Practice of leadership competencies by a principal: case study of a public experimental school in Taiwan

Abstract

Experimental education in Taiwan developed rapidly since the promulgation of the Three Acts Governing Experimental Education in 2014, after which public experimental schools were established in response to local educational needs. The majority of restructuring cases have involved small rural schools faced with high drop-out rates and staff retrenchment plus merger (SRM). Indigenous schools also initiated experimental education by introducing teaching modules on cultural responses to develop ethnic education that better reflects local culture. In metropolitan areas, experimental schools were established through restructuring for educational innovation or for coping with the pressure of competition from neighboring schools. The number of experimental schools and enrolled students has increased yearly, which reveals the expectations of parents about diversified education and their right to make educational choices. The school selected for this study is an elementary school in a metropolitan area that experienced an SRM crisis and was restructured as a public experimental school in 2019. The study examined the methods through which the principal transformed leadership competencies to leadership strategies. The school overcame the competition and SRM crises and even achieved full-capacity enrollment in Taipei city. Information was collected from the relevant literature and through interviews with the principal, a head of department, teachers, a parent, and an administrative official of the Bureau of Education. The study analyzed the leadership competencies and corresponding strategies of the principal and the future prospects of the school. The findings provided principals of experimental schools with a basis for sustained improvement in leadership competencies and recommendations for the future development of school affairs.