Woman Aiming High

Thirty aspirant women are being groomed for leadership after being selected to take part in the inaugural Promoting Women in Leadership Pilot Professional Learning Program opened by the Director General, Paul Albert. The program is the centerpiece of the Department’s Women in Leadership strategy.

THIRTY aspirant women are being groomed for big things after being selected to take part in the Department’s inaugural Promoting Women in Leadership Pilot Professional Learning Program.

Ranging from school, district office and central office staff, the women were chosen from a field of 160 applicants to take part in the six-month program in recognition of their leadership potential.

Promoting Women in Leadership is one of three programs within the Department’s Women in Leadership Strategy. The strategy aims to improve the status of women through the number of women applying for, and being appointed to, leadership positions. Currently women make up 77.2 per cent of the Department employees but only 30 per cent of the leadership positions.

Director General Paul Albert told participants at the launch of the Promoting Women In Leadership Pilot Professional Learning Program that there was a need to address that imbalance.

He said leadership in the Department needed to reflect the diversity in the system. “We do need more women in management and women need to make sure they do the appropriate professional development through programs such as these to make that happen,” he said.

The Promoting Women in Leadership Pilot Professional Learning Program provides purpose-built, culturally specific professional learning to develop the experience and expertise of women with high potential as educational leaders. It is particularly tailored for women aspiring to the role of school principals and/or public service positions at level 8 and above.

Participants attend several blocks of two-day workshops over a six-month period where they benefit from peer learning groups, the development of a virtual learning community and work shadowing and mentoring opportunities once they complete the program. The first round of workshops were held in early August and were facilitated by Maggie Leavitt and Jen de Vries, who have worked on the University of WA’s women in leadership program for several years.

Promoting Women principal consultant Maryanne Coombs said it was expected that as a result of an evaluation of the pilot program, the Promoting Women in Leadership course would be made available to staff on an ongoing basis.

“There was an overwhelming response to the call for applications to a place in the inaugural Promoting Women in Leadership Program which is a clear indication that there is a need and an appetite for this area of professional development,” Maryanne said. “We anticipate this will be the first of an annual program available to women in the department.”

The other two programs within the Women in Leadership strategy are the Catalyst Program and the Executive Women Leading Women program.

Catalyst aims to raise consciousness among all staff through initiatives such as the Women of Achievement Awards, the development of a virtual learning website and a guided study tour to India in 2006. Executive Women Leading Women is a network for women already in leadership programs that will also assist those women to support the promotion of other women into leadership positions.