Productive School Governance: Success CAse Studies from New Zealand
Eileen Piggot-Irvine
ABSTRACT: The rhetoric abounds concerning the types of effective, high trust, interactions that should exist for a school governing body. In practise, however, such interactions are often difficult to define, establish, maintain, and sustain. The study reported on in this paper attempted to identify interactions linked to perceptions of high trust via a ‘success case study’ examination of characteristics of productive and defensive strategies utilised by three New Zealand (NZ) primary level school governing bodies (Boards of Trustees) that had been identified as being effective. All three schools exhibited strong productive interactions where open, evidence based, discussions predominated in a dialogue (informed debate) context. The case studies provide a set of indicators that illustrate the detailed strategies that can be employed that lead to effectiveness and high trust.