Rate My Professor Ross Notman

Emeritus Professor Ross Notman served as Dean of the University of Otago College of Education and Director of the Centre for Educational Leadership and Administration (CELA). He holds a BA (Hons) from the University of Otago, MEdAdmin and PhD from Massey University, DipEd from the University of Otago, DipTchg, AFNZIM, and FNZEALS. His career in education spans over four decades. He began teaching at Taieri High School, instructing English, French, Latin, Classics, and Physical Education. He completed teaching placements in London at Hounslow and Brentford before returning to Bayfield High School, where he held senior leadership roles. In 1990, he was seconded to the Dunedin College of Education as Secondary Director of School Advisory Services, a position made permanent in 1991. Joining the University of Otago as a lecturer in Education in 1999, he became foundation Head of Department, Education Studies and Professional Practice, from 2007 to 2008. Appointed Director of CELA in 2009, he advanced to Professor and Dean of the College of Education in 2017, leading operations at the Dunedin and Invercargill campuses along with units such as Education Support Services and the Educational Assessment Research Unit. He retired in December 2019 and was awarded Emeritus Professor status.

Professor Notman's research centers on teacher and school principal development, with a focus on the personal dimensions of principalship, successful leadership practices, and leadership in high-needs schools. As New Zealand project director for the 25-country International Successful School Principalship Project and a 10-country International School Leadership Development Network study, he contributed significantly to global understandings of effective school leadership. He edited two publications on successful educational leadership in New Zealand and co-edited Educational leadership in Aotearoa New Zealand: Issues of context and social justice (NZCER Press, 2018), which received top honours in the Best Teacher Resource Primary category at the 2018 Copyright Licensing Education Awards. Key publications include chapters in Educational leadership, culture, and success in high-need schools (Information Age Publishing, 2019), such as 'School leadership practices in early childhood education: Three case studies from New Zealand' and the introductory chapter; 'Epilogue: A metaphoric approach to leading diversity in schools' (Springer, 2020); and 'An evolution in distributed educational leadership: From sole leader to co-principalship' (Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy & Practice, 2020). His research on values education in the New Zealand curriculum earned selection by the International Olympic Committee for a global publication on values in diverse contexts. Honors include Fellow of the New Zealand Educational Administration and Leadership Society (FNZEALS, 2016), NZEALS President's Research Award (2010), Fulbright Scholarship (2010), Minolta Dame Jean Herbison Scholarship (2005), and NZEALS Visiting Scholar (2014). He presented at international conferences in the UK, Sweden, Canada, USA, Germany, South Africa, and Australia, served on the NZEALS national council from 2003 to 2018, and holds editorial board positions for the Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice and Leadership and Policy in Schools.