Critical perspectives on changes in educational leadership practice

Abstract

This paper examines a group of Chinese educational leaders' leadership practice changes after undertaking a leadership development course offered by an Australian university in China. It presents their self-reported changes in leadership practice profiles and features selected vignettes. The study was primarily qualitative and interpretative, based on the interview responses of 20 participants. The findings showed that exposure to different perspectives appeared to expand participants' views and equip them with a wider range of leadership strategies. Despite some observable differences in practices reported by participants from the three sectors (school, educational system, and university), there seemed to be more similarities than variance. The respondents were cautious about radical changes in leadership practice, reiterating that local contexts and cultures must be considered when accommodating Western educational ideas. The study suggests that participants' self-reported changes in leadership practices resulted from mediation of contextual and cultural conditions rather than the direct transfer of Western ideas and practices into the Chinese context.

Review of research on school principal leadership in mainland China, 1998-2013

“…Most of these (ten) were single-authored pieces, including six papers written by scholars working or studying overseas (e.g. Gu, 2011;Luo, 2004;Wang, 2007Wang, , 2011 and four papers were contributed by scholars working in mainland institutions (Feng, 2003(Feng, , 2005(Feng, , 2007Yang, 2003). One piece was co-authored by a Chinese scholar from a mainland university and one working in a US university (Chu and Xiu, 2012).…”

“…These datasets came from PhD dissertations, international studies or, in one case, a large mixed-method study. The largest number of the papers were based on PhD studies, in which the volume of data made it possible to produce multiple papers from different angles (e.g., Ribbins and Zhang, 2003, 2006Walker, 2011a, 2011b;Wang, 2007Wang, , 2011. Other multiple publications came from data collected as part of international studies (e.g., Wong, 2005Wong, , 2007Moos et al, 2008).…”

“…The largest number of the papers were based on PhD studies, in which the volume of data made it possible to produce multiple papers from different angles (e.g. Ribbins and Zhang, 2003, 2006Qian and Walker, 2011a, b;Wang, 2007Wang, , 2011. Other multiple publications came from data collected as part of international studies (e.g.…”

“…For example, Zhong and Ehrich's (2010) study focused on teaching/learning and sources of power, and the paper by Pisapia and Pang (2013) • Leader development: the topic of leader development was the key focus of ten papers. These papers variously targeted the learning needs of school principals (Su et al, 2000), how principals changed after attending an offshore development programme (Wang, 2007(Wang, , 2011, evaluations of specific programmes (Wu and Ehrich, 2009), the effect of implementing problem-based learning in principal training (Feng, 2005) or how the development of principals in mainland China compares with principal development in other Chinese societies (Walker et al, 2008). Over the span of our review period, a number of other papers on principal development sketched both the major policy changes in the area and the challenges facing programme providers and policymakers (e.g.…”

Why the leadership of change is especially difficult for Chinese principals

“…It has indicated that on the outcomes of school changes there has been no strong or significant evidence found to support the visible principal leadership effects in China. Two other recent qualitative studies on 20 Chinese principals visiting Australia (Wang, 2011) and 11 Shanghai principals (Walker et al, 2011), respectively, have revealed that cultural norms, restricted autonomy and contextual conditions have dampened the impact of principal leadership on deep and meaningful school changes in China. Regarding principal leadership in China and school changes, Walker and Qian (2012) published a crucial article examining the frustrations associated with implementing quality education reform in Chinese schools.…”