The present study focuses on the relationships between principal support, school-wide inclusive practices, teacher agency, and teachers' professional skills in the Chinese context of inclusive education -- Learning in Regular Classroom. Data were collected from 1,676 primary and junior high school teachers in China. Results of structural equation…

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role school principals play in managing the intersection of external and internal accountability systems within Chinese schools. Specifically, the paper seeks to understand principals' perception of top-down accountability demands and the strategies they adopt to build and strengthen internal…

Since the publication of the Salamanca Statement, inclusive education has gained prominence at a global range. In China, this has seen the implementation of 'Learning in Regular Classroom' -- a nationwide program initiated by the Chinese government in the 1980s to make regular schools accessible to children with disabilities. The developments of…

Purpose: This paper explores education group school principal's influence on professional learning community (PLC) development in China. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative comparative case studies were conducted. Findings: The findings show that principals indicated principal-level factors were their major concerns regarding PLC cultural…

This paper considers the effectiveness of leadership development (LD) processes in relation to school leaders' needs within an eastern Chinese District Education Bureau (DEB). The analysis is based on Chinese and English sources relating to LD, documentary analysis of DEB initiatives and interviews with ten school leaders from two schools. The…

The purpose of this study is to examine if school principals' roles and responsibilities in China, Ghana, Hungary, Turkey, Poland and the United States are significantly different from one another. This study adopts a survey design which provides a quantitative or qualitative description of trends, attitudes, or opinions of a population by…

Reports have indicated a high percentage of beginning teachers leaving the teaching profession in their first few years of work. This is causing huge amount of wasteful resources invested in teacher education. Planning to retain beginning teachers in the teaching profession has become an urgent challenge for educational leaders. To investigate the…

For-profit education is increasingly prevalent within international schooling. The language of client, customer and consumer may not yet be embedded in the classroom, but international school leaders, particularly those operating in for-profit contexts, are having to respond not only to the needs of educational stakeholders but also to the…

This narrative inquiry exploring contemporary Chinese schooling involved three researchers who worked collaboratively as a team. Each researcher resonated with a different image of the principalship embedded in the storied account proffered by Xu Xiaozhang ??, leader of Hexie Elementary School in Tianjin, China. (1) Principal as the lead teacher;…

Successful school leadership is highly contextually dependent. However, few studies focused on the comparisons of school leadership across different countries. Even among the existing studies, comparisons tend to be conducted with the assumption that the underlying factorial structure of the construct is the same. In this study, school principal's…

This article examines the essential role of school principals in China's "Quality-Oriented Education" national reform movement. Keeping China's cultural and historical context in mind, and taking into consideration the impact of political and societal forces on the nation, we discuss the major challenges faced by Chinese schools,…

The latest national educational policy in the People's Republic of China calls for comprehensive educational reforms aimed at building the foundation for a modern learning society throughout China over the next 10 years. This research examines school leaders' efforts to implement school improvement initiatives that directly respond to the policy's…

School leadership today demands skills, knowledge, and attitudes much different than those required a short time ago. With the increased accountability for principals to achieve and maintain adequate yearly progress, test scores are often seen by teachers and parents as principals' top priority. Relationships are seen as secondary and they should…

An educator who has conducted leadership programs for Chinese principals since 1985 examines the changes in that nation's schools over a 20-year period. He finds them making slow progress, thanks in part to educational exchange programs that have given principals the skills and educational foundations needed to overcome entrenched and system-wide…

Comparative study of American and Chinese school principals' basic beliefs regarding education and schooling, their views on and role in school reform, and their visions of ideal schools in the 21st century. Finds striking contrasts between American and Chinese principals' views and visions. (Contains 47 references.) (Authors/PKP)