Leadership Traits of Excellent Principals: Analysis From the Perspective of Media Reports in China

• In Event: School Leadership in Chinese Society: Impact of Academic Research on School Improvement

Abstract

Based on 30 reports on excellent school principals by “Principal Weekly” in China Education Daily between January through October 2010, this paper constructs the Model of Leadership Traits of Excellent Principals (MLTEP), employing three levels of coding. Compared with the literature-reviewed framework of leadership traits of school principals, the MLTEP highlights the principal's educational concepts and value, and the capacity of reflection and innovation in the period of social transformation of China.
The research finds that the MLTEP is attributed with traits of instructional leadership which emphasizes the principals’ managerial practice and instructional ability and development, and transformational leadership which focuses on the innovation of the principalship

Author

• Zhiyong Zhu, Beijing Normal University