School Principals in Mainland China: Core Leadership Practices.

摘要

This study investigated the core leadership practices of Chinese school principals, how these practices are applied in schools and the contextual factors that relate to these core practices.;It aimed to unveil the practical knowledge shared by Chinese school principals in leading schools. This purpose derived from the specific context of Chinese school education and the international knowledge base of principalship. On the one hand, great importance has been attached to school principals with the implementation of educational reforms in China. The increasingly complex educational context calls for more comprehensive investigation into leadership practices of Chinese principals. On the other hand, few serious studies have delved into principal leadership practices in Chinese schools, compared with the substantial research conducted in Western societies. Thus, there is a need to conduct empirical research to explore the indigenous wisdom of Chinese school principals.;The general purpose consisted of three sub-purposes. First, it aimed to identify the core leadership practices of Chinese principals; second, to investigate how these practices are enacted; and, third, to discover the contextual factors that influence these practices. Accordingly, the study was guided by three broad research questions: (1) What are the core leadership practices of Chinese school principals? (2) How do Chinese principals enact the core leadership practices in schools? (3) Do certain contextual factors relate to these core leadership practices and their enactment?;The study adopted a mixed methods research approach, sequentially integrating a quantitative survey with qualitative interviews. The survey involved 572 practitioners working at secondary schools located in four cities in Mainland China. Valid data were analysed through statistical methods in SPSS 15.0 and LISREL 8.7. The interviews included six secondary school principals and fifteen other school members selected from the relevant focus groups. The qualitative data were analysed through three steps of coding (i.e. open coding, axial coding, and selective coding) in NVivo 8.7. Finally, findings from both methods were compared and combined. The integrated findings suggested that: Chinese school principals adopt six core leadership practices to perform their functions. These are: (1) setting direction (2) shaping school climate and core ideas. (3) developing people (4) managirig instruction and curriculum (5) managing administrative affairs (6) developing external relationships and resources These six interrelated core leadership practices could be grouped into three classifications in accordance with their essential functions. The relationships between the different classifications indicate the theoretical pattern of how the core leadership practices work in schools. Based on this understanding, three specific patterns characterise the enactment of these core leadership practices. (1) Chinese principals put emphasis on both student academic performance and holistic development. (2) Chinese principals adopt a differential pattern ofparticipative decision-making. (3) Chinese principals apply the core leadership practices in a hybrid way that integrates visionary, democratic, exemplary, human-oriented and authoritarian leadership behaviours. Three-levels of contextual factors relate to the core leadership practices of Chinese principals. These factors involve: (1) personal conditions: professional knowledge, perceptions, pursuits and experience and personal capability, values, ethics and personality; (2) internal school conditions: climate, resources and performance, functional units, other school members' conditions and views, and school type, size and location; (3) external context: district authority, administration system, central government's policies, academic pressure, social expectations, local environment, educational conceptions, and mainstream leadership style. Two integrative models are developed through pulling all the research variables together. These models demonstrate the interaction between the core leadership practices and the contextual factors.;These findings suggest the theoretical and practical implications of the study.