Education Council leads new centre of excellence

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-1933" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;11&sol;SND21-wk4-Centres&lowbar;Excellence1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"SND21-wk4-Centres Excellence1" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"141" &sol;>The Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand says a new Centre for Leadership Excellence is a decisive first step towards developing leadership capacity in the early childhood and school sector&period; <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Education Council chief executive Dr Graham Stoop&comma; says initially the new centre will seek to support principals appointed as Community of Learning &lpar;CoL&rpar; leaders&period;<br &sol;>Minister of Education Hekia Parata has announced that &dollar;250&comma;000 will be made available towards setting up the centre<br &sol;>&period;<br &sol;>Dr Stoop says there is a lot of work to do and the council will be working closely with educators to progress its proposal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We are very pleased to receive funding that will support the development of a virtual Centre of Excellence&period; It will hold a strong body of collective knowledge in leadership best practice&comma; strategies and research&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We want to work very closely with our sector so collectively we can build leadership capability and capacity not just in CoL leaders&comma; but for all leaders in early childhood and school contexts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The Education Council&&num;8217&semi;s mandate is to champion the teaching profession through developing strong leadership capability and capacity&period; We believe starting with Communities of Learning is a sensible first step&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;p>&NewLine;