Productive School Governance: Success Case Studies from New Zealand, 12(28)
Authors
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.