This thesis presents an interpretative study of an Australian offshore education program
in educational leadership conducted at Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in China from
2002 to 2003. It is a study of the influence of international education on the conceptions
of the participants in a particular context, where Chinese culture and Western cultures
came into contact. The study is significant because it investigated a relatively new
aspect of international education, offshore education, this time from the perspective of
the participants. It explored the conceptions of learning and leadership brought by a
group of Chinese educational leaders to the course and investigated the perceived
influence of the course upon their conceptions and self-reported leadership practice. It
employed a culturally sensitive approach which recognizes that a complex interaction
between Chinese and Western cultures is occurring in the participants of this study.
This interpretative study was inspired by the phenomenographic approach.
Phenomenography is an approach to research that has been used to help understand the
key aspects of the variations in the experiences of groups of people (Marton & Booth,
1997). The study examined the experiences and understandings about learning and
leadership of Chinese leaders in an offshore program, a Master of Educational
Leadership. The program was delivered in a flexible mode in three intensive teaching
brackets of six subjects. The study employed a semi-structured and in-depth interview
technique. Twenty participants were interviewed twice over a 12-month period. The
study sought a better understanding of their conceptions by making a comparison
between their perceptions prior to and after undertaking the course. Participants were
from schools, universities and educational departments. Potential differences across the
three sectors were also considered in the analysis.
The findings showed that most participants developed more complex understandings of
learning and leadership throughout the course. Comparison of conceptions prior to and
after the course indicated an expanded range of conceptions. There was reportedly a
movement towards more complex and diversified perspectives. Prior to the course,
participants reported comparatively traditional conceptions of learning and leadership in
quite a limited range. Learning experience and exposure to Western educational ideas
and practices seems to have led participants to reflect on their inherited assumptions and to expand their conceptions. They generally increased their awareness of key aspects of
variations in learning and leadership. This study identified a general shift from
content/utilitarian-oriented learning conceptions to meaning/developmental-oriented
conceptions after undertaking the course. There was also a shift from task/directiveorientated
conceptions about leadership to motivation/collaborative-oriented leadership
conceptions. Many participants reported that they expanded their leadership practice
after the course. The findings also revealed some differences regarding conceptual and
practice changes across the three sectors.
The study contributes to understanding of learning and leadership in an international
education context. The learning and leadership conceptions and self-reported practices
are context and culture dependent. The study illustrates the tensions between different
cultural forces in the process of teaching and learning. The methodology which explores
the subjective understandings of participants renders more complex understandings of
intercultural processes than cross-cultural comparisons which have been predominant in
the educational leadership field in the past. The results highlight the need for
appreciation of local contexts in designing international programs. The discussion
questions the universal applicability and transferability of Western ideas, and also
highlights the importance of critical reflection and adaptation on the part of educational
practitioners from non-Western cultures. It highlights the potential for growth of change
in both providers and recipients of international education as a result of very different
cultures and traditions coming into contact. Intercultural dialogue and integration of
educational ideas and practices are likely to come about when East meets West in an
open and reflective dialogue.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218635 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Wang, Ting, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education and Community Studies |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Ting Wang |
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