Abstract
This chapter aims to map the political and policy context that shapes how school leaders lead for student learning in Mainland China. Over the last decade the central government in China has moved to deemphasize the all-consuming “High Exam” focus; the Exam tends to equate student learning with excellent results on standardized examinations. Despite clearly articulated reform intentions, school principals in China find themselves in “messy” situations as they try to translate these intentions into the reality of their schools. There is tremendous pressure on principals from all directions to produce outstanding student exam performance. Based on a study conducted in Shanghai with a group of senior secondary school principals, the chapter argues that a considerable gap exists between policy intent and policy effect. Principals’ work lives are fraught with tension as they attempt to address the demands the reforms impose on what and how students should learn. The chapter concludes with some of the implications for Chinese leaders which accompany these tensions.
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Notes
- 1.
The Imperial Examination System lasted in China for 1,300 years – from its founding during the Sui Dynasty in 605 to its abolition near the end of Qing Dynasty in 1905. The examinations determined who among the population would be permitted to enter the state’s bureaucracy.
- 2.
With the advent of the new century, reform focus in China shifted from the structural and administrative changes in the education system to the transformation of school curriculum and teaching and learning qualities. “Quality Education” (suzhi jiaoyu) became a major goal of education polices. Major policies include the Cross-Century Quality Education Project and Decisions on Deepening Education Reform and Promoting Quality Education in an All-round Way issued by Ministry of Education (MOE) in 1999.
- 3.
The official document that marked the beginning of the Curriculum Reform was Principles of Implementing Basic Education Curriculum (Provisional) issued by the Ministry of Education on 7 June 2001. This is usually called the New Curriculum Reform in China.
- 4.
Before the curriculum reform was adopted as a national policy, it had been piloted in Shanghai. Shanghai started the stage-1 curriculum reform as early as the end of 1980s while the pilot stage-2 Curriculum Reform in Shanghai started in 1998. Many practices adopted in the stage-2 reform can also be seen in the national policy papers.
- 5.
These are three different types of public senior secondary schools in Shanghai. The most elite is municipal exemplary school while the ordinary school has the lowest status.
- 6.
This means each school can enrol a limited quota of school-choice students (usually not exceeding 20% of the students to be admitted by a single school). These paying students have to meet certain score requirement (lower than the school score line but higher than the municipal score line) and pay certain amount of money (the maximum amount of money is policy-prescribed).
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Qian, H., Walker, A. (2011). Leadership for Learning in China: The Political and Policy Context. In: Townsend, T., MacBeath, J. (eds) International Handbook of Leadership for Learning. Springer International Handbooks of Education, vol 25. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1350-5_14
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