A mixed methods study of the impact of the performance and development framework for principals, executives and teachers in New South Wales public secondary schools

The Performance and Development Framework for Principals, Executives and Teachers in New South Wales Public Schools (NSWPDF) was mandated for all State Government schools in 2015 and represented a culmination of educational reform around the gradual professionalisation of the teaching workforce.

This thesis comprises the report of a study that explored the impact of the NSWPDF on teachers and teaching in Sydney government secondary schools The research investigated performance and development processes through principals’ and teachers’ perspectives to develop an understanding of the factors that promote and inhibit successful performance and development outcomes. The study considered the role of school leadership in positioning the structural capital required to leverage the school’s social capital to achieve the desired outcomes of the NSWPDF.

This mixed methods study explored school principals’ actions, strategies and challenges in implementing the NSWPDF and teachers’ perceptions of the principal’s leadership style, the school’s culture, the structures developed to support the implementation of the NSWPDF and the degree to which outcomes are achieved. In a single-phase design, data were collected in guided interviews with principals and a teacher questionnaire. A newly developed Performance and Development Scale operationalised the constructs associated with the successful implementation of the NSWPDF. Results from the quantitative and qualitative data analysis were integrated and triangulated to provide a more holistic and nuanced understanding of the implementation of the NSWPDF.

Findings were presented using the constructs of the study’s theoretical framework and model and suggest several factors that support the achievement of performance and development outcomes. Recommendations were made for further research into the leadership of performance and development in other educational jurisdictions and for more widespread use of the Performance and Development Scale for further methodological validation in other contexts.