Comparing Chinese and Canadian Transformational School Leadership: A Cultural Analysis

•• Dr. Peng Liu

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Dr. LIU PengDepartment of Education Policy and Leadership

Hong Kong Institute of Education Hong Kong

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Agenda

• Creating Chinese Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire

• Common leadership practices across cultures and unique items to Chinese culture

• Cultural analysis framework• Cultural analysis• Implication for practice

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Teacher perception of TL practice:

• Setting direction• Developing people• Redesigning organization• Managing instructional program

Leithwood(1996,1999)

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Research Question• What are the main school leadership practices

in the urban upper secondary schools in China during a period of curriculum reform?

• What are the differences and similarities between Chinese and Canadian Transformational leadership practices? Why?

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Common Items across Cultures (Compared with Leithwood (2012) Survey (12 items)

1. gives us a sense of overall purpose2. helps clarify the reasons for our school’s

improvement initiatives3. encourages us to consider new ideas in

our teaching 4. engages parents in the school’s

improvement efforts

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17 Items unique to Chinese Schools

12. provides us with a variety of opportunities to visit successful schools

17. provides us with a variety of training opportunities to improve the teaching quality

19. encourages us to attend the activities of the teaching and research group

20. promotes the collective preparation of the class

29. strengthens school security, ensuring the smooth progress of teaching

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Cultural Analysis FrameworkTransformational School Leadership Dimension and Practices

Dimension of Values Relevant to Transformational School Leadership Dimensions and Practices

Setting direction1. building a

school vision

2. establishing school goals

3. creating high performance expectations.

Building a school vision1. Long-term or short-term oriented (Hosftede, 2001).2. Uncertainty avoidance (Hosftede, 2001).

Establishing school goals1. Relationship to nature (Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, 1961) and Harmony (fitting in with the environment)(Swaltz, 2000).2. Orientation to time (Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, 1961) and Future Orientation (House, 2004).

Creating high performance expectations1. Performance orientation (House, 2004).

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Cultural Analysis Framework

Developing People1. providing

individualized support

2. Creating intellectual stimulation

3. modeling best practices and organizational values

Providing individualized support

1. Humane orientation (House, 2004; Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, 1961) relevant to providing individualized support because human orientation means the degree to which a collective encourages and rewards people for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others.

Creating intellectual stimulation

1.Intellectual autonomy (independent pursuit of own ideas) which means whether we believe people can have potential to pursue knowledge (Schwartz, 2000).

Modeling best practices and organizational values1. Beliefs about human nature.

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Cultural Analysis FrameworkRedesigning organizations1. developing a collaborative school culture, 2. creating structures to foster participation in school decisions,3. creating productive community relationships

Developing a collaborative school culture:1. Relationships between people (Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck,

1961)2. Individualism and collectivism (Hofstede, 2001)Creating structures to foster participation in school decisions

1. Hierarchy: legitimization of unequal distribution of power (Schwartz, 2000)

2. Power distance (Schwartz, 2000)Creating productive community relationships

1. Orientation towards environment (Kluckhohn & Strodtback, 1961; Trompenaars, 1993)2. Harmony (fitting with the environment) (Schwartz, 2000).

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Cultural Analysis FrameworkManaging Instructional Program1. establishing effective staffing practices

2. providing instructional support

3. monitoring school activities

4. buffering staff from excessive and distracting external demands

Establishing effective staffing practices1. Achievement –ascription (Trompenaars, 1993) 2. Belief of Human Nature (Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, 1961)

Providing instructional support1. Human orientation (House, 2004)

Monitoring school activities 1. Achievement –ascription (Trompenaars, 1993) 2. Performance orientation (House, 2004)

Buffering staff from excessive and distracting external demands1. Harmony (Schwartz, 2000)2. Nature of Human activity (Kluckhohn & Strodtbeck, 1961).

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Shared Values across cultures

• Provides useful assistance to you in setting short term goals for teaching and learning”(Item,9)Human beings are all regarded as kind and good.

• Demonstrates high expectations for your work with students(Item,10)Achievement is important.

• Provide individual support to our teaching activities (Item 3)• Encourages you to consider new ideas for your teaching (Item 4)

Human potential is acknowledged.11

Along the river during Qing Ming Festival(Painted by Zhang Zeduan)

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Mona Lisa (Painted by Leonardo da Vinci)

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Unique Values in Chinese Culture• Reasonably arrange human resources in the school(Item 8)

The degree of harmonious human relationships

• Inviting expert to give lecture and visit successful schools(Item 26) Learning is highly appreciated.

• Develops an atmosphere of caring and trust(Item 11)

Trust and caring are respected.

• Facilitate the communication among teachers(Item 27)

Chinese society is a typical relationship society, stressing the connection between people.

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Unique Values in Chinese Culture

• Concerned about our existence, such as work stress, living conditions, etc(Item 28)

• Strengthen school security, ensuring the smooth progress of teaching “is recognized by the Chinese teachers at large( Item 29).

Caring and support from the leaders in the Chinese context are highly valued and recommended.

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IMPLICATIONS

• Suggestions for Chinese school leaders• Suggestions for cross cultural leadership

research

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Questions and Comments

Dr. LIU PengDepartment of Education Policy and Leadership

Hong Kong Institute of Educationpliu@ied.edu.hk

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