Lisa Morresey
Lisa Morresey is a full time Leading by Learning Facilitator with Evaluation Associates | Te Huinga Kākākura Mātauranga.
Previously, she was the principal of two schools, Mount Maunganui Intermediate School and Pāpāmoa Primary School, and the co-Lead Principal for the Mauao Kāhui Ako. Lisa has been a mentor on the First Time Principals Programme and has previously worked for School Support Services (University of Waikato) as an advisor for assessment for learning and health and physical education.
Early in her principalship Lisa engaged in Open-to-learning™ (OTL™) Leadership, the work of Distinguished Professor Emeritus Viviane Robinson and Jacqui Patuawa, to be more effective as a student-centred leader. OTL™ enables leaders to build upon their own interpersonal effectiveness by seeking valid information, problem solving and building trust through conversations that are deeply respectful. She was accredited as an Open-to-learning™ Leadership Facilitator in 2014. This has included the facilitation of workshops and bespoke in-school development with leadership teams, middle leaders in primary and secondary contexts and across Kāhui Ako.
Leading by Learning, described as the ‘next generation’ has built upon OTL™ Leadership. Lisa has facilitated OTL™ and LbL with First Time Principals in New Zealand and Australia, RTLB and Ministry of Education staff. Lisa has ‘lived this work’ in the daily life of her own schools to strategically build a Leading by Learning culture. She brings the day-to-day reality of school life to the theory of Leading by Learning.
In 2018 Lisa completed her Postgraduate Diploma in Educational Leadership (with Distinction), as an Aitken Fellow at The University of Auckland Centre for Educational Leadership (UACEL). This gave her an opportunity to deepen her theoretical understandings of:
- educational leadership and change
- research for school improvement
- Kāhui Ako /Community of Learning Leadership for Excellence and Equity
- collaborative inquiry and expertise
- student voice
- building trust.
During her year at UACEL, in addition to study, Lisa was an active facilitator of Leadership Development. This included in-depth work in schools and Kāhui Ako, and extended mentoring of principals and senior leaders from Saudi Arabia.
Lisa has been a teacher for 30 years in predominantly lower decile primary and intermediate schools in mainstream and bilingual contexts. Lisa has a passion and deep respect for te Ao Māori, te reo, tikanga and culturally responsive and relational practice. In 2014 she was awarded the NZEAL’s Research Award for contributing a New Zealand case study to a joint UCEA / BELMAS international research project on social justice.
Lisa is a proud wife and Mum. In her down time Lisa enjoys walking and spending time with her whānau and friends in her beloved Pāpāmoa Beach.