By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
LOWANNA College Principal, Adam Hogan will begin the next phase of his teaching career after accepting a 12-month secondment at the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership (VATL).
Mr Hogan began his new venture on August 5, but is well acquainted with the Melbourne-based academy in his years developing himself as a school principal and as a leader.
VATL offers full-year study courses and leadership programs to climb the ladder from standard teacher to leading teacher (team management roles to coordinate teaching goals and priorities) to becoming principals.
“I’ve had the opportunity to learn at the academy and from the academy over many years,” Mr Hogan said.
“They do a lot of work around principal-ship, so preparation to become a principal… I’m very passionate about leadership development, I do a lot of that work here (at Lowanna).”
Long-tenured teacher and Lowanna College’s assistant principal, Trevor Cox, has been intermediate principal while the Department of Education and the Newborough/Moe high school have been seeking a suitable candidate to fill the role for the time being.
Mr Hogan still remains the official principal while away, but said it will be a “strong handover” and a “seamless transition” for his staff.
“I’ve got an executive team here (at Lowanna) of seven, assistant principals and education support leaders, I think that a good mark of leadership is that a place can run really well without you once it’s established, and I think that’s the case (here) and we’ve got a really good team,” he said.
Mr Hogan has had much experience in facilitating learning and leadership that includes responsibility for leadership development at Lowanna College of fellow staff. Before that, he was the chair at the Wellington Principal Network, leading a group of school principals from the Wellington Shire area. He has also been trained as a facilitator for VATL initiatives such as the Inspire program.
Regionally, a number of current principals and assistant principals have carried out coursework at VATL to see further teaching and leadership growth, including staff at Lowanna College.
One program a part of VATL that Mr Hogan has undertaken for the academy involves the UP Program – which stands for ‘unlocking potential’. It is for aspiring principals who undertake an internship under the wing of an established principal.
“I’ve been a mentor for about four people now, in that people come and work with me for a term and then they go back to their school and pursue their leadership,” Mr Hogan said.
“We’ve had quite a few educators from the Latrobe Valley go through the academy.”
Besides the North and East Melbourne Academy sites (the St Andrews Place, East Melbourne is the former state government printing office that is now heritage-listed), VATL has many regional locations including sites in Moe, Bairnsdale and Geelong.
Mr Hogan has been principal of Lowanna College for nearly six years, beginning in 2019, and has worked in the public school sector for 16 years, including at Kurnai College and Maffra Secondary College.
The college principal in his time at Lowanna has helped cultivate a drastic shift in culture, learning expectations and attitude towards the school, saying that students had truly began to take pride in where they attend school.
“Incredibly proud and very proud of the staff, it takes a whole team effort to see this much change,” Mr Hogan said.
“We just recently had a school review in Term 2, the department every four years for every school, and it was remarkable, a glowing review.
“When I reflect on that, I sometimes pinch myself on how much we’ve achieved during the six years with a pandemic in the middle.
“One thing I focus really intently on at the college is literacy and numeracy because I think if we can set that up for students, there will be totally new opportunities for them, I’m really proud of those results in particular, but I think that one of the things I’m most proud about is seeing students being proud of their own school.
“We’ve all been through school at some point, we’ve all been teenagers and school isn’t always the coolest place to be, but we’ve had some experiences recently where some of our students came to school council. We’re just emphatic in how proud they were that they went to this school and not the school down the road or up the road or wherever, but they talk like that to their friends, ‘I get to go to Lowanna’ and that’s really heart-warming.”
Leadership has always been in the bones of Mr Hogan. From a teenage sportsman to his time as a police officer before taking up teaching, he said he’s always been the one to speak up in a group setting and give direction when a problem needs to be solved.
“I learnt invaluable skills from Victorian Police that are transferable and equally I think I’ve learnt something from every school I’ve been in,” Mr Hogan said.
“There’s a quote that I quite like that ‘you can lead and learn in equal measure’, so leading’s one thing but you’ve got to be continually modelling what you’re learning from others.”
During the pandemic, Mr Hogan noted that as that period tested everyone’s faith, the importance was to remain composed and supportive as the school system was forced to adapt quickly.
“I don’t think I’ve ever quite worked so hard with so much uncertainty and therefore having to lead as a human, so managing that yourself at the same time as you’re trying to work really hard to provide a sense of certainty and calmness for everyone else,” he said.
“I think everything tests us and you can learn and grow from it if you reflect on it.”
Mr Hogan is a proactive part of the local community, which includes work as an independent advisor for Latrobe Regional Health, Executive Director of the Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund and committee member of the Latrobe Big Blokes BBQ.
