Leadership practices in challenging contexts: a multi-case study of principals in Chinese small rural schools

This research examined the leadership practices of rural primary school principals in the Otago province of New Zealand. Principals of large (>150 students) and small (<60 students) rural schools served as participants in an investigation to learn how their practice creates and maintains effective rural schools. The goals were to investigate the interrelationships of principal, curriculum, and community and effective leadership in their schools. A mixed methods approach included a survey completed by rural principals (n = 63), followed by observations and interviews. Key findings were that leadership practices varied across contexts of large rural and small rural schools; having a local curriculum was critical; and, communication and involvement with parents and the community were essential. The survey had good psychometric qualities; validation through future research use is needed. Results are discussed in terms of factors to consider for effective leadership in rural schools.

According to Hargreaves and Fink (The seven principles of sustainable leadership, 2003; Sustainable leadership, 2006), sustainable leadership matters, spreads and lasts, and is fundamental to enduring and widespread school improvement. This observation is especially germane to the context of leading small primary schools in rural locations, where challenges encountered by principals in engaging with the complexities of continuous improvement are often accentuated. This article looks at the applicability of certain aspects of sustainable leadership to the circumstances surrounding small rural schools. First, reasons are given for devoting attention to the specific context of leadership in small rural primary schools, especially in Australia. The article then examines the distinctive challenges encountered by principals of small rural schools that appear to compound the difficulties of pursuing sustainable leadership. The next section draws from a Queensland study (Clarke and Stevens, Small schools leadership study. Leading and teaching in small schools: confronting contextual complexity in work practices, 2004) that has generated vignettes depicting the complexity of novice teaching principals’ work in rural environments. Taking cognizance of Hargreaves and Fink’s analysis of sustainable leadership, selections from these vignettes are used to sharpen understandings of ways in which sustainable leadership plays out in this context and the factors that either promote or impede its development.

This paper presents the results of interviews with 12 Manitoba and Alberta rural teaching principals regarding their leadership practices in small schools. The overwhelming theme mentioned by these teaching principals was the joy and sense of purpose they found in the relationships they cultivated with children, staff, and community members because of the ‘advantages’ they had working in small schools. The paper details the small schools context within which teaching principals are working in these two provinces and outlines the role of reciprocal relationality that is central to their leadership efforts in small rural schools.

PurposeThe special characteristics of small schools appear to set them apart from larger schools. In fact, small schools may be a discrete group in that their complexity may not be in direct ratio to their size. The special characteristics of small schools may include the absence of senior staff, administrative assistance on a part time basis only, conservatism and role conflict within the community, and lack of professional interaction. This paper aims to explore these issues by analysing data from a recent survey on Tasmania successful school principalship.Design/methodology/approachResults from a survey with the population of Tasmanian principals in schools of 200 or less students are compared with previous research findings from the limited literature in the area.FindingsThe study has confirmed that contextual demands result in role conflict for teaching principals, that principals of small rural schools are mobile, staying for short periods of time, and that a higher proportion are female. Statistically significant differences were found among small rural schools of 100 or fewer students and small rural and urban schools of between 101 and 200 students. These differences were best explained by combination of the “double load phenomenon” and the increasingly mandated requirements for the implementation of growing amounts of Department of Education policy, rather than rurality or socio‐economic status.Practical implicationsGiven the combination of the expected large turnover in the principalship in Australian schools over the next five to ten years, the high proportion of small schools (at least one‐quarter) and the unlikely change to the traditional career path wherein, for many, becoming a principal of a small school is the initial step progressively moving to large schools, the findings add weight to the need for greater attention to be paid to small school principalship.Originality/valueThe study adds to the very limited research into successful school principalship in small schools.

The author of this chapter analyses the potential and challenges of small rural primary schools. Between 2009 and 2015, researchers of two transnational projects co-operated with partners from Switzerland to carry out studies in small rural schools in Western Austria. Due to topological conditions, small rural primary schools are common in this region, with 43% of primary schools consisting of fewer than 50 pupils. Yet despite this high number, little research had been done previously. The authors of 20 case studies of small rural primary schools in Vorarlberg showed that these schools are a source of both educational opportunities and specific challenges. The author will describe issues informing the work of teachers in these schools, the special situation of rural head teachers, and the struggle to secure the existence of small schools through developing a special profile as Montessori institutions.

Small rural primary schools in Finland: A pedagogically valuable part of the school network

Teaching and learning in small rural primary schools in Austria and Switzerland—Opportunities and challenges from teachers’ and students’ perspectives

This study uses the literature analysis method to conduct a review. Enter the keywords "small rural schools" and "principal leadership" on China HowNet and Baidu Academics to obtain literature. The perspectives of the literature review on small rural schools are time dimension, value dimension, and element dimension; the perspective of principal leadership literature collation is the individual level and the organizational level; finally, it clarifies the literature context of top leadership in rural small-scale schools from three aspects. Comments on this research: First, most of the studies did not highlight the impact of "distance from the city" and "size" of rural small-scale schools on principal leadership; second, in small-scale rural schools, principals' "multi-role" seriously dilutes They are just "practices" of school leaders; third, they have not analyzed the leadership of small-scale rural school principals from the perspective of leadership theory.

Previous studies suggest that small rural schools experience a range of challenges relating to their size, financial difficulties and geographical isolation, as well as potential opportunities relating to their position within their communities. In Northern Ireland, these schools are situated within the comparatively rare context of a religiously divided school system. However, research on these schools in this jurisdiction is scarce. The notion of consociationalism is highlighted as central to an understanding of the prevailing schooling system and the peace process in Northern Ireland as a post-conflict society. Set against this backdrop, the paper reports on a survey of principals of small rural schools in Northern Ireland; the challenges they face and their engagement with the communities they serve. The findings reveal how these small rural primary schools, while encountering many similar challenges to such schools globally, continue to play a central consociational role in serving their respective divided communities. Their relationship with the Church is seen as particularly important. The findings raise important broader questions as to the extent to which the current system of schooling is able to contribute to the building of a more integrated society.

As neo-liberal, economic and political fields increasingly contaminate the field of education, so a (re) contextualised understanding of the manifold and shifting social space small rural primary school principals occupy is of central importance to understanding practice. An understanding especially germane to a post-conflict divided and segregated society such as Northern Ireland. The paper draws on data from a mixed-method investigation including a survey of small rural school principals and case study research in five small rural primary schools. The findings are theoretically and conceptually informed by Bourdieu (1984) and his work on field, habitus and capital as a means to understand practice. The insight into principal practice that emerges is one that is, complex, fluid and uncertain; school leaders needing to negotiate diverse logics of practice as a response to the dominant fields in play at any given time. We contend that at one level, neo-liberal economistic imperatives and politicisation of education have led to a professional narrowing in principal leadership practice. While on another level, in a post-conflict Northern Ireland, we have arguably seen a professional widening, with principals afforded a leadership role potentially empowered to help balance cross-community religious tensions and facilitate peace and reconciliation.

The development of modern education in Ukrainian rural small schools is an urgent and important issue in the context of the formation of the educational system in Ukraine. The systematic closure of such schools, low birth rates, and the demographic crisis pose serious challenges to providing accessible education in rural areas. A comparative analysis with the experience of Poland, where a similar situation exists, will allow us to identify opportunities to use foreign experience and develop positive practices for Ukrainian education. The purpose of this article is to highlight the specifics of small schools in Poland and Ukraine. The article aims to analyze the problem of preserving and developing such schools in both countries, as well as to identify opportunities to use foreign experience to improve the conditions of education and upbringing of Ukrainian youth. To achieve this goal, the methods of comparative analysis, analysis of the legislative framework and statistical data were used. The results of the study show that Ukraine and Poland have similar problems in preserving small rural schools. The closure of such schools is due to low birth rates, the demographic crisis, and lack of funding. Some regions in Ukraine are taking steps to preserve rural schools, but this problem remains urgent. In the context of the Polish experience, as the practice of other countries shows, new approaches to understanding educational technologies and teaching methods in small rural schools can be found. That is why the experience gained in Poland is of great importance for Ukrainian education. The results of the study emphasize the need to study and adapt foreign experience to improve the situation in Ukrainian small rural schools.

Eleven small rural high schools from school districts with less than 300 students were randomly selected from 98 such districts in Iowa. Students from the high school graduating class of 1983 were contacted and sent a survey to gain information regarding family background, high school experiences, and post-high school achievements. Data were also gathered from students' transcripts as well as from interviews with high school personnel and students. Overall, the results of this investigation indicate that rural Iowa adolescents believe that they received a quality education in their small rural schools. Evidence supporting this assertion comes from the finding that 80 percent of these youth went on to some sort of postsecondary education, with the majority staying until degree completion. Differences between students in two-year programs and four-year programs emerged. Results are discussed with regard to the influence of the rural school and community in facilitating postsecondary persistence.

In this literature review, the authors examined three key areas that were chosen as relevant to the challenges faced by small rural schools, and collaborative practice between schools working in virtual learning environments in New Zealand. The first area was rural education, where definitions of rurality and the demographics and characteristics of small rural New Zealand schools were described, and the challenges and innovations in rural school setting were explored. The second area was collaborative practice, where features of effective collaboration were discussed as is the professional practice and theory that underpins collaboration across school networks. Finally, the third area was virtual learning, which was defined and described, along with the benefits and challenges of learning in virtual environments, and the growth of networked learning communities in New Zealand was chronicled. A comprehensive scope of the current New Zealand education landscape was included to provide the context in which this review resides.

This paper reports on the ways in which teaching principals in rural schools in Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, Canada enact instructional leadership within the five leadership domains conceptualized by Robinson, Lloyd, and Rowe (2008). Although participants suggested that they were “not where they wanted to be” in their efforts to enact instructional leadership, their actions demonstrate exemplary practice in this regard. The nature of the discourse perpetuated by leadership groups and teachers’ associations that equates instructional leadership with classroom visits only has the effect of decreasing teaching principals’ self-efficacy as instructional leaders. We argue for recognition of these leaders’ efforts to support learning, and a reconstitution of the role of the teaching principal such that instructional leadership expectations are realistically manageable for leaders in small rural schools.

Rural primary schools cater for very high proportions of the world’s children. They are the infrastructure in the quest for universal primary education yet are barely visible in mainstream education literature. This chapter provides a selection of views of life and conditions in small rural schools in North America, China, Eastern and Northern Europe and especially England, where Maurice Galton’s research on small primary schools has been conducted. Recurrent themes in the chapter include the role of rural schools in alleviating the effects of poverty, the need to challenge negative stereotypes of teachers and children in rural schools and the importance of (re-)establishing school–community relationships, creating a locally relevant, place-conscious curriculum, and of small schools working together to improve their sustainability. The conclusions look towards genuine partnerships between parents, school and community, interschool collaboration and research that focuses on teaching and learning as well as external relations and survival strategies.