Motivating teachers’ commitment to change through transformational school leadership in Chinese urban upper secondary schools
| Date | 07 September 2015 |
| Pages | 735-754 |
| Published date | 07 September 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-02-2014-0026 |
| Author | Peng Liu |
| Subject Matter | Education,Administration & policy in education,School administration/policy |
Motivating teachers’commitment
to change through
transformational school
leadership in Chinese urban
upper secondary schools
Peng Liu
Department of Education Policy and Leadership,
Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, China
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of transformational school leadership
on teachers’commitment to change and the effects of organizational and teachers’factors on teachers’
perception of transformational school leadership in the Chinese urban upper secondary school context.
Design/methodology/approach –The paper mainly uses quantitative methods to explore the
relationships between different constructs. The author asks: to what extent can transformational
school leadership practices in the urban upper secondary schools of a particular Chinese city explain
the variation in teachers’commitment to change during curriculum reform? What are the effects of
organizational and teachers’factors on teachers’perceptions of transformational school leadership?
Findings –The results of multiple regression analysis showed that the effect of transformational
school leadership was moderate when transformational school leadership and teachers’commitment
to change were treated as single variables. Four dimensions of transformational leadership practice
together explained the moderate effects on four dimensions of teachers’commitment to change, among
which the effect of managing the instructional program was the most prominent. The results of
multiple regression analysis also revealed that variables like culture, strategy, environment,
and teachers’age had significant relationships with teachers’perceptions of transformational school
leadership. Culture, environment, strategy, structure, and teachers’factors such as age and grade
taught had moderate effects on different dimensions of teachers’perceptions of transformational
school leadership.
Originality/value –This study is one of the first to explore the effects of transformational school
leadershipon teachers’commitment to changein the Chinese urban upper secondaryschool context. The
findings contributeto educational management in China and similarcontexts, and this study advances
knowledge and furthers the understandings of the transferability of theories to different contexts.
Keywords China, Teachers’commitment to change, Transformational school leadership,
Urban upper secondary school
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Reformin high schools is a pervasive in the West,and it is the same in the Chinese context
(Leithwood et al., 1999; Liu, 2013). Compared with other sectors of education, the
significance of the role of upper secondary schools in helping students enter society is well
recognized (Carnoy et al., 2003; Liu, 2013), in particular in the Chinese context (Liu, 2013).
The Chinese context is particularly interesting because there the reform movement
has caused a serious dilemma for upper secondary schools between realizing quality
education and solely preparing students for the national college entrance exam
(Liu, 2013; Walker et al., 2012).
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 53 No. 6, 2015
pp. 735-754
©Emerald Group Publis hing Limited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/JEA-02-2014-0026
Received 11 February 2014
Revised 7 July 2014
31 August 2014
22 September 2014
7 December 2014
16 January 2015
Accepted 21 January 2015
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm
735
Motivating
teachers’
commitment
Transformational leadership provides an appropriate model to analyze leadership in
China. Research indicates that transformational leaders can effectively engage teachers
in change processes and help teachers to have new vision and new teaching practices.
However, few studies have been conducted in Chinese context to examine the effects of
transformational leadership on teachers’commitment to change. Thus, this paper
showcases a quantitative study that explores the effects of transformational leadership.
The theoretical framework is built on transformational school leadership theory,
teachers’commitment to change theory, and teachers’perception of transformational
leadership, which are created in the North America context. The purpose is threefold:
first, to explorethe effects of transformationalschool leadership on teachers’commitment
to change in Chinese urban upper secondary schools; second, to explore the effects of
organizational and teachers’factors on teachers’perception of transformational school
leadership; third, this study seeks to advance our understanding of transferability of
theories across cultures.
Literature review and theoretical framework
Leadership plays an important role in the school change process (Achua and Lussier,
2013; Fullan, 2007). Transformational leadership arouses organizational members’
commitment to a new vision and inspires a new way of thinking (Huang et al., 2014),
which is essential for a successful organizational change. Leaders and subordinates
help each other to enhance their morality and motivation which are essential elemen ts
of transformational leadership (Burns, 1978). Most transformational school leadership
studies in Western cultures have confirmed that changing school conditions and
motivating teachers significantly mediates the relationship between transformational
school leadership and student achievement (Blase and Blase, 2000; Blase, 1993;
Mulford, 1994; Robinson, 2007; Robinson et al., 2009).
Leithwood (2002) has pointed out that, in order to understand the school change
process and the effects of specific transformational leadership in depth, more research
is required on the effects of transformational leadership dimensions such as setting
direction, developing people, redesigning the organiza tion, and managing the
instructional program. Further, the extent to which this type of leadership can affect
teachers’commitment to change and the extent to which organizational and teachers’
factors can affect teachers’perception of transformational school leadership in the
Chinese school context is unclear. Thus, this research mainly examined the relationship
between transformational school leadership and teachers’commitment to change in the
Chinese school context. Meanwhile, the effects of organizational factors and teachers’
factors on teachers’perception of transformational leadership practices were also
explored.
Transformational leadership
Modern leadership research started in the 1940s and 1950s. Initially, traits of leaders were
the research focus. Later on, leadership situations and behaviors drew attention from
researchers as well, followed by contingent leadership research. Since p roblems in various
theories of leadership arising from this research could not be resolved, transformational
leadership research emerged to take leadership research into new stages.
The emergence of transformational leadership is crucial to generating effective change.
Transformational leadership research was initiated by Burns (1978), who believed that
this type of leadership can be seen when “leaders and subordinates advance their morality
and motivation to higher levels through helping each other.”In this process, both leaders
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