ABSTRACT
Although various people had at one time or another suggested that I should write a book, I had not really contemplated this seriously. Certainly I had not expected to be commissioned to write a book. While I have had twenty-six years experience as a Principal and have always enjoyed a very active dialogue within the school, I had not recognized the broader importance of what was happening to me as I grappled with leadership and educational issues. In these tussles, it became evident that my experience was not an isolated one and that what I did had implications for others. When Methodist Ladies’ College adopted successfully the philosophy of personal computing, insisting that all students and teachers have personal mobile computers, other schools could not ignore this. Conversely the limitations that external exams imposed on curriculum meant that to achieve some freeing of the internal school curriculum, I had to try to influence the external educational decision makers. In raising my voice on themes of importance to our school, I became acutely aware of the risks and the loneliness of leadership. So in the midst of this I was encouraged that others were prepared to listen to my voice and thus dialogue began at another level. I wrote about the issues that I was facing, initially to clear my thinking, and then to influence others. As a maths graduate, whose education gave scant attention to writing, this activity was something new to me. I was surprised that I was increasingly being asked to speak at conferences, national and international, and that people who stayed after these talks were excited by some of the ideas. Then I was invited to talk to doctoral students in education and from them I realized the power of the personal voice. It was in the narrative rather than in the abstractions that their learning and ability to integrate came alive.
