Little attention has been paid to how kindergarten principals in Hong Kong enact their leadership and how their leadership is related to the gender of the principals and to the culture of the society. This study therefore aimed to document and explore how two kindergarten principals in Hong Kong conducted their leadership in respect of what they did, why they did so, and how they experienced their leadership, with a view to understanding the leadership conduct of these principals and to shedding light on the issues of women and the role of culture in school leadership. Both participants were female. One of the leaders was the principal of a non profit-making kindergarten which had joined the government's subsidy scheme, and the other was a principal of a profit-making kindergarten that had not joined the scheme. A series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the principals along with observations of what they did on specific days as well as an analysis of documents the principals used in their work. Rich and thick data were obtained regarding what these principals did in leading staff to offer an education to children, and the beliefs, values and motives underlying their leadership. Both principals exercised strong and direct control over what to teach children, how teachers engaged in their teaching, and the activities designed to promote the kindergartens to the public to recruit children. They did so because of their beliefs about the importance of these matters for defining the kind of education to offer to children, their determination to lead well, and their perception of staff being insufficiently competent and motivated. Both exerted much less control on matters perceived as less important to enhancing the survival of the kindergartens. One of the principals was concerned about adverse effects of how staff viewed her leadership, which arose from the strong control she exercised. In light of her perception of the propriety of caring behaviour towards others in a kindergarten, she exhibited caring and teamwork behaviour aimed partly at minimising the adverse effects of her strong control. The other principal was not concerned about negative effects on staff of the strong and direct control she exercised, but still demonstrated a range of behaviour, including caring and teamwork behavior, to motivate staff to perform. The findings show that these leaders considered a host of factors in enacting their leadership, and thus suggest that current theorizing of women in leadership needs to capture an extended range of complex factors that may influence how female leaders conduct and experience their leadership. In addition, the findings add to current theorizing about the motives underlying the enactment of leadership, in that control was enacted to conform to cultural expectations and to ensure adequate staff performance, while caring was enacted to minimize the adverse effects on staff of control or as means to motivate staff. The findings also show that the two leaders made active use of culture to influence staff, and experienced tensions coming from competing cultural values and norms. These are aspects that have not been addressed by current theorizing of the role of culture in school leadership.

本研究為「幼稚園園長專業能力及其培育制度之研究」旨在探討幼稚園園長於幼稚園實務現場中所需具備之專業能力，並建構出符合幼稚園園長提升專業能力需求的培育制度。 本研究透過文獻探討，建構園長專業能力及其培育制度之訪談大綱，訪談現場公、私立等四位園長之建議，進而編制成專家調查意見問卷，並參考綜合專家的意見看法後修訂為「幼稚園園長專業能力及其培育制度之研究調查問卷」作為調查工具。再以隨機方式抽取281所公、私立幼稚園為樣本園，請園所裡的園長及其中一位老師填寫問卷，共發出562份問卷，問卷共回收278份，有效問卷為274份，可用率為49%，回收後以平均數與標準差分析、t考驗、變異數分析、積差相關、多元迴歸分析等方法對問卷調查結果進行分析。 以下茲將研究發現及結果說明如下： 壹、研究發現； 一、園長專業能力向度包含「園務發展」、「行政管理」、「教學領導」、「衛生保育」、「公共關係」、「專業責任」六向度。 二、現職園長及幼教師認同園長專業能力此六向度之向度與內容符合園長帶領園所應具備的專業能力。 三、現職園長及幼教師認同此園長培育制度符合培育園長專業能力之需求。 四、園長及教師人口變項與園所背景變項中，園所屬性、園所地區、園所規模、在園長專業能力上有顯著差異，但性別、現任職務、教學年資、園長資歷則無顯著差異。 五、園長及教師人口變項與園所背景變項中，性別、現任職務、園所屬性、園所地區、園所規模、教學年資、園長資歷在園長培育制度上均無顯著差異。 六、園長專業能力在園長培育制度上有顯著差異。 七、園長專業能力在園長培育制度上具有正相關。 八、園長專業能力對園長培育制度具有預測作用。 最後根據研究調查結論，對教育行政機關與培育機關、園長與幼教老師、後 續相關研究提出建議。 / The main purpose of this study was to investigate the professional competence and preparation of kindergarten principal. The study included document analysis, survey method with a questionnaire, survey method with an interview and survey method with several specialists .The purpose of document analysis was aimed to explore the fundamentals of professional competence and preparation of kindergarten principals, and interview 4 principals of public and private of kindergarten. The purpose of survey method with several specialists were aimed to explore the opinions of specialists. Questionnaire of survey based on opinions of kindergarten principals and teachers of public and private about the professional competence and preparation of kindergarten principals. The subjects of the questionnaire included principals and teachers of public and private of kindergarten in Taipei City, Taipei County, Keelung City, Yilan County. Data were analyzed 274 sampling subjects by description statistics, t-test, correlation and ANOVA. Based on the document analysis of the questionnaire, this study finds reaches the following results： 1. The professional competence include six parts: (1) development of kindergarten affairs, (2)administrative management,(3) instructional leadership,(4) hygiene and nursing,(5) public relations,(6) professional responsibility. 2. The sense of principals and teachers of kindergarten was highly agreement of the six professional competence of kindergarten principals . 3.The sense of principals and of kindergarten was highly agreement of the preparation of kindergarten principals . 4.The public and private of kindergarten , area of kindergarten and size of kindergarten had significant difference on kindergarten principals professional competence. But sex and job of principals and teachers , service years of teachers, service years of kindergarten principals, did’t have significant difference on kindergarten principals professional competence. 5. The sex and job of principals and teachers , public and private of kindergarten, area of kindergarten , size of kindergarten, service years of teachers, service years of kindergarten principals, did’t have significant difference on kindergarten principals preparation . 6. The sense of lower, middle and high of kindergarten principal professional competence had significant difference on kindergarten principal preparation . 7. There were positive correlation existed between kindergarten principal professional competence and kindergarten principal preparation . 8. The six parts of kindergarten principal professional competence did promote kindergarten principal reparation . Finally, based on the results, suggestions for educational administration agencies, principals and teacher of kindergarten and future study.

台灣早期的幼教發展，於政府長時期疏於管理下，導致現今幼教界存在諸多糾結複雜的問題，這些客觀外在環境條件所產生的問題，直接衝擊幼教核心之一「教師」角色的生存空間。在高師資流動性特質之幼教場域中，那些資深專業工作者如何能夠在所處的社會情境脈動中，長時期持續朝向自我選擇之幼教職業道路推進，為本研究的核心關注。透過一位資深幼教工作經歷的園長之生命視窗—她的工作經驗世界，理解幼師職業生涯運轉歷程的樣貌；並從主體生命故事敘說之縱向歷史回顧中，理解其中透露的重要社會結構變遷訊息。 本研究採取質性研究方法中的傳記研究取向，以德國社會學者Fritz Schütze所發展之「敘述訪談法」(narrative interview)進行資料採集工作，訪談一位具有二十九年幼教工作經歷的幼兒園園長。訪談結果整理為敘述文本後，並參照Fritz Schütze所提出的理論建構分析方案，對文本進行結構描述以及概念抽象化分析的整體形塑，以回應欲探究的問題。 經過資料分析過程，逐漸釋出本研究主體—杏芬園長「不成長就會被淘汰」的生命信念意涵，文本透露出自我完成性在主體生命開展歷程中，為一種突破環境限制與期望朝向更好的動力，促使主體一再超越現實環境的限制，萌生其積極性意義。「不進則退」生命觀於時間流動中架構出主體的生活經驗世界，形成生命能量內塑與外推之上揚動力，於接受工作挑戰與追求成長歷程中蛻變。於是可以看出，環境或自我本身的未確定性，雖然帶來了限制，卻也充滿無限可能性。最後，研究者就文本解析之內容，提出「公私幼消長生態下幼師的生存處境」議題進行探討；並且參照Csikszentmihalyi創造力系統論觀點，建立一個類似的系統原型，從個人、學門及領域三個面向，闡釋研究主體長期安身立命於幼教職業工作中的可能因素。 / “Either growing or eliminating”— A description analysis of a kindergarten teacher’s life revolving Due to the lack of management by the government in Taiwan in early years, there are many problems that exist in the field of early childhood education. Those impact the survival of the key personnel, the teachers, in this field directly. In the social context of high turn over ratio of the teachers in this field, how senior teachers keep standing fast at the post and moving forward is the center concern of this research. By interviewing a senior teacher’s working experience, the researcher gets to know the different patterns of the career of a kindergarten teacher; further more, to comprehend the transition of the social structure from reviewing the history in which the story happened. This research adopts biographic study under the qualitative methodology, and collects the data with “narrative interview” developing by Fritz Schűtze, a Germany sociologist. After interviewing a kindergarten principal, Sin-feng, who has been working for twenty-nine years in the early childhood education field, researcher followed Schűtze’s theory construction and analysis to analyze and shape the structure description and abstract concepts. After the process of data analysis, “either growing or eliminating” shows up to be Principal Sin-feng’s belief. The text shows that in one’s life process, self-completion is a motivation that can break through constrains of environment and head to a better situation. Therefore, we can see that although the uncertainty of environment and oneself can be constrains, it can also bring the unlimited possibility. At the end, researcher raised the topic of “kindergarten teachers’ subsistence in the growth and decline of public and private kindergartens” for discussion. Researcher revised and constructed a similar system from the creativity systematic viewpoint raised by Csikszentmihalyi, to explain the possible reasons, from personal, subject, and field aspects, that make the research object stay in the same career for such a long time.