Abstract
In recent years, the main concern of the Chinese Ministry of Education has been the quality of education. Principals are expected to play a key role in guiding the developmental direction of their schools, in guaranteeing the implementation of curriculum reform and in facilitating school-based teacher development. The aim of the study referred to in this article was to investigate the characteristics of principals' educational leadership through a case study of two secondary schools in Beijing. The study employed a qualitative research method to investigate educational leadership in two secondary schools in Beijing. The observations of our study indicate a strong tendency for principals to implement the traditional top-down instructional type of leadership promoted by the District Education Bureau. At one of our sample schools, the principal employed a paternalistic leadership style, and teachers at both schools emphasized the paternalistic role of the principal, including in engaging in various aspects of their personal lives. At our second sample school, the principal was attempting to delegate certain levels of authority and responsibility to ordinary teachers. However, we found that her efforts were being hindered by middle managers.
Highlights
In recent years, the quality of education has been the major concern of the Ministry of Education on the Chinese mainland
The teachers saw their tutoring work as being to adhere strictly to directives from the top. They had learned the practices of the tutor system from their form leaders, who were responsible mainly for delivering messages and ideas from the head of student affairs. At both the schools that took part in the research there appeared to be a strong tendency to implement the traditional top-down instructional leadership style promoted by the District Education Bureau
Because of the assessment involved in securing an upgrade to exemplary school status, the required number of lesson observations and the strict scrutiny of officials and teaching research officers at the District Education Bureau, the principals of our two sample schools both believed that improving teaching quality was the top priority in school improvement
Summary
The quality of education has been the major concern of the Ministry of Education on the Chinese mainland. Principals are expected to play a key role in guiding the developmental direction of their schools, in guaranteeing the implementation of curriculum reform, and in facilitating school-based teacher development. 2. How do teachers perceive educational leadership and their relationship with the principals at the two schools? By adopting a qualitative research approach, we were able to obtain an in-depth understanding of how principals, middle managers and teachers perceive the role of educational leadership in guiding and implementing new school initiatives with the aim of improving the quality of education. The principal mainly employed a paternalistic leadership style She was hoping to develop School R into a school with good teachers, good teaching and good students. All interviews were recorded using an audio recorder, and verbatim transcripts were made for later analysis
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