Principals play key roles in creating the conditions in which teachers can teach effectively and students can learn. Principals are increasingly being held accountable both for teacher quality and for student learning and development so that young people can become ‘successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens’ (The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians, 2008).

The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) was established by the Australian Government in 2010 to provide national leadership for the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments in promoting excellence in the profession of teaching and school leadership. Reporting to all State and Territory Ministers responsible for education, AITSL is charged with driving transformational change and creating new levels of teacher professionalism. In its first year the Institute developed a new National Professional Standard for Principals.

This paper outlines the origins and development of this Standard. Development was a collaborative process including key stakeholders from across Australia with international expert input. Following development of an exposure draft of the Standard, national piloting of the Standard occurred through completion of 10 research projects in which the Standard was utilised in various ways with principals, aspiring principals, and key stakeholders. Following this piloting, refinements to the Standard were made, the Standard was endorsed by the Australian Government  and mechanisms to support the use of the Standard have been progressively put in place.

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