The unlocking potential program: navigating complexity and co-constructing leadership preparation

The Unlocking Potential Program is a school leadership development program created through a partnership between the Bastow Institute, in the state Department of Education and Training, and Monash University in Melbourne. The purpose of this chapter is to explain and critique the negotiated process and content of the Unlocking Potential Program. Where a previous article on the topic explored the epistemological underpinnings of the program (Clemans, Rickinson, Wilkinson, & Brooks, 2016), this chapter examines the co-construction process and content of the program curriculum. To accomplish this central purpose, the chapter is organized around (a) an integrated literature review on effective leadership preparation program design that identifies best practices locally (Victoria and Australia) and globally (connecting to worldwide research) and (b) critical interrogation of both the process and content of the program curriculum. The literature review explores current thinking on provider structures, recruitment, and selection of aspiring principals, issues pertaining to the induction and socialization of leaders, and the content and structure of preparation programs. By reviewing the literature available on models and approaches across the United Kingdom, United States, Singapore, and China, we aim to contextualize the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) standard for principal leadership, and establish the current position of Victorian leadership preparation.