Project leaders: Australian Secondary Principals’ Association (ASPA)

This research project will develop a structured, research-informed, and association-led process that reimagines leadership development as system learning.

Through a co-design approach, this research will work in partnership with principals, associations, and system leaders to generate practical, contextually grounded approaches to system leadership. By leveraging principals as catalysts of reform, the project seeks to strengthen their agency, deepen their role in shaping system priorities, and create the conditions for sustainable educational improvement.

Project leaders: Australian Capital Territory Principals’ Association (ACTPA)

The focus of this research is to investigate how school principals in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) are exercising leadership to navigate system-wide reform implementation, with particular emphasis on effective change management and reform implementation strategies. The study examines the landmark Strong Foundations reform package as the primary case, given its significance as a mandated whole-system reform that fundamentally alters pedagogical approaches across the ACT public education system.