published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

A new group of primary school deputy heads has emerged as the new rank, SPSM, has been created for deputy heads of primary schools in Hong Kong with effect from 1 September 2008. On becoming teacher leaders, these deputy heads are serving significant roles in primary schools. The literature reviews that there are few local studies in this area. This study has recognized the research need to understand the needs of novice deputy heads. 489 invitation letters were sent to all SPSMs in ordinary aided and government primary schools in Hong Kong in March 2011 and five SPSMs participated in this study. A qualitative approach was adopted, including focus group interviews, individual interviews, shadowing, and analyses of relevant documents. Results of the study indicate that underlying the needs that they have voiced out (such as the need for more time and ‘space’, collegial support, appropriate professional development and training) are two fundamental issues, namely, their readiness for leadership responsibilities and their capacity for the multiple roles of a deputy head. This study also indicates that their needs are varied and personal. Their needs are affected by their major roles and responsibilities, different situations in schools, the decision and attitude of their principals, relationship with fellow staff, personal background, experience, mindset, and values, and situations in the local context. Implications on the ways in which their needs could be met indicate that besides issues related to other parties and provisions from external sources, more fundamental is the transformation from within, that is, a switch of mindset from being a teacher, a manager, to a leader. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

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. / 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. / Hu, Rongkun. / Advisers: Allan Walker; Nai-kwai Leslie Lo. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 302-334). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese; appendixes 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4 also in Chinese.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

萬廣祥. / 複印本. / Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學敎育學院. / Fu yin ben. / Includes bibliographical references. / Wan Guangxiang. / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue jiao yu xue yuan. / Chapter 第一章 --- 引言 / 問題的背景 --- p.1 / 研究的目的 --- p.3 / 研究的意義 --- p.4 / Chapter 第二章 --- 文獻省覽及理論架構 / 中學校長的角色與職責 --- p.5 / 校長的工作範疇 --- p.6 / 校長工作的複雜性 --- p.17 / 校長的角色混淆 --- p.18 / 校長的個人責任 --- p.19 / 校長的工作量 --- p.20 / 過去有關壓力的研究 --- p.21 / 壓力因素 --- p.22 / 工作壓力 --- p.23 / 壓力與個人緊張 --- p.27 / ［個人／環境］協調模式 --- p.31 / 本研究之理論架構 --- p.37 / Chapter 第三章 --- 研究方法 / 假設 --- p.50 / 定義 --- p.53 / 取樣 --- p.56 / 量表 --- p.57 / 數據收集 --- p.58 / 數據分析 --- p.59 / 限制 --- p.59 / Chapter 第四章 --- 分析結果 / 個人背景 --- p.60 / 個人背景與工作壓力 / 個人／環境協調量度分數的分析 --- p.65 / 個人／環境協與緊張的相關 --- p.66 / 社群助力與緊張的相關 --- p.74 / 社會前景與緊張的相關 --- p.75 / 心理緊張與行為緊張的相關 --- p.78 / 緊張與疾病的相關 --- p.79 / 校長的工作壓力因素 --- p.80 / Chapter 第五章 --- 討論、建議及總結 / 討論 --- p.82 / 建議 --- p.86 / 總結 --- p.89 / 參考書目及附錄

Because of the complexity of the phenomenon being studied, a qualitative methodology was adopted for the study. The research was anchored in the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism. Interviews formed the chief data collection method. Eleven secondary school principals from Shanghai were selected through a form of purposive sampling. The study aimed to derive categories, typologies and theoretical models from the data to help explain the realities of the Chinese principalship. / Further interpretation across the major categories and initial typology exposed a set of tensions which captured some of the basic dynamics of the principalship in China. A dominant subtext across these tensions was the multiple accountabilities confronting the principals. The study found that the principals placed unquestionable emphasis on upward accountability. Among the various stakeholders, superiors and the higher level government departments and officials were regarded as the most important audience. Finally a set of five propositions was proposed as a way to capture succinctly the major features of the role of the principalship in China. / The context within which the research was conducted was one full of uncertainty and constant change. As a result of systemic and sustained reform efforts to restructure education, principals are caught between the often contradictory forces generated by educational imperatives, market forces, political hegemony and managerial complexity. It would be naive to believe that Mainland China is immune to the universalising tendency of educational reform. However, without careful study we are unsure whether Chinese principals are faced with similar dilemmas, paradoxes, and difficulties as their Western counterparts. There is thus a need to conduct more contextually sensitive research to unveil the intricacies of the role played by Chinese principals in the change context and to delve into the meanings they attach to their work. / The research findings were integrated into a framework comprised of three major categories, namely, stage, unwritten libretto and performance. The school constituted the most important stage that enabled and constrained their principalship. School status was found to be the most important influence in that it framed the role set within which each principal was situated. Despite the influence exerted by each principal's immediate context, a number of commoalities were identified when the eleven cases were pulled together. These common issues, defined as unwritten libretto in the study, included maintaining guanxi with the government, ensuring internal harmony within the organisation and the need to win resources. The knowledge of these rules was found to be indispensible to a principal in China and formed the instinctive grounds upon which they based their actions. Influenced by both the stage---where they were, and the unwritten libretto---their knowledge about how to be a principal in China, principal performance varied. An initial typology was constructed comprised of four types of principals. These types were Leading Actors, Supporting Actors, Opportunists and Marginal Actors. / The research has implications for the knowledge base of school principalship. It stretches this base beyond its current near-exclusive grounding in Western theory and provides some empirical understandings about the principalship in China. The development of a list of propositions also serves as a starting point to explicate the meanings of 'leadership' in the context of Chinese schools. The research findings also have substantial implications for principal development in China. Some suggestions are provided for program providers that may help to make the development programs more effective. / This study investigates how Chinese school principals perceive and enact their roles. Given that there is a conceptual crevice in our understanding of the Chinese principalship, the study intends to add a much needed dimension to the Anglo-American dominant leadership discourse. / Qian, Haiyan. / Adviser: Allan Walker. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 71-01, Section: A, page: 0045. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 244-258). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education