about schools in the future. (See C2, Rationale)
C1.2 The Purpose of the Futures Project
In setting up the Futures Project the NSW Secondary Principals Council believed it should:
C1.3 The Processes Used and Outcomes Developed.
In early 1998 the New South Wales Secondary Principals Council made a commitment to the Futures Project, allocating substantial resources ($30,000) and establishing a structure within which the project would function. A project director was appointed and he was assisted by a small writing team.
Support was provided by the Department of Education and Training through the Corporate Strategy Portfolio. This support included advice from senior officers, involvement of Department of Education and Training personnel and financial assistance ($30,000). The final cost will exceed $80,000.
The project was structured around a number of Project Teams with Secondary Principals as leaders. Each team included approximately six secondary principals and two Department of Education and Training partners. A core of seventy senior personnel (See Appendix A) have been involved in the development of the recommendations which will be discussed by all Secondary Principals at the Annual Conference of the Secondary Principals Council in June 1999.
The Draft White Paper is the third major paper developed for the Futures Project. The first paper, A Discussion Paper, was the result of the output from three conferences in which participants were trained in futures methodology and developed strategic options in a number of broad educational areas, which were checked against a number of educational scenarios. Details of the methodology are found in C3 of this appendix, its application to the NSW Secondary Principals Council Futures Project is found in appendix D and the major output generated in appendices E to L. The second paper, the Green Paper, followed from a Team Leaders and Critical Friends Conference held on 4th March which analysed the Discussion Paper. This paper was reorganised and rewritten to become the Green Paper for the Futures Conference of 29 / 30 April. Here additional 55 principals and 4 Teachers Federation personnel were involved with the original teams in analysing the Green Paper – its organisation, content and recommendations. From the ideas and rewriting done at the Futures Conference various drafts have been developed by the editorial/writing team to finally produce the Draft White Paper for discussion and development at the 1999 Annual Conference in June.
The Draft White Paper for the 1999 Annual Conference aims to:
C2.1 Rationale for Futures Project
In a rapidly changing world of expanding technology, changing work patterns, greater consumer awareness, decreased real government funding, increased competition and significant challenges to public education, there is a need for a carefully considered strategic plan for the future education of students in NSW.
It is important that Secondary Principals take a significant role in strategic planning and develop a collaborative, well-informed, focused response.
The development of such a response will require Principals not only to look at enhancing the current provision but also to look at what quite new and different directions might be required.
In setting key development priorities, Principals have taken into account:
"Making reform widespread is related to replicating the conditions of successful change, not to transferring products. (An example of a product might be a particular curriculum program, which has worked well in one school.) These conditions involve scores of principals and other educational leaders breaking the bonds of dependency that the current public school system fosters. The societal context for educational reform is radically changing. To be successful, future leaders of the school, district and other levels will require very different characteristics than those expected of leaders in the last decade (of the 20th Century)" (Michael Fullan, 1997)
and believe it is necessary to:
C2.2 Rationale for a Forward View
Slaughter defines Forward View as:
"A collective interpretation construct which provides an evolving structural overview of coming decades. This construct is a synthesis of the data, knowledge and understandings drawn from studying the local contexts using futures discourse, futures tools and a range of futures methodologies." (Dr Rick Slaughter, 18th November, 1998)
A Forward View requires a recognition that:
C2.3 Rationale for Strategic Foresight
Strategic Foresight is a vehicle for developing a preferred future.
Strategic Foresight has a number of important benefits:
This methodology encourages the user to consider some of the following questions:
C3 METHODOLOGIES AND TECHNOLOGIES
C3.1 Main Methodologies and Consultants
Principal methodology adviser to the Project has been Dr Rick Slaughter, Head of the Centre for Future Studies (Melbourne). Dr Slaughter’s PhD was based on educational futures and he has a strong interest in educational matters although his current futures work involves a range of public and private organisations both in Australia and overseas.
During the second half of 1998 Dr Slaughter worked at various conferences about the Futures Project. He provided methodologies, guidance and a broad, sometimes international, perspective to the Council’s work. In particular he has taught 60 to 70 principals and Department of Education and Training personnel to use the Futurescan Method (See Appendix D and Appendix U of the Green Paper) to obtain strategic options which would take them towards their preferred future (or futures) within each of our teams work areas. Dr Slaughter also taught those involved to use an environmental scanning technique (based on 6 questions – see Appendix D or Appendices P and Q in the Green Paper) which could help to validate the products of Futurescan. Dr Slaughter constantly urged participants to think "outside the square" and worked tirelessly to ensure that the draft action plans which finally eventuated had genuine validity.
We thank Dr Slaughter for his work and support.
Throughout the lead up to this paper various "futurists" has been employed to speak to the Council members and Department of Education and Training personnel to provide ideas and stimulation. These included Eva Cox, Richard Neville, John Finlay and Marc Bowles.
The ideas from these people combined with researched reading discussed by Futures Teams and directed discussion amongst all participants informed the options canvassed later in this paper.
The challenge is to expand the participation base and include new organisations and individuals to the Project which happened in 1999 while at the same time maintaining the validity which the detailed methodologies used to date have provided. At the April Futures Conference an additional 55 Principals, 4 representatives from the NSW Teachers Federation and additional senior officers from the Department of Education and Training and Ministry participated.
C3.2 Frameworks and Scenarios
Attached (Appendix I) are the local educational scenarios and sample SWOT analyses (Appendix E and Appendix F) which were developed by a group of experienced principals and include global and economically based scenarios developed by Dr Slaughter (See Appendix M – Green Paper). Our educational scenarios once used were felt to be realistic in practical application but it is always going to be difficult to be sure of what an economy or government will do. Teams often found themselves channelled to the "steady as she goes" or middle scenario. One team - Student Learning – developed their own scenario on which their strategic options were based and this is included in Appendix J.
A loose framework for the Project was provide by the National Goals of Schooling. The idea was to keep teams focused on major issues of importance to students and teachers.
In employing Futurescan, Environmental Scanning, research, input, the scenarios and our general discussions this project is working within is a one decade time frame. However, our action focus has its main thrust in the first few years of the 21st Century.
C3.3 Examples
In Appendices F, G and H readers can find examples of completed Futurescan worksheets, which may provide improved understanding of the methodology, described in Appendix D.
C3.4 Technologies and Communications
To facilitate communication and to develop further understanding of the Project the NSW Secondary Principals’ Council has been developing a Web Site which contains Futures information area.
A number of teams used Grouputer, a commercial system which can be used in situ in the Technology Park (Redfern, Sydney) or purchased as a system for schools. Grouputer was used in our first major conference as a rapid-track method of organising multiple views on a set of complex subjects (See Appendix F – Green Paper). Council would like to thank John Finlay for his support and for sharing this technology with us.