Leading school for learning: principal practices in Taiwan

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-06-2016-0069
Published date10 April 2017
Date10 April 2017
Pages168-185
AuthorHui-Ling Wendy Pan,Fong-Yee Nyeu,Shu-Huei Cheng
Subject MatterEducation,Administration & policy in education,School administration/policy,Educational administration,Leadership in education
Leading school for learning:
principal practices in Taiwan
Hui-Ling Wendy Pan and Fong-Yee Nyeu
Graduate Institute of Educational Policy and Leadership, Tamkang University,
New Taipei City, Taiwan, and
Shu-Huei Cheng
Department of Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss how principals in Taiwan lead student and teacher
learning at a time of leadership and learning paradigm shifts and the imminent implementation of the
curriculum guideline for 12-year basic education.
Design/methodology/approach This study interviewed 32 elementary and junior high school
principals purposively sampled based on reputation and recommendation from senior principals and
government officials.
Findings As a society which values credentialism, principals in Taiwan face challenges in executing the
vision of educating student as a whole person. The authors discuss how principals are solidifying whole
person education as the espoused value, how they are enforcing school-based curriculum and effective
instruction, and encouraging teacher professional learning. Principals are sharing power by recruiting
stakeholdersparticipation in guiding school development and enacting distributed leadership, while also
building relationship as social capital and soliciting support from the community to establish the conditions
to improve teaching and learning.
Research limitations/implications This paper highlights how principal practices are evolving in a time
of changing conception of learning from academic achievement to multiple competencies and the shifting
paradigm of power from participatory decision making to distributed leadership. This paper ends with a
discussion on how leadership for learning (LfL) as a community engagement has emerged.
Practical implications With the shifting of the concept and paradigm of learning, principals in a high
power distance society like Taiwan are now facing opportunities as well as challenges to lead teachers to
engaging students in inquiry and collaboration.
Originality/value This paper highlights the indigenous practices of principal LfL in a high-performing
East Asian education system in a time of changing notions of learning and leadership.
Keywords Taiwan, Principal leadership, Leadership for learning
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Conforming to global trends in educational development, Taiwan has since the 1990s
instituted reforms to deregulate and decentralize its education system (Pan, 2002, 2007). The
introduction of school-based management enhanced principalsresponsibility in school
management, while the call for shared governance signifies that school policies can no
longer be automatically executed top-down and the principals must respect opinions from
multiple stakeholders. Under this decentralized ecology, the Ministry of Education has
taken measures to improve school flexibility and teacher professional autonomy in school
curriculum development. Teachers are now encouraged to participate in school decision
making, in particular those concerning curriculum and instruction; they are also urged to
collaborate and engage in professional dialogue to develop school-based curriculum.
Meanwhile, international assessments on student learning has heightened school
accountability and instigated concerns regarding how students should acquire key
competencies for the future society. The new literacy-based Curriculum Guideline for
Twelve-Year Basic Education in Taiwan is a response to the international discourse,
as teachers are expected to take on a facilitator role and students become autonomous and
self-directed learners (Ministry of Education, 2014).
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 55 No. 2, 2017
pp. 168-185
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/JEA-06-2016-0069
Received 19 June 2016
Revised 13 January 2017
Accepted 15 January 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm
168
JEA
55,2
School leaders are bound to face challenges as they lead in a journey of change. Effective
school leadership is necessary to attain the desired effects of reform policies (Hall and Hord,
2002; Hallinger, 2011). A variety of strategies, methods, and approaches to facilitate student
learning such as learning community, collaborative learning, cooperative learning,
differentiated instruction, remedial instruction, flipped classroom, and multiple-measure
assessments have since been introduced in schools in Taiwan. Together with the existing
policies to enhance teaching including teacher evaluation for professional development
(TEPD) and teacher professional learning community (PLC), schools are now witnessing a
flourishing of teaching and learning approaches. Tensions between forces of convergence as
a result of globalization and divergence associated with the distinctive cultures of societies
can affect school leadership (Dimmock and Walker, 2005; Walker and Walker, 1998).
Reforms in Taiwan have greatly changed the power structure in schools, the roles of
teacher and principals as school-based management, teacher empowerment, and parental
voice restructure the power ecology in schools. As the principals are still adjusting to this, a
new wave of reform focused on studentslearning has reached the schools. Principals are
faced with the tasksof instituting a focus on learning skills,student-centered instruction,and
collective learning. The purpose of this paperis thus to examine how principals lead learning
of students and teachers in a time of change, at the crossroad of new reforms and paradigm
shifts in leadership and learning. We analyze the practices of 32 elementary and junior high
school principalsin Taiwan nominated by senior principalsand government officials for their
exemplary leadership to portray principal practices. We will first discuss the context of
leading learning in Taiwan, present the findings from the interview and close with a
discussion of the challenges for the leaders and the important contributions of this study.
Context for leading learning in Taiwan
Countries in East Asia are recognized for their high performance on international learning
outcome assessments such as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Taiwan is one of the
frontrunners on these international league tables. The results of PISA 2012 showed that
15 year olds in Taiwan ranked 4th in math, 13th in science, and 7th in reading. The results of
TIMSS 2011 indicated that fourth graders in Taiwan ranked fourth in math and sixth in
science, while eighth graders ranked third in math and second in science.
Despite high learning outcomes, researchers have pointed out that students in the East
Asian high-performing education systems have relatively less positive perceptions of
learning compared to students from other participating countries (Shen and Tam, 2008;
So and Kang, 2014). Liou and Liu (2015) indicated that students in Taiwan, like their
counterparts in Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan, show relatively negative motivational beliefs
in science and learning. Students in Taiwan also showed lower confidence level in math than
students in Europe (Chen et al., 2010).
Traditionally, because of parentshigh educational aspirations for their children and the
competitive nature to enter a good senior high school and university, school education in
Taiwan has focused mainly on the teaching of subjects that were included in entrance
examinations, while subjects such as physical education, art, and music were placed on low
priority in terms of teaching and learning (Peng et al., 2011). Credentialism is regarded
highly by the Taiwanese society, as formal education credentials surpass other ways of
understanding of human potential and ability. Credential is what accounts for success, for
as the Chinese saying goes, all pursuits are of low values; only studying the books is of
high value.This view of academic success and achievement has enormous ramifications
for parental expectation and teaching at school (Dimmock and Walker, 2005). While many
western cultures tend to attribute academic success to innate ability, Asian societies
including Taiwan believe that effort, hard work and diligence make up for deficiency.
169
Leading school
for learning

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