The internationalisation of higher education in countries such as Australia and the UK has resulted in increased num bers of South-East Asia students in higher education classroom s. W hile considerable attention has been given to exploring the im plications of internationalisation on students in`Western' university contexts, there is a paucity of research concerning the effect on teachers of higher education and, in particular, those em ployed in to teach in countries cultura lly foreign to their own. This paper aim s to initiate such discussion through an exploration of the experiences of two teaching academ ics working in Hong K ong. Discussion will focus on issues of langua ge and com munication, and social and cultura l distance, and the effect of hierarchy and related teaching strategies developed to meet the inter-cultural learning needs of themselves and their studen ts. It is argued that, the developm ent of inter-cultura l unders tandings must permeate the curricula, and be a shared goal and responsibility of both teachers and students.The conversation was one-way. Hardly a conversation in the literal sense, but I persevered as usual. It was in the interests of the students, at least this is what I had convinced m yself of. The problem was that these students who had learned English form ally as a second language in schools were, in fact, from non-English speaking backgrounds (N ESB) and, although very pleasant and respectful as individuals, were proving dif® cult to cater for in m y tutorials, but whose problem is this anyway?Is it not the student' s responsibility to adapt to the language and learning culture created in the classroom ? After all, the teacher has no say necessarily in the m edium of instruction. Although there are m oves, certainly in non-English speaking European countries to adopt a com m on language (m ainly Englis h) in parts of their curricula (Vinke et al., 19 98 ), m any teachers of higher education are em ployed because they, in fact, bring an`international' , alb eit Englis h¯avour, to their courses. Even in English speaking institutions of high er education, isn' t it the student' s responsibility to engage in the social forum inherent within the institutional context. After all, don' t these students choose to attend our classes, our institutions, with a full knowledge of the language requirem ents and associated learning expectations?

This study attempted to identify effects of trust between principal leadership and teacher professional learning in Hong Kong primary schools. To verify the potential mediating effects of trust as a component of school capacity, survey data with a sample of 970 teachers from 32 local primary schools was used. Two questionnaires were combined to investigate principal leadership and school capacity in the schools. Baron and Kenny’s four-step causal process for mediation analysis was employed to have a preliminary inquiry. To compensate weaknesses of the orthodox regression based approach, significance of the mediating effects of trust were tested using the Sobel’s test and bootstrapping method. Next, the seven core sets of principal leadership practices were used as multiple predictors, and mediating effects of trust between them and teacher professional learning were also examined. The findings affirmed the role of faculty trust as a mediator between principal leadership and teacher professional learning in Hong Kong primary schools.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to synthesize findings from five systematic reviews of research on principal leadership in East Asia contained in this special issue. The goal is to identify commonalities as well as differences concerning both approaches to research and the enactment of school leadership within this rapidly developing and increasingly influential region of the world. Design/methodology/approach -The review uses thematic analysis of both structural elements and substantive findings drawn from the composite review papers. Findings -The synthesis of the research reviews found considerable variability across the five societies in terms of the volume of work accessible to international audiences, topical foci, the conceptual and methodological sophistication, and findings. Three content patterns were discerned via the thematic analysis of the five reviews: first, influences on the principalship (incorporating personal, cultural and political sub themes); second, principal leadership practices (including qualities and styles, vision, indirect influence on student learning and shared decision making); and third, principal development (including preparation, training and professional development). Research limitations/implications -In a broader sense, this synthesis paper seeks to assess the development of the field of applied study in East Asia over the past two decades. As such, the paper highlights implications for further building the knowledge base both in the region and globally. Originality/value -This synthesis, as well as the five reviews, represent the first effort to mark the boundaries of knowledge about school leadership in these East Asian societies. As such, they lay a foundation for the future development of the field in the region, and in so doing also make a contribution to a more diverse global literature in the field.

Although educational administration has experienced impressive development over the past three decades, the fact that a robust comparative branch of the field has failed to emerge is equally conspicuous. This article acknowledges and highlights the need for comparative educational administration and argues that the development of conceptual frameworks is imperative in building a comparative dimension. A conceptual framework is described and justified based on a cultural and cross-cultural approach focusing on the school level as the baseline unit for analysis. Specifically, the proposed framework is architectured around the interrelationship between the core concepts of culture, organizational structures, leadership and management processes, curriculum, and teaching and learning. Finally, implicatitons of the model are discussed, including the need for the framework to be operationalized by the development of appropriate research instruments.

Describes and analyses an initial attempt to introduce problem‐based learning (PBL) into a Chinese cultural setting. Discusses some of the tensions between the philosophy of PBL and the culture in which the authors used this innovative approach to leadership education. Further describes the strategies which the authors employed to address these underlying tensions and the reactions of the students to their first encounter with PBL. Examines possible cultural influences on the behaviour patterns the authors observed while the students attempted to solve the problem presented in the problem‐based learning materials. Whether these behaviours facilitate or hinder task accomplishment and group productivity remains an important area for further study.