Curriculum Leadership in Remote Indigenous Communities

Abstract

In remote Indigenous communities, there are many challenges that confront educators, the most important being leadership that challenges the status quo and moves Indigenous communities forward in their access to, and engagement with a high quality school curriculum. This article draws on data from an Australian Research Council funded project where the complexities around reforming mathematics were investigated through leadership models. It was considered that the complexities faced by principals in their day-to-day management of schools inhibited their capacity for curriculum leadership. A new model of distributing curriculum leadership was adopted for numeracy reform. While still in its early stages, this model, its genesis, and its implementation are discussed along with the mitigating context that shapes the need for models of leadership that focus on curriculum reform for remote Indigenous contexts. The implications of this model are discussed in conjunction with the field of educational leadership research.