Challenges of difference and difficulty: how do principals enact different leadership for diverse student population in a changing Chinese school context?

ABSTRACT

Little research has explored the challenges of difference and difficulty to principal leadership in changing school contexts. This paper explores two Chinese principals’ journeys to enact different leadership approaches to overcome these challenges during a time of massive education reform. Three specific questions are asked: What challenges do the principals face in diverse student populations? What leadership practices do the principals adopt to support the learning development of these students? What support do the principals need most to enact this leadership? This cross-case study, conducted in Hong Kong, finds that principal leadership that focuses on inclusion is important in efforts to overcome these challenges, with innovative and flexible interventions to ensure equality in student learning development. Despite this, they need support from every part of the school community: the school sponsoring body, the teaching team and parents. The implications of these findings for interpreting the meanings of principal leadership for inclusion are also discussed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Internal Research Grant, The Education University of Hong Kong [RG 19/2017-2018R].

Notes on contributors

Elson Szeto

Dr. Elson Szeto is the Assistant Professor, Co-Director of Centre for Special Educational Needs and Inclusive Education and Research Fellow of the Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change at the Education University of Hong Kong, HKSAR, China. His research interests include educational leadership, education policy and school improvement, and inclusive education.

Annie Y. N. Cheng

Dr. Annie Y. N. Cheng is the Assistant Professor and Research Fellow of the Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change at the Education University of Hong Kong, HKSAR, China. Her research interests include educational leadership, teacher development, and education policy.

Kenneth K. F. Sin

Professor Kenneth K. F. Sin is the Director of Centre for Special Educational Needs and Inclusive Education and Professor in the Department of Special Education and Counselling at the Education University of Hong Kong. His research interest is special educational needs, teacher professional development, and inclusive education.