Tracey | Wellington
“I guess a precious childhood memory for me would be living in a rural environment and having a pet lamb.
The thing I liked about living in a rural environment was the connection with the land and with nature, and just the ability to explore the environment. I guess my upbringing was actually in the city but my very early childhood was in a more rural environment, so I guess I remember the contrast between being in the rural environment and then going to live in the city.
On positively resolving a problem…
I’m a school principal so I resolve problems with people in a positive way all the time. Probably about 15 minutes ago actually. I guess we’re talking about staffing at the moment, so sometimes we have issues with staffing in schools, and so we have to find solutions that work for everyone. Of course, we’ve got to put the students first in terms of them having the very best teachers in front of them, but sometimes we have to negotiate with staff about the best courses to offer, based on who we have available.
I think the most important thing about positively solving conflict is to listen to the other person’s point of view, but also to be really aware of where you’re coming from in terms of why it is that you have your stand. I guess you have to be able to personally reflect and then let go of your agenda, or expose or communicate your agenda, so that you can meet halfway.
I would say that the most important thing about my role as principal at senior college is most definitely putting the students first. We are a very different college, because we believe that students develop independence in their learning best by taking some responsibility, and so we have to constantly put the students at the top of what we are doing.
On gender…
I think that as a woman nearly every day I’m expected to follow traditional female roles and I think we just constantly have to be aware that we make a stand for who we are as people and it’s not about gender. Women have to be very courageous and confident in who they are, and just speak up for what they believe to be right, but I would say, yes, pretty much on a daily basis people have certain expectations based on gender.
I think that I have found it more difficult getting to a position of principal because I am a woman, and I think that education in New Zealand is often dominated by men of a certain age. Sometimes the people that sit on boards are people of a certain age and thinking, and I believe that it is more difficult for women generally to get to those senior leadership roles in education. Not just in education, obviously in the wider spectrum, but as I say I think it’s all about women having confidence in their ability. My reflection would be that men are very good at selling themselves, and that women sometimes under-sell themselves. So, women just have to have that confidence to actually say, yeah I can do that, because men do.
I guess in my career, yes I do have examples of experiencing sexism. I think it’s just that narrow thinking, and not actually thinking about people’s contribution in terms of who they are as people and their experience. I think the other thing is the old boys’ network which is very strong in Auckland in education, and to me that is sexist.
On diversity…
I guess inclusion is a really big part of what we do at senior college. My students tell me that they’ve been to other schools where they really felt they were marginalised because of who they were. Whereas in our community it’s quite a small community and it’s all about individuals. It’s not just about acceptance. It’s actually about celebrating individual difference, and so we have quite a lot of examples of students who have come to us and felt very included in our community.
I basically started out wanting to be a psychologist. I did psychology at university, and then I travelled overseas, became an English teacher, went to Japan and learned Japanese. I became a Japanese teacher, ended up in the secondary school system in New Zealand, and in my time there I got promoted into head of department and then became a deputy principal, and now I have become a principal. What’s great about that is it’s kind of a full circle. I did my masters in education and psychology. So I kind of went full circle back to where I started out. I just didn’t know at the time that I was going to end up using my psychology in that way.”
