Abstract
This paper draws from a larger exploratory qualitative study that investigated the perceptions of principals and teacher leaders regarding their interactions in Chinese urban primary schools during contemporary curriculum reform. Insights from micropolitics, notably two core constructs of cooperation and conflict, were utilised to examine the interactions of participants. The research found that principals and teacher leaders employed exchange and facilitation as two strategies during cooperative processes; and they adopted enforcement and compromise in conflictive processes. Eight new sub-dimensions under the four strategies emerged from the interview accounts. Findings indicate that most principals were exercising their power ‘through’ their teacher leaders who in turn were working in alignment with their principals to achieve the desired outcomes in schools. Principals in some circumstances used power ‘over’ as a traditional approach, while power ‘with’ was not apparent in participants’ comments. The paper contends that traditional Chinese cultural attitudes towards education, as shaped through Confucianism, were also discernible in framing the nature of some of the interactions between principals and teacher leaders.
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Notes
The Principal Responsibility System has been implemented since 1985 in China. It refers to a system whereby the principal is given plenipotentiary power in the school’s operation. The principal is responsible for all school decision-making such as school finance and human resources.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the financial support from Beijing Social Science Fund Research Base Project of Beijing Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science (Award No.: 17JDJYB001) and 2018 Comprehensive Discipline Construction Fund of Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University (Award No.: 2018QNJS005). The authors would like to extend their special gratitude to Associate Professor Lisa Ehrich, Dr Guanglun Michael Mu, and the anonymous reviewers for their comments on the paper.
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Zhang, Y., Henderson, D. Interactions between principals and teacher leaders in the context of Chinese curriculum reform: a micropolitical perspective. Aust. Educ. Res. 45, 603–624 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-018-0275-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-018-0275-x