Amira
Aman

Lead Facilitator, He Waka Unua Practice Lead

Region: Canterbury/Chatham Islands
Amira Aman

Qualifications

Master of Education (First Class Hons) – University of Canterbury
Diploma of Teaching (Secondary) – University of Canterbury
Bachelor of Arts (English and Classical Studies) – University of Canterbury

Professional profile

Amira is a kaiārahi (mentor) and lead facilitator who specialises in mentoring/coaching and the development of leadership capabilities. Amira is also a Public Service Commission approved coach for Public Services for Mid-level leaders of leaders, People and thought leaders.

Amira has extensive experience mentoring and facilitating individuals and groups to:

  • support individuals, teams, schools and Kāhui Ako to develop their vision and goals.
  • support the development of leadership capabilities
  • develop strong relational trust between teams
  • develop mentoring and coaching capacity tailored to their context
  • encourage the seeking of a variety of perspectives
  • co-construct role clarity.

Amira responds to the needs and priorities of those she mentors and facilitates so that they can achieve their goals. She supports several Kāhui Ako in the education sector, and mentors and coaches tumuaki groups and lead principals Across and Within School Leads.

She also writes and facilitates online courses in mentoring and coaching and educational leadership. She has academic and practical expertise in leadership approaches, leadership as inquiry and the design of PLD for teachers. Her Master of Education thesis, focused on the conditions which best support teacher learning and the development of mentoring/coaching capacity in teachers and leaders.

Amira has had twenty years of experience as a teacher and leader in secondary education. She has sound knowledge and practice of NCEA assessment at a national level as a NZQA English internal assessment moderator, internal assessment materials developer, and NCEA external examiner and marker.

Expertise

Amira successfully supports individual kaiako, leaders, schools and Kāhui Ako in the following areas:

Leadership mentoring and coaching
  • Coaching leaders / leadership teams (Kāhui Ako) to collaboratively design a vision and strategic planning, build collaborative groups, and supporting middle, emerging leaders, Across and Within School Leads to develop their skills.
  • Mentoring leaders and teachers in ways which meet the immediate needs of their specific context, to gain consensus, establish mutually agreed goals, then plan and implement effective improvement programmes.
  • Mentoring and coaching in face-to-face, online and collaborative spaces.
  • Supporting teachers and leaders to develop their own coaching capabilities.
  • Implementing systemic mentoring and coaching support for provisionally certified teachers, whole school mentoring and leadership mentoring.
Leading for change
  • Understanding and building strong relational trust and how to repair breakdowns in relationships.
  • Effective tools for having learning conversations.
  • Effective tools for courageous conversations.
  • Creation of role clarity.
  • Supporting schools / Kāhui Ako to redevelop their vision, values and personalised curriculum.
  • Supporting schools / Kāhui Ako to develop a culture of coaching.
  • Supporting leadership of change within the school community.
  • Evaluating pedagogy, teaching as inquiry and other practices to ensure reflection on future-focused education and responsive practices.
  • Building capacity and capability with teams of school leaders to gain consensus that is sustainable.
  • Developing and modelling collaborative and inclusive protocols.
  • Supporting teachers and leaders to inquire into the individual needs of your context and enhance the success of priority learners and all students.
Teaching and leadership as inquiry
  • Using inquiry models to support sustainable teacher and leader development.
  • Supporting teachers/leaders to develop and maintain professional portfolios.
  • Unpacking Our Code, Our Standards and creating effective processes for Professional Growth Cycles.
  • Creating appraisal processes with schools/Kāhui Ako.
  • Interpreting data/evidence to inform inquiry cycles.
Assessment and moderation
  • Analysing and interpreting formative and summative assessment to inform teaching and learning (years 9-scholarship).
  • Developing understanding of systems and processes for national internal moderation.
  • Developing the skills for writing assessment tasks for internal assessment.
  • NCEA English assessment planning.

Conference presentations, seminars and workshops

Keynote speaker

2021 Tipu Maia Kāhui Ako hui Alumni Panel – ‘Effective Teacher Practice’
2019 Implementing Mentoring and Coaching: Why and How? (Dunedin; Wellington)
2018 Implementing Mentoring and Coaching: Why and How? (Christchurch)

Presentations

2021 Presenter at NASDAP 2021 “Reflect. Reconnect. Rejuvenate” Conference: Courageous Conversations
2019 Presenter at NASDAP 2019 "Go Mad: Go out and make a difference" Conference: Implementing Mentoring and Coaching
2017 Canterbury Police Women’s Forum “Mentoring”
2017 “Leading Through Mentoring” TRCC Mentoring Conference
2015 "Stepping up to support and grow a learning profession" TRCC Mentoring Conference.

Personal statement

Leading and growing others is a complex and dynamic process. I offer extensive experience in how to support leaders to navigate change and grow effective teams. I love taking the time to understand the unique context of a school or Kāhui Ako and to offer individualised support in response to specific needs. I use a strengths-based approach to celebrate individual learning cultures and bring about sustainable, systemic change.