Profiles of Urban vs. Rural School Principals in China: A Comparative Study

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Monday II)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Teachers and teaching

Proposal

This round-table presentation will report findings on the profile characteristics of urban vs. rural school principals in China. It is an extension and replication of an earlier study on the profiles and preparation of school leaders in the U.S. and China, which was designed and implemented by the education researchers at the Center for Partnerships for Educational Reform at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). The current study is a joint effort by education scholars at CSUN and their collaborators in Shanghai Normal University (SHNU).

Specifically, the major purposes of the current study are to explore the entry perspectives and profile characteristics of urban and rural principals in China, to examine their pre-service preparation and in-service professional development experiences, to discover their fundamental beliefs and values on education and schooling, to define their roles and responsibilities in school reform, to compare their visions for ideal schools in the new century, and to speculate implications of study findings for school reform in China, especially for the improvement of education in rural and minority areas. A comprehensive principal survey questionnaire as well as an interview guide were adapted from the successful methods used in the American national Study of the Education of Educators led by John Goodlad. The urban principals in the China study include 170 school leaders in Shanghai and Jiangsu Province, which are among the most urban regions in China, and the rural subjects consist of 183 principals in Yunnan and several other rural and minority areas in China.

Preliminary findings from the comparative study indicate that urban and rural school principals in China differ greatly in their profiles and characteristics. There are many more female school leaders in the cities than in the countryside. The principals in urban areas also tend to be older and have higher degrees than rural school principals. While more than half of the rural school leaders come from diverse minority groups, 99% of the urban principals are from the mainstream nationality – the Han. Both urban and rural principals in our study considered intrinsic or altruistic reasons as more important than extrinsic reasons for them to become principals, but they also vary on several key items in their entry perspectives. Finally, only about one third of all the urban and rural principals in our study are firmly committed to principalship as a lifelong career, a large number of them are uncertain about their commitment, and nearly half of the rural principals as well as one fourth of the urban principals expressed unwillingness to stay in school leadership. The researchers explored reasons for urban and rural school principals to stay or to leave the profession and speculated implications for change in the recruitment and retention of good principals in China, especially for the rural and minority schools. The project is highly significant for the field of educational administration. Findings from this study will shed new light on the preparation of educational leaders and offers useful lessons to the international education community.

Authors

• Zhixin Su, California State University, Northridge

• Jian Wang, Shanghai Normal University

• Dan Mao, Shanghai Normal University

• Jody Dunlap, California State University, Northridge

• Jianhua Chen, Shanghai Normal University