Peabody Journal of Education, Volume 87, Issue 2, 2012
School Leadership and Change in East Asia
In today’s global environment, education has become something of a measuring stick for the success of nations across the globe. But while pundits rave about rankings and comparisons, education reform has quietly begun to share ideas, in the process beginning to bridge the gap between countries of differing cultures and languages. In this edition of The Peabody Journal of Education: Issues of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations, guest editors Xiu Cravens and Philip Hallinger build on the interconnectedness of today’s world in an examination of education reform occurring across East Asia. Focusing on leadership, curriculum, and the relationships between Asia and other parts of the world, this issue provides a broad exploration of the contexts and challenges facing East Asian education reform.
The issue begins with an introductory piece by guest editors Xiu Cravens and Philip Hallinger. The article situates the changes occurring in East Asia within the context of the region’s political and social growth. Cravens and Hallinger also draw upon the recent student achievement comparisons between the United States and the rest of the world, citing the comparisons as motivators for increasing communication and collaboration across the globe. Allan Walker and Haiyan Qian next shift the discussion to China in their examination of the many difficulties the nation faces as it attempts to shift its educational paradigm. The next article, by Hongqi Chu and Xiu Cravens, focuses on the rising demand for new, energetic, and qualified Chinese school leaders. Chu and Chen examine descriptive data and then propose a framework for systemic professional development of China’s principals.
Mind-Dih Lin keeps the issue focused on principals by detailing the role of principal leadership in crafting a school environment conducive to student achievement. Lin utilizes data from 183 Taiwanese schools to examine the ways principals contribute to a healthy school culture. The next article, by James Y. C. Ko, Philip Hallinger, and Allan D. Walker, examines the educational outcomes of 39 schools located in Hong Kong. Studying the schools over a period of three years, the authors outline the factors contributing to their successes and failures. David Ng and Jeanne Ho shift the focus of the issue to Singapore in their study of Information Communication Technology (ICT) reform. Through their research, the authors discover that leadership for ICT reform is distributed across a number of categorical sectors.
The next article, authored by Dora Ho, uses early childhood education as an example to highlight the changes occurring in the decision-making processes of Hong Kong schools. Ho analyzes how Western influences are conflicting with the traditions of Hong Kong culture, and then discusses how that conflict plays out within the evolving role of school leadership. The issue then concludes with Yee Han Peter Joong’s article, which compiles teacher, student, and parent surveys to analyze whether or not the educational reforms occurring in China have been implemented effectively.
As always, the Peabody Journal of Education would like to extend its gratitude to Xiu Cravens and Philip Hallinger for organizing this excellent issue. The PJE is thankful as well to all the authors for their contributions, without which this issue on school leadership and change in East Asia would not have been possible. We hope practitioners and researchers alike will find this discussion insightful and useful.
CONTENTS
Journal abstracts are linked to titles.
School Leadership and Change in East Asia: Building Capacity for Education Reform
Xiu Chen Cravens and Philip Hallinger
Peabody Journal of Education: Issues of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations , Vol. 87, No. 2: pages 157-161.
Allan Walker and Haiyan Qian
Peabody Journal of Education: Issues of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations , Vol. 87, No. 2: pages 162-177.
Principal Professional Development in China: Challenges, Opportunities, and Strategies
Hongqi Chu and Xiu Chen Cravens
Peabody Journal of Education: Issues of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations , Vol. 87, No. 2: pages 178-199.
Mind-Dih Lin
Peabody Journal of Education: Issues of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations , Vol. 87, No. 2: pages 200-215.
Exploring School Improvement in Hong Kong Secondary Schools
James Y. C. Ko, Philip Hallinger, and Allan D. Walker
Peabody Journal of Education: Issues of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations , Vol. 87, No. 2: pages 216-234.
Distributed Leadership for ICT Reform in Singapore
David Ng and Jeanne Ho
Peabody Journal of Education: Issues of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations , Vol. 87, No. 2: pages 235-252.
The Paradox of Power in Leadership in Early Childhood Education
Dora Ho
Peabody Journal of Education: Issues of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations , Vol. 87, No. 2: pages 253-266.
Yee Han Peter Joong
Peabody Journal of Education: Issues of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations , Vol. 87, No. 2: pages 267-282.