motivating teachers' commitment to change by transformational school leadership in urban
TRANSCRIPT
Motivating Teachers’ Commitment to Change by Transformational School Leadership in Urban Upper Secondary
Schools of Shenyang City, China
by
Peng Liu
A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education
Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto
© Copyright by Peng Liu, 2013
II
Motivating Teachers’ Commitment to Change by Transformational School Leadership in Urban Upper Secondary Schools of Shenyang City, China
Peng Liu
Doctor of Education
Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education University of Toronto
2013
Abstract
This multi-methods research project studies the main leadership practices from the
perspectives of teachers in the recent process of curriculum reform and the extent to which these
leadership practices motivated their commitment to change. It also investigates the effects of
organizational and teachers’ factors on their perceptions of these transformational school
leadership practices in Shenyang, a northeast city of China.
The first research question explored the transformational leadership model in Chinese
school context. Key words relevant to transformational school leadership practices were
identified from teachers’ survey answers using content analysis for formulating the Chinese
transformational school leadership questionnaire. Additionally, the Chinese transformational
school leadership questionnaire was formulated using principal component analysis.
Subsequently, the organizational characteristics questionnaire, and the teachers’ commitment to
change questionnaire were validated using principal component analysis and reliability analysis
for answering remaining two research questions.
The second research question investigated the effects of organizational and teachers’
factors on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. The results of multiple
regression analysis revealed that variables like culture, strategy, environment, and teacher’s age
had significant relationships with teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership.
Culture, environment, strategy, structure, and teachers’ factors such as age and grade teacher
taught had moderate effects on different dimensions of teachers’ perception of transformational
school leadership.
The third research question examined the effects of transformational school leadership
on teachers’ commitment to change. The results of linear regression showed that the effect of
III
transformational school leadership was moderate when transformational school leadership and
teachers’ commitment to change were treated as a single variable. Four dimensions of
transformational leadership practices together explained the moderate effects on the four
dimensions of teachers’ commitment to change respectively, among which the effect of
managing the instructional program was the most prominent.
This study represents an original attempt to understand how Chinese teachers perceive
transformational school leadership, the effects of organizational and personal factors on teachers’
perception of transformational school leadership, and the effects of transformational school
leadership on teachers’ commitment to change in the Chinese urban upper secondary school
context. This research seeks to contribute to leadership development and school change
practices in the Chinese school context.
IV
Acknowledge
I wish to dedicate this thesis to my late mother whose memory was and remains the
inspiration for this thesis. Although a distinguished student in her own school, she never had the
opportunity to pursue her dream of higher education because of the vicissitudes of the Cultural
Revolution. Her early encouragement, her thoughtful support, and the ongoing blessings she has
bestowed are forever with me.
Heartfelt thanks to my father, who has also supported and encouraged my academic
aspirations over the years: your love will be cherished all my life. To my sister, Liu Kun, my
brother-in-law, Guao XiaoBo , and my two lovely nephews, Xing Han and Xin Ru: your love has
always been the best present for me.
As I and many others have discovered, the doctoral experience is a journey filled with
pressure, frustration, stress, but also much happiness. At the time when I am finalizing my thesis
efforts, I extend now my sincere appreciation to the many people who have helped me.
Thanks must first go to my supervisor, Professor Blair Mascall who has guided me
academically and supported me personally throughout my journey at the Department of
Leadership, Higher and Adult Education. Without his support and help, I could not have brought
this project to a timely conclusion. You are a great educator, and your leadership and integrity
will be the most important treasures in my academic life.
I also would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Ruth Hayhoe and Professor
Steve Anderson. Your guidance, kindness, and unfailing sincerity during this journey have been
very important to me. Professor Hayhoe’s expertise in Comparative Education has helped me to
delve more deeply into the phenomena of leadership. Professor Anderson’s profound knowledge
of educational leadership and change phenomena has similarly inspired me to explore these
themes on a deeper level. Your unconditional support will be cherished forever. Both of you are
models of great teachers. As well, thanks must go to Professor Reva Joshee, Professor Jian Ping
Shen and Professor Jane Gaskell, who agreed to be examiners on a most important day of my
life. Your thoughtful comments are really appreciated.
The work could not have been completed without supports from my dear professors at
OISE. Professor Julia Pan, Professor Susan Padro, Professor Kenneth Leithwood, Professor Jim
Ryan, Professor Nina Bascia, Professor Ben Levin, Professor Tracia Sofeit, Professor Joseph
V
Flessa, Professor Becky Chen, Professor Ruth Childs, Professor Richard Wolfe. Thank you for
your kind support during this journey.
To the staffs at LHAE – Marion, Karen,Vesna, Sylvia, Jane, Joanne, Sezen, Karen– you
know how much I esteem you.
Thanks must go to my friends at OISE: Jing Ping, David, Yong Fang, Ji’an, Na Xin, Jing
Shun, Bo Dong, Bing, Wes, Yi Hua, Safia, Harriet, Ming Zhu, Kristin, Ling Qin, Fei, and Kien
and particularly for the editing support from David and Kristin. Your friendship and support are
also important treasures in my life.
I also would like to thanks for my professors in Shenyang, Professor Liu Zhao Wei,
Professor Cui Yue Hua, Professor Zhou Run Zhi, Professor Chi Yan Jie, Professor Gao Ming
Wen, Professor Zhao Gui Zhen, Professor Cui Yu Ping. Also, I extend much gratitude to my
former professors at Catholic University Leuven, Belgium: Professor Jan Elen, Professor Jan
Van Damme, and Professor Geert Bouckaert. My success is a result of your ongoing
encouragement.
My sincere gratitude goes to all of my classmates and friends during the doctoral journey:
Mr. Pei De Li, Ms. Guan Hong, Ms. Chen Zi Tian, Ms. Meng Yan Li, Ms. Sun Nan Nan, Ms. He
Xiao Hui, Ms. Wang Huan, and Ms. Xu Dan Dan. Your friendship has been unwavering and for
this I thank you.
Thank you to all of the school administrators and dear teachers in Shenyang city.
Without your cooperation and thoughtful input, it would have been impossible for me to
complete this project.
III
Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... II Acknowledgement ................................................................................................................... IV List of Tables ......................................................................................................................... VIII List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... XI List of Appendices .................................................................................................................. XII
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH CONTEXT ...................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Statement of Problem ........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Research Context ................................................................................................................. 2 1.2.1 The Recent Basic Education Reform in China Starting in 1999 ....................................... 2 1.3 Organization of Thesis ......................................................................................................... 7
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............................... 9 2.1 The Definition of Leadership ............................................................................................... 9 2.2 Transformational Leadership ............................................................................................. 10 2.3 Transformational Leadership in China ............................................................................... 15 2.4 Culture and Transformational Leadership ......................................................................... 18 2.5 Leadership Perception ........................................................................................................ 18 2.6 Teacher Commitment ......................................................................................................... 20 2.7 Teachers’ Commitment to Change ..................................................................................... 21 2.8 The Relationship between School Leadership and Teachers’ Commitment to Change .... 23 2.9 Theoretical Framework Used in Present Study .................................................................. 26 Summary .................................................................................................................................. 28
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODOLOGY ............................................... 30 3.1 Research Objectives ........................................................................................................... 30 3.2 Research Design ................................................................................................................. 31 3.3 Sampling ............................................................................................................................ 32 3.3.1 Sampling in the First Research Stage .............................................................................. 35 3.3.1.1 Sample Characteristics in the First Stage ..................................................................... 35 3.3.2 Sampling in the Second Research Stage ......................................................................... 37 3.3.2.1 Sample Characteristics in the Second Stage ................................................................ 37 3.3.3 Sampling in the Third Research Stage ............................................................................ 39 3.3.3.1 Sample Characteristics in the Third Stage .................................................................. 39 3.4 Instruments ......................................................................................................................... 40 Summary .................................................................................................................................. 41
CHAPTER 4 FORMULATING A TRANSFORMATIONAL SCHOOL LEADERSHIP QUESTIONNAIRE ........................................................................................................................ 42
4.1 Identifying Key Words for Formulating the Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire by Content Analysis .......................................................................................... 42 4.1.1 Open Questionnaire Design ............................................................................................ 42
IV
4.1.2 Back Translation ............................................................................................................. 43 4.1.3 Pilot Study on the Open Questionnaire ........................................................................... 44 4.1.4 Distribution of the Questionnaire .................................................................................... 44 4.1.5 Response Rate in the Stage of Identifying Key Words .................................................. 44 4.1.6 Content Analysis ............................................................................................................. 45 4.1.6.1 Coding Scheme ............................................................................................................ 45 4.1.6.2 Coding Responses and Generating Questionnaire Items ............................................. 46 4.1.6.3 The Unit of Analysis .................................................................................................... 47 4.1.6.4 Validity and Reliability in Content Analysis ............................................................... 50 4.1.6.4.1 Internal Validity in Content Analysis ....................................................................... 50 4.1.6.4.2 External Validity in Content Analysis ...................................................................... 51 4.1.6.4.3 Reliability in Content Analysis ................................................................................. 51 4.1.6.4.4 Inter-Rater Reliability ............................................................................................... 51 4.2 Creating Survey Items in the Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire ........... 52 4.2.1 Survey Questionnaire Conceptual Design ...................................................................... 53 4.2.2 Designing Survey Questions ........................................................................................... 55 4.2.3 Questionnaire Organization and Format ......................................................................... 55 4.2.4 Field Testing .................................................................................................................... 57 4.2.5 Pilot Studies .................................................................................................................... 57 4.2.6 Validity and Reliability in Questionnaire Design ........................................................... 58 4.2.6.1 Validity ......................................................................................................................... 58 4.2.6.2 Reliability ..................................................................................................................... 58 4.2.7 Instruments for The Second Research Stage ................................................................... 59 4.3 Formulating the Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire Using Principal Component Analysis ................................................................................................................ 63 4.3.1 Sampling in the Second Research Stage ......................................................................... 66 4.3.2 Scale Construction .......................................................................................................... 66 4.3.3 The Process of Principal Component Analysis ............................................................... 66 4.4 Shared Transformational School Leadership Practices between Leithwood(2012) Questionnaire and Newly Formulated Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire .. 73 Summary .................................................................................................................................. 75
CHAPTER 5 VALIDATING THE ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE PROCESS SURVEY ............. 77 5.1 Sampling in the Second Research Stage ............................................................................ 77 5.2 Sample Characteristics in the Second Stage ...................................................................... 77 5.3 Instruments for the Second Research Stage ....................................................................... 79 5.4 Response Rate in the Second Stage ................................................................................... 82 5.5 The Construct Validity of the Variables in the Organization Characteristics and Teacher’ Commitment to Change Questionnaires ................................................................................. 83 5.5.1 The Construct Validity of the Variables in the Organization Characteristics Questionnaire ........................................................................................................................... 83 5.5.2 The Construct Validity of the Variables in the Teachers’ Commitment to Change Survey .................................................................................................................................................. 85 5.6 Reliability of the Organization Change Process Survey .................................................... 88 5.6.1 Reliability of the Organization Characteristics Questionnaire ........................................ 88 5.6.2 Reliability of the Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire .............................. 90 5.7 Pilot Study .......................................................................................................................... 93
V
Summary .................................................................................................................................. 93 CHAPTER 6 FACTORS AFFECTING TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION OF TRANSFORMATIONAL SCHOOL LEAERSHIP AND THEIR COMMITMENT TO CHANGE .................................................................................................................................................. 96 6.1 Statistical Power ................................................................................................................ 96 6.2 Sampling in the Third Stage ............................................................................................... 97 6.2.1 The Basic Characteristics of the Samples ....................................................................... 97 6.2.2 Response Rate in the Third Research Stage .................................................................... 99 6.3 Effects of Organizational and Teachers’ Factors on Teachers’ Perceptions of Transformational School Leadership ....................................................................................... 99 6.3.1 Transformational School Leadership as a Single Variable ........................................... 100 6.3.2 The Effects of Organizational and Teachers’ Factors on the Individual Dimensions of Teachers’ Perception of Transformational School Leadership .............................................. 102 6.3.2.1 Setting Direction as a Single Variable ....................................................................... 104 6.3.2.2 Developing People as a Single Variable .................................................................... 105 6.3.2.3 Redesigning Organization as a Single Variable ......................................................... 106 6.3.2.4 Managing the Instructional Program as a Single Variable ......................................... 107 6.4 The Relationship between Transformational School Leadership and Teachers’ Commitment to Change ......................................................................................................... 108 6.4.1 Transformational School Leadership as One Single Variable ...................................... 108 6.4.2 The Relationship between the Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership and Teachers’ Commitment to Change as a Single Variable ................................................. 109 6.4.3 The Effects of Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership on the Four Individual Dimensions of Teachers’ Commitment to Change ............................................... 111 Summary ................................................................................................................................ 118
CHAPTER 7 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION...................................................................... 121 7.1 Transformational School Leadership ............................................................................... 121 7.1.1 Transformational School Leadership in Shenyang Urban Upper Secondary Schools .. 121 7.1.2 Transformational School Leadership and Chinese Culture .......................................... 124 7.2 The Analysis of the Relationship between Organizational and Teachers’ Factors on Teachers’ Perception of Transformational School Leadership .............................................. 125 7.2.1 The Effects of Organizational and Teachers’ Factors on Teachers’ Perceptions of Transformational School Leadership as Single Variable ....................................................... 126 7.2.2 The Effects of Organizational and Teachers’ Factors on the Individual Dimensions of Teachers’ Perception of Transformational School Leadership .............................................. 126 7.2.2.1 The Analysis of the Relationship between the Dimension of Setting Direction and Organizational and Teachers’ Factors .................................................................................... 127 7.2.2.2 The Analysis of the Relationship between the Dimension of Developing People and Organizational and Teachers’ Factors .................................................................................... 127 7.2.2.3 The Analysis of the Relationship between the Dimension of Redesigning the Organization and Organizational and Teachers’ Factors ....................................................... 128 7.2.2.4 The Analysis of the Relationship between Managing the Instructional Program and Organizational and Teachers’ Factors .................................................................................... 128 7.3 The Analysis of the Relationship between Transformational School Leadership and Teachers’ Commitment to Change ......................................................................................... 129
VI
7.3.1 The Analysis of the Effect of Transformational School Leadership onTeachers’ Commitment to Change When They were Treated as a Single Variable .............................. 129 7.3.2 The Analysis of the Effects of the Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership on Teachers’ Commitment to Change as a Single Variable ................................ 129 7.3.3 The Analysis of the Relationship between Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership and Individual Dimensions of Teachers’ Commitment to Change ..................... 130 7.3.3.1 The Analysis of the Relationship between Personal Goals and Individual Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership ................................................................................. 130 7.3.3.2 The Analysis of the Relationship between Context Beliefs and Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership ..................................................................................... 131 7.3.3.3 The Analysis of the Relationship Between Capacity Beliefs and Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership ..................................................................................... 131 7.3.3.4 The Analysis of the Relationship between Dimension of Emotional Arousal and Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership ............................................................. 132 7.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 133 7.5 Significance of Study ....................................................................................................... 135 7.5.1 Leadership Practices ...................................................................................................... 135 7.5.2 Factors Affecting Teachers’ Perception of Transformational School Leadership ........ 137 7.6 Implications for Future Research and Practice ................................................................ 139 7.7 Limitation of Study .......................................................................................................... 139 Reference ................................................................................................................................ 185
VII
List of Tables Table 3.1The Overall Research Process ................................................................................... 32 Table 3.2 Sample Characteristics in the First Research Stage ................................................. 36 Table 3.3 Sample Characteristics in the Second Research Stage ............................................. 37 Table 3.4 Sample Characteristics in the Third Research Stage ............................................... 39 Table 4.1 The Characteristics of Sample Schools and the Number of Returned Questionnaires in the First Stage ....................................................................................................................... 44 Table 4.2 Coding Scheme for Leadership Practice .................................................................. 46 Table 4.3 Joint Marginal Proportions ....................................................................................... 52 Table 4.4 The Distribution of Items in the Transformational School Leadership Survey ....... 60 Table 4.5 Sample Characteristics in the Second Research Stage ............................................. 64 Table 4.6 The Characteristics of Sample Schools and the Number of Returned Questionnaires in the Second Stage .................................................................................................................. 65 Table 4.7 KMO and Bartlett's Test ......................................................................................... 66 Table 4.8 Factor Loading on Transformational Leadership Items ........................................... 68 Table 4.9 The Mean and Standard Deviation of Items in the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire ........................................................................................................................... 69 Table 4.10 Survey Items in the Formal Chinese Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire ........................................................................................................................... 71 Table 4.11 Shared Leadership Practices in the Leithwood(2012) Questionnaire and Newly Formulated Chinese Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire ............................. 72 Table 5.1 Sample Characteristics in the Second Research Stage ............................................. 78 Table 5.2 The Distribution of Items in the School Change Process Survey ............................ 80 Table 5.3 The Distribution of Items in the Teachers’ Commitment to Change Survey .......... 81 Table 5.4 The Characteristics of Sample Schools and the Number of Returned Questionnaires in the Second Stage .................................................................................................................. 82 Table 5.5 Factor Loading of Items in Organization Characteristics Survey ............................ 84 Table 5.6 Factor Loading of Items in Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire ....... 86 Table 5.7 Summary of Reliability for Factors in Organization Characteristics Questionnaire 88 Table 5.8 The Distribution of Items in the Organization Characteristics Questionnaire ......... 90 Table 5.9 Summary of Reliability for Factors in the Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire ........................................................................................................................... 91 Table 5.10 The Distribution of the Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire ........... 92 Table 6.1 Sample Characteristics in the Third Research Stage ............................................... 98 Table 6.2 The Characteristics of Sample Schools and the Number of Returned Questionnaires in the Third Stage .................................................................................................................... 99 Table 6.3 The Size of Sample Schools in the Third Stage ....................................................... 99 Table 6.4 The Means and Standard Deviation of Transformational School Leadership Item 101 Table 6.5 The Result of Standard Multiple Regression Dependent Variable: Transformational School Leadership .................................................................................................................. 102 Table 6.6 The Result of Standard Multiple Regression Dependent Variable: Setting Direction ................................................................................................................................................ 104 Table 6.7 The Result of Standard Multiple Regression Dependent Variable: Developing People ..................................................................................................................................... 105 Table 6.8 The Result of Standard Multiple Regression Dependent Variable: Redesigning Organization ........................................................................................................................... 106
VIII
Table 6.9 The Result of Standard Multiple Regression Dependent Variable: Managing Instructional Program ............................................................................................................. 107 Table 6.10 Result of Linear Regression Analysis on Dependent Variable: Teachers’ Commitment to Change ......................................................................................................... 109 Table 6.11 The Correlation Coefficients among Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership .............................................................................................................................. 110 Table 6.12 Collinearity Statistics for Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership ................................................................................................................................................ 110 Table 6.13 Result of Multiple Regression Analysis Dependent Variable: Teachers’ Commitment to Change ......................................................................................................... 111 Table 6.14 Means and Standard Deviation of Dimensions in Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire ............................................................................................................ 112 Table 6.15 Means and Standard Deviation of Dimensions in Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire ....................................................................................................... 113 Table 6.16 Result of Multiple Regression on Dependent Variable: Personal Goals ............. 113 Table 6.17 Result of Multiple Regression on Dependent Variable: Context Beliefs ............ 114 Table 6.18 Result of Multiple Regression on Dependent Variable: Capacity Beliefs ........... 114 Table 6.19 Result of Multiple Regression on Dependent Variable: Emotional Arousal ....... 115 Table 6.20 The Mean and Standard Deviation of Items in Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire ......................................................................................................................... 116 Table 7.1 A Comparison of the Dimensions of Collective Capacity with the Dimensions of Transformational Leadership ................................................................................................. 122
IX
List of Figures Figure 2.1 A Conceptual Framework of the Relationship between Teachers’ Perceptions of Principal’s Transformational School Leadership and Teachers’ Commitment to Change ...... 26 Figure 4.1 Frequency of the Words in Setting Direction Dimension ...................................... 48 Figure 4.2 Frequency of the Words in Developing People Dimension ................................... 48 Figure 4.3 Frequency of the Words in Redesigning Organization Dimension ........................ 49 Figure 4.4 Frequency of the Words in Managing Instructional Program Dimension ............. 49 Figure 4.5 Frequency of the Words Relevant to Transactional Leadership ............................. 50 Figure 4.6 The Development of the Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire .... 54
X
List of Appendices Appendix-1 Open Questionnaire ........................................................................................... 142 Appendix-2 Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire for Stage 2 ...................... 150 Appendix-3 Change Process in Uppper Secondary Schools ................................................. 153 Appendix-4 Chinese Transformational Leadership Questionnaire and Organization Change Process in Upper Secondary School Questionnaire for Stage 2 ............................................ 157 Appendix-5 Formal Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire and Change Process in Upper Secondary School Questionnaire ............................................................................ 164 Appendix-6 Formal Chinese Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire and Change Process in Upper Secondary School Questionnaire ............................................................... 171 Appendix-7 The Reliability Analysis of the Culture Dimension ......................................... 177 Appendix-8 The Reliability Analysis of the Strategy Dimension ....................................... 178 Appendix-9 The Reliability Analysis of the Structure Dimension ...................................... 179 Appendix-10 The Reliability Analysis of the Environment Dimension ................................ 180 Appendix-11 The Reliability Analysis of the Personal Goals Dimension ............................. 181 Appendix-12 The Reliability Analysis of the Capacity Beliefs Dimension .......................... 182 Appendix-11 The Reliability Analysis of the Context Beliefs Dimension ............................ 183 Appendix-12 The Reliability Analysis of the Emotional Arousal Dimension ...................... 184
1
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH CONTEXT
1. 1 Introduction
1.1.1 Statement of Problem
Leadership is one important force in the school change process (Fullan, 1982). Burns
(1978) regarded transformational leadership as a process by which "leaders and followers raise
one another to higher levels of morality and motivation" (p. 20). The emergence of
transformational school leadership addresses the recent trend of interest in school change theory
(Leithwood, 1994; Hallinger, 2003). However, Robinson (2007) has stated further that the effects
of transformational leadership are mixed, suggesting that in some contexts transformational school
leadership is not that effective. The literature in this area reveals that most research on
transformational school leadership has been carried out in an individualistic cultural context.
Hallinger (1996) and Leithwood and Duke (1998) have called for more cross-cultural leadership
research should be encouraged in this connection. Therefore, more research on transformational
leadership is required to explore this phenomenon in depth, particularly in the change context of
Chinese urban upper secondary schools. The purpose of this present research then will be to meet
this need.
How to involve and engage teachers in the change process has been the focus of
researchers and practitioners because the success of educational reform relies on the magnitude
and the quality of the efforts teachers make. As Anderson (2009) has stated, school improvement
and change cannot be achieved only through the implementation of new policies, organizational
structures, or teaching practices, which implies that engaging and motivating teachers in the
school change process is crucial. Transformational school leadership can motivate and engage
teachers in this process.
Leithwood (2002) has pointed out that, in order to understand the school change process
and the effects of transformational leadership in depth, more research is required on the effects of
transformational leadership dimensions including setting direction, developing people, redesigning
the organization, and managing the instructional program. This is especially true with regard to
teacher commitment and extra effort in the school change process. This statement is very
meaningful for school reform in China. In the change context of Chinese upper secondary schools,
2
there still exists a dilemma between teaching in order to succeed in the national college entrance
exams, on the one hand, teaching in order to improve in the comprehensive competency of
students, on the other. This dilemma continues even though in the last three decades the goal of
curriculum reforms in upper secondary schools has been to foster the latter. As a leadership model,
transformational leadership can effectively engage and motivate teachers to change in some
contexts. It is expected that transformational school leadership can be effective in Chinese urban
upper secondary schools. However, the extent to which this type of leadership can affect teachers’
commitment to change is unclear. Thus, a second important purpose of this research is to explore
the effect of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change in urban upper
secondary schools in China in order to understand this leadership in depth.
In sum, the three main focuses of this research are the following: first, to explore the
transformational school leadership model in Chinese urban upper secondary schools; second, to
investigate the effects of organizational and teacher factors on teacher perception of
transformational school leadership; third, to examine the relationship between transformational
school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change in the Chinese school context.
1.2 Research Context
1.2.1 The Recent Basic Education Reform in China Starting in 1999
The educational system in China is divided into three levels: national, provincial and
municipal. Basic education (including primary school, primary secondary school, and upper
secondary school) is primarily the responsibility of the provincial and municipal levels of
government. The National Ministry of Education is responsible for formulating acts and policies,
distributing the funding for under-developed areas and minority areas, and supervising the work at
the local level. Compulsory education in China includes primary school (Grades 1-6) and lower
secondary schools (Grades 7-9). It is noteworthy, however, that upper secondary school (Grades
10-12) is not part of compulsory education.
The main responsibilities of the provincial government are as follows: the implementation
of basic education; the formulation of long-term development plans and teaching plans for basic
education; the evaluation of local basic education; setting up the subsidies for under-developed
regions. County governments are responsible for the funding and training of school principals and
3
the guidance of teaching activities in basic education. At the township level, the educational
bureau is mainly responsible for compulsory education.
The focus of school reform has shifted from elementary to high schools in the West
(Leithwood, Jantzi, & Steinbach, 1999), and it is the same in the Chinese context. Upper
secondary school was chosen as the research context because of the significance of high school in
helping students to be part of mainstream society (Carony, Elmore, & Siskin, 2003), in particular
in the Chinese context.
Upper secondary schools in China have the important responsibility of preparing students
for the National College Entrance Examination organized yearly by the National Ministry of
Education. The National College Entrance Examination(NCEE) in China is an important tool for
social mobility and the enrollment of new students in higher education institutions
(Barendsen,1979; Feng,1994; Zheng,2008). Therefore, ensuring that students are successful in the
National College Entrance Examination is an important area in which urban upper secondary
schools are accountable to the government and society. Since parents generally regard the
National College Entrance Exam as an important channel for social mobility, there is high
expectation that student should have good marks in this high stake exam have been put on urban
upper secondary schools. As a result, teaching in urban upper secondary schools is highly
influenced by the National College Entrance Exam (Liu & Wu, 2006). However, influenced by
global education reforms and intense international competition, the Chinese government has
initiated several curriculum reforms with the aim of implementing quality education in urban
upper secondary schools (Dello-Iacovo, 2009). This has caused a serious dilemma for upper
secondary schools, namely, whether these schools should focus on realizing quality education or
solely on preparing students for the national exam.
There have been seven curriculum reforms since the People’s Republic of China was
founded in 1949, with the most recent reform starting in 1999 (Feng,2006;Wang,2012). Aiming to
promote the smooth implementation of curriculum reform, the National Ministry of Education has
issued a series of decrees regarding a shift from exam-oriented education to quality education. The
latest curriculum reform in China started in 2001 at the national level. It was undertaken due to
many internal and external factors in the Chinese education system. Peng (2006) has summarized
these in the following ways:
4
1. to prepare students for the challenges arising from rapid changes in the world, such as
new technology and the knowledge economy. Students are required to have strong learning
abilities in areas such as information collection and processing to keep up with the tremendous
changes in the global village.
2. to make students aware of the challenges of limited natural resources, pollution,
explosive populations, drugs, and other important concerns, teaching strong humanist values, a
sense of globalization, and the value of morality;
3. to promote the comprehensive learning ability of all students, including character
education, by means of a comprehensive curriculum as evidenced in educational reforms in many
other countries around the world.
Furthermore, Peng (2006) has stated the reasons for undertaking curriculum reform of the
Chinese basic education system. He believes there are still some problems in this system, although
there have been great achievements in past curriculum reform. Specifically, Peng (2006) has stated
that, in term of the values of education, the current objectives of education cannot respond to the
changes of the dynamic society; moral education lacks practical effects; the curriculum structure is
simple, and the subject system is relatively closed, for example, the knowledge in the curriculum
is either isolated from other subjects, or lacks practical application to other fields, or has
insufficient connection with people’s lives. Further, the evaluation system focuses only on
students' marks and preparation for the National College Entrance Exam. All these factors
contributed to undertaking curriculum reform at the national level in 2001.
In 2001, the National Council issued a document called “The Decision on the Reform of
Basic Education and Development”. This document emphasizes the significant role of basic
education in the nation's development. It promotes the implementation of quality education across
the nation with four core points: actively promoting the curriculum reform; improving moral
education; reforming the system of educational evaluation; strengthening the development of high
quality teachers. In this outline, curriculum reform is the primary task. On the basis of the general
principles for implementing quality education, the main task of this curriculum reform is to build
up an excellent curriculum system that is oriented toward fostering the independent learning
capability of students. This curriculum reform covers all the knowledge subjects in the Chinese
upper secondary schools.
5
Due to the huge geographical size and student population of China, the national Ministry
of Education adopted an incremental strategy to implement the curriculum reform aiming to
improve the comprehensive learning ability of Chinese high school students and their ability to
cope with a dynamic global society. Peng (2006) has identified the following four stages:
1. In 2001, the Ministry of Education started to formulate new curriculum standards for
the high schools. In 2003, the Ministry of Education issued the draft curriculum
reform plan and curriculum standards for 15 subjects.
2. In 2004, new curriculum was experimentally implemented in four provinces including
Guangdong, Shandong, Ningxia, and Hainan. This was the experimental stage for the
curriculum reform.
3. In 2005, Fujian and Jiangsu provinces were included in the experimental stage. This
was the starting point for the comprehensive implementation of the curriculum
reform.
4. In 2007, all upper secondary school students in China started to receive their
education using the new curriculum. The total upper secondary student population in
2007 was 25 million, and the student population in lower secondary school was 57
million (MOE, 2007).
The implementation of curriculum reform in Shenyang city, of particular importance to
this present research, began in 2006. The Educational Bureau of Shenyang city and Liaoning
province promulgated the following basic principles for curriculum reform with curricular
structure being the focus. The upper secondary school curriculum will be divided into three levels
(a) fields of study, (b) disciplinary subjects and (c) modules.
1. Fields of Study: The fields of study in the upper secondary school curriculum include
language and literature, mathematics, humanities and social science, science, technology, art,
sports and health, and integrated practice, for a total of eight fields of study.
2. Subjects: A total of eight learning areas are included in the reformed curriculum. They
are language, mathematics, foreign languages (English, Japanese, Russian), political thoughts (Si
Xiang Zheng Zhi Ke), history, geography, physics, chemistry, biology, music and art, sports and
health, technology and another 12 (or 13) subjects. Art and music are optional for schools; each
school can choose to offer either or neither. Qualified schools are encouraged to set up two or
more foreign language programs.
6
3. Module: Each subject is divided into a number of modules. Modules are independent of
one another, but their content reflects the logical progression of the subject. Each module has well-
defined educational goals and focuses on specific content, integrates student experience with
relevant content, and constitutes a complete learning unit. Each module as well provides
instructional suggestions for teachers and ways of ensuring students' learning.
The following principles have been identified as important in the curriculum change
process:
1. The teaching content is designed for life-long learning.
2. The curriculum structure is directed toward the comprehensive development of students
and the diverse needs of society.
3. In the process of instruction, it is helpful to build up the learning environment to
promote student learning and improve the students' communication and analytical abilities.
4. Building up a developmental evaluation system and changing internal evaluation are the
main elements of the evaluation change.
5. In the management of curriculum, granting autonomy of curriculum management is the
precondition for providing help to schools and students.
On the basis of the description of the curriculum reform, it can be concluded that the main
task for teachers in the curriculum reform is to adopt new ways of teaching which focus on
fostering the comprehensive learning ability of students instead of narrowly centering on student
achievement on the National College Entrance Exam(NCEE). Teachers are required to use
different curriculum materials, subject contents, and teaching methods (Lee & Yin, 2011).
Regarding teaching methodology, teachers have to change from ‘spoon-feeding’ teaching to
heuristic teaching that aims to foster the comprehensive ability of students. This requires teachers
to adopt more diverse teaching methods than before.
In keeping with the main purpose of this study, which is to explore the school leadership
practices in the Chinese school context, the role of school principals, the appointment of school
principals, and the basic approach of school principals are briefly introduced.
Based on the empirical data, Washington (1991) concluded that the role of the school
principal in China is as follows:
(1) Organization and supervision of teachers;
(2) Implementation of the curriculum and government policies;
7
(3) General administration (attendance reports, scheduling, etc.);
(4) Budgeting and funding matters (p.4).
As for the selection of school principals, the Chinese government has formulated policies
to formalize their appointment process (MOE, 2010). For example, the school principals are
required to have a minimum teaching and education work experience, and they should have
appropriate political values, etc. However, due to the characteristics of the Chinese administrative
system, the officers in the educational bureau are also regarded as educators so their administrative
work experience in the educational bureau is counted as educational work experience. Regarding
the training of school principals, the Chinese government has established a system to give pre-
service training to newly appointed school principal for several months. Compared with the
graduate and certificate program in the United States, the training system still needs to be
improved in terms of its length and content (Su, Gamage,& Mininberg, 2003).
In terms of the approach of the Chinese school leadership in a hierarchical system, the
literature is not consistent. Tung(2002) has stated that Leadership in China has been characterized
as patriarchal (as cited in Lee & Pang, 2011, p.332). However, Lee and Pang (2011) have stated
further that it is better to study the specific context when the leadership research is conducted in
the Chinese context since leadership practices could be adjusted according to the situation.
1.3 Organization of Thesis
This thesis is organized into seven chapters. The first chapter gives an overview of the
research statement and sets up the research context. It consists of three research questions:
1. What are the main school leadership practices enacted by principals in the urban upper
secondary schools of Shenyang City, China in the curriculum reform?
2. What is the contribution of selected teachers’ and organizational variables to teachers’
perception of principals’ school leadership practices?
3. To what extent can school leadership practices in the urban upper secondary schools of
Shenyang City explain the variation in teachers’ commitment to change in the curriculum
reform?
The literature review in Chapter 2 leads to the conceptual framework of this study,
covering the important topics of the definition of leadership, transformational school leadership,
perception of transformational school leadership, teacher commitment and teachers’ commitment
8
to change. Chapter 3 details the research objective, sampling, and sample characteristics in the
three phases of research. Chapter 4 proposes to answer research question 1. Chapter 5 presents the
process used to validate the organizational change process survey. This survey consisted of two
questionnaires: an organizational characteristics questionnaire and teachers’ commitment to
change questionnaire. These two questionnaires were analyzed using principal component
analysis. Chapter 6 explores two relationships. First, it discusses the relationship between teachers’
perceived transformational school leadership practices and teachers’ commitment to change.
Second, it investigates the relationship between organizational and teachers’ factors and teachers’
perceived transformational school leadership practices. Chapter 6 thus seeks to answer research
questions 2 and 3 above. In order to understand the relevant relationships in depth, the dimensions
in these three variables including transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to
change were treated as individual variables respectively. In Chapter 7, the findings for the three
research questions are discussed in detail, and conclusions are drawn based on the findings. Future
research directions and implications along with study limitations are also discussed.
9
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This literature review consists of nine sub-sections. These are 2.1 Defining leadership, 2.2
Defining transformational leadership, 2.3 Transformational leadership in China, 2.4 Culture and
transformational leadership, 2.5 Leadership perception, 2.6 Teacher commitment, 2.7 Teacher’s
commitment to change, 2.8 The relationship between school leadership and teachers’ commitment
to change, and 2.9 Conceptual framework.
2.1 The Definition of Leadership
Leadership has been defined on the basis of traits, behavior, influence over other people,
interaction patterns, role relationships, occupying an administrative position, and legitimacy of
influence as perceived by others (Yukl, 1989). Northouse (2007) has stated that the definition of
leadership includes four core components: leadership is a process; leadership involves influence;
leadership occurs in a group context; leadership involves goal attainment. As well, Levin (2008)
has stated that leadership is not a characteristic of individuals, but rather is a group phenomenon
related to the interaction of organizational members. The common assumption in these definitions
is that leadership is a group phenomenon embodied in the interaction between two or more people
(Janda, 1960). Yukl (1989) argued further that: "Most definitions of leadership reflect the
assumption that it involves a social influence process whereby intentional influence is exerted by
one person [or group] over other people [or groups] to structure the activities and relationships in a
group or organization"(p.3). Influence, then, seems to be a necessary part of most conceptions of
leadership. On the basis of a comprehensive review, Leithwood et al.(1999) stated that “most of
the variation in leadership concepts, types or models can be accounted for by differences in who
exerts influence, the nature of that influence, the purpose for the exercise of influence and its
outcomes"(p.17). In this thesis, the basic assumption is that leadership is an influence process
which directs people to reach certain organizational goals.
10
2.2 Transformational Leadership Transformational leadership is important in the change context. The main criterion that
differentiates different leadership models is the concept of influence, including the source of
influence, who exerts influence, the purpose of influence, and the outcomes of influence
(Leithwood et al., 1999). For example, the following are the outcomes of influence in various
leadership models (Leithwood et al., 1999):
i. increased capacity of the organization to improve continuously
(transformational leadership);
ii. increased student growth (instructional leadership);
iii. morally justified courses of action, and democratic schools (moral
leadership);
iv. increased capacity of the organization to respond productively to internal
and external demands for change, and a more democratic organization
(participative leadership);
v. achievement of the formal goals of the organization (managerial
leadership);
vi. achievement of the formal goals of the organization and increased capacity
of the organization to respond productively to internal and external
demands for change (contingent leadership).
Transformational leadership is important in the school change context since it requires
people to have a new vision and to be encouraged to explore new issues in the organization
(Mascall, 2003, 2007). One of the purposes of this study is to investigate this statement regarding
the emergence of transformational school leadership. Another reason for adopting the
transformational leadership model is that this model has the potential to raise the heights of
people’s commitment and performance (Sergiovani, 1990).
In the Chinese context, the curriculum reform that started in 2006 requires teachers to
adopt new ways of teaching and to develop new views on student learning. This is an underlying
reason why the present research assumes that transformational school leadership will emerge in
this curriculum change process.
11
In the process of realizing transformation, leaders and subordinates advance their morality
and motivation to higher levels through helping each other (Burns, 1978). In this process, both
leaders and subordinates realize the transformation. Building on Burns' theory, Bass (1998) stated
that transformational leadership is significant when an organization faces challenges and difficult
situations, in particular crisis situations, and at a time when changes are most needed, which is the
underlying reason for leaders to be transformational. In the school context, Leithwood, Louis,
Anderson,and Wahlstrom (2004) and Sun (2010) have stated that these leadership practices have
small but significant effects on student learning across the spectrum of schools. Transformational
leadership when effectively enacted has considerable influence on followers. Burns (1978) stated
that a person who can be called a transformational leader has the following characteristics: first,
this person can increase the followers’ level of awareness about the value of the work in which
they are engaged; this person can transfer the followers’ self-interest to the goals of the team and
the organization; this person can improve the followers’ need for higher levels of accomplishment
and self-actualization. Bass (2008) contended that transformational leaders point out common
interests with followers. Transformational leaders transform and engage individuals, groups,
organizations, and societies by using moral leadership. Under the support and guidance of a
transformational leader, the followers’ values, attitudes and motivation shift to a higher level of
arousal and maturity (Bass, 1985). As well, transformational leadership leads to the extra effort
required for significant change (Yukl, 1989).
Although the concept is criticized for excessively relying on the transformational leader,
these criticisms leave out the fact that the individual follower and the organization can sustainably
develop themselves because their capacity has been improved through the transformational
process. Transformational leadership has been criticized for lacking a morality dimension, but the
leadership process itself is the way to realize morality. Bass (2008) stated that the transformational
leader asks followers to go beyond their own self-development and focus on long term goal of
organization; and to pay more attention to what is really important. Hence, followers are converted
into leaders. In addition, Bennis and Nanus (1985) claimed that transformational leaders give rise
to changes in direction, efficiency and perceptions through engaging with others.
Transactional leadership is a kind of leadership based on the exchange of service for a
variety of rewards (salary, recognition, and intrinsic rewards) (Leithwood, 1992, 1994;
Leithwood& Duke, 1999; Bush, Coleman& Si, 1998). From Bass’ (1985) point of view,
12
transactional leadership and transformational leadership are complementary. The research
regarding the relationship between transformational leadership and transactional leadership centers
on the cause of leadership effect endurance and the compatibility of these two leadership models.
Downton (1973) first differentiated between transformational leadership and transactional
leadership. Downton (1973) pointed out that a transactional relationship between leader and
subordinate is a process for maximizing their respective profits; in his analysis, charisma, which
was later treated as an important component of transformational leadership by other researchers,
was seen as an affective relationship through which the leader and/or follower exchange intangible
goods in an attempt to minimize or resolve basic conflicts within the personality. Burns (1978)
also discussed these concepts. In Burns’ definition, the effect of transactional leadership cannot be
everlasting because the basis of its motivation is the exchange of profit. Nevertheless, Bass
emphasized that these two types of leadership can be complementary. Leithwood (1994) agreed
with Bass (1985) that transactional leadership and transformational leadership can be
complementary instead of contradictory. Transactional leadership is generally sufficient to
maintain the status quo, but transformational leadership stimulates change and innovation
(Leithwood & Duke, 1999).
Transformational leadership has been introduced to the educational field by researchers
who have endeavored to bring about school change and improvement. On the basis of the work of
Burns (1978) and Bass (1985, 1998), Leithwood and his colleagues first initiated the research on
transformational leadership in education (Geijsel, Sleegers, Leithwood,& Jantzi, 2003).
Leithwood, Begley and Cousins (1994) defined transformational leadership in this way:
We consider the central purpose of transformational leadership to be the enhancement of the individual and collective problem-solving capacities of organizational members; such capacities are exercised in the identification of goals to be achieved and practices to be used in their achievement. (p. 7)
In the educational field, the establishment of the capacity of an organization and its
members is the focal point of transformational leadership research. Leithwood (1994) and
Leithwood et al.(1999) believe that transformational leadership should be the focus of the second
wave of school reform, in which the building of individual and school capacity is crucial. In the
first wave of reform, installation of technology into schools is the primary goal. The main aim of
transformational leadership in the school change process is to build up individual and school
capacity for school change. In this process, not only the people who are in formal leadership
13
positions but also others in the organization can lead by promoting the commitment of
organizational members, which is the source of leadership (Leithwood et al., 1999). Improving
individual and organizational capacity is an important task for transformational leadership,
through which the power of the transformational leader is embodied. In the opinion of Leithwood,
motivating people and building up the capacity of people are what make transformational
leadership effective, as it is not only top-down but also bottom-up (Hallinger, 2003).
The power of transformational leaders lies in the relationship between them and their
followers. Leithwood (1992) believes power that is consensual and facilitative in transformational
leadership and is embodied through people instead of over people. People are integrated in a
common purpose that is best for everyone. The collective purpose of the organization is not
stressed by the transactional leader (Goens & Clover, 1991).
Bass (1985) and Bass and Avolio(1994) described transformational leaders as tending to
use:
Idealized influence: acting as role models; demonstrating high standards of ethical conduct; being admired, respected and trusted by their followers; avoiding the application of power.
Inspirational motivation: inspiring and motivating people through providing meaning and challenge to their followers’ work; communicating expectations to followers and demonstrating commitment to goals and the shared vision.
Intellectual stimulation: framing and reframing problems; questioning assumptions; stimulating followers and peers to creative thinking and innovation.
Individual consideration: showing concern for the well-being of each person they work with; treating each as an individual with unique needs and capabilities; placing a considerable amount of attention on the development of each person to his or her full potential.
Based on the empirical studies and theories of Bass and Burns, Leithwood et al.(1999)
identified three dimensions of transformational school leadership practice: setting directions,
developing people, and redesigning the organization. These three dimensions of practice and the
later added dimension of ‘managing the instructional program’ are also called ‘successful
leadership’ by the authors based on their meta-analysis and synthesis of existing literature
(Leithwood, Day, Sammons, Harris, &Hopkins, 2006).
Leithwood et al. (1999) and Mascall (2003) noted that 'setting directions' includes building
a school vision, establishing school goals, and creating high performance expectations. These
three dimensions are of critical importance for the transformational leader, because it is through
14
the practice of these tasks that the leader is most clearly transformational. Developing people is
another dimension of transformational school leadership. Leithwood et al.(1999) contended that
'developing people' mainly focuses on building capacity among teachers, which can be
conceptualized as three core leadership practices: providing individualized support; creating
intellectual stimulation; and modeling best practices and organizational values. Redesigning the
organization, the third dimension of the transformational school leadership model, encompasses
the following three core leadership practices: developing a collaborative school culture, creating
structures to foster participation in school decisions, and creating productive community
relationships (Leithwood et al., 1999).
Leithwood and Jantzi (2005) added a fourth dimension, 'managing the instructional
program', to the transformational school leadership model. This dimension includes leadership
practices like establishing effective staffing practices, providing instructional support, monitoring
school activities, and buffering staff from excessive and distracting external demands. Leithwood
and Jantzi (2006) stated that 'managing the instructional program' combines the assumptions of
instructional leadership and transformational leadership. In a study of the relationship between
school leadership and student outcomes, Robinson (2009) has stated that instructional leadership
includes the following practices: establishing goals and expectations; resourcing (thinking)
strategically; planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching and the curriculum; promoting and
participating in teacher learning and development; and ensuring an orderly and supportive
environment. Regarding the effect of instructional leadership, Robinson (2007, 2009) believes that
instructional leadership is more effective than transformational leadership based on the empirical
evidence in terms of student achievement. Sun (2010) also has stated that transformational school
leadership has small but significant positive effects on student achievement. Robinson (2009)
further has explained that it is reasonable to integrate transformational leadership and instructional
leadership since there is a tendency for transformational leadership and instructional leadership to
incorporate elements from each other. For example, relationship elements, such as setting up goals
in transformational leadership, become more important to instructional leadership, and
instructional issues in instructional leadership are increasingly important to transformational
leadership.
In this thesis, the definition of transformational leadership in the article of Leithwood,
Begley and Cousins (1994) was adopted, which is “transformational leadership is the leadership that
15
enhances the individual and collective problem-solving capacities of organizational members; such
capacities are exercised in the identification of goals to be achieved and practices to be used in their
achievement”(p.8).
2.3 Transformational Leadership in China
Bass’s transformational leadership model was introduced to China more than 10 years ago.
Most of the research studies on the topic of transformational leadership have been conducted in
business, management, and the health industry. In recent years, transformational leadership has
become one of the research focuses of school leadership research in China. In the Chinese
business field, research studies on transformational leadership mainly have centered on the
following fields:
i. the function of transformational leadership in the organizational commitment of
employees (Chen,Jia,Li,Song,&Zhang,2006; Yu & Li, 2009);
ii. the relationships among transformational leadership, organizational citizenship, and
team effectiveness (Geng,Shi,&Zhang,2009).
iii. the relationship between transformational leadership and the mentality of employees
(Li,Tian,&Shi,2006);
iv. the relationship between transformational leadership, organizational effectiveness, and working attitude (Wang, Gao, &Wang., 2006).
In addition to the empirical research described above, another strand of transformational
leadership research in China has centered on the theoretical differences between transformational
leadership and transactional leadership (Li & Guan, 2007; Wang, 2008; Yang & Ma, 2009) and
the differences between paternal leadership and transformational leadership (Li, Meng &
Shi,2007; Wu, Huang, Xu,Yan, &Shi,2007). Additionally, some researchers have tried to explore
the compatibility of transformational leadership with different fields, such as health (Guan & Yu,
2004; Wu & Liao, 2008). These research studies have mostly been based on Bass’s
transformational leadership theory.
The topics included in leadership research in the Chinese school context overlap with most
of the research topics of transformational leadership. They include the following: how to build
community with teachers and parents, how to change the school culture, how to motivate teachers
to be part of the change process, presenting a vision to the school community, and being role
16
models in the change process. However, the transformational leadership model is not clearly
defined in most Chinese research studies on leadership in schools.
These research studies have demonstrated that building community, changing the culture,
being role models and other leadership practices are effective in the school management and
change context. The overlap between identified leadership practices in general leadership research
and the main dimensions of transformational leadership theory implies that transformational
leadership can be an effective model in the Chinese school context.
In addition, several transformational leadership studies in the Chinese school context have
shown that this model can be effective and compatible with the Chinese educational context.
These studies have focused on the relationships between transformational leadership and
leadership effectiveness, and transformational leadership and teachers’ satisfaction, in a secondary
school context. The main characteristics of these research studies are described below.
The theoretical basis of transformational leadership in these studies is Bass's theory. The
methodologies are mainly quantitative. The transformational leadership dimensions identified in
one study are as follows: giving support or motivation, charismatic leadership, intellectual
stimulation, and individual consideration (Cao, 2007). The research revealed that:
1. Transformational leadership and teacher organizational commitment are significantly
correlated;
2. Each dimension of the transformational leadership model in this research can predict a teacher’s
organizational commitment effectively, and they can collectively predict 33.5% of the variance of
organizational commitment.
Transformational leadership dimensions, the focus of another area of empirical research,
include moral modeling, vision motivation, charismatic leadership, individual stimulation, and
promoting cooperation (Tian, 2005). Tian found a significant positive relationship between
transformational leadership and teachers’ job satisfaction, and a correlation between
transformational leadership and intrinsic satisfaction which was stronger than the relationship
between transformational leadership and extrinsic satisfaction. For Mohrman, Cooke, Mohrman,
Duncan, and Zaltman (1977), intrinsic satisfaction refers to the satisfaction coming from the work
or the job itself, and extrinsic satisfaction means satisfaction originating from the context or
situation where respondent executes the job. When the combination of transformational leadership
and teacher-related factors was examined, transformational leadership practices greatly predicted
17
variables of teacher emotion. For example, providing support or motivating significantly predicted
a teachers’ job satisfaction and cooperation significantly predicted organizational commitment.
Wang (2009) conducted another study in which he looked at the relationship between
transformational leadership and teachers’ job satisfaction, transformational leadership embraced
moral modeling, being visionary, charisma, and individual consideration. Wang found that
transformational leadership styles were perceived significantly differently by teachers of different
genders. The study also revealed that:
1. Transformational leadership and teachers’ job satisfaction are significantly correlated.
2. Four dimensions of transformational leadership can predict teachers’ job satisfaction.
A total of 44.6% of the variance in teacher job satisfaction can be explained by these four
leadership dimensions.
The findings of these most recent studies show that transformational leadership can
effectively affect teacher’s organizational commitment, teachers’ job satisfaction, and other
variables of teacher emotion. For instance, in Cao's (2007) and Wang's (2009) research,
transformational leadership accounted for 33.5% and 44% of the changes in dependent variables.
Furthermore, in Chin's (2007) meta-analysis of transformational leadership's effects, based on 28
studies in Taiwan and the USA, transformational leadership was shown to have a positive effect
on variables of teacher emotion. This corroborates the meta-analysis result of Sun (2010), which
was that transformational school leadership practices have moderately strong and positive effects
on individual teachers’ internal states and collective teachers’ internal states.
However, these studies further inform us that not enough Chinese transformational
leadership research has been done on school-related characteristics, for example, the dimension of
managing the instructional program. All authors have simply applied Bass’s transformational
leadership model, which has been relatively effective in business and industry in China, directly to
the Chinese school context. Therefore, one of the important aims of this research is to explore and
validate the transformational school leadership model in the Chinese school context. These studies
enrich the research on the perception of transformational leadership in terms of gender; however,
other important teacher factors, such as the length of service of the teacher, have not been
examined. Therefore, it is meaningful to explore the functions of these factors in this study. In the
Chinese education system, teachers are granted professional titles mainly based on their years of
18
work experience, highest academic degree, and teaching achievement. Teachers’ professional
titles are important in education research in the Chinese context.
2.4 Culture and Transformational Leadership
House, Wright, and Aditya (1997) stated that leadership in North America has significant
assumptions such as individualism, self-satisfaction, and an emphasis on rationality and
tradition(as cited in Singh,2007,p.220). However, Hofstede (2001) and Dehartog et al. (1999) have
suggested that these assumptions are not universal to all cultures. Therefore, it is meaningful to
explore the leadership practices that are effective in a specific cultural context. Singh (2007)
stated, “Many leadership characteristics are universally endorsed, whereas many others are culture
bound. The implementation of both types of characteristics also varies across cultures”(p.222). Li
and Shi(2008) confirmed that there are unique dimensions of leadership in China although there
are many other dimensions which are shared with the West. On the basis of the transformational
leadership theory of Bass (1985, 1995), Li and Shi (2008) identified four dimensions of
transformational leadership in the Chinese corporate context, including 'moral modeling',
'articulating vision', 'charisma', and 'individual consideration'. However, so far, there is no
transformational school leadership model that is adaptable to the Chinese educational context. As
Leithwood and Duke (1998) have pointed out, understanding how people in certain cultures
perceive leadership is the crucial starting point to carrying out a cross-cultural leadership study.
Therefore, in this research, the transformational school leadership model has been redefined in the
Chinese context on the basis of Leithwood’s (1999, 2006) transformational school leadership
framework. Furthermore, as Dickson, Den Hartog, and Mitchelson (2003) pointed out, most cross-
cultural research tends to identify aspects of leadership and leadership theory as universal (etic) or
culturally contingent (emic). In particular, the influence of Confucian thought on leadership
thought is explored in this study. The reason for this is that Confucian thought, as the dominant
philosophy in Chinese society, has been influencing Chinese education and scholars for thousands
of years (Hayhoe, 1999; Hayhoe, 2006; Wong, 2001).
2.5 Leadership Perception
Leadership is a socially constructed process, which means people’s perception of
leadership is influenced by social factors. The assumption of leadership as an influence process is
19
the core theoretical precondition for most leadership perception research (Jantzi & Leithwood,
1996). Lord and Macher (1993) and Greenfield (1995) all believe that consent to be led is crucial
to realizing the influence of leadership. Greenfield (1995) stated that the most influential basis for
the exercise of normative influence is in qualities that others attach to a leader; that is, a leader can
influence others by relying on personal qualities only to the extent that others consent to be
influenced on that basis. Levinson believe that the critical idea here is leadership-as-consent (cited
in Greenfield, 1995, p.75). Greenfield (1995) further said: “Consent is temporary, it must be
earned, and it can be both given to and taken away from leaders by others. Influence through the
exercise of personal qualities is leadership-by-consent” (p.75).
Lord and Maher (1993) developed a cognitive-attribution approach that explains the link
between the perceptual processes of leadership and performance. Two processes, the recognition-
based process and the inference-based process, are identified as explaining the information
processing that takes place in people’s minds. In the recognition-based process, people are
inclined to treat someone who demonstrates certain characteristics (traits and behaviors) as a
leader. These traits and behaviors already exist in their long-term memory. The degree of match
between observed and stored traits and behaviors affects the follower’s perception of the other
person as a leader (Jantzi & Leithwood,1996). As well, Mischel (1979) explained this process as
long-term memory being the basis of a prototype for assessing a leader, which is inspired by the
environment.
The inference process starts from the evaluation, by followers, of the outcome of events
relevant to potential leaders (Jantzi & Leithwood, 1996). Binning, Zaba and Whattam (1996)
stated that the performance of a group is the important source of information in this process.
Meanwhile, the leader plays an important role in achieving the group goal or improving group
performance (Jantzi & Leithwood, 1996). The failure or success of the organization either
reinforces or reduces the strength of the people’s perception of leadership (Lord & Maher, 1993;
Rush, Philips,& Lord, 1981). Compared with the recognition process, the inference process may
be more automatic or controllable (Jantzi & Leithwood, 1996)
Jantzi and Leithwood(1996) stated that the recognition and inference processes are
complementary in certain situations, and happen in cycles. For instance, the interaction among the
inference process, the cultural context, and the specific school context contributes to the formation
20
of people’s initial leadership knowledge structures or prototypes. The initial leadership perception
can be changed in the inference process on the basis of the work of the leader.
According to the information processing theory of Lord and Maher (1993), Jantzi and
Leithwood(1996) and Leithwood and Jantzi(1997) formulated a model to interpret the formation
process of teachers’ perceptions of transformational school leadership. They identified two groups
of variables that can affect the teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. One
group of variables is unalterable and another group is alterable.
Unalterable variables include the following characteristics:
Demographic characteristics of leaders include gender and age. (These characteristics are
likely to influence teachers’ leadership perceptions when recognition-based processes are going
on).
Demographic characteristics of teachers include teachers’ gender, age, and length of
experience, which are likely to influence the development of teachers’ initial school leader
prototypes. They also include length of tenure(years of working in the same school) in the school,
which may affect the opportunities teachers have to take part in inference-based processes that
shape their leader perceptions of principals.
Characteristics of schools include school size and level(grade taught). (School size may
affect the chances teachers take in inference-based processes while forming their leader
perceptions of principals; school level(grade taught in) includes Junior, intermediate and senior).
Alterable variables include the following characteristics:
In-school variables include school conditions associated with the school’s mission and
goals, culture, structure, programs and instruction, policies, and resources.
Out-of-school variables include conditions associated with the school district, the Ministry
of Education and the local school community. In this study, teachers’ factors including gender,
age, years of teaching experience, years working in the same school, professional title, grade
taught and internal school variables such as culture, structure, strategy, and environment were
chosen as the independent variables to check their effects on the teachers’ perception of
transformational school leadership.
2.6 Teacher Commitment
There is a lack of consensus on the definition of teacher commitment in the literature.
Commitment has been conceptualized as the strength of an employee’s identification with and
21
involvement in an organization (Mowday & Steers, 1979). Hoy and Sabo (1998), however, have
defined teacher commitment as teacher behavior that is directed toward helping students develop
both intellectually and socially where teachers will work extra hard to ensure student success in
school. Leithwood, Menzies and Jantzi (1994) stated that commitment, as a general concept, has
been defined as “a psychological state identifying the objects the person identifies with or desires
to be involved with” (p.41).
Billingsley and Cross (1992) distinguished between professional commitment and
organizational commitment. Kushman (1992) summarized two types of teacher commitment,
namely, organizational commitment and commitment to student learning. “There is a lack of
clarity regarding the various objects of commitment of teachers and no generally accepted
definitions exist in the literature on teacher commitment” (Menzies, 1995, p. 17). As well, three
objects of commitment-the organization, the student, and the profession-have their own specific
definitions (Leithwood & Beatty, 2008).
Teacher commitment is a dynamic variable that changes over time. Regarding the effect of
organization factors on teacher commitment, Kushman (1992) identified student achievement,
opportunities to be part of the decision process, collaborative leadership, and school climate
conducive to student learning as factors which contribute to the development of organizational
commitment. In addition, teachers in different age groups are sensitive to different organizational
variables (Rosenholtz, 1990). For instance, new teachers are inclined to be affected by
management support. Experienced teachers are sensitive to the organization’s quality on core
instructional tasks. However, autonomy is the important factor affecting mid-career teachers, who
are inclined to have lower level of commitment compared with new and experienced teachers.
These findings suggest that further exploration of the effect of organizational factors on the
commitment of teachers in different age groups is meaningful for understanding school
management.
2.7 Teachers’ Commitment to Change The emergence of teachers’ commitment to change is consistent with the evolution of
change literature from focusing on single innovations to how to build up the local change capacity
to confront multiple changes in school organizations (Leithwood et al.,1999).
22
For Ford (1992), motivation has been the foundation for people to learn, to develop skills
and to change behavior. Based on the motivation theory of Bandura(1986), Leithwood et al.
(1999) pointed out that teachers’ commitment to change is the core element in the school change
process; therefore, school administrators need to know what happens in teachers’ minds. In the
motivation theory of Bandura (1986), triadic interaction among personal behavior, cognitive and
other personal factors, and environmental events affects human functioning.
Leithwood, Menzies, and Jantzi (1994) defined teachers’ commitment to change as
follows :
[It] includes their identification with and desire to be involved in efforts to implement changes in school and classroom structures and processes. These changes may be considered engaging to teachers on either or both moral or pragmatic grounds. Teachers’ commitment will be evident through behaviors which may range from relatively passive to exceptionally active (p.42).
Leithwood and his associates (1999) categorized the various objects of teacher
commitment into organizational commitment and commitment to student learning. They redefined
these two dimensions as “teachers’ commitment to change.” According to Leithwood et al.(1999),
“commitment and engagement”, no matter what their objects (e.g., commitment to school, to
students, to disciplines), “are conceptualized as elements of motivation, a more fundamental
psychological state” (p. 136). Four elements are involved in the motivational process. They are
personal goals, beliefs about one’s capacities, beliefs about one’s context and emotional arousal
processes. Personal goals represent desired future states that have been internalized by an
individual. They are important sources of teacher commitment and must be perceived by teachers
to possess certain qualities in order to energize action. The organizational goals have to be
internalized by individuals so that people can be motivated to be part of the change process. In
term of characteristics of organizational goals, the following elements are important: the
differences between current goals and personal goals should be significant; the goals need to be
clear to the teachers; the goals must be achievable; finally, the goals must be short-term oriented
instead of long-term oriented. In order to encourage teachers to incorporate organizational goals,
the goal setting process at the organizational level is required to be continuous and participative.
Capacity beliefs (psychological states such as self-efficacy, self-confidence, academic self-
concept and aspects of self-esteem) and context beliefs (beliefs about whether the ‘context’, such
23
as school administrators or the central office, can provide the support a teacher needs) work
together with teachers’ personal goals to help decide the strength of teachers’ motivation to realize
such goals. It is necessary for teachers to believe they have capability to achieve these goals even
if the goals have been internalized. For example, context beliefs are beliefs about whether the
school situation such as the school administration or the district school board will really supply the
financial, professional development or other resources that teachers need in the change process.
The behaviors and work of teachers are affected by their emotions and feelings (Leithwood
& Betty, 2008). “The emotional arousal process helps teachers persist in attempting to accomplish
long-range goals when evidence of progress is meager” (Leithwood et al., 1999, p.143). The
functions of the emotional arousal process are to create a condition of action enthusiasm, to
provoke instantaneous or vigorous action and to offer patterns of action. Teachers’ daily work will
be supported by a positive emotional climate (Leithwood & Betty, 2008).
Leithwood et al.(1999) have included these four motivational elements in their definition
of teacher commitment to change, and stated that the elements interact with each other and
function together. In this present research, teachers’ commitment to change was treated as a single
variable and also as four individual variables including personal goals, context beliefs, capacity
beliefs, and emotional arousal to understand the effects of teachers’ perception of transformational
school leadership on them.
2.8 The Relationship between School Leadership and Teachers’ Commitment to Change
Transformational leadership, as a composite, has significant direct and indirect effects on
teachers’ commitment to change based on the relevant studies. These effects are accounted for
most strongly by vision building, high performance expectations, developing consensus about
group goals, and intellectual stimulation.
Leithwood (1993) first proposed the concept of teachers’ commitment to change in
research conducted in Peterborough, Canada. He suggested that teachers’ commitment to change
happens during their participation in a decision-making process where they have salient expertise
and capability. In order to implement change smoothly and successfully, building up the capacity
of teachers as change agents is essential in the school reform process. Giving teachers the sense of
organizational goals is an important way to promote teachers’ commitment to change.
24
In the research about the effect of transformational school leadership on teacher
commitment to change, the effects of different leadership dimensions are diverse. In the
comparative research of Geijsel, Sleegers, Leithwood, and Jantzi(2003) in the Canadian and Dutch
contexts, the findings confirmed that individual consideration has no effect on context beliefs.
However, context beliefs were significantly influenced by vision building and intellectual
stimulation. In the Dutch study, individual consideration influenced capacity beliefs, while vision-
building influenced capacity beliefs in the Canadian study. The vision-building dimension of
transformational leadership is the only leadership dimension that significantly influenced personal
goals. Furthermore, individual consideration appeared most influential on the emotional arousal
processes. In the different country contexts, the functions of different dimensions of
transformational leadership were significantly different.
Leithwood,Jantzi, and Fernandez’s (1993) research on high school teachers' commitment
to change showed that the dimensions that contribute to teachers’ commitment to change are those
that help to give purpose, goals, and meaning to teachers’ work. Leithwood et al. (1993) suggested
that it might be useful to add a more developmental-oriented operationalization of individual
consideration into the research design of future studies on transformational leadership's effects on
commitment and extra effort. They also suggested that it would be useful to gain more knowledge
about the differential effects of transformational school leadership dimensions, particularly effects
regarding teachers’ commitment and extra effort.
Leithwood, Jantzi, and Fernandez (1994) described the relationship among
transformational school leadership, in-school and out-of-school conditions, and teachers’
commitment to change. Their study, conducted in nine urban high schools engaged in major
reform efforts, indicated that transformational school leadership, in-school conditions, and out-of-
school conditions accounted for 40% of the variation in teachers’ commitment to change. The
other 60%, according to Leithwood et al.(1994), resulted from other alterable variables,
unalterable variables, and measurement error. The total effects of transformational school
leadership on teachers’ commitment to change were consistently higher than the total effects of in-
school and out-of-school conditions, although only slightly. In addition, “the effects of
transformational school leadership are both direct and indirect, the direct effects impacting
primarily on teachers’ personal goals" (p.90). Of the seven dimensions of transformational school
leadership (vision, high expectations, group goals, intellectual stimulation, contingent reward,
25
providing models, and individualized support), five (vision, high expectations, group goals,
intellectual stimulation, and contingent reward) contributed to teachers’ commitment to change.
Only “providing models” and “individualized support” did not show a contribution (Leithwood et
al., 1994).
From past empirical research, it can be concluded that letting people accept the goal of the
organization is one of the effective transformational leadership practices. However, other
dimensions of effective transformational leadership practices including managing the instructional
program, buffering and other practices have not been thoroughly examined. Therefore, it is
meaningful to explore the real functions of other leadership practices.
26
2.9 Theoretical Framework Used in Present Study
Figure 2. 1
A Theoretical Framework of the Relationship between Teachers’ Perceptions of Principal Transformational School Leadership and Teachers’ Commitment to Change
Four constructs, including transformational school leadership, teachers’ commitment to
change, teacher factors and in-school factors, have been drawn from the literature review to form
the main components of this study's conceptual framework.
Transformational leadership is the type of leadership that engages and changes people by
building capacity, changing the environment, and motivating people in the school change process.
In- school conditions -school’s mission and goals -culture -structure -programs and instruction -policies -resources -size
Teacher’s perception of transformational school leadership practices -Setting direction -Developing people -Redesigning the organization -Managing instructional program
Teachers’ commitment to change -Personal goals -Context beliefs -Capacity beliefs -Emotional arousal
Teacher’s factors -Grade teacher taught -Teacher gender -Teacher length of experience -Teacher tenure -Teacher age
27
People’s attitudes towards the work, the situation, their achievement, their views, and finally their
behaviors may be influenced and changed by transformational leadership when it is effectively
enacted (Mascall, 2003). In the school context, Leithwood and Jantzi (2005) has conceptualized
the transformation leadership dimensions as follows: setting direction, developing people,
redesigning the organization, and managing the instructional program. These four dimensions
formed the proposed conceptual framework for transformational school leadership in the Chinese
context.
The process of the development of teachers’ perceptions of transformational school
leadership is affected by different factors, such as internal and external organization factors,
school leader factors, and teacher factors. School internal factors, including school size, the
school’s mission and goals, school culture, school structure, programs and instruction, policies,
and resources, were incorporated into this framework to explain the formation of teachers'
perceptions of transformational school leadership. As for the teacher factors, the grade the teachers
taught, teacher gender, teacher total length of experience, and teacher tenure (years of working in
the same school) were integrated into this framework to explore the development of teachers’
perceptions of transformational school leadership. Organization external factors, for instance,
conditions associated with the school district, the Ministry of Education and the local school
communities were not the research focus of this study. This study investigated the extent to which
school internal factors and teacher factors influence the construction of teachers' perceptions of
transformational school leadership. Teachers’ commitment to change is the construct that explains
the process of teachers’ motivation to be part of the school change process. It includes four
important elements: personal goals, personal beliefs, context beliefs, and emotional arousal
processes. Personal goals are very important in the change process because the degree of teachers’
engagement relies on the compatibility of teachers’ understanding of organizational goals with
their personal goals. Many reforms fail to realize the significance of personal goals. The goal of
reform can be effective only if it is internalized by the individual teachers. It is also not sufficient
for people only to have energizing goals in mind; they still have to believe they have the capability
to achieve the goals (Leithwood et al., 1999). Therefore, psychological states including self-
efficacy, self-confidence, academic self-concept and aspects of self-esteem are incorporated into
personal beliefs. Another group of personal beliefs is termed context beliefs. These are beliefs
28
about how congenial the situation in which one finds oneself is for implementing whatever the
reform initiative might be (Leithwood et al., 1999).
The emotional arousal process is an important element in teachers’ commitment to change
since people's actions are affected by their emotional status in the short term, in comparison to the
long-term impact of capability and context beliefs. Additionally, emotions also sustain people’s
patterns of behaviors. This is meaningful for the initiation and implementation of education
reform.
All these four elements interact with each other and function together to inspire teachers to
engage in the change process. Motivating and engaging people are the main effects of
transformational leadership, which leads to the connection between transformational school
leadership and teachers’ commitment to change in this conceptual framework. The effects of the
re-conceptualized transformational school leadership model on teachers’ commitment to change
were explored in the Shenyang urban upper secondary school context in this study.
Summary
This literature review has seven sections covering the important theoretical issues in this
research area including the definition of leadership, transformational leadership, and
transformational leadership in China, culture and transformational leadership, the perception of
transformational leadership, teacher commitment, and teacher’s commitment to change.
This chapter started by reviewing the diverse definitions of leadership in order to understand the
concept of transformational school leadership. The process of influence was treated as the
definition of leadership in this study in the end. The literature suggests that transformational
leadership is a form of leadership that focuses on motivating people, changing values, and
building up the capacity, particularly in a change context. Built on Burn’s theory of
transformational school leadership, the transformational school leadership model was developed
by Leithwood et al. It consists of four dimensions including setting direction, developing people,
redesigning organization, and managing instructional program, which served as the theoretical
foundation to develop an open survey questionnaire in the first stage of this research.
There has been some transformational leadership research in the Chinese school context,
most of which has been conducted based on Bass’s transformational leadership theory instead of
29
being done in a school context. This is one of the reasons for carrying out this thesis research
project.
The review of the relationship between culture and transformational leadership in this
chapter briefly outlined the main issues in cross-cultural leadership research. The literature
regarding the relationship between Chinese culture and leadership set up the context for
conducting this research whose underlying theoretical background was created in the Western
context.
The focus of the review of literature relevant to teachers’ perception of transformational
leadership was to clarify the key organizational variables for this research, such as teachers’
factors and school organizational factors.
The literature about teacher commitment and teachers’ commitment to change led to the
dependent variables in this study, which are teachers’ commitment to change and its four
dimensions including personal goals, context belief, capacity belief, and teachers’ commitment to
change. The main purpose of the review of this literature was to set up the theoretical foundation
for this research study and clarify the relevant key variables for further analysis.
30
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODOLOGY
The main focus of this chapter is to provide a detailed description of the research questions
and methods. This chapter starts with the research objectives and research questions based on the
identified research problems, followed by the overall research design which consists of three
stages including a first stage which mainly focuses on the formulation of the Chinese
transformational school leadership questionnaire, a second stage which mainly examines the
validity and reliability of the Organization Change Process survey (which consists of the
organizational characteristics questionnaire and the teachers’ commitment to change
questionnaire), and a third stage which mainly centers on the relationship between organizational
and teachers’ factors and teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership and the
relationship between transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change.
In order to make this thesis readable and coherent, the overall sampling process is detailed,
although sampling in all phases will be re-elaborated upon in the following chapters (Chapter 4
and Chapter 5).
The detailed data collection procedures, and warranty of validity and reliability, will be
elaborated upon in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5.
3.1 Research Objectives
It is recognized that transformational school leadership is effective in promoting teachers’
commitment to change. However, it was unknown how teachers in Shenyang urban upper
secondary schools perceived school leadership during the curriculum reform, the extent to which
organizational and teachers’ factors affected teachers’ perception of transformational school
leadership, and to what degree transformational school leadership practices in Shenyang urban
upper secondary school could arouse teachers’ commitment to change. These were the focuses of
this research.
The following questions guided this study:
1. What are the main school leadership practices enacted by principals in the urban upper
secondary schools of Shenyang city, China in the curriculum reform?
2. What is the contribution of selected teachers’ and organizational variables to teachers’
perception of principals’ school leadership practices?
31
3. To what extent can school leadership practices in the urban upper secondary schools of
Shenyang city explain the variation in teachers’ commitment to change in the curriculum reform?
3.2 Research Design
This study was divided into three phases (See Table 3.1). The first phase extracted a set of
high frequency words relevant to transformational school leadership practices based on the
perceptions of teachers in Shenyang urban upper secondary schools using a content analysis
method. In the second stage, principal component analysis was conducted on a newly-created
transformational school leadership scale. This scale included 18 items from Leithwood’s (2012)
research and 28 items that were designed based on the high-frequency words derived from the first
phase of content analysis. Meanwhile, construct validity and reliability of the organizational
change process survey, including the organizational characteristics questionnaire and the teachers’
commitment to change questionnaire, were examined. In the third stage, the contribution of
teacher-related and school-related variables to teachers’ perceptions of transformational school
leadership was explored. The effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’
commitment to change were investigated as well.
In order to ensure the clarity of the thesis, the whole process used to formulate the Chinese
version of the transformational school leadership questionnaire (Phase 1 and Phase 2) is displayed
in Chapter 4, which includes detailed sampling, response rate, open questionnaire design, content
analysis, and principal component analysis.
With the aim to ensure the appropriate application of the organizational change process
survey (the organizational characteristics questionnaire and the teachers’ commitment to change
questionnaire) in the Chinese school context, the validity and reliability of these two
questionnaires in the organizational change process are examined in Chapter 5 in preparation for
the analysis in the Chapter 6. This mainly explores the relationship between organizational factors
and teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership and the relationship between
teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change.
It was important to develop all of these three questionnaires (Transformational School
Leadership Questionnaire, Organizational Characteristics Questionnaire, and Teachers’
Commitment to Change Questionnaire), but in the Chinese urban upper secondary school context
it is urgent to have a new transformational school leadership questionnaire because the success of
32
school change is really decided by the school leadership and school leadership is the second-most
important factor beside classroom instruction that can make a real change in schools. The
relatively limited research funding and tight deadline for this project were the factors that led to
formulating only the leadership questionnaires and only validating the other two questionnaires. In
addition, the process of examining the validity and reliability of the existing survey instruments
can ensure their applicability to a certain degree.
The instruments used in these three stages research will be introduced in the following
chapters. The detailed sampling, data collection procedures, and warranty of validity and
reliability will be elaborated upon in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 in order to make this thesis coherent.
Table 3.1
The Overall Research Process
3. 3 Sampling
Shenyang city is a metropolitan area in northeastern China with a population of about 7.2
million, which is distributed throughout 10 districts, 3 counties, and 1 city at the county level.
Procedure Samples Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire
Teacher survey (Section A: Organization characteristics questionnaire; Section B: Teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire)
Phase 1 research question 1
Teachers from 4 urban upper secondary schools(N=273)
Content analysis for generating survey items
Phase 2 research question 1
Teachers from6 urban upper secondary schools (N=215)
Principal component analysis Principal component analysis
Phase 3 research questions 2 and 3
Teachers from 6 urban upper secondary schools (N=305)
1.Exploration of the relationship between selected teacher and organizational variables to teachers’ perception of principals’ transformational school leadership by using multiple regression analysis
2. Exploration of the relationship between transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change by using multiple regression analysis
33
There are 5 urban districts among the total of 10 districts in Shenyang city. These 5 districts
include Heping, Shenhe, Dadong, Huanggu, and Tiexi. Along with the development of the
Chinese economy, Shenyang city experienced initial urbanization starting in 1949 and rapid
urbanization after the 1990s. The current urbanization rate in Shenyang is nearly 70%, which is
above the average in China as a whole.
Knight and Song (2003) believe that “Urbanization is now perceived as intrinsic to the
process of growth and modernization, and the role of rural migration in diversifying sources of
rural incomes and narrowing inter-sectoral disparities in household incomes is better understood”
(as cited in Yusuf & Saich, 2008).
In particular, Hunnan and Shenbei are newly established suburban districts which exist
alongside the original five urban districts. This study particularly focused on the situation in the
original five urban districts due to the research context of this study, which was urban upper
secondary school.
In Shenyang city, there are a total of 45 urban upper secondary schools with approximately
5023 teachers. In order to maintain coherence in the research design and maximize the efficiency
of sample usage, the sampling for content analysis for identifying high frequency words relevant
to transformational school leadership practices in Shenyang urban upper secondary schools, the
sampling for conducting principal component analysis on the transformational school leadership
and organization characteristics questionnaires, and the sampling for exploring the relationship
between transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change and the
relationship between organizational and teacher factors on the teachers’ perception of
transformational school leadership, were combined.
Sample design refers to that part of the research plan that indicates how cases are to be
selected for observation. Careful procedures need to be designed with the aim of guaranteeing that
the range of variation in a heterogeneous population could be represented in the sample (Singleton
& Straits, 1998). Probability sampling is used because its essential characteristic is that all the
cases have the same probability of being included in the sampling process (Singleton & Straits,
1998). Therefore, a random sampling technique was applied in this study.
Consideration was given to the following factors relevant to the sampling in this study.
In order to define a target population, the criteria that determine which cases will be
included must be specified (Singleton & Straits, 1998). All of Shenyang city's 45 urban upper
34
secondary schools were on the sample frame for sampling since all the urban upper secondary
schools and the teachers in these upper secondary schools were involved in the curriculum reform
starting in 2006. A list of the urban upper secondary schools and teachers was requested from the
Shenyang Education Bureau.
The purpose of sampling is to maximize the diversity of characteristics of the samples and
strengthen the probability that research results can be applied to other contexts since the
establishment of the broadest generation is one of the important tasks of social research (Singleton
&Straits, 1998). 16 urban upper secondary schools were randomly chosen as samples because a
certain number of samples were needed for field test and pilot studies.
According to the sampling theory of Johnson and Christensen (2008), there are several
factors to consider when determining sample size in random sampling. In this case, first, more
categories needed to be explored in the data analysis so that the total sample size was larger than
the normal requirement. Secondly, because of the diversity of the demographic situation of the
teachers and the school situation, a larger sample size was required in this study. Third, refusal to
participate in the survey was considered. Fourth, Krejecie and Morgan(1970) states that the
estimated sample size required is 361 in proportion to a population of 6000(as cited in Johnson &
Christensen, 2008,p. 242). Fifth, to reduce sample error, it is better for the population to be larger.
Factors such as 10% of the teacher population in the city and a sample error of 3% of the teacher
population were considered when the sample size was decided. The reason for sample error was
that 3% of the teacher population in Shenyang city has no professional title (Shenyang Education
Bureau, 2010); professional title is one of the most important profile indicators in the Chinese
context since information like the number of years of teaching experience and ages can be easily
identified from it.
Theoretically, the confidence level was set up to 95%, and the confidence interval was 6
because the sample error in this study was 3%. Also, the total teacher population in Shenyang
urban upper secondary schools was 5023. Considering all these factors, the estimated sample size
was 253 based on the online sample calculation formula.
In order to ensure the generalizability of the research results and the diversity of the
samples, 60% of the teachers from each sample school in the first research stage and 40% of the
teachers from each selected urban upper secondary school in the second and third research stages
35
were invited to join the study. The reason for choosing only some teachers in the schools was a
lack of funding support.
Theoretically, the minimum sample size was 500, which was the 10% of the whole teacher
population in the urban upper secondary schools of Shenyang city. In practice, 735 urban upper
secondary school teachers participated in the three research stages, which was beyond the
minimum requirement for conducting quantitative research. This ensured the external validity of
this study.
3.3.1 Sampling in the First Research Stage
The main purpose of the first research stage was to generate items for the Chinese
transformational school leadership questionnaire. Samples of teachers from 4 of the 16 urban
upper secondary schools were randomly selected, among which teachers in 3 sample schools
completed an open-ended questionnaire regarding transformational school leadership practices and
teachers in one sample school participated in a pilot study in order to ensure validity and reliability,
and also to ensure that these samples represented the main characteristics of the teacher population
in urban upper secondary schools in Shenyang city. There were a total of 454 teachers in these
three schools, and 60% of the teachers in each school were randomly chosen as respondents,
which made about 273 teachers in total. According to the official record of the Shenyang
Education Bureau, all the current teachers in urban upper secondary schools were experiencing
curriculum reform(Shenyang Education Bureau,2007).
This stage identified the structure and main elements of transformational school leadership
through content analysis of the teachers’ responses, which laid the foundation for ensuring the
construct validity of the newly formulated Chinese transformational school leadership
questionnaire by using principal component analysis.
3.3.1.1 Sample Characteristics in the First Stage
Females and males made up 71% and 29% of the sample teacher population respectively,
which was close to their distribution in the total teacher population in Shenyang city. In the
Chinese context, professional title (current position), which normally represents the teacher's
number of years of service and age, is one important indicator. Senior, first, second, and third
36
grade teachers (professional titles) made up 32.4%, 35.6%, 28%, and 1.1% of the total sample
teacher population respectively.
Table 3.2
Sample Characteristics in the First Research Stage Teacher Sample
Population Characteristics Characteristics in Stage 1 Sex Male 28.60% 29% Female 71.40% 71% Current position Third grade 0.90% 1.10% Second grade 29.1% 28% First grade 35% 35.60% Senior 32% 32.40% No 3% 2.90% Years of working experience 1-2 years 3.50% 4% 3-5 years 4.10% 5% 6-10 years 28% 27% 11-15years 38.50% 39% 16-19 years 16.90% 15% 20+ years 9% 10% Years in the same school 1-2 years 6.80% 5.50% 3-5 years 7.00% 6% 6-10 years 33.10% 35% 11-15 years 36.70% 37% 16-19 years 11.10% 12% 20+ years 5.30% 4.50% Highest academic degree High school 1.7% 1.50% College 1.7% 2% Bachelor 82.1% 84% Master 14.5% 12.50%
37
Table 3.2
(Continued) Sample Characteristics in the First Research Stage Grade teacher taught Junior 38% 35% Intermediate 33.20% 36% Senior 28.80% 29% Age less than 25 4.60% 4% 25-29 10.30% 10% 30-34 31.80% 31% 35-39 35.40% 37% 40-44 14.30% 13% 45-49 2.00% 3% 50+ 1.60% 2%
3.3.2 Sampling in the Second Research Stage
6 schools were randomly chosen from the remaining 12 sample schools for data collection
in this stage. 40% of teachers in each sample school were invited to be part of this study, which
were about 215 teachers in total.
3.3.2.1 Sample Characteristics in the Second Stage
To be representative means to provide a close approximation of certain characteristics of
the target group (Singleton & Straits, 1998). Female and male teachers made up 71.4% and 28.6%
of the total teacher population in Shenyang city respectively. Among the teachers in the sample
schools, 33% percent of teachers were senior teachers and 36.2% percent of teachers were first
class teachers. The second class teachers and third class teachers made up 27% and 1%
respectively of the teacher population.
The following table describes the basic situation of teachers in Shenyang City.
Table 3.3
Sample Characteristics in the Second Research Stage
Teacher Population Sample Characteristics
Characteristics
in Stage 2
Sex Male 28.60% 27.50%
38
Table 3.3
(Continued) Sample Characteristics in the Second Research Stage Female 71.40% 72.50% Current position Third grade 0.90% 1% Second grade 29.1%
27.00%
First grade 35%
36.20% Senior 32%
33.00%
No 3% 2.80% Years of working experience 1-2 years 3.50% 4.90% 3-5 years 4.10%
4.40%
6-10 years 28%
31.90% 11-15years 38.50%
35.80%
16-19 years 16.90%
15.20% 20+ years
9%
7.80%
Years in the same school 1-2 years 6.80% 7.80% 3-5 years
7.00%
7.40%
6-10 years
33.10%
33.80% 11-15 years
36.70%
35.30%
16-19 years
11.10%
10.80% 20+ years 5.30% 4.90% Highest academic degree High school 1.7% 1.50% College
1.7%
1.50%
Bachelor
82.1%
83.80% Master
14.5%
13.20%
Teaching level Junior 38% 39.70% Intermediate
33.20%
32.40%
Senior 28.80% 27.90% Age less than 25 4.60% 2.90% 25-29
10.30%
11.30%
30-34
31.80%
32.40% 35-39
35.40%
34.30%
40-44
14.30%
15.10% 45-49
2.00%
2.50%
50+ 1.60% 1.50%
39
3.3.3 Sampling in the Third Stage
This study adopted a random sampling strategy for quantitative samples. To choose the
right data source is crucial for later date data collection (Blaikie, 2000). The remaining six upper
secondary schools were treated as sample schools for the third stage of data collection. 40% of the
teachers in these six sample schools were randomly chosen as the respondents, and the general
characteristics of the whole sample were similar to those of the total population in Shenyang City.
This improved the external validity of the research. Limited funding and the deadline for finishing
the project were the factors that influenced the choice of 40% as the sample size.
3.3.3.1 Sample Characteristics in the Third Stage In terms of sex, 72% of the sample teachers were female and the remaining 28% were male,
which was similar to the distribution of male and female teachers in the whole teacher population
in the upper secondary school of Shenyang City. In addition, the composition of teachers with
different professional titles was as follows: 1% third grade, 28.5% second grade, 35.2% first grade,
and 32.4% senior.
Table 3.4
Sample Characteristics in the Third Research Stage Teacher population Sample Characteristics Characteristics in Stage 3 Sex Male 28.60% 28% Female 71.40% 72% Current position Third grade 0.90% 1% Second grade 29.01% 28.50% First grade 35.09% 35.20% Senior 32% 32.40% No 3% 2.90% Years of working experience 1-2 years 3.50% 3% 3-5 years 4.10% 4.40% 6-10 years 28% 26.30% 11-15years 38.50% 39.90% 16-19 years 16.90% 17.60% 20+ years 9% 8.80%
40
Table 3.4
(Continued) Sample Characteristics in the Third Research Stage Years in the same school
1-2 years 6.80% 6.10% 3-5 years
7.00%
6.80%
6-10 years
33.10%
32.10% 11-15 years
36.70%
36.80%
16-19 years
11.10%
12.80% 20+ years 5.30% 5.40% Highest academic degree High school
1.7%
2%
College
1.7%
0.70% Bachelor
82.1%
82.10%
Master 14.5% 15.20% Teaching level Junior
38%
37.50%
Intermediate
33.20%
32.80% Senior 28.80%
29.70%
Age less than 25
4.60%
4%
25-29
10.30%
10.80% 30-34
31.80%
30.40%
35-39
35.40%
34.80% 40-44
14.30%
16.20%
45-49
2.00%
2.40% 50+ 1.60%
1.40%
3.4 Instruments
Guppy and Gary(2008) argued that, as with all research findings, information from surveys
is used to describe, explain, or influence some phenomenon. The information from surveys may be
used to: 1. determine a single value; 2. describe a variable; 3. describe a relationship between
variables; 4. explain a relationship. In its first stage, this research used a survey to measure the key
words reflecting transformational leadership practices as perceived by teachers.
In the second stage, the newly formulated transformational school leadership questionnaire
combining the 18 items from the Leithwood’s (2012) teacher survey and the newly designed 28
items based on the key words identified in the first stage was validated using principal component
analysis, and the organization change survey designed by Leithwood, Dart, Jantzi, and Steinbach
(1993) was also validated using principal component analysis and reliability analysis.
41
In total, 5 items were removed from the original survey since they had low correlations
with other items on the survey. Items 1, 4, 9, and 13 in the organization characteristics
questionnaire of the organization change survey were removed due to their low correlation with
other items and damage to the internal validity of the survey questionnaire. These four items read
as follows: item 1 was “Our school goals and priorities are intended to encourage continuous
improvement of our programs and instruction”; item 4 was “Frequent sharing of expertise among
colleague contributes to continual improvement of instruction within this school”; item 9 was
“Extensive staff participation in school-wide matters (e.g., councils, committees) helps to reduce
overload for individuals”; item 13 was “We endeavor to achieve consensus on certain issues”.
Item 1 in the teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire also had low correlations with
other items, so this item was removed for the third research stage. This item read, “Goals for the
new programs are compatible with my own goals for my work”.
In the third stage, the Chinese version of the transformational school leadership
questionnaire with 29 items and validated organizational characteristics questionnaire and teachers’
commitment to change questionnaire were distributed to the teachers in the sample schools to
explore the second research question, which was about the effects of organizational and teachers’
factor on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership, and the third question, whose
purpose was to explore the relationship between transformational school leadership and teachers’
commitment to change.
Summary
This chapter details the research questions, sampling, sample size, and sample
characteristics. Two stages of the study, including identifying key words for formulating the
transformational school leadership questionnaire and extracting high loading items will be
elaborated upon in Chapter 4, and the final stage of exploring the relationships will be described in
Chapter 6.
42
CHAPTER 4
FORMULATING A TRANSFORMATIONAL SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
QUESTIONNAIRE
This chapter gives detailed information regarding the process used to formulate a
transformational school leadership questionnaire in a Chinese urban upper secondary school
context. It mainly includes the following three sections: the process to identify key words for
formulating the transformational school leadership questionnaire, which mainly consists of
designing an open questionnaire and conducting content analysis; the process used to design
survey questions for the transformational school leadership questionnaire, which mostly embraces
the methods used to write survey questions with attention to validity and reliability issues; and
finally the process used to extract the survey items with high loading coefficients by principal
component analysis. The details of methods used to guarantee validity and reliability, such as
back translation, are also elaborated upon in these three sections.
4.1 Identifying Key Words for Formulating the Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire by Content Analysis 4.1.1 Open Questionnaire Design
The open questionnaire was designed on the basis of the transformational school
leadership theory of Leithwood (1994). This theory has been widely used in the North American
school context. The questionnaire's first question was an inspiring question that led teachers to
recall leadership practices during the school change period. Teachers were then asked four open-
ended questions relevant to the transformational school leadership practices in the Shenyang urban
upper secondary school context. The last open-ended question was created to ask for more
transformational school leadership practices in Shenyang city. The respondents were requested to
list 5 to 6 leadership practices for each open-ended question relevant to the behaviors of school
principals in the school change process.
In this stage, an open questionnaire incorporating four major research questions was
created to understand the perceptions of teachers in Shenyang urban upper secondary schools of
transformational school leadership practices. The research questions were as follows: 1. "Building
vision and setting directions" refers to the practices of principals setting up shared goals to
43
motivate teachers-- for instance, the principal explaining the school's vision to teachers. This
questionnaire asked teachers what their leaders did in this area.
2. "Developing people" refers to principals helping teachers build up knowledge and skills to
accomplish the goals of the organization and promoting teachers' dedication, aptitude and
flexibility to help them stick with using their knowledge and skills-- for instance, the principal
challenging teachers’ assumptions about teaching methods. This questionnaire asked teachers
what their leaders did in this area.
3. "Redesigning the organization" refers to principals creating good working conditions for
teachers to maximize their motivation, commitment and capacity-- for example, the principal
building up the collaborative culture in a school. This questionnaire asked teachers what their
leaders did in this area.
4. "Managing the teaching and learning program" refers to principals improving the working
conditions for teachers through maintaining the normal operation of the school and increasing the
school’s facilities-- for example, the principal buffering teaching activities from miscellaneous
outside distractions. This questionnaire asked teachers what their leaders did in this area. Teachers
were also asked to list any other good leadership practices they had experienced, in particular
leadership practices that motivated them to be part of the school change process.
4.1.2 Back Translation
Brislin and Chapman(1970) state that back-translation is the method to translate the
material from target language(e.g. English) back to the source language(e.g. Chinese) and the
equivalence between source and target versions can be evaluated(as cited in Chen & Boore, 2010,
p.235).
The back translation method was employed to ensure cross-cultural sensitivity to Chinese
teachers. The Chinese words normally used by Chinese teachers in their daily lives were adopted
by this questionnaire in order to ensure its validity and reliability. A Chinese university professor
who was knowledgeable in both Chinese and English was invited to translate the English version
of the open questionnaire into Chinese, and based on this translation another university English
professor helped to translate the Chinese version into English. Two other senior urban upper
secondary school teachers who were adept at both English and Chinese helped to improve the
44
Chinese version based on the comparison between the translated Chinese version and the original
version.
4.1.3 Pilot Study on the Open Questionnaire
The open questionnaire was circulated among four urban upper secondary school teachers,
whom were randomly chosen from the sample schools with the aim of ensuring the questionnaire
was clear and understandable to Chinese teachers and checking whether it is possible to get
appropriate data.
4.1.4 Distribution of the Questionnaire
Questionnaires were distributed to teachers at sample schools, and the research purpose
and intention were clarified in order to improve the validity and reliability of the survey.
Anonymity and the purpose of the study were clearly explained to the teachers with an aim to
reduce their anxiety and worry. Then, the questionnaires were collected by the researcher on a
second visit to the sample schools after the completion of the survey questionnaire was confirmed
by head teachers who wanted to support the research.
4.1.5 Response Rate in the Stage of Identifying Key Words
The purpose of this stage was to identify the key words representing transformational
school leadership practices in Shenyang City. In total, 273 questionnaires were distributed to
teachers with the permission of their school principals. The average respondent rate was 84.2%,
and 230 teachers filled out the surveys and sent them back to the investigator. 228 returned
questionnaires qualified for further data analysis after evaluation. The criteria for keeping the
questionnaires were: teachers must describe transformational leadership practices in their answers;
questionnaires without answers were deleted.
Table 4.1
The Characteristics of Sample Schools and the Number of Returned Questionnaires in the First Stage Total teachers 60% Teachers Returned Returned rate Valid Validity rate Sample School One 155 93 80 86.02% 79 98.75% Sample School Two 104 62 51 82.26% 50 98.04% Sample School Three 195 118 99 83.90% 99 100% Total 454 273 230 84.25% 228
45
4.1.6 Content Analysis
The purpose of content analysis in this project was to identify the key words in the
responses of teachers in upper secondary schools in Shenyang city in order to formulate a Chinese
transformational school leadership questionnaire.
4.1.6.1 Coding Scheme
The coding book of this content analysis was established based on the theory of
transformational school leadership (Leithwood, 1994), which includes leadership practices
incorporated into the dimensions of setting direction, developing people, redesigning the
organization, and managing the instructional program. Transactional leadership practices like
giving bonuses were not incorporated into the Chinese model of transformational school
leadership. The literature review relevant to the transformational school leadership model was
comprehensive and solid, so the content validity was high in this research.
The coding scheme was improved based on the initial coding by the researcher and a Ph.D
graduate student who was familiar with transformational school leadership, and necessary
revisions were conducted afterward. In particular, one category of school safety was added to the
coding scheme after discussion because school safety is an important issue in current Chinese
schools.
The criteria for valid leadership practices were: 1. The practice is a transformational school
leadership practice. 2. The practice should be sufficiently described. 3. The practice should not be
a transactional leadership practice.
46
Table. 4.2
Coding Scheme for Leadership Practice TSL Dimension
Transformational School Leadership Coding Scheme
Exemplary Items
Setting Direction
1. Building a school vision 2. Establishing school goals 3. Creating high performance expectations
Explains to us the overall direction of school development Sets up school development plan Expects us to be high-level teachers
Developing People
4. Providing individualized support 5. Creating intellectual stimulation 6. Modeling best practices and organizational values
Gives us individual support to help us improve our teaching practices Encourages us to be unique teachers Organizes teaching contest
Redesigning Organization
7. Developing a collaborative school culture 8. Creating structures to foster participation in school decisions 9. Creating productive community relationships
Promotes the collaborative preparation of teaching Involves us in the teachers’ representative assembly Sets up parent committees
Managing Instructional Program
10. Establishing effective staffing practices 11. Providing instructional support 12. Monitoring school activities 13. Buffering staff from excessive and distracting external demands
Arranges teaching staff into appropriate positions Provides material support to the teaching activity Sets up an evaluation system for teaching Ensures the security of schools
4.1.6.2 Coding Responses and Generating Questionnaire Items
Each respondent (selected teacher) was asked to identify a certain number of behaviors of
school principals that motivated them to be engaged in the curriculum reform process, on the basis
of the respondent’s experience and observation during the school change process.
Response sets from the open-ended questionnaire were content analyzed to create the
items. The content analysis was conducted on the basis of pre-set analysis criteria in the coding
book. Throughout the data analysis, an attempt was made to identify only those behaviors that
were clearly enacted by school principals and resulted in transforming the follower. In order to
assure the validity of the data, only the behaviors reported by the people who had experienced the
school change process were included. All items were screened based on three criteria: (a) the item
must have a clear meaning in the Chinese language; (b) the item must refer to school leadership
behavior; and (c) the behavior must not clearly be a characteristic of a transactional leader. Items
47
that were in line with these three criteria were kept. The survey answers were grouped on the basis
of similarities.
4.1.6.3 The Unit of Analysis
The unit of analysis, or recording unit, is the basic unit of text to be classified (Insch,
1997). There are five options that have commonly been used in content analysis: (a) word; (b)
word sense or phrase; (c) sentence (e.g., classifying a whole sentence as positive, negative, or
neutral); (d) paragraph (i.e., classifying each paragraph); and (e) document (i.e., assigning the
whole text to a category). The unit of analysis for this study was the words in the responses of
teachers about one behavior of their school principal during the school reform process, from which
the identified key words formed the foundation to create a Chinese transformational school
leadership model.
The data analysis was conducted through the categorization of the responses of teachers
according to the coding scheme. The same and similar words used by different respondents were
collected and categorized into the same group. The words with relatively high frequency were
incorporated into a certain category, which was utilized as the foundation to create the survey
questionnaire. In addition to the identification of the high frequency words, new themes also
emerged from the items pool. This process was complementary to the initial design of the coding
scheme, allowing new themes to emerge from the responses. The following table displays the
distribution of frequency of survey questions in each dimension, which shows the differentiation
among the frequencies. The words denoting transactional leadership were deleted from the pool.
48
Figure 4.1
Frequency of the Words in Setting Direction Dimension
Figure 4.2
Frequency of the Words in Developing People Dimension
0 50 100 150 200
good marksprofessional level
high-level teachersreflect
consistentevaluate
understandexplain
necessityschool development plan
personal career goalsoverall direction
Frequency of Words
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
support development of young teachers
unique teachersvisit successful schools
trainingsacademic activities
teaching seminareducation expertexchange activies
the demonstration classbeing recognition of
teaching contesteducation group
Frequency of Words
49
Figure 4.3
Frequency of the Words in Redesigning Organization Dimension
Figure 4.4
Frequency of the Words in Managing Instructional Program
0 20 40 60 80 100
cooperation
collective preparation
existence
campus culture
representative assembly
autonomy
structure
parent committees
communication
respect
teaching and research group
Frequency of Words
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
competitive appointment systemmaterial support
logisticsworking environment
teaching equitmentauditing class
evaluation systemteaching plans
suggestionsdiscuss
school securityhuman resource
Frequency of Words
50
Figure 4.5
Frequency of the Words Relevant to Transactional Leadership
4.1.6.4 Validity and Reliability in Content Analysis
Johnsen and Christensen (2008) have defined validity as the plausibility, credibility, and
trustworthiness of the research. Validity is the extent to which a measuring procedure represents
the intended, and only the intended concept (Neuendorf, 2002).
4.1.6.4.1 Internal Validity in Content Analysis
Triangulation was employed to improve internal validity. The answers of respondents who
had similar backgrounds were compared to assure the validity of the content analysis. At the same
time, materials related to school change and transformational school leadership in the Chinese
context was used to assure the validity of the research. Back translation was also applied to
improve its validity. Additionally, the language in the open-ended questionnaire was made easy
for the respondents to understand and follow in order to improve validity.
Internal validity is also defined as the match-up of a conceptual definition and an
operational definition. The four variables were clearly defined by Leithwood’s theories, which
have proved to be solid in many contexts. This increased the internal validity of this study.
0 5 10 15 20 25
bonus
housing subsidies
transportation subsidies
increasing welfare
allowance
opportunities of promotion
giving honour
Frequency of Words
51
4.1.6.4.2 External Validity in Content Analysis
External validity is referred to as generalizability, and it relates to whether the results of a
measure can be extrapolated to other settings, times, and so on. Using representative samples of
the population improves the external validity of a study. Random selection is the best way to
generalize from a sample to a population (Johnsen & Christensen, 2008). In order to improve the
generalizability of this study, detailed information such as the sample size, the sampling process,
the context information, the relationship between researcher and participants, the data collection
method and the data analysis methods were described (Johnsen & Christensen, 2008).
4.1.6.4.3 Reliability in Content Analysis Reliability is the extent to which a measuring procedure yields the same results on repeated
trials (Neuendorf, 2002). According to Neuman (2003) and Clark-Carter (1997), reliability means
dependability or consistency. It suggests that any given research finding from this study can be
repeated or will recur under identical or very similar conditions. The environment in which
respondents fill out the survey questionnaire was quiet and safe without any interruptions from
other people or school administration. Back translation was applied to make the questionnaire easy
to understand, which improve its reliability.
4.1.6.4.4 Inter-Rater Reliability
A Chinese Ph.D. graduate student who was familiar with transformational school
leadership theory was invited to join the whole data analysis process. The inter-coder reliability
was calculated based on the agreement of the researcher and the guest Ph.D student. The total
number of valid items for the researcher and Ph.D student to analyze was 1958, and about 8 items
came from each respondent. The coding agreement between two researchers was 80.75 %, which
led to relatively high inter-coder reliability.
52
Table 4.3
Joint Marginal Proportions Category n for Coder A n for Coder B Sum of Marginal Joint marginal proportions
1 81 75 156 0.04 2 356 300 656 0.17 3 85 88 173 0.04 4 135 146 281 0.07 5 394 390 784 0.2 6 204 210 414 0.11 7 171 179 350 0.09 8 32 34 66 0.02 9 68 65 133 0.03
10 43 51 94 0.02 11 213 208 421 0.11 12 154 184 338 0.09 13 22 28 50 0.01
1958 1958 3916 1 The percentage of agreement between the two coders was 0.8075.
The expected agreement between coders was 0.1228. Therefore, the kappa value was 0.7805.
According to Landis and Koch (1977, p.165), the following are benchmarks for interpreting kappa:
Based on the evaluation criteria, the kappa value for this content analysis was substantial.
4.2 Creating Survey Items in the Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire
The survey items were created based on the high frequency key words identified from the
responses detailed in the previous section, which were the foundation for designing the
transformational school leadership questionnaire.
Kappa Statistic Strength of Agreement
<0.00 Poor 0.00- 0.20 Slight 0.21- 0.40 Moderate 0.61- 0.80 Substantial 0.81- 1.00 Almost Perfect
53
4.2.1 Survey Questionnaire Conceptual Design
Transformational leadership practices have four component parts. This means that
transformational leadership practices can be regarded as four independent variables: setting
direction, developing people, redesigning the organization, and managing the instructional
program. Survey questions about transformational leadership practices were designed based on
key words identified from the four open questions.
Guppy and Gary (2008) argued that, as with all research findings, information from
surveys is used to describe, explain, or influence some phenomenon. The information from
surveys may be used to do the following: 1. determine a single value; 2. describe a variable; 3.
describe a relationship between variables; 4. explain a relationship. In this research, a survey was
used to measure transformational leadership practices as perceived by teachers.
54
Figure 4.6
The Development of the Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire
Field testing among 10 master's students. The following issues are evaluated: 1.The wording is understood. 2.The most likely answers to close-ended questions are all included. 3.Sufficient space is provided for answers to questions. 4.The questions follow a proper sequence. 5.The formatting is easy to follow. 6.The administrative procedure is followed.
Survey questions of transformational leadership practices are designed based on key words identified from the four open questions.
The Development of the Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire
Survey Questionnaire Conceptual Design
Survey Questions Design
Questionnaire Organization & Format
Focus Brevity Clarity Time frame
Social conversation
Items are casually arranged into different positions.
Field Testing
Pilot Study
80 teachers fill out the survey to check the time required for teachers to complete the questionnaire, to check the clarity of instruction and questions, the completeness of research topics, and whether the questions are easy to follow and whether it is easy to get expected answers.
Validity and Reliability in Questionnaire Design
Content validity and construct validity
Reliability
55
4.2.2 Designing Survey Questions
When designing survey questions, the researcher chose mainly closed-ended questions. In
order to build a good relationship with participants, the researcher used “me” or “us” to promote
answers from respondents. In general, the following are the advantages to use closed-ended
questions:
1. Alternatives are considered by the respondent; 2. Responses are uniform; 3. Less
demand is placed on respondents; 4. Respondents make their own judgments; 5. Recording is
simplified.
In addition, attention was paid to other aspects of designing the questions, for instance:
Focus: Each question was related to one key word, which had a single, specific focus
(Guppy & Gary, 2008).
Brevity: In this questionnaire, all the questions were short and specific, focusing on the
essential meaning of the variable with the aim of enhancing the respondent rate.
Clarity: The targeted samples were school teachers; therefore, terms and words in the
questions were described from a teacher’s perspective. Teachers should have been familiar with
these words and terms in their daily work in the Chinese urban upper school context. All questions
were easy for teachers to understand and answer.
Time frame: In order to help people to report their past behavior accurately (e.g., consumer
purchases, visits to the doctor), the researcher should establish a suitable time frame. People’s
recall depends on the saliency of an event or activity (e.g., a wedding day, high-school
graduation). Events that are unusual or costly, or have continuing consequences, are more salient,
so more precise dates and frequencies of occurrence can be recollected (Guppy & Gary, 2008). In
this research, teachers were asked to respond based on their recent experience during the school
change period.
Biased and leading questions: In order to avoid bias and social desirability, strong words
were avoided when designing questions.
4.2.3 Questionnaire Organization and Format
Based on the results of content analysis, the researcher formulated the transformational
leadership scale to make it more suitable to the Chinese urban secondary school context.
56
A total of 46 questions were arranged casually into different positions in the questionnaire,
which ensured the validity of the responses.
As a survey is a form of social conversation between the surveyor and the survey
respondent, at the beginning of the questionnaire, social conversation was used as a guide and
introduction. This helped the survey respondents to understand the objective of the survey and feel
comfortable in expressing their opinions. Therefore, one of the introductions of the surveys was
prepared as follows:
‘Dear Teachers,
You have been selected to participate in a research study on school leadership. The
questionnaire is designed to help us in understanding school leadership. We would like to ask you
to describe the leadership practices you have experienced or observed in your work based on the
following questions. The research will be conducted by a student. The survey will take about 5 to
10 minutes to complete. Your participation is voluntary. Thank you so much for your kind help
and great contribution. This survey will only be used for academic purposes. Your answers and
personal information will be kept strictly confidential and will not be disclosed to anyone for any
purpose.’
The instructions, questions, and answers in a questionnaire need to be formatted so that
they are relatively simple for the respondent to follow (Guppy & Gray, 2008). In the case of paper
surveys, the answers can also be pre-coded. That is, the numerical coding values that will be used
later in entering the data into a computer can be placed on the questionnaire as superscript or
subscript (Guppy & Gray, 2008). The researcher decided to ask the following close-ended
questions about the background of teachers and formatted these questions as follows:
Which grade you are teaching? (Please check one)
a. Junior b. Intermediate c. Advanced
For the scale of transformational leadership, the researcher asked teachers to indicate the
extent to which they agreed by circling one of the following codes:
SD= strongly disagree; D=disagree; NS=not sure; A=agree; SA=strongly agree
The reason a five-points Likert scale was used is that it was relatively easy for participants
to find their position in the answers.
For example:
1. gives us a sense of overall purpose SD D NS A SA
57
4.2.4 Field Testing
The instrument was administered to 10 Master's students who were practicing teachers and
school administrators. These practitioners provided feedback as to whether the items were clear,
understandable, and accessible to an audience of practitioners. The following issues were
considered by the judges:
The wording is understood.
The most likely answers to close-ended questions are all included.
Sufficient space is provided for answers to questions.
The questions follow a proper sequence.
The formatting is easy to follow.
The administrative procedure is followed.
Based on the feedback from these teachers, more space was provided to respondents.
Certain words were changed owing to misinterpretation. For example, the translation of
“Representative Assembly” is replaced by “Jiao Shi Dai Biao Da Hui” instead of “Jiao Shi Li Shi
Hui”( Teachers’ Council). In addition, the respondents also required detailed information about
the purpose of the survey since they were sensitive to certain management issues. Furthermore,
respondents reminded the researcher of the best time to reach sample schools and under which
circumstances administrative procedure research could be conducted.
4.2.5 Pilot Studies
The Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire was piloted among 80
teachers from a sample school before it was used in the project. The following factors were
considered when the newly designed questionnaire was piloted: 1.the time required for teachers to
complete the questionnaire; 2. the clarity of instructions and questions; 3.the inclusion of all
relevant research topics; 4.whether the survey was appropriate and easy to follow;5.whether the
expected survey results could be achieved.
58
4.2.6 Validity and Reliability in Questionnaire Design
4.2.6.1 Validity Content validity of this questionnaire was censured by inviting two Chinese professors
who were familiar with transformational school leadership theory to evaluate whether the
designed items could represent the essential meaning of the different leadership dimensions within
the Chinese cultural and linguistic educational context.
The thorough literature review on the theory of transformational school leadership
covered the meaning of this construct, which improved the construct validity of this newly
designed questionnaire.
Good questions are reliable and valid (Fowler, 2009). Fowler (2009) further has stated that
questions are supposed to give steady measures in similar situations and must really measure what
they intend to measure.
Maintaining the clarity of the concept for respondents by giving them clear definitions is
an important measure to ensure the validity of factual surveys. With the aim of reducing social
desirability, it is necessary for the researcher to avoid suggesting to respondents that he or she
would value certain answers over others. Using a self-administered survey reduces social
desirability since the chance of respondents being identified is reduced.
4.2.6.2 Reliability
According to Guppy and Gary (2008), the environment for filling out the survey
questionnaire should be quiet. Therefore, the teachers were given the opportunity to complete the
questionnaire at home in order to reduce casual interruptions and improve reliability.
Another way to increase the reliability of survey questionnaires is to use clear words and
reduce the length of the sentences used in it. The pilot study among the teachers generated
feedback on the survey, which ensured the clarity of wordings and thorough coverage of the
concepts. This measure reduced as much as possible the measurement errors in the survey
questionnaire itself.
59
4.2.7 Instruments for the Second Research Stage
The second research stage was intended to create a transformational school leadership
questionnaire. There were a total of 46 items in the newly formulated Chinese transformational
school leadership survey, among which 18 items were borrowed from Leithwood’s ( 2012)
leadership survey. In total, 28 items were generated based on the results of key words identified by
the content analysis. The 18 items in the leadership questionnaire in Leithwood’s (2012) research
could be categorized into four dimensions in the newly formulated transformational school
leadership questionnaire. These questions are as follows: setting direction (items 7, 25, 26, 28);
developing people (items 13, 15, 40, 41, 44); redesigning the organization (items 1, 18, 20, 31);
managing the instructional program (items 8, 19, 24, 29, 30).
These items were randomly placed in the survey questionnaire in order to ensure its
validity and reliability. Among the newly generated items, only those items that differed from the
items on Leithwood 's(2012) leadership questionnaire were retained for the new transformational
school leadership questionnaire. These new items were categorized with corresponding
dimensions on Leithwood’s (2012) questionnaire on the basis of the meaning of the new items. All
the items in Leithwood’s (2012) questionnaire were used in the new transformational school
leadership questionnaire for subsequent principal component analysis because Leithwood's (2012)
questionnaire has been validated in a Western cultural context.
The table below (Table 4.4) describes the composition of the new transformational school
leadership survey, which included items from Leithwood's (2012) questionnaire. Among them,
Setting Direction included items 7, 25, 26, 28; Developing People included items 13, 15, 40, 41,
44; Redesigning the Organization consisted of items 1, 8, 20, 31; Managing Instructional Program
included items 8, 19,24, 29, 30.
The newly created items were as follows:
Setting direction: Items 2, 6, 16, 21, 32, 33, 34, 35;
Developing People: Items 9, 12, 22, 37, 38, 39, 43;
Redesigning Organization: Items 3, 4, 10, 11, 14, 23, 27, 36;
Managing Instructional Program: Items 5, 17, 42, 45, 46.
60
Table 4.4
The Distribution of Items in the Transformational School Leadership Survey Item from Leithwood’s
survey Newly generated item Identified word
that was the basis for newly generated item
Setting direction
7. Provides useful assistance to us in setting short term goals for teaching and learning.
2. Expects us to improve our professional level constantly.
Professional level
25. Gives us a sense of overall purpose.
6. Helps us to understand the school development strategy.
Understand
26. Helps clarify the reasons for our school’s improvement initiatives.
16. Evaluates our work progress based on school goals.
Evaluate
28. Demonstrates high expectations for our work with students.
21. Encourages us to reflect on our teaching.
Reflect
32. Engages us in the process of the formulation of school development plan.
School development plan
33. Expects students to achieve good marks.
Good marks
34. Explains the school development goals through school staff conference.
Explain
35. Strives to achieve consistent understanding of the school goals among teachers.
Consistent
61
Table 4.4 (Continued) The Distribution of Items in the Transformational School Leadership Survey Item from Leithwood’s
survey Newly generated item
Identified word that was the basis for newly generated item
Developing People
13. Models a high level of professional practice.
9. Organizes teaching contest to encourage us to improve teaching abilities.
Teaching contest
15. Promotes leadership development among teachers.
12. Provides good conditions for the development of young teachers.
Development of young teachers
40. Gives us individual support to help us improve our teaching practices.
22. Broadens our horizon by inviting education experts to give lectures in school.
Education expert
41. Encourages us to consider new ideas for our teaching.
37. Encourages us to participate in academic activities to improve our standards of teaching.
Academic activities
44. Develops an atmosphere of caring and trust.
38. Provides us with a variety of training opportunities to improve the teaching quality.
Training
39. Provides us with a variety of opportunities to visit successful schools.
Visit successful schools
43. Helps us to be unique teachers according to our different characteristics.
Unique teachers
62
Item from Leithwood’s survey
Newly generated item Identified word that was the basis for newly generated item
Redesigning organization
1. Encourages collaborative work among us.
3. Promotes communication among teachers.
Communication
18. Is effective in building community support for the school’s improvement efforts.
4. Respects teachers’ professional skills and expertise.
Respect
20. Ensures wide participation in decisions about school improvement.
10. Gives us more autonomy in school management.
Autonomy
31. Engages parents in the school’s improvement efforts.
11. Committed to establishing a good campus culture.
Campus culture Existence
14. Concerned about our existence, such as work stress, living conditions, etc.
23. Provides us with the opportunity to participate in school management decisions through a variety of forms, such as Representative Assembly, etc.
Representative Assembly
27. Encourages us to attend the activities of the teaching and research group.
Teaching and research group
36. Promotes collective preparation of teaching.
Collective preparation
Table 4.4
(Continued) The Distribution of Items in the Transformational School Leadership Survey
63
Table 4.4
(Continued) The Distribution of Items in the Transformational School Leadership Survey Item from
Leithwood’s survey
Newly generated item Identified word that was the basis for newly generated item
Managing Instructional Program
8. Buffers us from distractions to our instruction.
5. Provides good living conditions through improving logistics.
Logistics
19. Frequently discusses educational issues with us.
17. Establishes a competitive appointment system to encourage us to improve teaching.
Competitive appointment system
24. After observing classroom activities, works with teachers to improve their teaching.
42. Reasonably arranges human resources in the school.
Human resource
29. Provides or locates resources to help staff improve their teaching.
45. Strengthens school security, ensuring the smooth progress of teaching.
School security
30. Regularly observes classroom activities.
46. Establishes an evaluation system to ensure the smooth progress of teaching.
Evaluation system
This newly formulated 46 item questionnaire was ready for principal component analysis in
Section 4.3 to develop a formal Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire.
4.3 Formulating the Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire Using Principal Component Analysis
Principal component analysis was used to explore the factors that explain the leadership
dimensions in the Chinese context. "Principal components analysis" is the most widely used
method for "analyzing the total variance and attempts to explain the maximum variance by the
minimum number of underlying factors"( Hinton, Brownlow, McMurray, &Cozens, 2004,
p.340).The purpose of principal component analysis is to identify a new theoretical framework.
SPSS 17 was employed in this stage.
64
4.3.1 Sampling in the Second Research Stage
Six schools were randomly chosen from the remaining 12 sample schools for data
collection in this stage. 40% of teachers in each sample school were invited to be part of this
study, which constituted about 215 teachers in total.
4.3.1.1 Sample Characteristics in the Second Stage
To be representative means to provide a close approximation of certain characteristics of
the target group (Singleton & Straits, 1998). Female and male teachers made up 71.4% and 28.6%
of the total teacher population in Shenyang city respectively. Among the teachers in the sample
schools, 33% percent of teachers were senior teachers and 36.2% percent of teachers were first
class teachers. Second class teachers and third class teachers made up 27% and 1% respectively of
the teacher population.
Teachers’ answers were evaluated based on the following criteria before the formal data
analysis began. First, the profile information of teachers needed to be complete. Then,
questionnaires with strong bias, such as those that were consistently negative or positive on certain
answers, were excluded. Finally, the questionnaires with incomplete answers were removed with
the aim to ensure the validity and reliability of the data. The following table describes the basic
situation of teachers in Shenyang city.
Table 4.5 Sample Characteristics in the Second Research Stage Teacher Population Sample Characteristics Characteristics in Stage 2 Sex Male
28.60%
27.50%
Female
71.40%
72.50% Current position Third grade 0.90% 1% Second grade 29.1%
27.00%
First grade 35%
36.20% Senior 32%
33.00%
No 3% 2.80% Years of working experience 1-2 years 3.50% 4.90% 3-5 years 4.10%
4.40%
6-10 years 28%
31.90% 11-15years 38.50%
35.80%
16-19 years 16.90%
15.20%
65
Table 4.6
The Characteristics of Sample Schools and the Number of Returned Questionnaires in the Second Stage
Total
teachers 40%
Teachers Returned Return
rate Valid Valid rate
Sample school One 85 34 34 100% 32 94.10% Sample school Two 195 78 78 100% 72 92.30% Sample school Three 70 28 28 100% 27 96.40% Sample school Four 105 42 42 100% 40 95.20% Sample school Five 82 33 33 100% 33 100% Total 537 215 215 204
Table 4.5
(Continued) Sample Characteristics in the Second Research Stage 20+ years 9% 7.80% Years in the same school 1-2 years 6.80% 7.80% 3-5 years
7.00%
7.40%
6-10 years 33.10%
33.80% 11-15 years 36.70%
35.30%
16-19 years 11.10%
10.80% 20+ years 5.30% 4.90% Highest academic degree High school 1.7% 1.50% College
1.7%
1.50%
Bachelor
82.1%
83.80% Master
14.5%
13.20%
Grade teacher taught Junior
38%
39.70%
Intermediate 33.20%
32.40% Senior
28.80%
27.90%
Age less than 25 4.60%
2.90%
25-29 10.30%
11.30% 30-34 31.80%
32.40%
35-39 35.40%
34.30% 40-44 14.30%
15.10%
45-49 2.00%
2.50% 50+ 1.60% 1.50%
66
4.3.2 Scale Construction
The newly formulated Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire was
delivered to different respondents in order to test its validity and reliability. This procedure was
completed using principal component analysis to ensure construct validity and using item analysis
to ensure reliability. The total sample size for this research stage was 204 teachers. The sample
size needed to be at least 100 to meet the sample size requirements for factor analysis (Hair et al.,
1998).
A principal component analysis was conducted using varimax rotation. Principal
component analysis was used to determine the structure of the transformational leadership
questionnaire. There were 46 items in each questionnaire and 29 items were retained after
principal component analysis. The main analysis method was principal component analysis with
varimax rotation because varimax rotation can reduce the complexity of the components by
making the large loadings larger and the small loadings smaller within each component.
4.3.3 The Process of Principal Component Analysis
Before conducting principal component analysis, Bartlett’s Test was conducted to check
the feasibility of carrying it out. The result of Bartlett’s Test was significant(P<.05), and the KMO
result was 0.962, which means it was viable to perform principal component analysis. The
value(0.962) of KMO result means the factors derived could describe quite an amount of variance
and that survey items have relatively high correlation coefficient. In general, 0.5 to 0.7 is an
average KMO range, values between 0.7 and 0.8 are good, values between 0.8 and 0.9, however,
are excellent, with values beyond 0.9 being superior (Hutcheson & Sofroniou, 1999).
Table 4.7
KMO and Bartlett's Test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy
0.96
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity
Approx. Chi-Square 8140.47
df 1035 Sig. .000
67
Among 46 items in the original transformational school leadership questionnaire, four factors
explained 69.32% of the total variance and only four Eigen values were above one, so four factors
remained for later analysis. In total, 29 items were extracted for the composition of the formal
transformational school leadership questionnaire, among which there were 8 items each related to
the first, second, and third factors, and the remaining 5 items were related to the fourth factor. The
reason for choosing 8 items from the first three dimensions was to make the new questionnaire
manageable. The loadings of these items on the four factors are shown below (Table 4.8):
68
Table 4.8
Factor Loading on Transformational Leadership Items 1 2 3 4 Q25 0.715 Q26 0.697 Q7 0.655 Q28 0.651 Q6 0.641 Q16 0.64 Q33 0.626 Q2 0.624 Q9 0.618 Q24 0.615 Q19 0.598 Q8 0.59 Q17 0.584 Q12 0.569 Q4 0.562 Q5 0.545 Q13 0.526 Q15 0.503 Q10 0.459 Q40 0.751 Q41 0.743 Q44 0.718 Q39 0.717 Q38 0.707 Q43 0.662 Q37 0.628 Q22 0.619 Q32 0.609 Q20 0.591 Q34 0.578 Q35 0.553 Q21 0.489 Q23 0.42 Q1 0.711 Q31 0.682 Q18 0.674 Q11 0.671 Q27 0.654 Q36 0.651 Q3 0.56 Q14 0.548 Q45 0.663 Q46 0.619 Q30 0.604 Q42 0.603 Q29 0.583
69
Table 4.9
The Mean and Standard Deviation of Items in the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire No. Survey Item Mean
Std. Deviation
1 Encourages collaborative work among us. 4.23 1.041 2 Expects us to improve our professional level constantly. 3.82 1.068 3 Promotes communication among teachers. 4.05 1.135 4 Respects teachers’ professional skills and expertise. 4.02 1.092 5 Provides good living conditions through improving logistics. 4.03 0.979 6 Helps us to understand the school development strategy. 3.91 1.001 7 Provides useful assistance to us in setting short term goals for teaching and learning. 3.69 1.082 8 Buffers us from distractions to our instruction. 3.99 1.06 9 Organizes teaching contests to encourage us to improve teaching abilities. 3.96 1.036 10 Gives us more autonomy in school management. 4.08 0.944 11 Committed to establishing a good campus culture. 4.01 1.132 12 Provides good conditions for the development of young teachers. 3.85 1.178 13 Models a high level of professional practice. 4.03 1.022 14 Concerned about our existence, such as work stress, living conditions, etc. 4.31 0.952 15 Promotes leadership development among teachers. 3.79 1.136 16 Evaluates our work progress based on school goals. 4.22 0.939 17 Establishes a competitive appointment system to encourage us to improve teaching. 3.95 1.042 18 Is effective in building community support for the school’s improvement efforts. 4.13 0.979 19 Frequently discusses educational issues with us. 3.8 1.048 20 Ensures wide participation in decisions about school improvement. 4.23 1.026 21 Encourages us to reflect on our teaching. 4.12 1.02 22 Broadens our horizon by inviting education experts to give lectures in school. 4.2 0.958 23 Provides us with the opportunity to participate in school management decisions
through a variety of forms, such as Representative Assembly, etc. 4.01 1.012 24 After observing classroom activities, works with teachers to improve their teaching. 3.74 1.078 25 Gives us a sense of overall purpose. 4.06 1.058 26 Helps clarify the reasons for our school’s improvement initiatives. 4.03 1.062 27 Encourages us to attend the activities of the teaching and research
group. 3.84 1.062 28 Demonstrates high expectations for our work with students. 3.99 1.036 29 Provides or locates resources to help us improve our teaching. 4.2 0.942 30 Regularly observes classroom activities. 4.04 1.057 31 Engages parents in the school’s improvement efforts. 4.34 0.967 32 Engages us in the process of the formulation of school development plan. 4.38 0.926 33 Expects students to achieve good marks. 4.13 0.956 34 Explains the school development goals through school staff conference. 4.21 0.961 35 Strives to achieve consistent understanding of the school goals among teachers. 4.26 0.909
70
Table 4.9
(Continued) The Mean and Standard Deviation of Items in the Questionnaire of Transformational Leadership Item Survey Item Mean Std. Deviation Number 36 Promotes collective preparation of teaching. 4.09 1.13 37 Encourages us to participate in the academic activities to improve our
standards of teaching. 4.23 0.916
38 Provides us with a variety of training opportunities to improve the teaching quality. 4.46 0.832
39 Provides us with a variety of opportunities to visit successful schools. 4.4 0.939 40 Gives us individual support to help us improve our teaching practices. 4.35 0.884 41 Encourages us to consider new ideas for our teaching. 4.39 0.932 42 Reasonably arranges human resources in the school. 4.14 0.954 43 Helps us to be unique teachers according to our different characteristics. 4.34 0.877 44 Develops an atmosphere of caring and trust. 4.26 0.893 45 Strengthens school security, ensuring the smooth progress of teaching. 4.31 0.892 46 Establishes an evaluation system to ensure the smooth progress of
teaching. 4.23
0.961
To what extent do teachers in Shenyang upper secondary schools perceive that their school
principals are engaging in transformational school leadership? Each survey item asked teachers to evaluate
the extent to which their school principals were engaging in transformational school leadership. Table 4.9
above summarizes the responses to these questions.
Teachers in Shenyang urban upper secondary schools agreed fairly strongly that their school
principals were engaging in transformational school leadership. The mean of individual leadership
behaviour ranged from 3.66 to 4.46. 34 out of 46 items were above 4.00, while the standard deviation was
high, ranging from 0.832 to 1.13. The relatively high standard deviation shows the divergent views of
teachers on principals’ transformational school leadership behaviour and also reflects the diverse
background of teachers.
The highest mean was on item 38, “Provides a variety of training opportunities to improve the
teaching quality”, and the lowest mean was reported on item 7, “Provides useful assistance to us in setting
short term goals for teaching and learning”.
The results indicated that teachers in Shenyang urban upper secondary schools believed their
principals were exerting transformational leadership during the school change process.
71
Table 4.10
Survey Items in the Formal Chinese Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire Item number Survey Items Setting Direction
Q25 Gives us a sense of overall purpose. Q26 Helps clarify the reasons for our school’s improvement initiatives. Q7 Provides useful assistance to us in setting short term goals for teaching and learning. Q28 Demonstrates high expectations for our work with students. Q6 Helps us to understand the school development strategy. Q16 Evaluates our work progress based on school goals. Q33 Expects student to achieve good marks. Q2 Expects us to improve our professional level constantly. Developing People Q40 Gives us individual support to help us improve our teaching practices. Q41 Encourages us to consider new ideas for our teaching. Q44 Develops an atmosphere of caring and trust. Q39 Provides us with a variety of opportunities to visit successful schools. Q38 Provides us with a variety of training opportunities to improve the teaching quality. Q43 Helps us to be unique teachers according to our different characteristics. Q37 Encourages us to participate in the academic activities to improve our standards of
teaching. Q22 Broadens our horizon by inviting education experts to give lectures in school. Redesigning Organization Q1 Encourages collaborative work among us. Q31 Engages parents in the school’s improvement efforts. Q18 Is effective in building community support for the school’s improvement efforts. Q11 Committed to establishing a good campus culture. Q27 Encourages us to attend the activities of the teaching a
group.
Q36 Promotes collective preparation of class. Q3 Promotes communication among teachers. Q14 Concerned about our existence, such as work stress, living conditions, etc. Managing Instructional Program Q45 Strengthens school security, ensuring the smooth progress of teaching. Q46 Establishes an evaluation system to ensure the smooth progress of teaching. Q30 Regularly observes classroom activities. Q42 Reasonably arranges human resources in the school. Q29 Provides or locates resources to help us improve our teaching.
72
The formal Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire is as follows:
Table 4.11 gives the detailed information regarding the shared leadership practices across cultures.
Table 4.11
Shared Leadership Practices in the Leithwood(2012) Questionnaire and Newly Formulated Chinese Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire
1 Gives us a sense of overall purpose. 2 Helps clarify the reasons for our school’s improvement initiatives. 3 Gives us individual support to help us improve our teaching practices. 4 Encourages us to consider new ideas for our teaching. 5 Encourages collaborative work among us. 6 Engages parents in the school improvement efforts. 7 Provides or locates resources to help us improve our teaching. 8 Reasonably arranges human resources in the school. 9 Provides useful assistance to us in setting short term goals for teaching and learning.
10 Demonstrates high expectations for our work with students. 11 Develops an atmosphere of caring and trust. 12 Provides us with a variety of opportunities to visit successful schools. 13 Is effective in building community support for the school’s improvement efforts. 14 Committed to establishing a good campus culture. 15 Helps us to understand the school development strategy. 16 Evaluates our work progress based on school goals. 17 Provides us with a variety of training opportunities to improve the teaching quality.
18 Helps us to be unique teachers according to our different characteristics. 19 Encourages us to attend the activities of the teaching and research group. 20 Promotes collective preparation of class. 21 Regularly observes classroom activities. 22 Establishes an evaluation system to ensure the smooth progress of teaching. 23 Expects student to achieve good marks. 24 Expects us to improve our professional level constantly. 25 Encourages us to participate in the academic activities to improve our standards of teaching. 26 Broadens our horizon by inviting education expert to give lectures in school. 27 Promotes the communication among teachers. 28 Concerned about our existence, such as work stress, living conditions, etc. 29 Strengthens school security, ensuring the smooth progress of teaching.
Setting direction 1,2,9,10
Developing People 3,4,11
Redesigning organization 5,6,13
Managing Instructional program 7,21
73
4.4 Shared Transformational School Leadership Practices between Leithwood(2012) Questionnaire and Newly Formulated Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire
The Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire formulated for this study has
the following items in common with Leithwood’s(2012) leadership questionnaire formulated in
the Canadian context:
1 Gives us a sense of overall purpose. 2 Helps clarify the reasons for our school’s improvement initiatives. 3 Gives us individual support to our teaching activities. 4 Encourages us to consider new ideas for our teaching. 5 Encourages collaborative works among teachers. 6 Engages parents in the school’s improvement efforts. 7 Provides or locates resources to help us improve our teaching. 9 Provides useful assistance to us in setting short term goals for teaching and learning.
10 Demonstrates high expectations for our work with students. 11 Develops an atmosphere of caring and trust. 13 Is effective in building community support for the school’s improvement efforts. 21 Regularly observes classroom activities.
Apart from the survey items shared by the Canadian and Chinese transformational school
leadership questionnaires, there are also items on the Chinese questionnaire that are unique to the
Chinese cultural context. These transformational leadership practices are as follows:
8 Reasonably arranges human resources in the school. 12 Provides us with a variety of opportunities to visit successful schools. 14 Committed to establishing a good campus culture. 15 Helps us to understand the school development strategy. 16 Evaluates our work progress based on school goals. 17 Provides us with a variety of training opportunities to improve the teaching quality. 18 Helps us to be unique teachers according to our different characteristics. 19 Encourages us to attend the activities of the teaching and research group. 20 Promotes collective preparation of class. 22 Establishes an evaluation system to ensure the smooth progress of teaching. 23 Expects students to achieve good marks. 24 Expects us to improve our professional level constantly. 25 Encourages us to participate in the academic activities to improve our standards of teaching. 26 Broadens our horizons by inviting education expert to give lectures in school. 27 Promotes the communication among teachers. 28 Concerned about our existence, such as work stress, living conditions, etc. 29 Strengthens school security, ensuring the smooth progress of teaching.
Social culture has an important influence on education administration (Hallinger &
Leithwood, 1996), which implies that school leadership is also socially embedded and influenced
74
by social culture. In addition, Hayhoe (1992, 2006) has stated that an education system is closely
connected to the local culture in addition to the influence from the political system and policies.
This echoes Hallinger & Leithwood’s statement (1996) that leadership practices are influenced by
social culture. In practice, the fact that one can find both transformational school leadership
practices that are unique to a particular culture and ones that are shared across cultures means that
leadership is a cross-cultural phenomenon and also that the forms of leadership practices change
according to different cultural contexts. The unique transformational school leadership practices in
one specific culture show there are different forms of transformational school leadership practices
although the underlying transformational school leadership theory is the same across cultures. For
example, school administrators can adopt organizational forms like teaching and research groups
in the Chinese context or grade departments in the Canadian context to realize the same
management purpose. These unique transformational school leadership practices in Chinese
schools can help the Chinese school administrators to improve management goals effectively in
the change period, and conceptually these unique leadership practices also can help scholars in
other cultures to understand Chinese management in depth and in turn to contribute to the
development of transformational school leadership theory. This finding leads to the statement that
transformational school leadership theory can work effectively in the Chinese cultural context, but
the concrete leadership practices may be either different or similar to the ones in a Western
context due to the influence of cultural values.
The shared transformational school leadership practices across cultures show the
applicability of transformational school leadership theory across cultures. For instance, the
improvement of the school and teachers’ capacity to cope with significant change in the system is
crucial and important to all school reforms in different countries. This increases the possibilities
for scholars or practitioners in different cultural contexts to learn effective leadership practices
from each other.
Above all, both the unique and shared transformational school leadership practices
identified in this research contribute to the understanding of transformational leadership theory in
depth and can guide school administrators to improve education practices effectively.
75
Summary
In the first stage of research, 1,958 words relevant to transformational school leadership
practices were identified by content analysis from the answers of 230 teachers by content analysis.
These formed the basis for formulating 28 new items for the transformational school leadership
survey in the Chinese context.
Based on the effective answers from 204 teachers in the second stage, the formal Chinese
version of the transformational school leadership questionnaire had 29 items. The research
identified 12 items (transformational school leadership practices) in the Chinese transformational
school leadership questionnaire which could be applied across cultures and 17 items
(transformational school leadership practices) were relatively unique to the Chinese school
context.
The findings are meaningful for urban Chinese upper secondary school administrators in
terms of the methods they can use to motivate teachers to be part of the school change process.
The identified effective leadership practices can be used to train school administrators in Chinese
urban upper secondary schools in order to improve the change effectiveness. A certain number of
ineffective leadership practices identified through this study can also be examples for requiring the
attention of school administrators in future school management.
As indicated above, 12 items from Leithwood’s(2012) transformational school leadership
questionnaire are valid across the cultural contexts, while other 17 newly created items are unique
to the Chinese context. It can be stated that 12 items from Leithwood’s transformational school
leadership questionnaire are more relevant to the Chinese urban upper secondary school context
than 6 other items. These 6 ineffective items in Leithwood’s (2012) survey questionnaire are as
follows:
7. Models a high level of professional practice.
9. Promotes leadership development among teachers.
11. Ensures wide participation in decisions about school improvement.
16. After classroom observations, works with teachers to improve their teaching.
17. Frequently discusses educational issues with us.
18. Buffers teachers from distractions to their instruction.
76
The inadaptability of these items to Chinese school contexts reflects certain management
issues Chinese education administrators might neglect in daily management, such as teacher
leadership development, professionalization of school principals, and teachers’ participation in the
decision making process. For example, based on the empirical data, Lee, Yin, Zhang, and
Jin(2011) stated that it is wise for administrators to involve teachers in professional decision
making processes in order to empower them in the policy implementation process. In addition,
more leadership training is required for school administrators since the data indicate that school
principals cannot effectively give good academic suggestions to teachers because some school
administrators were originally officials in education bureau instead of former teachers who had
worked in the schools for years and were promoted. The establishment of a principal certification
system would be helpful in future management. It could improve the professional knowledge of
school principals in the Chinese school context specifically with respect to their instructional
knowledge.
77
CHAPTER 5
VALIDATING THE ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE PROCESS SURVEY
This chapter details the process used to validate the organizational change process survey
including the organizational characteristics questionnaire and the teachers’ commitment to change
questionnaire, for the purpose of preparing valid scales for answering the second and third
research question in this thesis. These questions are the following: “What is the contribution of
selected teachers’ and organizational variables to teachers’ perception of principals’
transformational school leadership practices?” and “To what extent can transformational school
leadership practices in urban upper secondary school of Shenyang city explain the variation in
teachers’ commitment to change in the curriculum reform?”. The construct validity of these two
questionnaires was explored using principal component analysis, and the reliability of these two
existing questionnaires was examined using reliability analysis based on the result of Cronbach's
Alpha. In order to guarantee the clarity and coherence of the thesis, the sampling process, sample
characteristics, and the composition of the organizational characteristics questionnaire and the
teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire are explained in detail corresponding to their
description in the Chapter 3, which was mainly about method and research design.
5. 1 Sampling in the Second Research Stage 6 schools were randomly chosen from the 16 sample schools for data collection in this
stage. 40% of teachers in each sample school were invited to be part of this study, which was 215
teachers in total. Teachers in this stage filled out the 46-item initial Chinese transformational
school leadership questionnaire (Chapter 4) and the organizational change survey including the
organizational characteristics questionnaire and the teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire.
5. 2 Sample Characteristics in the Second Stage
To be representative means to provide a close approximation of certain characteristics of
the target group (Singleton &Straits, 1998). Female and male teachers made up 71.4% and 28.6%
of the total teacher population in Shenyang City respectively. Among the teachers in the sample
schools, 33% percent of teachers were senior teachers and 36.2% percent of teachers were first
78
class teachers. The second class teachers and third class teachers made up 27% and 1%
respectively of the teacher population.
The following table describes the basic situation of teachers in Shenyang City.
Table 5.1
Sample Characteristics in the Second Research Stage
Teacher
Population Sample Characteristics
Characteristics
in Stage 2
Sex Male
28.60%
27.50%
Female
71.40%
72.50% Current position Third grade
0.90%
1%
Second grade
29.1%
27.00% First grade
35%
36.20%
Senior
32%
33.00% No
3%
2.80%
Years of working experience 1-2 years
3.50%
4.90%
3-5 years
4.10%
4.40% 6-10 years
28%
31.90%
11-15 years
38.50%
35.80% 16-19 years
16.90%
15.20%
20+ years 9% 7.80% Years in the same school 1-2 years
6.80%
7.80%
3-5 years
7.00%
7.40% 6-10 years
33.10%
33.80%
11-15 years
36.70%
35.30% 16-19 years
11.10%
10.80%
20+ years
5.30%
4.90% Highest academic degree High school
1.7%
1.50%
College
1.7%
1.50% Bachelor
82.1&
83.80%
Master
14.5%
13.20%
79
Table 5.1
(Continued) Sample Characteristics in the Second Research Stage Grade teacher taught Junior
38%
39.70%
Intermediate
33.20%
32.40% Senior
28.80%
27.90%
Age less than 25 4.60% 2.90% 25-29
10.30%
11.30%
30-34
31.80%
32.40% 35-39
35.40%
34.30%
40-44
14.30%
15.10% 45-49
2.00%
2.50%
50+ 1.60% 1.50% 5.3 Instruments for the Second Research Stage
The second research stage was intended to validate the organization change survey and
examine its reliability.
The research instrument consisted of an organizational change process survey (including
an organizational characteristics questionnaire and a teachers’ commitment to change
questionnaire).
The teachers’ survey regarding organization characteristics and teachers’ commitment to
change was designed and developed by Leithwood, Dart, Jantzi, & Steinbach (1993). It included
two sections. Section A consists of 18 items for measuring school conditions and was entitled the
“Organizational Characteristics Questionnaire", and Section B consisted of 34 items measuring the
construct of teachers’ commitment to change and was entitled the “Teachers’ Commitment to
Change Questionnaire". The categorization of items in the “Organization Characteristics
Questionnaire” was as follows: Culture (items 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15, 17, 18); Strategy (items 1, 7, 11);
Structure (items 3, 9, 12, 14); Environment (items 5, 13, 16). The categorization of items in the
“Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire" was as follows: Personal Goals (items 1, 2, 7,
18, 25, 26, 27, 31, 32, 33); Capacity Beliefs (items 11, 13, 15, 28); Context Beliefs (items 4, 5, 8,
9, 10, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24); Emotional Arousal (items 3, 6, 12, 14, 16, 29, 30, 34).
80
Table 5.2
The Distribution of Items in the School Change Process Survey
Item Number
Survey Item
Culture 2 Most of my department colleagues share similar values, beliefs
and attitudes related to teaching and learning.
4 Frequent sharing of expertise among colleagues contributes to
continual improvement of instruction within this school. 6 Teachers in this school are willing to help their colleagues. 8 Our staff tends to agree about how our school functions.
10 In this school we often challenge one another’ beliefs about
education(e.g., about teaching, learning, school work). 15 Teachers here are not afraid to ask for help when they need it.
17 Our discussions about implementing new programs include consideration not just of “ how” to implement but also “why” we might move in a particular direction.
18 Written or taped records of what we learn from implementing new practices are kept as a resource for further implementation efforts by ourselves or our colleagues.
Strategy 1 Our school goals and priorities are intended to encourage continuous
improvement of our programs and instruction.
7 We are encouraged to develop action plans for improving our own
programs. 11 Professional development is given a high priority within our school.
Structure 3 Decision-making in our school usually allows for significant
participation by teachers as well as administrators.
9 Extensive staff participation in school-wide matters (e.g., councils,
committees) helps to reduce overload for individuals.
12 Leadership is distributed broadly among the staff with teachers taking
responsibility for various functions within our school.
14 All staff members have an opportunity to be involved in making
decisions that affect their work.
Environment
5 We have reduced the potential for confusion and excessive demands from the new policy by setting school goals that focus our effects on manageable changes.
13 We work toward consensus in determining which initiatives we can
reasonably implement.
16 Our school usually strikes the right balance between attempting too
much and too little change.
81
Table 5.3
The Distribution of Items in the Teachers’ Commitment to Change Survey Item
number Survey Item
Personal Goals
1 Goals for the new programs are compatible with my own goals for my work.
2 Implementing the new programs requires making significant changes in how I go about doing my work.
7 I expect to have opportunities to acquire more concrete knowledge about how to implement new initiatives in my school and classroom.
18 We regularly review and clarify our school goals as part of an ongoing goal-setting process.
25 My repertoire of teaching strategies is expanding to help implement new programs.
26 I am /was actively involved in setting school goals and priorities for the new initiatives.
27 I know the immediate next steps I need to take toward implementing new programs in my school and classroom.
31 I am developing a clear understanding of the implications of new programs for my school and classroom.
32 Implementing new programs is difficult but possible. 33 I am committed to implementing new programs. Capacity Beliefs
11 Strong encouragement from colleagues and administrators whose expertise I respect enhances my confidence for implementing the new policy.
13 My initial efforts to implement new programs have encouraged me to continue with further implementation efforts.
15 I sometimes learn new strategies by observing what colleagues do in their work.
28 Frequent and stimulating interactions with my teaching colleagues provide encouragement to implement new initiatives.
Context Beliefs
4 The policies and regulations of our school facilitate implementation of new initiatives.
5 I have adequate release time for planning and/or professional development related to new initiatives.
8 Relationships between our staff and school administrators are supportive and trusting.
9 I have adequate opportunities for assistance from professional staff with expertise related to new programs.
10 Our timetables/schedules facilitate accomplishment of new goals. 17 I have access to appropriate support personnel (e.g., aids, substitutes)
for implementation of new initiatives.
82
Table 5.3
(Continued) The Distribution of Items in the Teachers’ Commitment to Change Survey 19 Teacher evaluation/supervision practices encourage us to implement new
initiatives. 20 The resources (e.g., texts, curriculum materials, teaching aids)
in this school are adequate for implementing new initiatives. 21 My colleagues and I always support and encourage each other. 22 I have a lot of autonomy in making decisions about my own work. 23 The school administrators respect the expertise of teachers. 24 I generally can decide how to do my work without disruptive
interference from colleagues or administrators.
Emotional Arousal
3
My colleagues and I like to celebrate our accomplishment of goals related to our work.
6 Most of my students’ parents/guardians support the things I do. 12 The school administrators recognize the good teaching I do. 14 Other teachers in my school recognize my teaching competence. 16 I enjoy the challenge of being an educator. 29 My students show that they appreciate me. 30 I enjoy implementing new programs or teaching strategies. 34 I enjoy my job.
5.4 Response Rate in the Second Research Stage
In total, 215 teachers in five urban upper secondary schools filled out the newly formulated
transformational school leadership survey and organizational change process survey. This was 40%
of the sample population. The response rate was 100% due to the clear explanation of the research
purpose to the teachers, which ensured the validity of this study.
The following table shows the response rates in these five schools.
Table 5.4
The Characteristics of Sample Schools and the Number of Returned Questionnaires in the Second Stage
Total
teachers 40%
Teachers Returned Return rate Valid Valid rate
Sample school One 85 34 34 100% 32 94.10% Sample school Two 195 78 78 100% 72 92.30% Sample school Three 70 28 28 100% 27 96.40% Sample school Four 105 42 42 100% 40 95.20% Sample school Five 82 33 33 100% 33 100% Total 537 215 215 204
Teachers’ answers were evaluated based on the following criteria before the formal data analysis
began. First, the profile information of teachers needed to be complete. Then, questionnaires with
strong bias, such as those that were consistently negative or positive on certain answers, were
83
excluded. Finally, the questionnaires with incomplete answers were removed with the aim to
ensure the validity and reliability of the data.
5.5 The Construct Validity of the Variables in the Organization Characteristics and Teacher’ Commitment to Change Questionnaires
5.5.1 The Construct Validity of the Variables in the Organization Characteristics Questionnaire
Construct validity is the ability to capture the meaning of the concept (Singleton & Straits,
1998). Principal component analysis is mainly used to provide information regarding the
relationship between items and latent variables. Tabachink and Fidell (2000), quoting Comrey and
Lee’s (1992) recommendations, stated that loadings in excess of .71 (50% overlapping variance)
are considered excellent, .63 (40% overlapping variance) very good, .55 (30% overlapping
variance) good, .45 (20% overlapping variance) fair, and .32 (10% overlapping variance) poor.
The teachers’ survey regarding organization characteristics and teachers’ commitment to
change was designed and developed by Leithwood, Dart, Jantzi, and Steinbach (1993). It included
two sections: Section A consists of 18 items for measuring school conditions, entitled the
“Organizational Characteristics Questionnaire" and Section B consists of 34 items measuring the
construct of teachers’ commitment to change, entitled the “Teachers’ Commitment to Change
Questionnaire". The categorization of items in the “Organization Characteristics Questionnaire”
was as follows: Culture (items 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15, 17, 18); Strategy (items 1, 7, 11); Structure (items
3, 9, 12, 14); Environment (items 5, 13, 16).
Research results showed the construct validity of variables in the organization
characteristics questionnaire was good.
The validity of culture: There were eight survey items (items 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15, 17, 18)
measuring the variable of culture. One factor was extracted and this factor explained 59.5% of the
total variance. The loadings of these variables ranged from 0.466 to 0.860, which indicates the
variable of culture had good construct validity. This result indicates that the meaning of culture
could be sufficiently explained by these eight survey items. For example, one aspect of cultural
values, being supportive, could be clearly explained by item 6 (Teachers in this school are willing
to help their colleagues).
84
Table 5.5
Factor Loading of Items in Organization Characteristics Survey
The validity of strategy: Three items (items 1, 7, and 11) evaluated the variable of strategy.
One factor was extracted, and this factor explained 38.68% of the total variance. The loadings of
these variables ranged from 0.503 to 0.678, which ensured good construct validity of the variable.
Culture
Factor Loading
6 Teachers in this school are willing to help their colleagues. 0.86
2 Most of my department colleagues share similar values, beliefs and attitudes related to teaching and learning. 0.827
15 Teachers here are not afraid to ask for help when they need it. 0.826
10 In this school we often challenge one another’ beliefs about education (e.g., about 0.822 teaching, learning, school work).
17 Our discussions about implementing new programs include consideration not just of “ how” to implement but also “why” we might move in particular direction. 0.812
8 Teachers in this school are willing to help their colleagues. 0.759
18 Written or taped records of what we learn from implementing new practices are kept as a resource. 0.717
4 Frequent sharing of expertise among colleague contributes to of continual improvement instruction within this school.
0.466
Strategy 11
Professional development is given a high priority within our school. 0.678
7 We are encouraged to develop action plans for improving our own programs.
0.669
1 Our school goals and priorities are intended to encourage. continuous improvement of our programs and instruction.
0.503
Structure 14 All staff members have an opportunity to be involved in making decisions that affect
their work. 0.847
3 Decision-making in our school usually allows for significant participation by teachers as well as administrators. 0.825
12 Leadership is distributed broadly among the staff with teachers taking responsibility for various functions within our school. 0.692
9 Extensive staff participation in school-wide matters (e.g., councils, committees) helps to reduce overload for individuals. 0.54
Environment 16 Our school usually strikes the right balance between attempting too
much and too little change. 0.876
5 We have reduced the potential for confusion and excessive demands from the new policy by setting school goals that focus our effects on manageable changes.
0.842
13 We work toward consensus in determining which initiatives we can reasonably implement.
0.608
85
The result indicates that the meaning of “strategy” schools used in change process could be
represented by these three items, which covered issues in school change including teacher
professional development, establishment of school goals, and development of an action plan.
The validity of structure: Variable of “Structure” had four items, 3, 9, 12, and 14. One
factor was extracted, and this factor explained 54.23% of the total variance. The loadings of these
variables ranged from 0.540 to 0.847. The relatively high construct validity showed that three of
the four items could stand for the essential meaning of structure, which included the opportunity to
participate in decision making processes and distributing leadership among teachers.
The validity of environment: Three items, 5, 13 and 16, measured the variable of
environment. One factor was extracted, and it explained 61.51% of the total variance. The
loadings of the three items on this factor ranged from 0.608 to 0.876. This result showed that the
variable of environment had relatively good construct validity, and these three items could explain
the essential meaning of environment, including focusing on a small number of priorities and
providing sufficient support to teachers.
5.5.2 The Construct Validity of the Variables in the Teachers’ Commitment to Change Survey
The categorization of items in the “Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire" was
as follows: Personal Goals (items 1, 2, 7, 18, 25, 26, 27, 31, 32, 33); Capacity Beliefs (items 11,
13, 15, 28); Context Beliefs (items 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24); Emotional Arousal
(items 3, 6, 12, 14, 16, 29, 30, 34).
Personal goals included items 1, 2, 7, 18, 25, 26, 27, 31, 32, and 33. Regarding the
construct validity of this variable, these ten items concentrated on one variable, and 53.437% of
the total variance was explained by this factor. The factor loadings of these variables ranged from
0.295 to 0.920. Except for the loading of item 1, that was 0.295, all other loadings were good. This
result indicates that, except for item 1, other items in the personal goals category can represent the
meaning of this variable. Personal goals mean the desired future states (aspirations, needs, wants)
that have been internalized by an individual. Goals need to be nearly described, to be different
from the current status, and to be achievable, and the goal setting process also needs to be
incremental.
Capacity beliefs had four items consisting of items 11, 13, 15, and 28. The four items in
the dimension of capacity beliefs concentrated on one single variable, which explained 61.852%
86
of the total variance. The factor loadings of these items ranged from 0.734 to 0.834. Capacity
beliefs means people’s beliefs in their capability, which can be influenced by four factors
including past experience, encouragement from colleagues, observation of others’ successful
experience, and positive interaction with colleagues. This confirms the literature about the factors
that can affect teachers’ capacity beliefs.
Twelve items measured the variable of context beliefs, including items 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 17,
19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24. One factor was extracted, and this factor could explain 57.344% of the
total variance. The factor loadings of these items ranged from 0.696 to 0.814. These 12 items
could sufficiently explain the meaning of context beliefs such as supports from school like timing
and material supports.
Emotional arousal had eight items consisting of items 3, 6, 12, 14, 16, 29, 30, and 34. One
factor was extracted, and this factor explained 59.683% of the total variance. The factor loading of
these items ranged from 0.683 to 0.809. These items could represent the meaning of emotional
arousal in this research, which is that emotions are relatively strong feelings that are often
accompanied by some physical reaction (like a faster pulse rate) – such as satisfaction, happiness,
love, and fear (Leithwood et al, 1999).
Table 5.6 Factor Loading of Items in Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire
Personal Goals
Factor Loading
31 I am developing a clear understanding of the implications of new programs for my school and classroom.
0.92
27 I know the immediate next steps I need to take toward implementing new programs in my school and classroom.
0.87
32 Implementing new program is difficult but possible.
0.821 25 My repertoire of teaching strategies is expanding to help implement new
programs.
0.796 7 I expect to have opportunities to acquire more concrete knowledge about
how to implement new initiatives in my school and classroom.
0.741 26 I am /was actively involved in setting school goals and priorities for the new
initiatives.
0.74 18 We regularly review and clarify our school goals as part of an ongoing goal-
setting process.
0.659 2 Implementing the new programs requires making significant changes in how I
go about doing my work.
0.639
87
Table 5.6 (Continued) Factor Loading of Items in Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire 33 I am committed to implementing new programs.
0.637
1 Goals for the new programs are compatible with my own goals for my work.
0.295 Capacity Beliefs
13 My initial efforts to implement new programs have encouraged me to continue with further implementation efforts.
0.834
11 Strong encouragement from colleagues and administrators whose expertise I respect enhances my confidence for implementing the new policy.
0.825
15 I sometimes learn new strategies by observing what colleagues do in their work.
0.747
28 Frequent and stimulating interactions with my teaching colleagues provide encouragement to implement new initiatives. 0.734
Context Beliefs 5 I have adequate release time for planning and/or professional development
related to new initiatives.
0.814 9 I have adequate opportunities for assistance from professional staff with
expertise related to new programs.
0.805 10 Our timetables/schedules facilitate accomplishment of new goals.
0.805
4 The policies and regulations of our school facilitate implementation of new initiatives.
0.793
19 Teacher evaluation/supervision practices encourage us to implement new initiatives.
0.784
8 Relationships between our staff and school administrators are supportive and trusting.
0.754
17 I have access to appropriate support personnel (e.g., aids, substitutes) for implementation of new initiatives. 0.745
20 The resources (e.g., texts, curriculum materials, teaching aids) in this school are adequate for implementing new initiatives. 0.742
24 I generally can decide how to do my work without disruptive interference from colleagues.
0.725
22 I have a lot of autonomy in making decisions about my own work.
0.715 21 My colleagues and I always support and encourage each other.
0.697
23 The school administrators respect the expertise of teachers.
0.696 Emotional Arousal
30 I enjoy implementing new programs or teaching strategies. 0.809 34 I enjoy my job.
0.8
29 My students show that they appreciate me.
0.8 14 Other teachers in my school recognize my teaching competence.
0.788
12 The school administrators recognize the good teaching I do.
0.785 6 Most of my students’ parents/guardians support the things I do.
0.767
16 I enjoy the challenge of being an educator.
0.74
3 My colleagues and I like to celebrate our accomplishment of goals related to our work. 0.683
88
5.6 Reliability of the Organization Change Process Survey
5.6.1 Reliability of the Organization Characteristics Questionnaire
Reliability is concerned with questions of stability and consistency. It generally answers
questions like whether repeated applications of the operational definition under similar conditions
yield dependable results. The important indicator of the reliability calculation is Cronbach’s
Alpha. Normally, a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.70-0.80 is considered sufficient and acceptable, 0.8-0.9
good, and more than 0.9 excellent (George & Mallery, 2003).
The categorization of items in the organization characteristics questionnaire was as
follows: Culture (items 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15, 17, 18); Strategy (items 1, 7, 11); Structure (items 3, 9,
12, 14); Environment (items 5, 13, 16).
The overall Cronbach’s Alpha for the organization characteristics questionnaire was 0.895,
which means this survey had high internal reliability. The Cronbach’s Alpha for four variables,
including culture, strategy, structure, and environment, ranged from 0.795 to 0.936.
Items 1, 4, 9, and 13 were removed from the survey due to their low correlation with the
other items and damage to the internal reliability of the survey questionnaire.
Table 5.7
Summary of Reliability for Factors in Organization Characteristics Questionnaire Factor # items Cronbach’s Alpha Factor 1. Culture 8 0. 892 2. Strategy 3 0.795 3. Structure 4 0.936 4. Environment 3 0.906
The Reliability of the Variable of Culture
In the culture variable section (Appendix 7), item 4, (Frequent sharing of expertise among
colleague contributes to continual improvement of instruction within this school), had a relatively
low correlation with the remaining items. The standard Cronbach’s Alpha for the culture variable
was 0.898. Item 4 had a low relationship with other items; therefore, item 4 needed to be deleted
before the formal survey was formulated. The squared multiple correlation was 0.181, and the
Cronbach’s Alpha increased to 0.898 from 0. 908, which means that item 4 was not suitable for
this survey questionnaire and needed to be deleted from the formal survey questionnaire. This
89
result indicated that item 4 (Frequent sharing of expertise among colleagues contributes to
continual improvement of instruction within this school) could not work together with other items
to measure the variable of culture. Item 4 was not an appropriate item to measure the variable of
culture.
The Reliability of the Variable of Strategy
For the variable of strategy (Appendix 8), item 1, (Our school goals and priorities are
intended to encourage continuous improvement of our programs and instruction), had low
correlation with the other two items. If item 1 was deleted from the survey, the Cronbach’s Alpha
would rise to 0.736, which was 0.31 points more than the overall Cronbach’s Alpha 0.705. This
result means item 1 had low internal consensus with item 7 (We are encouraged to develop action
plans for improve our own programs) and item 11 (Professional development is given a high
priority within our school). These items lacked internal consensus, which means they were not
measuring the same concept.
The Reliability of the Variable of Structure
In terms of the variable of structure (Appendix 9), item 9, (Extensive staff participation in
school-wide matters (e.g., councils, committees) helps to reduce overload for individuals) had low
correlation with other items in this section (Table 5.10). Therefore, item 9 was removed from the
formal questionnaire for next research stage. This results showed that item 9, item 12 (Leadership
is distributed broadly among the staff with teachers taking responsibility for various functions
within our school) and Item 14 had low internal consensus, and item 9 did not measure the same
concept as items 12 and 14.
The Reliability of the Variable of Environment
Item 13, (We endeavor to achieve consensus on certain issues), had low correlation with
other variables (Appendix 10). If it was deleted from the survey, the Cronbach’s Alpha would
increase to 0.839. This was above 0.707, which is the standard Cronach’s Alpha based on the
standardized items. Item 13 had low internal consensus with item 5 (We have reduced the
potential for confusion and excessive demands from the new policy by setting school goals that
focus our effects on manageable changes) and item 16 (Our school usually strikes the right
90
balance between attempting too much and too little change). Item 13 was not measuring the same
concept as items 5 and 6.
Table 5.8
The Distribution of Items in the Organization Characteristics Questionnaire
Item Number Survey Question
Culture 2 Most of my department colleagues share similar values, beliefs and
attitudes related to teaching and learning.
6 Teachers in this school are willing to help their colleagues.
8 Our staff tends to agree about how our school functions.
10 In this school we often challenge one another’s beliefs about education (e.g., about teaching, learning, school work).
15 Teachers here are not afraid to ask for help when they need it.
17 Our discussions about implementing new programs include consideration not just of “how” to implement but also “why” we might move in particular direction.
18 Written or taped records of what we learn from implementing new practices are kept as a resource for further implementation efforts by ourselves or our colleagues.
Strategy 7 We are encouraged to develop action plans for improving our own
programs.
11 Professional development is given a high priority within our
school.
3 Decision-making in our school usually allows for significant
participation by teachers as well as administrators.
Structure 12 Leadership is distributed broadly among the staff with teachers
taking responsibility for various functions within our school.
14 All staff members have an opportunity to be involved in making
decisions that affect their work.
Environment 5 We have reduced the potential for confusion and excessive
demands from the new policy by setting school goals that focus our
16 Our school usually strikes the right balance between attempting too
much and too little change.
5. 6.2 Reliability of the Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire The overall Cronbach’s Alpha for the teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire was
0.971, which is excellent according to the criteria for the reliability check. The Cronbach’s Alphas
in each subsection of this survey were 0.891 (Personal goals), 0.795 (Capacity beliefs), 0.973
(Context beliefs), and 0.905 (Emotional arousal), respectively.
91
Table 5.9
Summary of Reliability for Factors in the Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire Factor # items Cronbach’s Alpha 1. Personal goals 10 0. 892 2.Capacity beliefs 4 0.795 3.Context beliefs 12 0.936 4. Emotional arousal 8 0.906
Personal Goals embraced items 1, 2, 7, 18, 25, 26, 27, 31, 32, and 33. The standardized
Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.892. The Item 1( Goals for the new programs are compatible with my
own goals for my work) has low correlation with other variables in the survey so that it will be
deleted for the later calculations, and item 1 could not be used to measure the concept of personal
goals. 883. The Cronbach’s Alpha for this subsection ranged from 0.855 to 0.904 (Appendix 11).
The reliability in this section was excellent. Item 1 had low correlation with other variables in the
survey so that it was deleted for the later calculations.
Capacity beliefs included items 11, 13, 15, and 28. The overall Cronbach’s Alpha for this
variable was 0.787 (Appendix 12). The Cronbach’s Alpha for each item in this subsection ranged
from 0.708 to 0.771, which indicated the high internal reliability of this subsection. The items had
high internal consensus on measuring the concept of capacity beliefs, including psychological
states as self-efficacy, self-confidence, academic self-concept, and aspects of self-esteem. Three
sources can help to increase people’s perceptions of capacity or self-efficacy:(1) their actual
performance (specifically, perceptions of success perhaps formed through feedback from others);
(2) vicarious experience (often provided by role models); (3) verbal persuasion (the expressed
opinions of others about one’s abilities) (Leithwood et al,1999).
Context beliefs included items 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24. The Cronbach’s
Alpha for this section was 0.932. The Cronbach’s Alpha for individual items ranged from 0.923 to
0.928 (Appendix 13). The items for this variable had good internal reliability. They had high
internal consensus on measuring the concept of context beliefs, which refers to teachers’ beliefs
about whether their colleagues would give them sufficient support when they experimented with
the new method.
Emotional arousal included items 3, 6, 12, 14, 16, 29, 30, and 34. The Cronbach’s Alpha for
this variable was 0.905. The Cronbach’s Alpha for these items ranged from 0.888 to 0.899 (Appendix
14). This variable had good internal reliability. The items had high internal consensus on measuring
92
the concept of emotional arousal. Emotions are relatively strong feelings that are often accompanied
by some physical reaction (like a faster pulse rate) – satisfaction, happiness, love, and fear (Leithwood
et al, 1999).
Table 5.10
The Distribution of the Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire Item number Survey Item Personal
2 Implementing the new programs requires making significant changes in how Goals I go about doing my work.
7 I expect to have opportunities to acquire more concrete knowledge about how to implement new initiatives in my school and classroom.
18 We regularly review and clarify our school goals as part of an ongoing goal-setting process.
25 My repertoire of teaching strategies is expanding to help implement new programs.
26 I am /was actively involved in setting school goals and priorities for the new initiatives.
27 I know the immediate next steps I need to take toward implementing new programs in my school and classroom.
31 I am developing a clear understanding of the implications of new programs for my school and classroom.
32 Implementing new programs is difficult but possible. 33 I am committed to implementing new programs.
Capacity Beliefs
11 Strong encouragement from colleagues and administrators whose expertise I respect enhances my confidence for implementing the new policy.
13 My initial efforts to implement new programs have encouraged me to continue with further implementation efforts.
15 I sometimes learn new strategies by observing what colleagues do in their work.
28 Frequent and stimulating interactions with my teaching colleagues provide encouragement to implement new initiatives.
Context 4 The policies and regulations of our school facilitate implementation of new
Beliefs 5 I have adequate release time for planning and/or professional development
related to new initiatives. 8 Relationships between our staff and school administrators are supportive and
trusting. 9 I have adequate opportunities for assistance from professional staff with
expertise related to new programs. 10 Our timetables/schedules facilitate accomplishment of new goals.
17 I have access to appropriate support personnel (e.g., aids, substitutes) for implementation of new initiatives.
19 Teacher evaluation/supervision practices encourage us to implement new initiatives.
93
Table 5.10 (Continued) The Distribution of the Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire Context Belief
20 The resources (e.g., texts, curriculum materials, and teaching aids) in this school are adequate for implementing new initiatives.
21 My colleagues and I always support and encourage each other. 22 I have a lot of autonomy in making decisions about my own work. 23 The school administrators respect the expertise of teachers.
24 I generally can decide how to do my work without disruptive interference from colleagues or administrators.
Emotional Arousal
3 My colleagues and I like to celebrate our accomplishment of goals related to our work.
6 Most of my students’ parents/guardians support the things I do. 12 The school administrators recognize the good teaching I do.
14 Other teachers in my school recognize my teaching competence. 16 I enjoy the challenge of being an educator.
29 My students show that they appreciate me. 30 I enjoy implementing new programs or teaching strategies.
34 I enjoy my job.
5.7 Pilot Study
If a measuring instrument, such as an attitude scale or a questionnaire, needs to be
developed, the process by which this will occur, including any pre-testing and piloting of the
instrument, needs to be outlined and justified (Blaikie, 2000). The newly created transformational
school leadership survey and validated organizational change process survey were distributed to
one sample school with 125 teachers. The problems identified by the teachers in the sample school
are listed below:
1. The layout of the survey questionnaire was not convenient. This required that all the answers in
the survey be highlighted in order to improve its readability.
2. The space between different items needed to be enlarged.
3. The length of the sentences needed to be reduced.
4. The survey language needed to be adapted to the local languages.
Summary
The construct validity of the variables in the organization change process survey, including
the organization characteristics questionnaire and the teachers’ commitment to change
94
questionnaire, was good based on the result of principal component analysis conducted on each
individual variable. Items 1, 4, 9, and 13 were removed from the organization characteristics
questionnaire due to their low correlation with the other items and damage to the internal
reliability of the questionnaire. Item 1 in the teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire was
removed from this survey because of its low correlation with other items. The organization
characteristics questionnaire included 14 items after 4 items (Items 1, 4, 9, and 13) were removed
from the original questionnaire because of low correlation with other items. The teachers’
commitment to change questionnaire had 33 items with the removal of item 1 after conducting
reliability analysis was conducted.
In the organization characteristics questionnaire, item 1(Our school goals and priorities are
intended to encourage continuous improvement of our programs and instruction) was deleted due
to the fact that there were conflicts between the goal of curriculum reform and the practical
requirements from the school administrators. On the one hand, quality education was promoted in
the curriculum reform by the education authority, and on the other hand, preparation of students’
exam skills was highlighted in the school context. This confused the teachers in the upper
secondary schools. This finding implies that ensuring the clarity and focus of the goals is crucial
for school management. The ambiguity and contradiction of the goals of curriculum reform
caused confusion among teachers.
Item 4(Frequent sharing of expertise among colleague contributes to continual
improvement of instruction within this school) was not accepted, which informed the school
administrators that they should build up a more effective learning community, although other
forms of collective learning and cooperative opportunities still existed in Shenyang urban upper
secondary according to the empirical data. Little states that although there was collective
preparation for classes happening in the teaching and research groups, the teachers’ collegiality
mainly occurred at the level of sharing teaching materials (as cited in Lai, 2010, p.629). It was
only on the smaller subject panels, which lacked formal teacher development activities, that
teachers did have authentic exchange (Lai, 2010).
The deletion of item 9(Extensive staff participation in school-wide matters (e.g., councils,
committees) helps to reduce overload for individuals) and item 13(We work toward consensus in
determining which initiatives we can reasonably implement) implied that the top-down
management style affected the possibility for teachers to work together on certain crucial issues in
95
management, such as curriculum design. In addition, the reform gave teachers a new role,
innovator, which was beyond the normal demands on the teachers. This problem could not be
solved simply by the teachers and school principals. Historically, teachers have been not only
instructors but educators. It has become very difficult for teachers to balance the different roles
arranged by the Ministry (Feng, 2006). This was also confirmed by a report regarding teacher
emotion that revealed that teachers in the change process have had diverse emotional reactions
(Lee & Yin, 2011).
In the teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire, the low rating for item 1(Goals for
the new programs are compatible with my own goals for my work) was probably due to the
conflicts between the goal of curriculum reform and the mode of evaluation that focused on
student achievement on the national college entrance exam. The teachers did not have many
opportunities to get involved in final decisions, which were evidenced by empirical data. Dello-
Iacovo (2010) has said it can be safely stated that there has been ambivalence in the policy. For
this reason, the teachers in this study were confused about the goal of the new curriculum reform.
Pepper (1996) believes the Chinese educators paid lip service to ideals critical of the regular
system while doing completely the opposite in practice (as cited in Dello-lacovo, 2010, p.248).
Pang also states that among Chinese teachers, Su Zhi JiaoYu (Quality Education) is ‘‘said to be
important, secondary in deed and put aside when busy’’ (as cited in Dello-lacovo, 2010, p.248).
On the other hand, the ambiguity of the governmental goal also has caused confusion at the school
level (Walker, Qing, & Zhang, 2011). Therefore, this finding confirms that clear and consistent
goals for the reform would contribute to the effectiveness of the reform efforts, particularly in the
context of Chinese education, which has featured the dilemma of curriculum reform versus exam
preparation.
96
CHAPTER 6
FACTORS AFFECTING TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION OF TRANSFORMATIONAL SCHOOL LEAERSHIP AND THEIR COMMITMENT TO CHANGE
This chapter presents data from two surveys (the survey questionnaire of transformational
school leadership, and the validated organizational change process) using the newly formulated
29-item transformational school leadership questionnaire and the validated organization change
process survey from the previous stage in order to answer the second and third research questions
in this study:
2. What is the contribution of selected teachers’ and organizational variables to teachers’
perception of principals’ school leadership practices?
3. To what extent can identified leadership practices in Shenyang city explain the variation
in teachers’ commitment to change?
This chapter starts with a statistical power analysis in order to reduce the risk of Type II
error. This is followed by an exploration of the effects of organization and teachers’ factor on
teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership as a single variable and later as four
individual variables. This chapter continues with the investigation of the effects of
transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change. The main analysis method
is regression.
6.1 Statistical Power
Consideration was given to statistical power with the aim of reducing Type II error.
Type II error means failing to reject the null hypothesis when it is false. Some important
factors need to be considered to improve the statistical power: the statistical significance criterion,
the sample size, and the effect size. The criterion of statistical significance was set up to 0.05.
Higher statistical significance will reduce Type II error. Greater effect size leads to greater
statistical power. Greater effect size is determined by a greater variance between different groups
of teachers and a smaller variance within the same group of teachers, as grouped by their
professional titles. According to past research, it can be expected that there would be greater
variance between different professional title groups of teachers. Also, teachers in the same
professional title groups would be inclined to have smaller differences. In the dataset of this study,
97
the differences between professional title groups of teachers were at the moderate level, so the
effect size was expected to be high in this research; this caused higher statistical power.
A larger sample size will increase the statistical power. In this study, the margin error of
the sample was 3%, and was considered when the sample size was decided. Two-tailed tests in the
analysis meant that more subjects were required in order to maximize the study’s power. This
sample size (735 teachers) was believed to be enough to have relatively high statistical power.
Multiple regression and linear regression methods were employed to answer the research
questions and validate the research hypothesis.
6.2 Sampling in the Third Stage
This study adopted a random sampling strategy for quantitative samples. To choose the
right data source is crucial for later-date data collection (Blaikie, 2000). After randomly selecting
4 schools to identify key words for formulating the transformational school leadership
questionnaire and choosing 6 schools at random from 16 sample urban upper secondary schools in
Shenyang city for conducting principal component analysis, another six urban upper secondary
schools were randomly selected as sample schools for the third stage data collection. 40% of the
teachers in these six sample schools were randomly chosen as the respondents, and the general
characteristics of the whole sample were similar to those of the total population in Shenyang city.
This improved the external validity of the research.
6.2.1 The Basic Characteristics of the Samples In terms of sex, 72% of sample teachers were female, and the remaining 28% were male,
which was similar to the distribution of male and female teachers in the whole teacher population
in the upper secondary schools of Shenyang city. In addition, the composition of teachers with
different professional titles was as follows: 1% third grade, 28.5% second grade, 35.2% first grade,
and 32.4% senior. The professional title (current position) is an important concept in the Chinese
education field. Normally, teachers with more years of work experience and significant
contribution to school and student development are recognized as senior and first grade teachers.
Younger teachers were inclined to have the transformational school leadership stereotype
(Leithwood & Jantzi, 1997), so it was inferred that professional title (current position) was
relevant to the transformational school leadership stereotype.
98
Table 6.1
Sample Characteristics in the Third Research Stage
Teacher Population Sample
Characteristics Characteristics in Stage 3 Sex Male 28.60% 28% Female 71.40% 72% Current Position Third grade 0.90% 1% Second grade
29.01%
28.50%
First grade
35.09%
35.20% Senior
32%
32.40%
No 3% 2.90% Years of working experience 1-2 years
3.50%
3%
3-5 years
4.10%
4.40% 6-10 years
28%
26.30%
11-15 years
38.50%
39.90% 16-19 years
16.90%
17.60%
20+ years
9%
8.80% Years in the same school 1-2 years 6.80% 6.10% 3-5 years
7.00%
6.80%
6-10 years
33.10%
32.10% 11-15 years
36.70%
36.80%
16-19 years
11.10%
12.80% 20+ years
5.30%
5.40%
Highest academic degree High school
1.7%
2%
College
1.7%
0.70% Bachelor
82.1%
82.10%
Master
14.5%
15.20% Grade teacher taught Junior
38%
37.50%
Intermediate
33.20%
32.80% Senior 28.80% 29.70% Age less than 25 4.60% 4% 25-29
10.30%
10.80%
30-34
31.80%
30.40% 35-39
35.40%
34.80%
40-44
14.30%
16.20% 45-49
2.00%
2.40%
50+ 1.60% 1.40%
99
6.2.2 Response Rate in the Third Research Stage
In the third research stage, a total of 305 teachers participated in the research, and all of
them actively gave their opinions on items in the transformational school leadership questionnaire
and validated the organizational change process survey. The response rate was 100% because both
of the research purpose and anonymity policy were clearly explained to the teachers. Just as in the
other two research stages, incomplete survey questionnaires were not included in the final
analysis. Additionally, answers with bias were removed and questionnaires that lacked complete
profile information were not included for further analysis.
Table 6.2
The Characteristics of Sample Schools and the Number of Returned Questionnaires in the Third Stage
Total teachers
40% Teachers Returned Return Rate
Valid
Valid Rate
Sample School One 183 73 73 100% 73 100% Sample School Two 119 48 48 100% 43 89.58% Sample School Three 100 40 40 100% 38 95% Sample School Four 136 55 55 100% 54 98.18% Sample School Five 119 47 47 100% 47 100% Sample School Six 103 42 42 100% 41 97.62% Total 760 305 305 296
Table 6.3
The Size of Sample Schools in the Third Stage
Stage 3 Size of school No. of Schools Percentage Small (300-1000) 1 16.70% Medium (1001-2000) 4 66.70% Large (2001-3000) 1 16.60%
6.3 Effects of Organizational and Teachers’ Factors on Teachers’ Perceptions of Transformational School Leadership
Standard multiple regression was employed to examine the effects of organizational factors
and teachers’ factor on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership.
Multi-collinearity is an important issue to consider before conducting multiple regression,
since multi-collinearity will cause distortion in the results of the multiple regression.
The variables of teacher characteristics included teacher’s sex, teacher’s age, teacher’s
current position (professional title), highest academic degree (teacher’s academic level), grade
100
teacher taught, total years of teaching experience, and years of working in the same school. The
alterable variables in school contexts are culture, structure, environment, and strategy. The
correlation result of the above variables showed that they were not highly correlated with each
other, with a range between -0.01 to 0.76. Tabachink and Fidell (2001) believe that
multicollinearity only happens at a high correlation such as 0.9. Therefore, all these variables were
kept as independent variables.
Transformational school leadership was first treated as one single dependent variable, and
then as four individual variables including setting direction, developing people, managing the
instructional program, and redesigning the organization, with the aim of examining the effects of
teacher factors and organization factors comprehensively.
6.3.1 Transformational School Leadership as a Single Variable
In this section, transformational school leadership was treated as a single dependent
variable to explore the effects of organization condition factors and teacher factors including
teacher’s sex(teacher gender), current position(teacher’s professional title), highest academic
degree(teacher’s academic level), teacher’s age, grade teacher taught, teacher’s years in current
school, school size, teacher’s years of teaching, school culture, school structure, school
environment, and school strategy. The level of significance was set to 0.05. The following
variables were coded as dummy variables: size, current position, highest academic degree, grade
taught, years of teaching, and years in current school. The results showed that: culture, strategy,
environment, and age had significant relationships with transformational school leadership as a
single variable. In total, 49.2% of the variance in transformational school leadership was explained
by these four variables (Table 6.5). This finding showed that teachers’ perception of
transformational school leadership was affected mostly by school culture, school change strategy,
and school environment. At the same time, teachers’ age also influenced the formation of teachers’
perception of transformational school leadership.
101
Table 6.4
The Means and Standard Deviation of Transformational School Leadership Item
Item Survey Item Mean Standard No.
Deviation
Setting Direction 1 Gives us a sense of overall purpose.
3.840 1.055
2 Helps clarify the reasons for our school’s improvement initiatives.
4.010 0.946 9 Provides useful assistance to us in setting short term goals for teaching and
learning. 3.640 1.147
10 Demonstrates high expectations for our work with students.
4.080 1.124 15 Helps us to understand the school development strategy.
3.660 1.247
16 Evaluates our work progress based on school goals.
3.590 0.927 23 Expects student to achieve good marks.
3.890 1.327
24 Expects us to improve our professional level constantly.
4.000 1.207 Developing People 3 Gives us individual support to help us improve our teaching
practices. 2.980 1.179
4 Encourages us to consider new ideas for our teaching.
4.110 0.975 11 Develops an atmosphere of caring and trust.
3.700 1.135
12 Provides us with a variety of opportunities to visit successful schools.
3.920 0.971 17 Provides us with a variety of training opportunities to improve the teaching
quality. 3.720 1.131
18 Helps us to be unique teachers according to our different characteristics. 3.910 0.910 25 Encourages us to participate in academic activities to improve our
3.910 1.183
standards of teaching.
26 Broadens our horizon by inviting education experts to give lectures in school. 3.960 1.158 Redesigning Organization 5 Encourages collaborative work among us.
3.660 1.349
6 Engages parents in the school’s improvement efforts. 3.630 1.073 13 Is effective in building community support for the school’s improvement efforts. 3.330 1.064 14 Committed to establishing a good campus culture.
2.910 1.242
19 Encourages us to attend the activities of the teaching and research group.
2.850 1.336 20 Promotes collective preparation of class.
3.930 1.263
27 Promotes the communication among teachers.
3.710 1.272 28 Concerned about our existence, such as work stress, living conditions, etc. 3.060 1.249 Managing Instructional Program 7 Provides or locates resources to help us improve our teaching 4.010 0.946 8 Reasonably arranges human resources in the school.
4.040 0.849
21 Regularly observes classroom activities.
3.830 1.034 22 Establishes an evaluation system to ensure the smooth progress of teaching. 4.040 0.826 29 Strengthens school security, ensuring the smooth progress of teaching. 4.200 0.896
102
Table 6.5
The Result of Standard Multiple Regression Dependent Variable: Transformational School Leadership B Std. Error Beta T Sig. (Constant) 2.021 .318 6.351 .000 Age -.048 .024 -.124 -2.021 .044 Sex .030 .047 .029 .630 .529 Culture .281 .050 .361 5.670 .000 Strategy .069 .030 .123 2.285 .023 Structure .053 .040 .078 1.326 .186 Environment .091 .029 .190 3.148 .002 Size1 -.023 .049 -.024 -.460 .646 Size2 .056 .054 .056 1.048 .296 Gradetaught1 -.063 .051 -.067 -1.239 .216 Gradetaught2 -.091 .052 -.093 -1.751 .081 Yearscurrentschool1 -.077 .188 -.040 -.410 .682 Yearscurrentschool2 -.147 .182 -.081 -.812 .418 Yearscurrentschool3 -.082 .154 -.083 -.531 .596 Yearscurrentschool4 -.172 .146 -.182 -1.176 .241 Yearscurrentschool5 -.119 .163 -.087 -.730 .466 Currentposition1 -.090 .219 -.020 -.413 .680 Currentposition2 .045 .065 .045 .691 .490 Currentposition3 -.035 .058 -.037 -.610 .542 Highestdegree1 .176 .263 .139 .670 .503 Highestdegree2 .155 .256 .130 .604 .547 Highestdegree3 -.168 .291 -.052 -.577 .565 Yearteaching1 -.364 .213 -.137 -1.708 .089 Yearteaching2 -.001 .182 .000 -.003 .998 Yearteaching3 .072 .140 .069 .513 .608 Yearteaching4 .050 .121 .053 .412 .681 Yearteaching5 .075 .127 .062 .587 .557 #TSL=2.021+0.281Culture+0.069Strategy+0.091Environment-0.048Age R Squared: 0.492 F Value:10.012 d.f.:19,276 Sig. F:.000
P<0.05
6.3.2 The Effects of Organizational and Teachers’ Factors on the Individual Dimensions of Teachers’ Perception of Transformational School Leadership
In this section, the four dimensions of teachers’ perception of transformational school
leadership were treated as single variables respectively to explore the effects of organizational
characteristics and teacher factors on them. This was done in order to understand the underlying
factors influencing the teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership and to what
extent school administrators can control these factors to help to form the teachers’ perception of
103
transformational school leadership. The following variables were coded as dummy variables:
current position, highest academic degree, grade teacher taught, and years in current school. The
results of multiple regressions showed the following:
• Culture, environment, and age explained 34.1% of the variance in the dimension of setting
direction (Table 6.6). This finding showed that school culture, environment and teachers’
age can moderately affect the formation of teachers’ perception of setting direction in
Shenyang urban upper secondary schools.
• Culture, strategy, and Gradeteaching1 explained 39.5% of the variance in the dimension of
developing people (Table 6.7). This indicated that school culture, reform strategy and
grade taught have effects on the formation of teachers’ perception of developing people.
• Culture, structure, environment, and Gradeteaching2 explained 31.1% of the variance in
the dimension of redesigning the organization (Table 6.8). This finding showed that school
culture, structure, environment, and grade taught can moderately affect the formation of
the teachers’ perception of redesigning the organization.
• Culture and strategy explained 37.0% of the variance in the dimension of managing the
instructional program (Table 6.9), which indicated that school culture and reform strategy
can moderately explain the formation of the teachers’ perception of managing the
instructional program.
104
6.3.2.1 Setting Direction as a Single Variable
Table 6.6
The Result of Standard Multiple Regression Dependent Variable: Setting Direction B Std. Error Beta T Sig. (Constant) 1.832 0.502 3.649 .000 Age -0.103 0.037 -0.194 -2.765 0.006 Sex -0.017 0.074 -0.012 -0.235 0.815 Culture 0.309 0.078 0.287 3.959 .000 Strategy 0.036 0.047 0.046 0.755 0.451 Structure -0.032 0.063 -0.034 -0.509 0.611 Environment 0.178 0.045 0.269 3.915 .000 Size1 0.016 0.077 0.013 0.209 0.835 Size2 0.098 0.085 0.071 1.149 0.252 Gradetaught1 0.011 0.08 0.008 0.137 0.891 Gradetaught2 -0.08 0.082 -0.06 -0.984 0.326 Yearscurrentschool1 -0.196 0.297 -0.074 -0.662 0.509 Yearscurrentschool2 -0.095 0.287 -0.038 -0.331 0.741 Yearscurrentschool3 -0.03 0.242 -0.022 -0.123 0.902 Yearscurrentschool4 -0.137 0.231 -0.104 -0.592 0.554 Yearscurrentschool5 -0.028 0.257 -0.015 -0.108 0.914 Currentposition1 -0.258 0.345 -0.041 -0.748 0.455 Currentposition2 0.052 0.103 0.038 0.506 0.613 Currentposition3 -0.069 0.091 -0.052 -0.757 0.45 Highestdegree1 0.742 0.415 0.421 1.786 0.075 Highestdegree2 0.616 0.404 0.373 1.525 0.128 Highestdegree3 0.384 0.458 0.085 0.837 0.403 Yearteaching1 -0.662 0.336 -0.18 -1.968 0.05 Yearteaching2 -0.171 0.287 -0.055 -0.596 0.552 Yearteaching3 -0.042 0.22 -0.029 -0.189 0.85 Yearteaching4 -0.017 0.191 0.013 -0.09 0.928 Yearteaching5 0.033 0.201 0.02 0.162 0.871 # Regression Equation: Setting Direction=1.832+0.309Culture+0.178Environment-0.103Age R Squared: 0.341 F Value:5.347 d.f.:19,276 Sig. F:.000 P<0.05
105
6.3.2.2 Developing People as a Single Variable Table 6.7
The Result of Standard Multiple Regression Dependent Variable: Developing People
B Std.
Error Beta T Sig. (Constant) 1.781 .442 4.026 .000 Age -.033 .033 -.067 -1.002 .317 Sex .041 .065 .032 .626 .532 Culture .304 .069 .307 4.419 .000 Strategy .130 .042 .183 3.110 .002 Structure .079 .055 .092 1.436 .152 Environment .038 .040 .063 .952 .342 Size1 .001 .068 .001 .014 .988 Size2 .042 .075 .033 .559 .576 Gradetaught1 -.166 .071 -.138 -2.349 .020 Gradetaught2 -.135 .072 -.109 -1.872 .062 Yearscurrentschool1 -.128 .261 -.053 -.491 .624 Yearscurrentschool2 -.345 .252 -.149 -1.366 .173 Yearscurrentschool3 -.119 .214 -.095 -.555 .579 Yearscurrentschool4 -.259 .204 -.215 -1.272 .205 Yearscurrentschool5 -.029 .226 -.017 -.128 .898 Currentposition1 .084 .304 .014 .276 .782 Currentposition2 .149 .091 .117 1.644 .101 Currentposition3 -.018 .080 -.015 -.228 .820 Highestdegree1 .157 .366 .097 .431 .667 Highestdegree2 .141 .356 .093 .396 .692 Highestdegree3 -.090 .404 -.022 -.224 .823 Yearteaching1 -.226 .296 -.067 -.765 .445 Yearteaching2 .334 .253 .118 1.321 .188 Yearteaching3 .095 .194 .072 .492 .623 Yearteaching4 .157 .168 .132 .934 .351 Yearteaching5 -.048 .177 -.031 -.269 .788 # Regression Equation: Developing People=1.781+0.304 Culture+0.130Strategy-0.166Gradeteaching1 R Squared: 0.395 F Value:6.743 d.f.:19,276 Sig. F:.000 P<0.05
106
6.3.2.3 Redesigning Organization as a Single Variable Table 6.8
The Result of Standard Multiple Regression Dependent Variable: Redesigning Organization
B Std.
Error Beta T Sig (Constant) 1.791 .476 3.760 .000 Age -.008 .035 -.017 -.231 .817 Sex .075 .070 .058 1.072 .285 Culture .244 .074 .245 3.297 .001 Strategy .002 .045 .003 .056 .956 Structure .131 .060 .150 2.201 .029 Environment .105 .043 .172 2.445 .015 Size1 -.029 .073 -.025 -.402 .688 Size2 -.003 .081 -.002 -.034 .973 Gradetaught1 -.104 .076 -.086 -1.365 .173 Gradetaught2 -.166 .077 -.133 -2.149 .033 Yearscurrentschool1 .078 .281 .032 .276 .783 Yearscurrentschool2 -.094 .272 -.040 -.346 .729 Yearscurrentschool3 -.147 .230 -.117 -.642 .522 Yearscurrentschool4 -.135 .219 -.111 -.618 .537 Yearscurrentschool5 -.346 .243 -.197 -1.422 .156 Currentposition1 -.149 .328 -.026 -.456 .649 Currentposition2 -.039 .098 -.030 -.401 .689 Currentposition3 .017 .086 .014 .192 .848 Highestdegree1 .011 .394 .007 .028 .978 Highestdegree2 .033 .383 .021 .085 .932 Highestdegree3 -.305 .435 -.073 -.702 .484 Yearteaching1 -.474 .319 -.139 -1.485 .139 Yearteaching2 -.208 .272 -.073 -.765 .445 Yearteaching3 .148 .209 .111 .708 .480 Yearteaching4 -.087 .181 -.073 -.481 .631 Yearteaching5 .176 .191 .114 .925 .356
# Regression Equation: Redesigning Organization=1.791+0.244 Culture+0.131Structure+0.105Environment-0.166Gradeteaching2 R Squared: 0.311 F Value:4.671 d.f.:19,276 Sig. F:.000 P<0.05
107
6.3.2.4 Managing the Instructional Program as a Single Variable Table 6.9
The Result of Standard Multiple Regression Dependent Variable: Managing the Instructional Program
B Std.
Error Beta T Sig. (Constant) 2.681 .372 7.209 .000 Age -.047 .028 -.116 -1.696 .091 Sex .020 .055 .018 .356 .722 Culture .265 .058 .325 4.586 .000 Strategy .106 .035 .182 3.032 .003 Structure .033 .046 .046 .700 .484 Environment .041 .034 .082 1.225 .222 Size1 -.078 .057 -.080 -1.360 .175 Size2 .089 .063 .085 1.415 .158 Gradetaught1 .007 .059 .007 .115 .908 Gradetaught2 .019 .061 .019 .314 .754 Yearscurrentschool1 -.061 .220 -.031 -.279 .781 Yearscurrentschool2 -.056 .212 -.029 -.264 .792 Yearscurrentschool3 -.030 .180 -.030 -.170 .865 Yearscurrentschool4 -.158 .171 -.159 -.922 .357 Yearscurrentschool5 -.072 .190 -.050 -.377 .706 Currentposition1 -.038 .256 -.008 -.148 .883 Currentposition2 .018 .076 .017 .238 .812 Currentposition3 -.070 .068 -.070 -1.040 .299 Highestdegree1 -.205 .307 -.153 -.666 .506 Highestdegree2 -.172 .299 -.137 -.574 .567 Highestdegree3 -.659 .340 -.194 -1.940 .053 Yearteaching1 -.094 .249 -.034 -.379 .705 Yearteaching2 .043 .212 .018 .202 .840 Yearteaching3 .085 .163 .078 .522 .602 Yearteaching4 .146 .141 .149 1.035 .302 Yearteaching5 .138 .149 .110 .927 .355 # Regression Equation: Managing Instructional Program=2.681+0.265 Culture+0.106Strategy R Squared: 0.370 F Value:6.080 d.f.:19,276 Sig. F:.000 P<0.05
108
6.4 The Relationship between Transformational School Leadership and Teachers’ Commitment to Change
The final research question concerns the effect of transformational school leadership on
teachers’ commitment to change. Teachers’ commitment to change is defined as teachers’
identification with, and desire to be involved in efforts to implement changes in school and
classroom structures and processes. One of the important functions of transformational school
leadership is to arouse the commitment of school teachers. Therefore, this section explores the
relationship between identified transformational school leadership practices and teachers’
commitment to change in Shenyang city to fill the gap in the literature. In order to answer this
question, a number of regression analyses were undertaken. In section one, teachers’
commitment to change was used as a single dependent variable to examine the effects of
transformational school leadership as a single independent variable using linear regression. In
section 2, the effects of four individual dimensions of transformational school leadership,
including setting direction, developing people, redesigning the organization, and managing the
instructional program on teachers’ commitment to change, were examined. Finally, the effects of
four dimensions of transformational school leadership on each individual dimension of teachers’
commitment to change were explored separately using multiple regression analysis in section
three. The reason for conducting individual analysis of the effect of transformational school
leadership on individual dimensions of teachers’ commitment to change was to identify the
leadership practices effective in arousing teachers’ commitment to change practically and
theoretically in the Chinese urban upper secondary school context.
6.4.1 Transformational School Leadership as one Single Variable
Based on the statistical analysis, transformational school leadership explained 38.7% of
the total variance in teachers’ commitment to change. In this section, teachers’ commitment to
change and transformational school leadership were treated as single variables. This finding
showed that there was a relatively strong relationship between transformational school leadership
and teachers’ commitment to change when they were both treated as single variables. The
coefficient was at the 0.86 level, and this finding implied transformational school leadership
could work effectively to motivate teachers’ commitment to change in the Shenyang urban upper
secondary schools context.
109
Table 6.10
Result of Linear Regression Analysis on Dependent Variable: Teachers’ Commitment to Change
B Std.
Error Beta T Sig. 1 (Constant) 0.513 0.239 2.151 0.032
TSL 0.86 0.063 0.622 13.636 0 #Regression Equation: TCC=0.513+0.86TSL TCC=Teachers’ commitment to change TSL=Transformational School Leadership R squared: 0.387 F value: 185.953 d.f.: 1,294 Significant F: 0.000
6.4.2 The Relationship between the Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership and Teachers’ Commitment to Change as a Single Variable
Teachers’ commitment to change was treated as a single variable, and transformational
school leadership was represented by four independent variables.
The dimensions of transformational school leadership explained 39.3% of the total
variance in teachers’ commitment to change. In comparison to setting direction and developing
people, managing the instructional program and redesigning the organization had relatively
strong relationships with teachers’ commitment to change as a single variable. This indicated that
teachers in the urban upper secondary schools of Shenyang city were in favor of instructional
management and being granted more participation in the school decision-making process.
110
Table 6.11
The Correlation Coefficients among Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership
Setting direction
Developing people
Redesigning organization
Managing instructional
program Setting direction
Pearson Correlation
1 .556 .591 .483
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 Developing people
Pearson Correlation
.556 1 .495 .539
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 Redesigning organization
Pearson Correlation
.591 .495 1 .437
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 Managing instructional
Pearson Correlation
.483 .539 .437 1
program Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 N 296 296 296 296
P<0.05
Table 6.12 Collinearity Statistics for Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership
Values of Tolerance VIF (Constant) Settingdirection .540 1.852 Developingpeople .575 1.738 Redesigningorganization .599 1.669 Managinginstructionalprogram .649 1.541
The issues of multi-collinearity in this regression analysis are discussed based on the
correlation coefficients among these four independent variables and their values of tolerance and
VIF( Variance Inflation Factor). Normally, the value of tolerance ranges from 0 to1. Menard
(1995) states that there will be serious multi-collinarity problem if the value of tolerance is less
than 0.1 and there will be concerns if the value of tolerance is less than 0.2 ( as cited in
O’Brien,2007, p.688 ). O’Brien(2007) further states that the VIF will be 10 and 5 respectively
accordingly since VIF is reverse to value of tolerance.
The multi-collinearity test result in this study showed that the values of these four
variables’ VIF were below 2 and their tolerance values were above 0.5 (Table 6.12). This
indicates the multi-collinearity of these four independent variables was relatively low and it was
feasible to conduct multiple regression. There is no consensus on the criteria by which to judge
111
the effect of the correlations among independent variables on a dependent variable. Tabachink
and Fidell (2001) believe that multi-collinearity only happens at a high correlation such as 0.9. In
this part of the study, the correlation coefficients were lower than 0.9, which indicates there was
no multicollinearity issue in this section. This process is to show how multicollinearity is
calculated in this thesis since the four variables in transformational school leadership
model(setting direction, developing people, redesigning organization, and managing instructional
program) could not be correlated with each other after principal component analysis is conducted
in Section 4.3.3(p.65) .
Table 6.13 shows the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’
commitment to change. Four variables together explained 39.3% of the variance of teachers’
commitment to change (F=47.064, P<0.05, Table 6.13), which means these four dimensions can
moderately affect teachers’ commitment to change and motivate teachers to be part of the change
process.
Table 6.13
Result of Multiple Regression Analysis Dependent Variable: Teachers’ Commitment to Change
B Std.
Error Beta T Sig. (Constant) 0.369 0.258 1.429 0.154 Settingdirection 0.177 0.062 0.177 2.854 0.005 Developingpeople 0.164 0.065 0.151 2.511 0.013 Redesigningorganization 0.225 0.063 0.209 3.539 0 Managinginstructionalprogram 0.327 0.075 0.248 4.379 0 #TCC=0.369+0.177Settingdirection+0.164Developingpeople+0.225Redesigningorganization+ 0.327Managinginstructionalprogram
TCC: Teachers’ commitment to change R squared: 0.393 F value: 47.064 d.f.: 1,294 Significant F: 0.000
P<0.05 6.4.3 The Effects of Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership on the Four Individual Dimensions of Teachers’ Commitment to Change
Tables 6.16 to 6.19 explain the relationships among the four dimensions of
transformational school leadership on individual dimensions of teachers’ commitment to change.
The independent variables were setting direction, developing people, redesigning the
organization, and managing the instructional program. Four dimensions of teachers’ commitment
to change in turn worked as dependent variables individually. The results showed that:
112
• Setting direction, developing people, redesigning the organization, and managing the
instructional program together explained 31.0% of variance in personal goals (F=32.646, P<
0.05, Table 6.16). This finding indicated that these four dimensions could effectively affect
the formation of teachers’ personal goals, among which redesigning the organization had a
relatively stronger effect than the other three dimensions.
• When context beliefs were treated as an individual variable, managing the instructional
program, developing people, redesigning the organization, and setting direction had
significant impact on the context beliefs of teachers in Shenyang City. These four
dimensions explained 40.4% of the total variance (F=49.315, P< 0.05, Table 6.17). This
finding showed that these four dimensions could jointly affect teachers’ context beliefs, and
in particular the effects of managing the instructional program and developing people were
relatively stronger than setting direction and redesigning the organization.
• Setting direction, developing people, redesigning the organization, and managing the
instructional program had significant effects on capacity beliefs of teachers and explained
27.9% of the total variance in capacity beliefs (F=26.966, P< 0.05, Table 6.18). This
indicated that these four variables had moderate effects on capacity beliefs. It also shows
that managing the instructional program and setting direction had relatively stronger effects
than the other two variables.
• Setting direction, developing people, redesigning the organization, and managing the
instructional program explained 38.6% of the variance in emotional arousal (F=45.644,
P<0.05, Table 6.19). The finding indicated that these four dimensions had moderate effects
on emotional arousal, and managing the instructional program and redesigning the
organization had relatively stronger effects than the dimensions of setting direction and
developing people.
Table 6.14 Means and Standard Deviation of Dimensions in Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire
TCC: Teachers’ Commitment to Change
Variable Mean Std. Deviation TCC 3.7431 .63230 Personalgoals 3.7012 .67084 Capacitybeliefs 3.8007 .72601 Contextbeliefs 3.7587 .69512 Emotionalarousal 3.7120 .64179
113
Table 6.15
Means and Standard Deviation of Dimensions in Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire
Variable Mean Std.
Deviation TSL 3.7552 .45756 Settingdirection 3.8391 .63382 Developingpeople 3.7758 .58261 Redesigningorganization 3.3834 .58796 Managinginstructionalprogram 4.0223 .48030
TSL: Transformational School Leadership
Table 6.16
Result of Multiple Regression on Dependent Variable: Personal Goals
B Std. Error Beta T Sig.
(Constant) 0.623 0.292 2.13 0.034 Settingdirection 0.146 0.07 0.137 2.08 0.039 Developingpeople 0.153 0.074 0.133 2.06 0.04 Redesigningorganization 0.288 0.072 0.252 4.01 0.00 Managinginstructionalprogram 0.241 0.084 0.173 2.86 0.005 #PERSONALGOAL=0.623+0.146SDIRECTION+0.288RORGANIZATION +0.153DPEOPLE+0.241MINSTRUCTIONALPROGRAM R squared: 0.310 F Value :32.646 d.f.: 1,294 Significant F: 0.000
CBELIEFS: Capacity Beliefs SDIRECTION: Setting Direction DPEOPLE: Developing People RORGANIZATION: Redesigning Organization MINSTRUCTIONALPROGRAM: Managing Instructional Program
114
Table 6.17
Result of Multiple Regression on Dependent Variable: Context Beliefs B Std. Error Beta T Sig. (Constant) .017 .282 .060 .952 Settingdirection .184 .068 .168 2.726 .007 Developingpeople .259 .071 .217 3.642 .000 Redesigningorganization .219 .069 .185 3.170 .002 Managinginstructionalprogram .327 .081 .226 4.020 .000 #CBELIEFS=0.17+0.168SDIRECTION+0.217DPEOPLE+0.185RORGANIZATION+0.226MI-NSTRUCTIONALPROGRAM R squared: 0.404 F value: 49.315 d.f.: 1,294 Significant F: 0.000
CBELIEFS: Capacity Beliefs SDIRECTION: Setting Direction DPEOPLE: Developing People MINSTRUCTIONALPROGRAM: Managing Instructional Program RORGANIZATION: Redesigning Organization
Table 6.18
Result of Multiple Regression on Dependent Variable: Capacity Beliefs
B Std.
Error Beta T Sig. (Constant) 0.531 0.325 1.632 0.104 Settingdirection 0.194 0.078 0.17 2.49 0.013 Developingpeople 0.092 0.082 0.074 1.114 0.266 Redesigningorganization 0.174 0.08 0.141 2.179 0.03 Managinginstructionalprogram 0.395 0.094 0.261 4.205 0
#CABELIEFS=0.531+0.194SDIRECTION+0.395MINSTRUCTIONALPROGRAM+0.174ROR-GANIZATION R squared: 0.279 F value: 26.966 d.f.: 1,294 Significant F: 0.000
CABELIEFS: Capacity Beliefs SDIRECTION: Setting Direction DPEOPLE: Developing People MINSTRUCTIONALPROGRAM: Managing Instructional Program RORGANIZATION: Redesigning Organization
115
Table 6.19
Result of Multiple Regression on Dependent Variable: Emotional Arousal B Std.
Error Beta T Sig
(Constant) .306 .264 1.159 .248 Settingdirection .184 .063 .182 2.907 .004 Developingpeople .153 .067 .139 2.294 .023 Redesigningorganization .217 .065 .199 3.354 .001 Managinginstructionalprogram .345 .076 .258 4.522 .000
#EAROUSAL=0.306+0.184SDIRECTION+0.217RORGANIZATION +0.153DPEOPLE+0.345MINSTRUCTIONALPROGRAM R squared: 0.386 F value: 45.644 d.f.: 1,294 Significant F: 0.000
EAROUSAL: Emotional Arousal SDIRECTION: Setting Direction DPEOPLE: Developing People ROGNIZATION: Redesigning Organization MINSTRUCTIONALPROGRAM: Managing Instructional Program
116
Table 6.20
The Mean and Standard Deviation of Items in Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire
No. Survey Item Mean
Std. Deviation
1 Implementing the new programs requires making significant changes in how I go about doing my work.
3.80 .951
2 My colleagues and I like to celebrate our accomplishment of goals related to our work.
3.15 1.351
3 The policies and regulations of our school facilitate implementation of new initiatives.
3.74 1.027
4 I have adequate release time for planning and/or professional development related to new initiatives.
3.79 .969
5 Most of my students’ parents/guardians support the things I do. 3.55 1.113
6 I expect to have opportunities to acquire more concrete knowledge about how to implement new initiatives in my school and classroom.
3.82 .879
7 Relationships between our staff and school administrators are supportive and trusting.
4.21 .908
8 I have adequate opportunities for assistance from professional staff with expertise related to new programs.
3.77 1.112
9 Our timetables/schedules facilitate accomplishment of new goals. 3.52 1.141
10 Strong encouragement from colleagues and administrators whose expertise I respect enhances my confidence for implementing the new policy.
3.51 1.210
11 The school administrators recognize the good teaching I do. 3.82 1.008
12 My initial efforts to implement new programs have encouraged me to continue with further implementation efforts.
3.92 .935
13 Other teachers in my school recognize my teaching competence. 3.95 .882
14 I sometimes learn new strategies by observing what colleagues do in their work.
4.01 .759
15 I enjoy the challenge of being an educator. 3.34 1.242
16 I have access to appropriate support personnel (e.g., aids, substitutes) for implementation of new initiatives.
3.97 .931
17 We regularly review and clarify our school goals as part of an ongoing goal-setting process.
3.62 1.164
18 Teacher evaluation/supervision practices encourage us to implement new initiatives.
3.74 1.091
19 The resources (e.g., texts, curriculum materials, teaching aids) in this school are adequate for implementing new initiatives.
3.83 1.039
20 My colleagues and I always support and encourage each other. 3.57 1.276 21 I have a lot of autonomy in making decisions about my own work. 3.99 1.061 22 The school administrators respect the expertise of teachers. 3.38 1.240
23 I generally can decide how to do my work without disruptive interference from colleagues or administrators.
3.59 1.248
117
Table 6.20
(Continued) The Mean and Standard Deviation of Items in Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire
No. Survey Item Mean Std. Deviation
24 My repertoire of teaching strategies is expanding to help implement new programs.
3.39 1.222
25 I am /was actively involved in setting school goals and priorities for the new initiatives.
3.67 1.05
26 I know the immediate next steps I need to take toward implementing new programs in my school and classroom.
3.35 1.272
27
Frequent and stimulating interactions with my teaching colleagues provide encouragement to implement new initiatives.
3.76 0.95
28 My students show that they appreciate me. 3.96 0.94 29 I enjoy implementing new programs or teaching strategies. 4.05 0.803
30 I am developing a clear understanding of the implications of new programs for my school and classroom.
3.88 0.86
31 Implementing new programs is difficult but possible. 3.92 0.941 32 I am committed to implementing new programs. 3.85 0.947 33 I enjoy my job. 3.86 0.938
6.5 Level of Measurement
In statistics, the kinds of descriptive statistics and significance tests that are appropriate
depend on the level of measurement of the variables concerned. Stevens (1951) proposed four
levels of measurement, that is, nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. In this research, both
transformational leadership and teachers’ commitment to change were treated as interval
variables (continuous variables). This means that the numbers assigned to objects had all the
features of ordinal measurements, and in addition, equal differences between measurements
represented equivalent intervals. That is, differences between arbitrary pairs of measurements
could be meaningfully compared. Operations such as averaging and subtraction were therefore
meaningful. A code was used to transfer the response to each question into a relevant number
(score) so that the researcher could conduct statistical analysis such as calculation with respect to
mean, standard deviation, and regression analysis based on the scores.
118
Summary
Regarding the relationship between organizational and teachers’ factors and teachers’
perception of transformational school leadership, the results of multiple regression analysis
revealed that variables like culture, strategy, environment, and age had significant relationships
with transformational school leadership as a single variable. This finding confirmed the
conclusions of Guan & Meng (2007) and Lee et al. (2011) that positive supports including
organizing teacher development and providing teachers materials and resources are crucial for
motivating teachers to be part of the change process. This would be the theoretical foundation for
the Chinese government to provide sufficient support for teachers who are experiencing
curriculum reform. The literature suggests that schools in the change process are desperately in
need of supports from the education bureau.
Culture, environment, strategy, structure, and teachers’ factors such as age and grade
taught had moderate effects on different teachers’ perception of individual dimensions of
transformational school leadership. The results should inspire Chinese school administrators to
adjust adaptable variables like culture, strategy, environment, and structure to affect the teachers’
perception of transformational school leadership practices. In turn, this should effectively
motivate teachers to be part of the school change process. Further, with attention to teachers’ age
and grade taught, school administrators can differentiate school policies in order to increase the
teachers’ motivation to be part of the process of reform. For example, Guan and Meng (2007)
have stated that many excellent traditional teachers (who are usually older teachers) feel
embarrassed because some effective traditional teaching methods are not appreciated anymore.
As for the third research question, which inquired into the relationship between
transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change, the results of linear
regression showed that the effect of transformational school leadership was moderate when
transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change were treated as a single
variable. Internal and external school factors would explain the remaining unexplained variance
in teachers’ commitment to change. In the theoretical framework of Leithwood (1994), both out-
of-school conditions and in-school conditions can affect teachers’ commitment to change.
The policies of the Ministry/state, district, and community might affect teachers’
commitment to change. At the district level, the ranking of schools based on the students’ marks
119
in the national college entrance exam directs the teachers’ attention to the students’ achievement
instead of their comprehensive ability that is the focus of the new curriculum reform. This has
reduced teachers’ commitment to the curriculum reform. Therefore, the moderate effect of
transformational school leadership reminds administrators to provide sufficient supports and
ensure the clarity of the education goals.
School goals, resources, policies, and culture are school-internal factors. In particular, the
goals of the school can confuse teachers about whether they should improve the students’
comprehensive ability or help students improve their scores on the national college entrance
exam. This reduces the rule of clarity of reform (Fullan, 2007). This study confirmed the study
of Zhu, Devos & Li (2011) which stated that clear school goals would motivate teacher
commitment. Furthermore, the goals of the school must go beyond simply stressing student
achievement on the national college exam but should emphasize the moral purpose of the reform,
which could continuously improve the teachers’ motivation (Fullan, 2007). At the same time,
the top-down design of the reform has hurt the teachers’ commitment to change. The
administrative system has determined that teachers do not have wide participation in the
decision-making process, which also has affected the teachers’ motivation to be part of the
reform.
In sum, there are other school-internal and school-external factors that have influenced
the effects of transformational leadership on teachers’ commitment to change directly or
indirectly. This implies that school and district administrators could control these variables to
motivate teachers to be part of the change process.
Four dimensions of transformational leadership practices together explained the moderate
effects on the four dimensions of teachers’ commitment to change respectively, among which the
effect of managing the instructional program was most prominent. The result informs us that it is
meaningful for Chinese urban upper secondary school administrators to balance instructional
management activities and capacity building activities that are the core of transformational
school leadership in order to maximize the leadership effects. In comparison to the results of
Leithwood (1993, 1994) in the literature review in Chapter 2, the goal-setting activities in
transformational school leadership practices are less effective than the leadership practices that
are relevant to managing the instructional program. This further underscores the importance of
having more effective goal setting activities such as effective communication between
120
management and teachers in Chinese urban upper secondary schools. Further, the consistency of
the reform goal with other school goals will improve the effectiveness of goal setting activities
since some schools have been having a dilemma about whether to pay attention to students’
academic records or all-round development (Guan & Meng, 2007).
The literature suggests that teacher emotion is an area that is not recognized by Chinese
academia, and this research will give a starting point to policy makers from which to evaluate the
status of teachers.
121
CHAPTER 7 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
This chapter first details an analysis of the existence of transformational school
leadership in Shenyang urban upper secondary schools. It continues with an analysis of the
adaptability of transformational school leadership to the Chinese culture and the local context.
This is followed by a discussion of the effects of organizational and teacher’s factors on teachers’
perception of transformational school leadership practices and the effect of transformational
school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change both as a whole concept and as four
individual variables. This chapter concludes with the discussion of the significance of this
research and the implication of the research findings for future research and leadership practices
in Chinese and similar cultural contexts.
7.1 Transformational School Leadership
In this section, the following two issues are analyzed based on the empirical and
theoretical evidence. First, the existence of transformational school leadership in Shenyang upper
secondary schools is validated by the empirical data. Second, the appropriateness of
transformational school leadership for this context is explored through the connection between
Chinese cultural values and the underlying assumptions of transformational school leadership.
7.1.1 Transformational School Leadership in Shenyang Urban Upper Secondary Schools
This section focuses on understanding transformational school leadership in Shenyang
urban upper secondary schools.
Transformational leadership is characterized by focusing on teacher commitment and by
building up the capacity of organizational members. Higher levels of personal commitment to
organizational goals and greater capacities for accomplishing those goals are assumed to result in
extra effort and greater productivity (Leithwood, Jantzi & Steinbach, 1999). As Fullan (2007)
and Mascall (2007) have stated, capacity building is the core of large-scale reform and can
decide the success or failure of the reform. Positive pressure from internal and external
accountability in schools along with resource supports will improve capacity building and in turn
122
enhance the motivation of teachers to be part of the change process. Mascall (2007) further
clarified the functions of transformational leadership in terms of building up the collective
capacity of teachers, indicating that collective capability is mainly fostered through the practices
of setting direction, developing people, and redesigning the organization.
Table 7.1
A Comparison of the Dimensions of Collective Capacity with the Dimensions of Transformational Leadership Collective capacity Transformational leadership Teachers’ knowledge, skills and dispositions Developing people
Professional learning community Redesigning the organization (creating a culture)
Resources Redesigning the organization (providing support)
Leadership (All dimensions) Coherence Setting directions Note: this table is cited from Mascall (2007), p.54.
In this study, among the four dimensions of transformational school leadership, the mean
of managing the instructional program ranked in the first position (M=4.0223), followed by the
means for setting direction (M=3.8391), developing people (M=3.7758), and redesigning the
organization (M=3.3834). The results indicated that principals in the urban upper secondary
schools of Shenyang city made efforts toward instructional management while giving teachers a
sense of direction, developing people, and redesigning the school organization, which are
important components of transformational leadership practices.
Setting direction serves to make the change coherent, which is part of the collective
capacity of school organizations. The evidence in this study indicated that school principals in
Shenyang urban upper secondary schools conducted direction-setting activities. Two items in
this dimension that encompassed vision-building activities included responses to these items:
“Gives us a sense of overall purpose” and “Helps us to understand the school development
strategy”. Another three items displayed the principals’ activities that set school goals, including
“Helps clarify the reasons for our school’s improvement initiatives”, “Provides useful assistance
to us in setting short term goals for teaching and learning”, and “ Evaluates our work progress
based on school goals”. School principals in Shenyang urban upper secondary schools also had
high expectations for teachers, which was embodied in the following three items: “Expects
students to achieve good marks”, “Expects us to improve our professional level constantly”, and
123
“Demonstrates high expectations for our work with students”. These are effective leadership
practices for helping teachers to understand the future direction of the schools, making the
change coherent and building up the school capacity.
Leadership practices identified with the dimension of developing people contributed to
“fostering teachers’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions”. School principals tended to “help us to
be unique teachers according to our different characteristics” in order to realize individual
support. Then, intellectual stimulation was carried out to foster the skills and capabilities of
teachers by “Broadening our horizon by inviting education experts to give lectures in school”,
“Encouraging us to participate in academic activities to improve our standards of teaching”, and
“Encouraging us to consider new ideas for our teaching”.
Furthermore, school principals also made efforts to “model best practices and
organizational values”, such as, “Providing us with a variety of training opportunities to improve
the teaching quality”, “Developing an atmosphere of caring and trust”, and “Providing us with a
variety of opportunities to visit successful schools”. These efforts contributed to teachers’
knowledge and skills.
In Shenyang urban upper secondary schools at the time of this study, principals were
required by the Municipal Education Bureau to establish a collaborative culture. The survey
results showed that teachers reported that school principals in Shenyang urban upper secondary
schools were “Committed to establishing a good campus culture”. One of the important
characteristics of a good campus culture in schools is collaboration among teachers. The
establishment of a collaborative culture was also realized by “Encourages collaborative work
among us”, “Encouraging us to attend the activities of the teaching and research group”, and
“Promoting collective preparation of class”. These survey items also indicated that school
principals in Shenyang urban upper secondary schools were trying to build up professional
learning communities and strengthen collective capacity. In addition, “Promotes the
communication among teachers” is an important precondition to realizing a collaborative culture
in schools. As Bush (2003) stated, transformational school leadership is a kind of leadership
style that stresses collaboration and the establishment of relationships among people within an
organization.
In terms of creating productive community relationships, principals made efforts to
“provide parents with the opportunity to participate in school management through parent
124
committees”, and were “effective in building community support for the school’s improvement
efforts”. These activities helped to create productive community relationships, and finally
contributed to the capacity of the school organization.
Principals were also “concerned about our existence, such as work stress, living
conditions, etc.”, which showed they were trying to provide many forms of resources for
teachers with the aim to build up the school capacity.
The findings of this study suggested that principals in Shenyang urban upper secondary
schools were exercising transformational leadership practices, although the overall mean of
teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership was at the moderate level
(M=3.7552).
The magnitude of transformational leadership in this study might be affected by the
perceptions of teachers who were working in a relatively hierarchical system. In the context of a
relatively centralized education system, most educational change strategies were centrally
formulated and implemented, although teachers were informed of the meaning and significance
of curriculum reform before the policy was implemented.
Elements of different leadership models such as instructional leadership and managerial
leadership exist in the transformational leadership model. Transformational leadership goes
beyond simply focusing on teaching behavior and daily management, which are focuses of
instructional leadership and managerial leadership. Transformational school leadership centers
on promoting teachers’ commitment and building up the organization capacity for continuous
improvement. Although the magnitude of transformational school leadership practices in this
study was moderate, this type of leadership existed in the school change process and affected the
teachers’ motivation to change.
7.1.2 Transformational School Leadership and Chinese Culture
Chinese culture is a typical collective-oriented culture. A collectively oriented culture is
conducive to the emergence of transformational leadership. Chinese people are inclined to work
collectively and to value organizational goals over personal goals in comparison to people in an
individualist culture.
In Chinese culture, Confucius and Mencius advocated for the ideal that kingship and
government should be based on benevolence toward the common people and stressed that
125
leaders should rely on education to reinforce, extend, and further develop human goodness (Chen
& Lee, 2008). Trust and caring are respected values in Chinese culture. The Confucian maxim
“Man can't do anything without a good reputation” signifies the importance of earning trust, and
caring is regarded as an important part of benevolence, in particular for people who are in
leadership positions. These values are consistent with the characteristics of transformational
school leadership, such as individual consideration.
Group orientation and collective action are also extremely crucial in Chinese
organizations and Chinese culture. People are normally valued based on their contributions to the
organization or group instead of their own personal achievement in the Chinese context. This
attitude shares with transformational school leadership characteristics which emphasize
collective action and collaboration among followers in the organization. In addition, leading is a
process of leading groups of people instead of single people. In Confucian thought, leading is a
collective phenomenon, which is similar to the definition of leadership in Canadian culture. For
example, Leithwood (1999) and Levin (2008) both have defined leadership as a collective social
phenomenon. Based on the evidence in this project, transformational school leadership is
appropriate for Chinese culture.
Furthermore, to give support and help to a subordinate is greatly valued in Chinese
culture, and also the leader is expected to control the whole process of management. Confucius
stressed the role of “the rectification of names” (Zheng Ming) and the idea that the rule of
society is important (Liu, 2004). These values in Chinese culture can be embodied in the
transformational school leadership practices identified in this project, such as “Provides us with
good teaching equipment”, “Improves the teaching by regularly auditing our class”, and other
items. Thus, it can be stated that transformational school leadership is appropriate in the Chinese
school context.
7.2 The Analysis of the Relationship between Organizational and Teachers’ Factors on Teachers’ Perception of Transformational School Leadership
This section examines two relationships. The first involves the effects of organizational
and teachers’ factors on the teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership as a single
variable. The second has to do with the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on the
individual dimensions of teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership.
126
7.2.1 The Effects of Organizational and Teachers’ Factors on Teachers’ Perceptions of Transformational School Leadership as Single Variable
In terms of the first relationship, culture, strategy, environment, and age were
significantly related to transformational school leadership as a single variable. In total, 49.2% of
the variance in transformational school leadership was explained by these four variables, which
means these four variables had relatively strong influence on the teachers’ perception of
transformational school leadership.
In comparison with the roles of the teachers’ factors in Shenyang urban upper secondary
schools, culture, strategy, and environment had significant impacts on teachers’ perception of
transformational school leadership. The collaborative values and shared beliefs about certain
goals in schools influenced the teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership.
Encouraging teachers to create personal development plans and engaging them in professional
development strengthened the teachers’ perception of the developing people dimension of
transformational school leadership. If the teachers felt they would be supported by their schools
and could work under consensus goals, they recognized that these transformational school
leadership practices allowed them a good context in which to engage in change. Experienced
teachers were inclined to compare their past negative experiences with the current initiatives, so
they did not have as many positive perceptions of transformational leadership practices as
younger teachers had.
7.2.2 The Effects of Organizational and Teacher’s Factors on the Individual Dimensions of Teachers’ Perception of Transformational School Leadership
The purpose of checking the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on the
individual dimensions of teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership was to
investigate how a school administrator can motivate teachers to be part of the school change
process effectively by adjusting the organizational factors with attention to diverse teachers’
backgrounds.
127
7.2.2.1 The Analysis of the Relationship between the Dimension of Setting Direction and Organizational and Teachers’ Factors
Culture, environment, and age explained 34.1% of the variance in the dimension of
setting direction. The clarity of the school goals gave teachers a sense of direction, and a
collaborative, supportive culture could contribute to the establishment of group goals. In terms of
the environment, the relative focus of the goals in the schools helped teachers to have a clear
sense of direction. The younger teachers were inclined to accept the direction of transformational
leadership; however, the more experienced teachers were inclined to refuse and be suspicious of
such a policy in schools. This finding confirmed that the younger teachers more easily accepted
the idea of transformational school leadership (Leithwood et al, 1999).
7.2.2.2 The Analysis of the Relationship between the Dimension of Developing People and Organizational and Teachers’ Factors
Culture, strategy, and Gradeteaching1 explained 39.5% of the variance in the dimension
of developing people. A supportive and collaborative culture contributed to capacity building
activities in the dimension of developing people. The reason for this is that capacity building
includes motivation, resources, knowledge and competencies. Such a collaborative culture
enabled teachers to learn from each other, which in turn contributed to their professional
development. A school strategy of engaging teachers in professional development benefited their
professional development, which is the one of important focuses of the dimension involving
developing people. The teachers who were teaching in Grade 2 and Grade 3 were inclined to
give higher ratings on this dimension in comparison to Grade1 teachers based on the results of
the regression analysis.
In order to prepare students with skills for the National College Entrance Exam(NCEE),
resources and supports were assigned differently to different grades. As a result, teachers at
different levels (Junior, Intermediate, and Senior grades in the upper secondary schools) had
different perceptions of these leadership practices. For example, more resources were given to
the teaching activities in the intermediate grades and senior levels in order to help teachers
prepare students to take part in the national college entrance exam and initiate change in schools.
128
7.2.2.3 The Analysis of the Relationship between the Dimension of Redesigning the Organization and Organizational and Teachers’ Factors
Culture, structure, environment, and Gradeteaching2 explained 31.1% of the variance in
the dimension of redesigning the organization. Involving more teachers in the decision-making
process would solidify the teachers’ perception of the changes in the school structure. The
collaborative element in school culture contributed to the formation of the teachers’ sense of
involvement in the change process. The supportive environment strengthened the teachers’
beliefs that the organizational structure was reasonable and beneficial. Normally, the teachers
who are teaching in the senior grades had more opportunities to express their opinions in the
school management process. The teachers who were teaching in Grade 2 had a lower rating for
redesigning the organization since people either emphasized the Junior(Grade 1) or Senior(Grade
3) grade of the school organization.
7.2.2.4 The Analysis of the Relationship between the Dimension of Managing the Instructional Program and Organizational and Teachers’ Factors
Culture and strategy explained 37.0% of the variance in the dimension of managing the
instructional program. This finding showed that school culture and strategy had influences on the
teachers’ perception of managing the instructional program activities.
Teachers believed that ranking teachers and schools based on student achievement was
part of the school culture. This in turn strengthened their perception of the monitoring of
teaching activities as part of transformational school leadership. The position of teachers within
the ranking system was based on the achievements of their students. Schools gave teachers a
certain amount of autonomy in their professional development and engaged them in professional
development, which was regarded by teachers as supporting their teaching.
129
7.3 The Analysis of the Relationship between Transformational School Leadership and Teachers’ Commitment to Change 7.3.1 The Analysis of the Effect of Transformational School Leadership on Teachers’ Commitment to Change When They were Treated as a Single Variable Based on the statistical analysis, transformational school leadership explained 38.7% of
the total variance of teachers’ commitment to change when transformational school leadership
practices and teachers’ commitment to change were all treated as one single variable.
The moderate relationship between transformational school leadership and teachers’
commitment to change in this study could be due to the influence of other organizational factors,
such as internal and external factors including policies at the Ministry, district, and community
levels, school goals and culture, program and instruction, policy and organization, and resources,
which indicated that the influence of transformational school leadership may be indirect
(Leithwood et al., 1999).
In addition, the inexperience of school principals with teaching practice reduced the
possibility that teachers in Shenyang urban upper secondary might experience a relatively high
magnitude of transformational school leadership practices from school principals.
7.3.2 The Analysis of the Effects of the Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership on Teachers’ Commitment to Change as a Single Variable
When the four dimensions of transformational school leadership were treated as four
individual variables, these four variables explained 39.3% of the total variance in teachers’
commitment to change as one single variable. In the study of Sun (2010), the specific leadership
practices with the greatest influence on both teacher commitment and teachers’ job satisfaction
were those related to building relationships, developing people i.e., modeling, providing
intellectual stimulation and individualized support, and developing a shared vision i.e., a
direction- setting practice. However, in the Shenyang urban upper secondary schools, managing
the instructional program and redesigning the organization were needed by the teachers because
they were concerned about support, evaluation, collaborative culture, and whether there were
opportunities to be part of the change decision-making process. This reflects the fact that school
130
principals treated instructional activities as one of the core activities of schools and teachers were
concerned about whether they could really collaborate and help each other.
7.3.3 The Analysis of the Relationship between Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership and Individual Dimensions of Teachers’ Commitment to Change 7.3.3.1 The Analysis of the Relationship between Personal Goals and Individual Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership Setting direction, developing people, redesigning the organization, and managing the
instructional program together explained 31.0% of the variance in personal goals.
Regarding the effects of transformational school leadership on personal goals, the dimension of
redesigning the organization had the strongest effect, followed by managing the instructional
program, developing people, and setting direction. Many teachers were willing to be part of the
decision-making process, which could motivate them in the change process since teachers then
could get sufficient information about whether the new reform was different from past ones. The
average mean of items (M=3.66) regarding the teachers’ participation in the decision-making
was in a relatively weak position, which caused the low score of items in the dimension of
personal goals. As Leithwood (1993) stated, the goal-setting process should be very highly
participatory. In addition, under the accountability context in the urban upper secondary school
system of Shenyang city, teachers were more concerned about their teaching activities and how
the principal’s teaching management would affect their own teaching activities because the
method of monitoring teaching was strongly relevant to teachers’ personal goals. As Fullan
(2007) argued, teachers have to know it is necessary for them to take action to engage in change,
so the evaluation of schools was an important tool for teachers to understand whether the reform
goals were achievable or not. The ineffectiveness of setting direction in this study was due to the
communication problems in the schools. This indicated that the school principals should
combine individual support and collective motivation, in particular focusing more on the
individual needs of teachers although collective goals are extremely important during the change
process.
131
7.3.3.2 The Analysis of the Relationship between Context Beliefs and Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership Practices When context beliefs were treated as individual variables, managing the instructional
program, developing people, redesigning the organization, and setting direction had significant
impacts on the context beliefs of teachers in Shenyang city. These four dimensions explained
40.4% of the total variance.
Regarding the effects of transformational school leadership on the context beliefs of
teachers, the dimension of managing the instructional program affected context beliefs most
because teachers were concerned about whether school leaders could objectively evaluate their
performance and give sufficient support for their instructional activities. For instance, the
average mean of the items relevant to teaching support, like providing teaching resources(Item
7), was relatively high (M=4.01). This contributed to the improvement of teachers’ context
beliefs that focused on whether the school and district could provide sufficient supports during
the change process. Teachers also worried about the extent to which professional development
could be provided by the school principal. The average of these items in the developing people
dimension was 3.9, which shows that teachers believed the professional development activities
were effective at the school level. This in turn improved the context beliefs of teachers. These
two main findings, including teaching support and developing people activities, were slightly
different from the conducive conditions synthesized by Leithwood (1993), which are school
culture, working conditions, accessibility to information, amount of human and material
resources, and the interpersonal climate of the schools. This indicates teachers were more
concerned about training opportunities and material supports in instructional activities in
Shenyang urban upper secondary schools.
7.3.3.3 The Analysis of the Relationship between Capacity Beliefs and Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership
Setting direction, developing people, redesigning the organization, and managing the
instructional program had significant effects on capacity beliefs of teachers and explained 27.9%
of the total variance in capacity beliefs.
The managing instructional program activities in Shenyang city affected capacity beliefs
most, followed by setting direction, redesigning the organization, and developing people. This
shows that once teachers were satisfied with the evaluation and supports from the schools, this
132
would arouse their capacity beliefs. Teachers were concerned about help in developing their
instructional skills and also whether evaluation from their school principal could help them to
improve their abilities. The most influential source was their actual performance; perceptions of
success perhaps are formed through feedback from others (Leithwood et al., 1993). Also, this
finding suggests that the professional development activities in Shenyang urban upper secondary
schools, including visiting other schools, listening to expert lectures, etc., did not really help to
improve teachers’ capacity beliefs. This indicates that the divergence between the teaching
practices required for student achievement and the purpose of professional development causes
the low effects on teacher capacity beliefs. On the contrary, setting direction with clear goal and
getting more chances to be part of decision-making process are needed by teachers, although
these leadership practices do not really perform appropriately in the schools.
7.3.3.4 The Analysis of the Relationship between Dimension of Emotional Arousal and Four Dimensions of Transformational School Leadership Setting direction, developing people, redesigning the organization, and managing the
instructional program explained 38.6% of the variance in emotional arousal.
The teachers were most concerned about whether they would be assigned to appropriate
positions, be promoted appropriately, and be supported enough by the school leaders based on
the evaluation of their teaching activities. In the Chinese context, whether principals evaluate
teachers objectively and assign them to appropriate positions is regarded as one of their most
important qualities. Therefore, the most significant effect of transformational school leadership
on emotional arousal came from managing the instructional program. In particular, student
scores are emphasized in the evaluation system (Feng, 2002). The item relevant to evaluation had
a relatively high score (M=4.04), which means teachers frequently received comments from their
schools. These comments contributed to their emotional arousal. In reality, the teachers were also
concerned about having opportunities to be part of the decision-making process and remaining in
a collaborative culture which would maintain their positive mental status. For example, the item
regarding relationships with the community and parents had a relatively high score in
comparison to other items, which indicates that better relationships with parents or feedback
from parents did arouse the emotions of teachers. This finding confirmed the statements of
Bredson, Fruth, & Kasten (1983) that positive feedback from parents improves a teacher’s desire
133
to be part of the change process. Furthermore, as Fullan (2007) stated, collaborative working
relationships maintain teachers’ positive emotional status.
Setting direction and developing people were not important in comparison with
redesigning the organization and managing the instructional program. The reason for this is that
sometimes teachers believed that the advocacy from the management was just lip service, in
particular in terms of setting direction.
7. 4 Conclusion
Transformational leadership was practiced in Shenyang urban upper secondary schools
based on the empirical data described in this study. The overall school conditions and national
culture favored the existence of transformational school leadership there. The magnitude of
transformational school leadership was affected by the opportunities of teachers to meet leaders
and see the transformational school leadership due to the relatively rigid hierarchical system.
Therefore, it would be reasonable for school administrators to create more opportunities to meet
and connect with teachers in order to improve the effects of leadership practices.
The transformational school leadership practices in China included 17 items unique to the
Chinese context and 12 other items shared by Canadian and Chinese contexts. Organizational
and cultural factors played an important role in the formation of teachers’ perception of
transformational leadership in Shenyang urban upper secondary schools. The findings from this
study indicate that most transformational school leadership practices are universal and can work
effectively across cultures. However, the leadership practice pertaining to involving teachers in
decision-making processes was not widely recognized in the Chinese urban upper secondary
school context because of its bureaucratic structure. This newly formulated transformational
school leadership survey questionnaire can be applied to other Chinese schools that have similar
social and economic situations to Shenyang city or can be used as a foundation to explore
effective leadership practices in the Chinese school context.
The relationship between organizational factors, teachers’ factors and teachers’
perceptions of transformational school leadership is relatively complicated. In comparison to the
teacher factors (e.g., teachers’ age and grade taught), organizational factors such as culture,
strategy, structure, and environment had a relatively significant role in the formation of teachers’
perceptions of transformational school leadership. Young teachers were inclined to have strong
134
transformational school leadership perceptions because they were new to the system.
Experienced teachers most of the time had lost interest in the reforms based on their past
experiences. The finding informs us that changing the adaptable factors, such as culture, strategy,
structure, and environment, will affect the teachers’ perception of transformational school
leadership practices. Therefore, understanding the adjustable organizational factors in-depth and
controlling these factors effectively would be conducive to successful school management and
change. As well, noticing the differences among teacher groups is the precondition for the school
administrators to implement policy and change effectively because teachers with different
demographic backgrounds do have different requirements for leaders according to the findings.
The magnitude of the relationship between transformational leadership and teachers’
commitment to change was reduced by the influence of mediating variables in the organization.
These were primarily Ministry policies and school organization. Effective school change requires
a supportive environment regardless of whether it is at the school or district level. This type of
environment would help strengthen the effects of transformational school leadership.
In terms of the effects of the four dimensions of transformational school leadership on
teachers’ commitment to change as a single variable, managing the instructional program had a
significant role. This indicates principals in Shenyang city paid more attention to the teaching
management activities in comparison to the other three leadership dimensions. Therefore,
balancing instructional management and other organizational capacity building activities in
urban upper secondary schools would be beneficial for the school and district administrators.
This is due to the fact that the sustainability of organizational development and change mostly
relies on organizational capacity.
When personal goals, context beliefs, capacity beliefs, and emotional arousal were treated
as single variables respectively, the effects of transformational school leadership dimensions
were different. The personal goals of teachers were affected mostly by redesigning the
organization and managing the instructional program because the teachers were inclined to be
part of the decision-making process and were concerned about the method of instructional
management in schools. It would be beneficial for schools to flatten the organizational structure
and grant more opportunities for teachers to be part of the management process. This would help
teachers to combine organizational and personal goals effectively and motivate teachers to a
135
larger degree. Additionally, giving teachers more insight into the goals of the reforms would help
teachers to adjust personal goals to organizational goals.
The context beliefs of teachers were influenced mostly by managing the instructional
program and developing people as teachers in this context needed more professional
development and support from the school administration. The findings suggest that any forms of
support, such as training and teaching facility supports, greatly helps teachers to form positive
context beliefs and in turn actively join the reform.
Capacity beliefs were strongly related to managing the instructional program. This was
due to the fact that teachers were in need of support through appropriate instructional
management which would contribute to the development of their capacities. Therefore, giving
sufficient supports and positive and constructive feedback will help teachers to have positive
capacity beliefs.
Emotional arousal was strongly related to managing the instructional program and
redesigning the organization. The reason for this is that teachers were concerned about
evaluation, support and opportunities to be part of the decision-making process. Based on this
finding, giving more positive feedback would help teachers to maintain a positive emotional
status, along with creating more opportunities to involve teachers in being part of the decision-
making process.
In sum, transformational school leadership was proven to be effective in the Chinese
school context according to the results of this study. Changing and coordinating organizational
conditions would contribute to the formation of teachers’ perception of transformational school
leadership. Finally, applying and combining different transformational school leadership
practices would effectively motivate teachers to be part of the school change process according
to the empirical data described here.
7.5 Significance of Study
7.5.1 Leadership Practices Zhong(2006) and Guan and Meng (2007) have pointed out that there are existing
problems in curriculum reform. First, there is the imbalance between relatively limited teaching
resources and more requirements for teaching. Second, the imbalance between the demand for
qualified teachers and the current quality of teachers is notable. Third, the heavy burdens on
136
teachers are increasing. Fourth, there is a contradiction between quality-oriented education and
exam-oriented education. These existing problems in curriculum reform require a kind of
leadership that can help to initiate and to realize change in educational practice more effectively.
Based on the empirical data, the identified effective leadership practices can help to
change the above situation and realize the goal of reform. The leadership practices concerning
setting a clear goal and maintaining a consistent goal for the reform are important items
identified in the research. Providing material supports to teachers who are in the change process
is urgent in Chinese schools, and the identified leadership practices relevant to material support
can motivate teachers in this regard. The leadership practices involved in providing teachers’
professional development will prepare qualified teachers for improving the effectiveness of
curriculum reform. In sum, the identified leadership practices which have been here identified
can alleviate the contradictions listed above and realize the change in schools.
In addition, the ineffective items on the transformational school leadership questionnaire
imply certain problems in urban upper secondary school management. For example, top-down
management reduces the chances for teachers to be part of the decision-making process. There is
a lack of enough activities for teacher leadership development. Finally, there is a lack of enough
direct instructional consultation from school principals.
The lack of direct instructional consultation from school principals reflects the facts that
some school principals in the urban upper secondary schools are not promoted from the ranks of
professional teachers, but from those of government officials. This finding is consistent with the
argument in the research of Murphy, Hallinger, Weil, and Milman(1983), which is that some
school principals lack the knowledge to carry out the curriculum reform and guide instructional
activities. Therefore, it is meaningful to establish a reasonable appointment system for school
principals and provide sufficient principal training with the aim to improve the change
effectiveness at the school level on a large scale. Another important contribution that may be
taken from this research is that school principals’ evaluation criteria can be established based on
the identified leadership practices. Due to the homogeneity of Chinese cultural values in the
education system, it is expected that the newly formulated Chinese transformational school
leadership questionnaire can be applied to other schools with similar cultural contexts. However,
the unique cultural values in minority regions need to be noted in order to improve the
137
applicability of the new survey. In sum, the new instrument will be beneficial for leadership
training and development in Chinese schools on a large scale.
Regarding the validation of the change process survey (the school characteristics
questionnaire and the teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire), it is important to develop
both of these three questionnaires, but it is urgent to have a new transformational school
leadership questionnaire in the Chinese urban upper secondary school context. This is because
the success of school change is really decided by the school leadership, which is the second most
important factor after classroom instruction. Additionally, the process of examining the validity
and reliability of the existing survey instruments can ensure their applicability to a certain degree.
Theoretically, this study has proved transformational school leadership is an effective
model in Shenyang urban upper secondary schools based on the empirical data. It also indicates
that collective culture is conducive to the applicability and effectiveness of transformational
school leadership.
Due to the homogeneity of Chinese culture values in education system, it is expected that
the newly formulated Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire can be applied to
schools with similar cultural contexts. However, the unique cultural value in minority regions
needs to be noticed in order to improve the applicability of the new survey. In sum, the new
instrument will be beneficial for the leadership training in Chinese schools instead of a limitation
because of school type.
As Confucius says, rectification of names (Zheng Ming) also means “the language is
correct, and that what is said is what is meant…there will be no arbitrariness in what is said.”
This empirical study helps to understand what the real meaning of “transformational leadership”
is in Chinese school context.
7.5.2 Factors Affecting Teachers’ Perception of Transformational School Leadership
This study identifies three school variables and one teacher factor (culture, strategy,
environment, and age) that were significantly related to teachers’ perception of transformational
school leadership as a single variable. In total, 49.2% of the variance in transformational school
leadership was explained by these four variables. This finding will remind the school
administrator to control these variables in order to improve teachers’ perception of
138
transformational school leadership. This could help to improve the effectiveness of school
change.
Culture, structure, environment, strategy, teachers’ age and the grade teachers taught
have relatively stronger effects on the individual dimensions of teachers’ perception of
transformational school leadership. These findings will help administrators to control the school
factors with attention to the teacher’s age and grade taught to improve the teachers’ perception of
transformational school leadership. Furthermore, it also indicates that schools’ and teachers’
individual variables have different effects on the individual dimensions of transformational
school leadership. This requires more attention on school factors in order to improve the
magnitude of teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership.
7.5.3 The Effect of Transformational School Leadership and Teachers’ Commitment to Change
Transformational school leadership can explain 38.9% of the total variance of teachers’
commitment to change when both of them are treated as single variables. This finding shows the
importance of transformational school leadership in motivating teachers to be part of the change
since it explains one third of the total variance by itself and also indicates the adaptability of a
transformational school leadership model in the Chinese urban upper secondary schools context.
Concerning the effects of individual dimensions of transformational school leadership on
teachers’ commitment to change, the findings also show the significant contribution of the
individual dimensions, which can explain about 39.3% percent of variance in teachers’
commitment to change. This finding is significant since it reveals that the effects of the
individual dimensions of transformational school leadership are different across cultures. In
comparison to the findings of Leithwood’s research, the effects of instructional management and
school structure were stronger in this study than the effects of setting vision and developing
people, which were more effective in Canadian studies. This finding indicates that both the local
context and focus of management affect the teachers’ perception of leadership practices. For
example, a shortage of instructional resources will affect teachers’ perception of the leadership
practices of providing teaching materials in the Chinese urban upper school context.
Additionally, a focus on the instructional work in Chinese schools affects teachers’ perception of
the dimension of managing the instructional program.
139
The research on teachers in the Chinese context mainly focuses on the single teacher
variables such as teachers’ stress (Gao, 2009; Dolmage & Yong, 2003), teacher self-efficacy
(Guo, 2011), teachers’ attitude towards parent involvement (Gu, 2010), and teachers’ job
satisfaction (Sargent & Hannum, 2005). However, teachers’ commitment to change, which is a
comprehensive construct for understanding the teachers’ motivation process in the school change
process, has not been given much attention. Therefore, this study will contribute to the
theoretical research on teachers’ emotions in the Chinese school context, in particular how
school conditions can stimulate teachers’ commitment and to what extent teachers can be
successfully motivated.
7.6 Implications for Future Research and Practice
The following areas are appropriate for future research: There is a lack of systematic research regarding transformational school leadership in the
Chinese cultural context, especially research conducted by using content analysis and principal
component analysis. Therefore, this research fills this gap and contributes to this field. At the
same time, a comparison of differences and similarities of transformational school leadership
practices across cultures would deepen the understanding of this social phenomenon.
Regarding the transformational school leadership model, validation conducted by
Structural Equation Model is required in order to improve the construct validity of this model. In
addition, more research is required in other geographic and organizational contexts, such as
elementary schools or lower secondary schools in different parts of China.
The research needs to be applied on a larger scale in order to explore the role of gender
and other leader and teachers’ factors in the perception of transformational school leadership and
the relationship between transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change.
Regarding the significance of transformational school leadership practices, it is
instructive for the principal to know what the effective leadership practices are during the school
change process and how to exert leadership effectively in the change process. In particular, the
leadership practices regarding involving teachers in decision-making and fostering teacher
leadership would be recommended to local school principals in order to improve the
effectiveness of school reform. According to the findings of this study, giving more opportunities
140
for teachers to be part of the decision-making, in particular fostering teachers’ capacities, would
arouse the teachers’ motivation to engage in future change activities.
Apart from transformational school leadership, other internal and external school factors
also influence the teachers’ commitment to change. Therefore, adjusting the external factors,
such as policies at the Ministry and local level, would improve teachers’ commitment to change.
The effect of transformational leadership’s contribution to the educational change process
in the Chinese context and to teacher emotion has not been comprehensively studied. It would be
wise for the Chinese government to be concerned about teachers’ emotions e.g., teachers’
commitment to change since to a large extent the success of change relies on whether teachers
have enough motivation to be part of it.
7.7 Limitations of the Study
Due to limited time, energy, and financial resources, this study has the following
limitations:
1. The size of the sample. The study consists of about 735 teachers, although a random
selection approach was applied. In general, the size of the sample was still relatively small.
2. In actuality, other factors apart from school leadership, such as government policies,
could be conducive to teacher’s commitment to change. For instance, if the educational policies
related to school change are beneficial to teachers, the teachers may be more likely to be
involved in the change process and show higher levels of commitment to change.
3. Each school principal likely has different leadership practices, but the scores of the
principals’ leadership practices were accumulated as a whole. Thus, it was not clear how the
leadership practices of any particular principal affected the commitment to change of teachers
from the same school.
In spite of the limitations listed above, this study has made a significant contribution to
the development of transformational school leadership theory in the Chinese education context.
This leadership model will lead to further research in this regard. As well, the findings of this
study enrich the understanding of transformational school leadership since they show that
transformational school leadership can be exemplified in different forms of practices across
cultures. The newly formulated Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire can
141
contribute to daily school management in the change context of Chinese schools since it marks
the first time an effective leadership model has been tailored to the Chinese school context. The
identified relationship between the influence of organizational and personal factors on teachers’
perceptions of transformational school leadership can benefit school administration greatly.
Finally, the findings regarding teachers’ commitment to change will arouse the awareness of
school and district administrators to pay more attention to teachers’ status since teachers’
motivation is one of the important sources of school success.
142
Appendix-1 Open Questionnaire
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
1. Your gender :a. Male b. Female ( Check One) 2. What is your current position?(Check one)
a. Senior b. First grade c. Second grade d. Third grade
e. Non
3.How many years have you been in the teaching profession?(check one)(Till to July,2011)
4. How many years have you been teaching in this school?( Check one)(Till to July,2011)
a.1-2 years
a.1-2 years b.3-5 years
b.3-5 years c.6-10 years
c.6-10 years d.11-15years
d.11-15 years e.16-19 years
e.16-19 years f. 20+ years
f. 20+ years 5. Your highest academic qualification(Check one) 6. Your school size(Check one)
a. High School
a. Small(300-1000) b. College
b. Medium(1001-2000) c. Bachelor Degree
c. Large(2001-3000) d. Master degree e. other:__________
7. Which grade are you teaching?(Please check one) 8. Your age(Check one) a. Junior a. less than 25
b. Intermediate
b. 25-29 c. Senior
c. 30-34
d.35-39
e. 40-44
f. 45-49
g.50+
143
Survey Questions
Dear Teachers, You have been selected to participate in a research study on school leadership. The questionnaire is designed to help us in understanding school
leadership. We would like to ask you to describe the leadership practices you have experienced or observed in your work based on the following questions.
The research is will be conducted by a student. The survey will take about 5 to 10 minutes to complete. Your participation is voluntary. Thank you so much
for your kind help and great contribution. This survey will only be used for academic purposes. Your answers and personal information will be kept strictly
confidential and will not be disclosed to anyone for any purpose.
Sincerely, Peng Liu Doctorate Candidate Department of Theory and Policy Studies Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto 6-235, 252 Bloor Street West Toronto, Ontario, Canada Tel: 13940294696(China) Thesis supervisor Blair Mascall Department of Theory and Policy Studies Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto, 252 Bloor Street West Toronto, Ontario, Canada Tel:001-416-978-1173 Email: [email protected]
144
Dear teachers, Thank you for joining this research. The purpose of this research is to get your opinions on how your school principal led your school during the curriculum reform, based on your observation during that change period. If possible, could you please list the five most important leadership practices of your school principal in your school? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Other research has identified four types of leadership practice which effective leaders use. Can you tell me whether school principal does in each of following areas? 1. "Building vision and setting directions" refers to the practices of principals setting up shared goals to motivate teachers-- for instance, the principal explaining the school's vision to you. What does your leader do?
2. "Developing people" refers to principals helping teachers build up knowledge and skills to accomplish the goals of the organization and promoting teachers' dedication, aptitude and flexibility to help them stick with using their knowledge and skills-- for instance, the principal challenging your assumptions about teaching methods. What does your leader do? 3. "Redesigning the organization" refers to principals creating good working conditions for teachers to maximize their motivation, commitment and capacity-- for example, the principal building up the collaborative culture in your school. What does your leader do?
145
4. "Managing the teaching and learning program" refers to principals improving the working conditions for teachers through maintaining the normal operation of the school and increasing the school’s facilities-- for example, the principal buffering teaching activities from miscellaneous outside distractions. What does your leader do?
Could you please list any other good leadership practices that have enhanced the individual and collective problem-solving capacities of organization members in the school change context?
146
附录-1 教师背景资料
1. 您的性别 : a. 男 b. 女
5. 您的最高学历(请选一) 2. 您现任的职务是什么? (请选一) (截止到 2011 年 7 月)
a. 高中/中专
a. 高级教师 b. 一级教师
c. 二级教师
d. 三级教师
b. 大专
c. 本科
d. 硕士学位
e. 其它:__________
e. 无
6.您学校的规模
3.您从事教育工作多少年了?(请选一) (截止到 2011 年 7 月)
a.小型（300-1000）
a. 1-2 年
b.中型（1001-2000）
b. 3-5 年
c 大型（2001-3000）
c. 6-10 年 d. 11-15 年
7. 您执教的年级? (请选一) e. 16-19 年
a. 高一
f. 20 年以上
b. 高二
c. 高三
4. 您在现任职的学校执教几年了? (请选一)(截止到 2011 年
7 月)
8. 您的年龄(请选一)
a. 1-2 年 b. 3-5 年 c. 6-10 年 d. 11-15 年 e. 16-19 年 f. 20 年以上
a. 小于 25 b. 25-29 c. 30-34 d. 35-39 e. 40-44 f. 45-49 g. 50 岁以上
147
附录 1：开放性问卷 调查问题
亲爱的老师： 您现在被选出参加一个关于学校领导能力的调查。这个问卷为帮助我们了解贵学校校长的领导力而设计。我们希望您能基于以下问题，描述
一下您在工作中所经历的或观察到的领导实例。这项调查由一名多伦多大学的教育学博士生来进行。完成这项调查将占用您 5-10 分钟。你的参与
采取自愿原则。我们对您的热心帮助以及对此所做出的巨大贡献深表感谢。这项调查仅以学术研究为目的。您的答案以及个人信息将会被严格保
密，更不会出于任何缘由向任何人公开。 此致 敬礼！ 博士候选人 刘鹏 教育理论及行政系 多伦多大学教育学院 布鲁尔大街 252 号 6-235 房间 多伦多 安大略 加拿大 中国电话：13940294696 电子邮箱：[email protected] 导师： 布莱尔.马斯科尔 教授 教育理论及行政系 多伦多大学教育学院 布鲁尔大街 252 号 多伦多 安大略 加拿大 电话：001-416-978-1173 电子邮箱：[email protected]
148
本研究目的在于：自 2006 年课程教材改革以来，基于你的亲身经历或观察，请描述贵校校长如何引领学校进行课改？ 请您列出贵校校长的五个最重要的领导行为或实践？ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 国内外相关研究发现学校变革过程中四种有效领导行为。您能描述一下贵校校长在以下几方面采取了哪些行动？
1. “确立愿景和设定方向”, 即校长通过确立学校愿景和设定发展方向来激励教师---例如, 校长向你们解释学校的发展愿景。在课程改革的过
程中，你的校长是如何通过“确立愿景和设定方向”来激励教师的？请列出 5-6 项此类领导行为。 a. b. c. d e. f.
2. “培育人才”，即校长采取各种措施和方法帮助教师提高知识和技能来更好地实现课改目标，并且激发老师们积极运用知识和能力的意向
和动力--如校长对你设想的教学方法提出不同的意见。在课程改革的过程中，你的校长为提升教师的知识和技能、激发教师积极运用知
识的意向和动力方面做了哪些工作？请列出 5-6 项此类领导行为。 a. b. c. d. e. f.
3. “重新设计组织”，即校长为改革的顺利推进创造良好内外部环境和工作条件，并以此来最大限度激发教师的能动性和提高他们的能力---例如校长创建学校的合作文化氛围。在课程改革的过程中，你的校长在课改中是如何通过“重新设计学校”来发挥教师的能动性？请列出
5-6 项此类领导行为。 a. b. c. d. e. f.
149
4. “管理教学活动”，即校长通过保证学校的教学正常进行和改善学校的基础设施来为教师们创建一个高效的工作条件---例如，校长保护教
师教学活动不受各种外界干扰。在课程改革的过程中，你的校长是如何“管理教学活动”的？请列出 5-6 项此类领导行为。 a. b. c. d. e. f.
请您列出其他那些贵校校长为提高个人和组织成员共同的问题解决能力所实施的领导行为。
150
Appendix-2 Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire for Stage 2
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
1. Your gender :a. Male b. Female ( Check One) 2. What is your current position?(Check one)(Till to July,2011)
a. Senior b. First grade c. Second grade d. Third grade
e. Non
3.How many years have you been in the teaching profession?(check one)(Till to July,2011)
4. How many years have you been teaching in this school?( Check one)(Till to July,2011)
a.1-2 years
a.1-2 years b.3-5 years
b.3-5 years c. 6-10 years
c.6-10 years d.11-15years
d.11-15 years e.16-19 years
e.16-19 years f. 20+ years
f. 20+ years 5. Your highest academic qualification(Check one)
6. Your school size(Check one)
a. High School
a. Small(300-1000) b. College
b. Medium(1001-2000) c. Bachelor Degree
c. Large(2001-3000) d. Master degree e. other:__________
7. Which grade are you teaching?(Please check one) 8. Your age(Check one) a. Junior a. less than 25
b. Intermediate
b. 25-29 c. Senior
c. 30-34
d.35-39
e. 40-44
f. 45-49
g.50+
151
Dear Teachers,
Thank you for your participation and support. The purpose of this survey is to understand how your school principal has exercised leadership in the curriculum reform starting from 2006. This survey is to find out the degree to which the leadership practices in your school in the curriculum reform starting from 2006 accord with what is described in the survey items . If the leadership practice listed in the survey item constantly happens, please choose “ Strong agree"; If the leadership practice described in the survey item occasionally occurs, please choose “ Agree”; If it is difficult to make judgment, please choose “ Not Sure”; If the leadership practice described in the survey seldom happens, please choose “ Disagree”; If the leadership practice listed in the survey never happens, please choose “ Strongly disagree”. Please mark in the square frame of the best option.
SD D NS A SA 1 Encourages collaborative work among us.
2 Expect us to improve our professional level constantly.
3 Promotes communication among teachers.
4 Respects teachers’ professional skills and expertise.
5 Provides good living conditions through improving logistics.
6 Help us to understand the school development strategy.
7 Provides useful assistance to us in setting short term goals for teaching and learning.
8 Buffers us from distractions to our instruction.
9 Organizes teaching contest to encourage us to improve teaching abilities.
10 Gives us more autonomy in school management.
11 Committed to establishing a good campus culture.
12 Provides good conditions for the development of young teachers.
13 Models a high level of professional practice.
14 Concerned about our existence, such as work stress, living conditions, etc.
15 Promotes leadership development among teachers.
16 Evaluates our work progress based on school goals.
17 Establishes a competitive appointment system to encourage us to improve teaching.
18 Is effective in building community support for the school’s improvement efforts.
19 Frequently discusses educational issues with us.
20 Ensures wide participation in decisions about school improvement.
21 Encourage us to reflect on our teaching.
152
SD D NS A SA
22 Broadens our horizon by inviting education expert to give lectures in school.
23 Provides us with the opportunity to participate in school management decisions through a variety of forms, such as Representative Assembly, etc.
24 After observing classroom activities, works with teachers to improve our teaching.
25 Help us understand the overall direction of the school development.
26 Helps clarify the reasons for our school’s improvement initiatives.
27 Encourages us to attend the activities of the teaching and research group.
28 Demonstrates high expectations for our work with students.
29 Provides or locates resources to help us improve our teaching.
30 Regularly observes classroom activities.
31 Engages parents in the school’s improvement efforts.
32 Engage us in the process of the formulation of school development plan.
33 Expects student to achieve good marks.
34 Explains the school development goals through school staff conference.
35 Strives to achieve the consistent understanding on the school goals among teachers.
36 Promotes collective preparation of teaching.
37 Encourages us to participate in the academic activities to improve our standards of
teaching.
38 Provides us with a variety of training opportunities to improve the teaching quality.
39 Provides us with a variety of opportunities to visit successful schools.
40 Gives us individual support to help us improve our teaching practices.
41 Encourages us to consider new ideas for our teaching.
42 Reasonably arranges human resources in the school.
43 Helps us to be unique teachers according to our different characteristics.
44 Develops an atmosphere of caring and trust.
45 Strengthens school security, ensuring the smooth progress of teaching.
46 Establishes an evaluation system to ensure the smooth progress of teaching.
153
Appendix-3 Change Process in Secondary Schools Survey
Dear Teachers,
Thank you for your participation and support. The purpose of this survey is to understand how you understand the school factors and your personal motivation process in the curriculum reform process. This study will take 5-10 minutes for you to complete, and your participation is completely voluntary. Your answers and personal information will be kept strictly confidential and will not be disclosed to anyone for any purpose. This study is only for academic purposes. The envelope for this questionnaire is attached; please return your questionnaire with sealed envelope to me when you complete it. If the situation listed in the survey item constantly happens, please choose “ Strong agree"; If the leadership practice described in the survey item occasionally occurs, please choose “ Agree”; If it is difficult to make judgment, please choose “ Not Sure”; If the leadership practice described in the survey seldom happens, please choose “ Disagree”; If the leadership practice listed in the survey never happens, please choose “ Strongly disagree”. Please mark in the square frame of the best option. Part 1. Organizational characteristics questionnaire
SD D NS A SA 1. Our school goals and priorities are intended to encourage
continuous improvement of our programs and instruction 2. Most of my department colleagues share similar values, beliefs and
attitudes related to teaching and learning. 3. Decision-making in our school usually allows for significant
participation by teachers as well as administrators. 4. Frequent sharing of expertise among colleague contributes to
continual improvement of instruction within this school. 5. We have reduced the potential for confusion and excessive
demands from the new policy by setting school goals that focus our effects on manageable changes.
6. Teachers in this school are willing to help their colleagues.
7. We are encouraged to develop action plans for improving our
own programs. 8. Our staff tends to agree about how our school functions.
9. Extensive staff participation in school-wide matters(e.g., councils,
committees) helps to reduce overload for individuals. 10. In this school we often challenge one another’s beliefs about
education(e.g., about teaching, learning, school work).
154
SD
D
NS
A
SA
11.Professional development is given a high priority within our
school. 12. Leadership is distributed broadly among the staff with teachers
taking responsibility for various functions within our school. 13. We work toward consensus in determining which initiatives we
can reasonably implement. 14. All staff members have an opportunity to be involved in making
decisions that affect their work. 15. Teachers here are not afraid to ask for help when they need it.
16. Our school usually strikes the right balance between attempting
too much and too little change. 17. Our discussions about implementing new programs include
consideration not just of “ how” to implement but also “why” we might move in particular direction.
18. Written or taped records of what we learn from implementing
new practices are kept as a resource for further implementation efforts by ourselves or our colleagues.
Part 2. Teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire 1. Goals for the new programs are compatible with my own goals
for my work. 2. Implementing the new programs requires making significant
changes in how I go about doing my work. 3. My colleagues and I like to celebrate our accomplishment of
goals related to our work. 4. The policies and regulations of our school facilitate
implementation of new initiatives. 5. I have adequate release time for planning and/or professional
development related to new initiatives.
6. Most of my students’ parents/guardians support the things I do.
7. I expect to have opportunities to acquire more concrete
knowledge about how to implement new initiatives in my school and classroom.
8. Relationships between our staff and school administrators are
supportive and trusting.
155
SD
D
NS
A
SA 9. I have adequate opportunities for assistance from professional
staff with expertise related to new programs. 10. Our timetables/schedules facilitate accomplishment of new goals.
11. Strong encouragement from colleagues and administrators
whose expertise I respect enhances my confidence for implementing the new policy.
12. The school administrators recognize the good teaching I do.
13. My initial efforts to implement new programs have encouraged
me to continue with further implementation efforts. 14. Other teachers in my school recognize my teaching competence.
15. I sometimes learn new strategies by observing what colleagues
do in their work. 16. I enjoy the challenge of being an educator.
17. I have access to appropriate support personnel(e.g., aids,
substitutes) for implementation of new initiatives. 18. We regularly review and clarify our school goals as part of an
ongoing goal-setting process.
19. Teacher evaluation/supervision practices encourage us to
implement new initiatives. 20. The resources(e.g., texts, curriculum materials, teaching aids) in
this school are adequate for implementing new initiatives. 21. My colleagues and I always support and encourage each other.
22. I have a lot of autonomy in making decisions about my own work.
23. The school administrators respect the expertise of teachers.
24. I generally can decide how to do my work without disruptive
interference from colleagues or administrators. 25. My repertoire of teaching strategies is expanding to help
implement new programs. 26. I am /was actively involved in setting school goals and priorities
for the new initiatives. 27. I know the immediate next steps I need to take toward
implementing new programs in my school and classroom.
156
SD
D
NS
A
SA
28. Frequent and stimulating interactions with my teaching
colleagues provide encouragement to implement new initiatives. 29. My students show that they appreciate me.
30. I enjoy implementing new programs or teaching strategies.
31. I am developing a clear understanding of the implications of new
programs for my school and classroom. 32. Implementing new program is difficult but possible.
33. I am committed to implementing new programs.
34. I enjoy my job.
157
Appendix-4 Chinese transformational leadership questionnaire and organization change process in upper secondary school questionnaire for stage 2
教师背景资料
1. 您的性别 : a. 男 b. 女
5. 您的最高学历(请选一)
2. 您现任的职务是什么? (请选一) (截止到 2011 年 7 月)
a. 高中/中专 b. 大专 c. 本科 d. 硕士学位 e. 其它:__________
a. 高级教师 b. 一级教师
c. 二级教师
d. 三级教师
e. 无
6.您学校的规模
3.您从事教育工作多少年了?(请选一) (截止到 2011 年 7 月)
a.小型（300-1000）
a. 1-2 年
b.中型（1001-2000）
b. 3-5 年
c 大型（2001-3000）
c. 6-10 年 d. 11-15 年
7. 您执教的年级? (请选一) e. 16-19 年
a. 高一
f. 20 年以上
b. 高二
c. 高三
4. 您在现任职的学校执教几年了? (请选一)(截止到 2011 年 7 月)
8. 您的年龄(请选一) a. 小于 25 b. 25-29 c. 30-34 d. 35-39 e. 40-44 f. 45-49 g. 50 岁以上
a. 1-2 年 b. 3-5 年 c. 6-10 年 d. 11-15 年 e. 16-19 年 f. 20 年以上
158
尊敬的老师： 感谢您的参与和支持，本调查旨在了解您在 2006 年起的课程改革过程中，贵
校校长是如何引领学学校变革的。您将用五到十分钟就可以完成问卷，您的参加是
完全自愿的。您的回答及个人信息将会严格保密而且不会以任何名义泄露给任何人。
这项研究只是为了学术目的。我们已经附带了信封给您。请您填写完问卷并放入信
封封好后给我。此次调查了解您所感受到的实际情况与以下所描述情况的符合程度， 如经常表现出所描述的情况就选择“完全同意”，如偶尔表现出所描述的情况,就选择
"同意", 如难以判断，就请选择“不确定”，如较少表现出所描述的情况，就选择“不同 意”。如从来不出现，就请选择“完全不同意”。请在最佳选项的方框下打勾。 本研究只用于学术目的。您的回答及个人信息将被绝对保密。
完全不同意 不同意 不确定 同意 完全同意 1 校长鼓励教师之间的合作工作。
2 校长期望我们能不断地提高业务水平。
3 校长促进教师之间的沟通交流。
4 校长尊重我们的专业技能。
5 校长通过改进后勤工作来给我们提供良好的生活环境。
6 校长帮助我们理解学校发展战略。
7 校长在我们设立短期教与学目标的时候提供有益的帮助。
8 校长保护我们的教学活动不受干扰。
9 开展优质课大赛等教学竞赛活动来促进我们教学能力的提高。
10 给予我们更多的参与学校管理的自主权。
11 校长致力于建立良好的校园文化。
12 校长为年轻教师的成长提供好的条件。
13 校长树立了高水平的职业实践。
14 校长关注我们的生存状态，例如工作压力，生活条件等。
15 校长推动教师领导力的发展。
16 校长根据学校设定的发展目标评价我们工作的进展。
17 校长建立竞聘上岗制度来鼓励我们提高教学。
18 校长有效地建立了对学校改进提高的社区支持。
159
完全不同意
不同意
不确定
同意
完全同意
19 校长经常和我们讨论教育上的问题。
20 校长保证在学校改进提高的决策中有（教职员工)广泛参与。
21 校长鼓励我们进行教学反思。
22 校长 邀请专家来校讲座来拓展我们的视野。
23 校长通过各种形式，如教代会等，为我们提供参与学校管理决策的机会。
24 校长在观摩课堂教学后和我们一同来提高我们的教学实践。
25 校长让我们了解学校发展整体方向。
26 校长阐明学校变革提高决策的动因。
27 校长 鼓励我们参加教研组的活动。
28 校长对我们有关学生的工作显示了很高的期望。
29 校长提供或寻找资源来帮助我们提高教学。
30 校长经常观摩课堂活动。
31 校长使家长们参与到学校改进提高的努力中来。
32 校长鼓励我们参与到制定学校发展规划的过程中来。
33 校长期望学生能取得好的成绩。
34 校长通过教师大会向我们解释学校发展目标。
35 校长通过各种工作方式，争取和我们取得对学校发展目标的一致认识。
36 校长提倡集体备课。
37 校长鼓励我们参加科研活动来提高我们的教学水平。
38 校长给我们提供各种培训的机会来提高教学质量。
39 校长给我们提供各种机会去参观成功的学校。
40 校长给我们的教学活动提供个性化支持。
41 校长鼓励我们在教学上出新思想。
42 校长为教学的顺利进行合理安排学校人事资源 。
160
完全不同意
不同意
不确定
同意
完全同意
43 校长注重根据我们的不同特点来帮助我们成为有特色的教师。
44 校长培育了一种关怀和信任的气氛。
45 校长加强学校安全工作来保障教学工作的顺利进行。
46 校长建立教学评价制度来保证教学的顺利实施。
161
高中学校变革问卷 尊敬的老师：
感谢您的参与和支持，本调查旨在了解您在学校改革中对学校的诸因素及你 的个人动机过程的看法。您将用五到十分钟就可以完成问卷，您的参加是完全自
愿的。您的回答及个人信息将会严格保密而且不会以任何名义泄露给任何人。这
项研究只是为了学术目的。我们已经附带了信封给您。请您填写完问卷并放入信
封封好后给我。此次调查了解您所感受到的学校实际情况与以下所描述 情况的符合程度，如经常表现出所描述的情况就选择“完全同意”，如偶尔表现出 所描述的情况，就选择"同意", 如难以判断，就请选择“不确定”，如较少表现 出所描述的情况，就选择“不同意”。如从来不出现，就请选择“完全不同意”。 请 在 最 佳 选 项 的 方 框 下 打 勾 。
第一部分：学校特点问卷
完全不同意 不同意 不确定 比较同意 完全同意 1. 我们学校的目标和重点是鼓励我们持续改进教学规划和教学工作。
2. 对于教学和学习，我和我们教研组的大多数同事有共同的价值观，信仰和看
法。
3. 我们学校制定决策时，通常会认为教师与管理人员的参与同样重要。
4. 我校教师之间经常交流专业知识或技能，这有助于教学的不断改进。
5. 在改革中我们减少了新政策带来的混乱和额外要求，制订了可行的目标。
6. 我校教师愿意帮助自己的同事。
7. 学校鼓励我们制定行为规划，以改进我们自己的教学方案。
8. 我们全体教职员工基本赞同我们学校的运行方式。
9. 教师在学校各项事务中的广泛参与（如理事会、委员会）有助于减轻个人的重
负。
10. 在我校，我们常常挑战彼此的教育信念（如对教学、学习、家庭作业的看
法）。
11. 我校十分重视教师职业发展。
12. 在我校，教师们分别负责学校的各项事务，领导权得以全面下放。
13. 在决定能实现哪些目标时，我们尽量取得一致意见。
14. 所有教职员工都有机会参与对他们的工作有影响的决策。
15. 我们的老师在有需求时敢于寻求帮助。
16. 我们学校的改革通常既不太大也不太小，刚刚好。
162
完全不同意 不同意 不确定 比较同意 完全同意
17. 我们讨论新计划的实施时，不仅考虑“如何”实施，还会考虑
“为什么要朝着某个既定方向努力"。 18. 我们笔录或用录像机录下实施新举措时所获得的经验，将其保存，
作为我们自己或同事实施进一步计划的资源。 第二部分：教师参与改革情况问卷
完全不同意 不同意 不确定 比较同意 完全同意
1. 新计划或改革的目标与我个人的工作目标一致。
2. 新计划或改革的实施要求我大大改变自己原本的工作方式。
3. 我和我的同事们在完成工作目标时会进行庆祝。
4. 我们学校的政策和规章有助于新目标的实现。
5. 我有充足的时间制定与实施新目标相关的计划、并进行相关的职业发展。
6. 大多数学生的父母或监护人支持我的工作。
7. 我希望有机会学习更多的关于实施新目标的具体知识，
以便在我们的学校和课堂上实施它。 8. 我们的教职员工与学校管理者之间彼此支持、信任。
9. 我有很多机会可以得到实施新计划方面的专业人员的支持。
10. 我们的时间安排有助于实现新目标。
11. 来自专业知识上令我钦佩的同事和管理者们的鼓励增强了我实施新政策的信
心。
12. 学校管理者认可我的优秀的教学工作。
13. 我最初实施新计划的努力鼓励我继续做下去。
14. 学校里其他的教师认可我的教学能力。
15. 有时通过观察同事们的工作，我学习到了新的方法。
163
完全不同意 不同意 不确定 比较同意 完全同意 16. 我喜欢做为教育工作者所面临的挑战。
17. 在实施新目标时我能得到适当的人力支持（如：助手、代课老师）。
18. 我们定期回顾并澄清我们学校的目标，这是不断发展的目标设定过程的一部
分。
19. 对教师的评估或监督鼓励我们实施新目标。
20. 我校的资源（如，课本、课程材料、教学辅助手段）丰富，可以实施新目标。
21. 我和我的同事总是彼此支持、鼓励。
22. 我在工作决策中有很大的自主权。
23. 学校尊重教师的专业技能。
24. 总体来说，我可以决定如何工作，不受同事或管理者的干扰。
25. 我的教学策略不断增多，有助于实施新计划。
26. 我积极参与了学校新目标和工作重点的制定。
27. 在我校和我的班级实施新计划的过程中，我知道自己下一步要做什么。
28. 我经常与同事们进行富于启发性的交流，这激励我实施新目
标。
29. 我的学生表示他们感谢我。
30. 我喜欢实施新计划或教学策略。
31. 我越来越清楚新计划对我们学校和班级的意义。
32. 实施新计划很难，但有可行性。
33. 我致力于实施新计划。
34. 我喜爱我的工作。
164
Appendix-5 Formal Transformational School Leadership Questionnaire and Change Process in Upper Secondary School Questionnaire
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
1. Your gender :a. Male b. Female ( Check One)
2. What is your current position?(Check one)(Till to July,2011)
a. Senior
b. First grade
c. Second grade
d. Third grade e. Non
3.How many years have you been in the teaching profession?(check one)(Till to July,2011)
4. How many years have you been teaching in this school?( Check one)(Till to July,2011)
a.1-2 years
a.1-2 years
b.3-5 years
b.3-5 years
c. 6-10 years
c.6-10 years
d.11-15years
d.11-15 years
e.16-19 years
e.16-19 years
f. 20+ years
f. 20+ years
5. Your highest academic qualification(Check one) 6. Your school size(Check one)
a. High school
a. Small(300-1000)
b. College
b. Medium(1001-2000)
c. Bachelor Degree
c. Large(2001-3000)
d. Master degree
e. other:__________
7. Which grade are you teaching?(Please check one) 8. Your age(Check one) a. Junior a. less than 25
b. Intermediate
b. 25-29
c. Senior
c. 30-34
d.35-39
e. 40-44
f. 45-49
g.50+
165
Dear Teachers,
Thank you for your participation and support. The purpose of this survey is to understand how your school principal has exercised leadership in the curriculum reform starting from 2006. This study will take 5-10 minutes for you to complete, and your participation is completely voluntary. Your answers and personal information will be kept strictly confidential and will not be disclosed to anyone for any purpose. This study is only for academic purposes. The envelope for this questionnaire is attached; please return your questionnaire with sealed envelope to me when you complete it. This survey is to find out the degree to which the leadership practices in your school in the curriculum reform starting from 2006 accord with what is described in the survey items. If the leadership practice listed in the survey item constantly happens, please choose “ Strong agree"; If the leadership practice described in the survey item occasionally occurs, please choose “ Agree”; If it is difficult to make judgment, please choose “ Not Sure”; If the leadership practice described in the survey seldom happens, please choose “ Disagree”; If the leadership practice listed in the survey never happens, please choose “ Strongly disagree”. Please mark in the square frame of the best option.
SD D NS A SA 1 Gives us a sense of overall purpose.
2 Helps clarify the reasons for our school’s improvement initiatives.
3 Gives you individual support to help you improve your teaching practices.
4 Encourages us to consider new ideas for our teaching.
5 Encourages collaborative work among us.
6 Engages parents in the school improvement efforts.
7 Provides or locates resources to help us improve our teaching.
8 Reasonably arrange human resources in the school.
9 Provides useful assistance to us in setting short term goals
10 Demonstrates high expectations for our work with students.
11 Develops an atmosphere of caring and trust.
12 Provides us with a variety of opportunities to visit successful schools.
13 Is effective in building community support for the school’s improvement efforts.
14 Committed to establishing a good campus culture.
15 Helps us to understand the school development strategy.
16 Evaluates our work progress based on school goals.
17 Provides us with a variety of training opportunities to improve the teaching quality.
166
SD
D
NS
A
SA 18 Helps us to be unique teachers according to our different characteristics.
19 Encourages us to attend the activities of the teaching and research group.
20 Promotes collective preparation of class.
21 Regularly observes classroom activities.
22 Establishes an evaluation system to ensure the smooth progress of teaching.
23 Expects student to achieve good marks.
24 Expects us to improve our professional level constantly.
25 Encourage us to participate in the academic activities to improve our standards of teaching.
26 Broadens our horizon by inviting education expert to give lectures in school.
27 Promotes the communication among teachers
28 Concerned about our existence, such as work stress, living conditions, etc.
29 Strengthens school security, ensuring the smooth progress of teaching.
167
The Change Process in Secondary Schools
Dear Teachers, Thank you for your participation and support. The purpose of this survey is to understand how you understand the school factors and your personal motivation process in the curriculum reform process. This study will take 5-10 minutes for you to complete, and your participation is completely voluntary. Your answers and personal information will be kept strictly confidential and will not be disclosed to anyone for any purpose. This study is only for academic purposes. The envelope for this questionnaire is attached; please return your questionnaire with sealed envelope to me when you complete it. If the situation listed in the survey item constantly happens, please choose “ Strong agree"; If the leadership practice described in the survey item occasionally occurs, please choose “ Agree”; If it is difficult to make judgment, please choose “ Not Sure”; If the leadership practice described in the survey seldom happens, please choose “ Disagree”; If the leadership practice listed in the survey never happens, please choose “ Strongly disagree”. Please mark in the square frame of the best option.
SD D NS SA NA Part 1. Organizational characteristics questionnaire
1. Most of my department colleagues share similar values, beliefs and attitudes related to teaching and learning.
2. Decision-making in our school usually allows for significant
participation by teachers as well as administrators. 3. We have reduced the potential for confusion and excessive
demands from the new policy by setting school goals that focus our effects on manageable changes.
4. Teachers in this school are willing to help their colleagues.
5. We are encouraged to develop action plans for improving our
own programs. 6. Our staff tends to agree about how our school functions.
7. In this school we often challenge one another’ beliefs about
education(e.g.about teaching, learning, school work). 8.Professional development is given a high priority within our
school. 9. Leadership is distributed broadly among the staff with teachers
taking responsibility for various functions within our school. 10. All staff members have an opportunity to be involved in making
decisions that affect their work.
168
SD D NS SA NA
11. Teachers here are not afraid to ask for help when they need it.
12. Our school usually strikes the right balance between attempting
too much and too little change. 13. Our discussions about implementing new programs include
consideration not just of “ how” to implement but also “why” we might move in particular direction.
14. Written or taped records of what we learn from implementing
new practices are kept as a resource for further implementation efforts by ourselves or our colleagues.
Part 2. Teachers’ Commitment to Change Questionnaire 1. Implementing the new programs requires making significant
changes in how I go about doing my work. 2. My colleagues and I like to celebrate our accomplishment of
goals related to our work. 3. The policies and regulations of our school facilitate
implementation of new initiatives. 4. I have adequate release time for planning and/or professional
development related to new initiatives. 5. Most of my students’ parents/guardians support the things I do.
6. I expect to have opportunities to acquire more concrete
knowledge about how to implement new initiatives in my school and classroom.
7. Relationships between our staff and school administrators are
supportive and trusting. 8. I have adequate opportunities for assistance from professional
staff with expertise related to new programs. 9. Our timetables/schedules facilitate accomplishment of new goals.
10. Strong encouragement from colleagues and administrators
whose expertise I respect enhances my confidence for implementing the new policy.
11. The school administrators recognize the good teaching I do.
169
SD D NS SA NA
12. My initial efforts to implement new programs have encouraged
me to continue with further implementation efforts. 13. Other teachers in my school recognize my teaching competence.
14. I sometimes learn new strategies by observing what colleagues
do in their work. 15. I enjoy the challenge of being an educator.
16. I have access to appropriate support personnel(e.g.,aids,
substitutes) for implementation of new initiatives. 17. We regularly review and clarify our school goals as part of an
ongoing goal-setting process. 18. Teacher evaluation/supervision practices encourage us to
implement new initiatives. 19. The resources(e.g., texts, curriculum materials, teaching aids) in
this school are adequate for implementing new initiatives. 20. My colleagues and I always support and encourage each other.
21. I have a lot of autonomy in making decisions about my own work.
22. The school administrators respect the expertise of teachers.
23. I generally can decide how to do my work without disruptive
interference from colleagues or administrators. 24. My repertoire of teaching strategies is expanding to help
implement new programs. 25. I am /was actively involved in setting school goals and priorities
for the new initiatives. 26. I know the immediate next steps I need to take toward
implementing new programs in my school and classroom. 27. Frequent and stimulating interactions with my teaching
colleagues provide encouragement to implement new initiatives. 28. My students show that they appreciate me.
29. I enjoy implementing new programs or teaching strategies.
30. I am developing a clear understanding of the implications of new
programs for my school and classroom. 31. Implementing new program is difficult but possible.
170
SD D NS SA NA 32. I am committed to implementing new programs.
33. I enjoy my job.
171
Appendix-6 Formal Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire and change process in secondary school questionnaire 教师背景资料
1. 您的性别 : a. 男 b. 女
5. 您的最高学历(请选一) 2. 您现任的职务是什么? (请选一) (截止到 2011年 7月)
a. 高级教师 b. 一级教师
c. 二级教师
d. 三级教师
e. 无
a. 高中/中专
b. 大专 c. 本科
d. 硕士学位
e. 其它:__________
3.您从事教育工作多少年了?(请选一) (截止到 2011年 7月)
a. 1-2 年 b. 3-5 年 c. 6-10 年 d. 11-15 年 e. 16-19 年 f. 20 年以上
6.您学校的规模
a.小型（300-1000）
b.中型（1001-2000） c 大型（2001-3000）
7. 您执教的年级? (请选一)
a. 高一
4. 您在现任职的学校执教几年了? (请选一)(截止到 2011 年 7 月) a. 1-2 年 b. 3-5 年 c. 6-10 年 d. 11-15 年 e. 16-19 年 f. 20 年以上
b. 高二
c. 高三
8. 您的年龄(请选一) a. 小于 25 b. 25-29 c. 30-34 d. 35-39 e. 40-44 f. 45-49 g. 50 岁以上
172
尊敬的老师： 感谢您的参与和支持，本调查旨在了解您在 2006 年起的课程改革过程中，贵 校校长是如何引领学学校变革的。您将用五到十分钟就可以完成问卷，您的参加是
完全自愿的。您的回答及个人信息将会严格保密而且不会以任何名义泄露给任何人。
这项研究只是为了学术目的。我们已经附带了信封给您。请您填写完问卷并放入信
封封好后给我。此次调查了解您所感受到的实际情况与以下所描述情况的符合程度, 如经常表现出所描述的情况就选择“完全同意”，如偶尔表现出所描述的情况,就选择
"同意", 如难以判断，就请选择“不确定”，如较少表现出所描述的情况，就选择“不同 意”。如从来不出现，就请选择“完全不同意”。请在最佳选项的方框下打勾。
完全不同意 不同意 不确定 同意 完全同意 1 校长让我们了解学校发展整体方向。
2 校长阐明学校变革提高决策的动因。
3 校长为我们的提高教学活动水平提供个性化支持。
4 校长鼓励我们在教学上的出新思想。
5 校长鼓励教师之间的合作。
6 校长使家长们参与到学校改进提高的努力中来。
7 校长提供或寻找资源来帮助我们提高教学。
8 校长为教学的顺利进行合理安排学校人事资源 。
9 校长在我们设立短期教与学目标的时候提供有益的帮助。
10 校长对我们有关学生的工作显示了很高的期望。
11 校长培育了一种关怀和信任的气氛。
12 校长给我们提供各种机会去参观成功的学校。
13 校长有效地建立了对学校改进提高的社区支持。
14 校长致力于建立良好的校园文化。
15 校长帮助我们理解学校发展战略。
16 校长根据学校设定的发展目标评价我们工作的进展。
173
完全不同意
不同意
不确定
同意
完全同意
17 校长给我们提供各种培训的机会来提高教学质量。
18
校长注重根据我们的不同特点来帮助我们成为有特色的教
师。
19 校长 鼓励我们参加教研组的活动。
20 校长提倡集体备课。
21 校长经常观摩课堂活动。
22 校长建立教学评价制度来保证教学的顺利实施。
23 校长期望学生能取得好的成绩。
24 校长期望我们能不断地提高业务水平。
25 校长鼓励我们参加科研活动来提高我们的教学水平。
26 校长 邀请专家来校讲座来拓展我们的视野。
27 校长促进教师之间的沟通交流。
28 校长关注我们的生存状态，例如工作压力，生活条件等。
29 校长加强学校安全工作，保障教学工作的顺利进行。
174
高中学校变革问卷 尊敬的老师：
感谢您的参与和支持，本调查旨在了解您在学校改革中对学校的诸因素及你 的个人动机过程的看法。您将用五到十分钟就可以完成问卷，您的参加是
完全自愿的。您的回答及个人信息将会严格保密而且不会以任何名义泄露。
这项研究只是为了学术目的。我们已经附带了信封给您。请您填写完问卷并放入信
封封好后给我。此次调查了解您所感受到的学校实际情况与以下所描述
情况的符合程度，如经常表现出所描述的情况就选择“完全同意”，如偶尔表现出 所描述的情况，就选择"同意", 如难以判断，就请选择“不确定”，如较少表现 出所描述的情况，就选择“不同意”。如从来不出现，就请选择“完全不同意”。 请在最佳选项的方框下打勾。
第一部分：学校特点问卷
完全不同意 不同意 不确定 比较同意 完全同意
1. 对于教学和学习，我和我们教研组的大多数同事有共同的价值观，信仰和看法。
2. 我们学校制定决策时，通常会认为教师与管理人员的参与同样重要。
3. 在改革中我们减少了新政策带来的混乱和额外要求，制订了可行的目标。
4. 我校教师愿意帮助自己的同事。
5. 学校鼓励我们制定行为规划，以改进我们自己的教学方案。
6. 我们全体教职员工基本赞同我们学校的运行方式。
7. 在我校，我们常常挑战彼此的教育信念（如对教学、学习、家庭作业的看法）。
8. 我校十分重视教师职业发展。
9. 在我校，教师们分别负责学校的各项事务，领导权得以全面下放。
10. 所有教职员工都有机会参与对他们的工作有影响的决策。
11. 我们的老师在有需求时敢于寻求帮助。
12. 我们学校的改革通常既不太大也不太小，刚刚好。
13. 我们讨论新计划的实施时，不仅考虑“如何”实施，还会考虑
“为什么要朝着某个既定方向努力"。 14. 我们笔录或用录像机录下实施新举措时所获得的经验，将其保存，
作为我们自己或同事实施进一步计划的资源。
175
第二部分：教师参与改革情况问卷
完全不同意 不同意 不确定 比较同意 完全同意
1. 新计划或改革的实施要求我大大改变自己原本的工作方式。
2. 我和我的同事们在完成工作目标时会进行庆祝。
3. 我们学校的政策和规章有助于新目标的实现。
4. 我有充足的时间制定与实施新目标相关的计划、并进行相关的职业发展。
5. 大多数学生的父母或监护人支持我的工作。
6. 我希望有机会学习更多的关于实施新目标的具体知识，
以便在我们的学校和课堂上实施它。 7. 我们的教职员工与学校管理者之间彼此支持、信任。
8. 我有很多机会可以得到实施新计划方面的专业人员的支持。
9. 我们的时间安排有助于实现新目标。
10. 来自专业知识上令我钦佩的同事和管理者们的鼓励增强了我实施新政策的信心。
11. 学校管理者认可我的优秀的教学工作。
12. 我最初实施新计划的努力鼓励我继续做下去。
13. 学校里其他的教师认可我的教学能力。
14. 有时通过观察同事们的工作，我学习到了新的方法。
15. 我喜欢做为教育工作者所面临的挑战。
16. 在实施新目标时我能得到适当的人力支持（如：助手、代课老师）。
17. 我们定期回顾并澄清我们学校的目标，这是不断发展的目标设定过程的一部分。
18. 对教师的评估或监督鼓励我们实施新目标。
19. 我校的资源（如，课本、课程材料、教学辅助手段）丰富，可以实施新目标。
20. 我和我的同事总是彼此支持、鼓励。
21. 我在工作决策中有很大的自主权。
22. 学校尊重教师的专业技能。
176
完全不同意 不同意 不确定 比较同意 完全同意
23. 总体来说，我可以决定如何工作，不受同事或管理者的干扰。
24. 我的教学策略不断增多，有助于实施新计划。
25. 我积极参与了学校新目标和工作重点的制定。
26. 在我校和我的班级实施新计划的过程中，我知道自己下一步要做什么。
27. 我经常与同事们进行富于启发性的交流，这激励我实施新目标。
28. 我的学生表示他们感谢我。
29. 我喜欢实施新计划或教学策略。
30. 我越来越清楚新计划对我们学校和班级的意义。
31. 实施新计划很难，但有可行性。
32. 我致力于实施新计划。
33. 我喜爱我的工作。
177
Appendix-7 The Reliability Analysis of Culture Dimension Statistics for Scale N of Items Mean Variance Std.
Deviation
8 30.19 55.739 7.466
Mean Minimum Maximum Range Maximum / Minimum Variance
N of Items
Item Means 3.773 3.412 4.108 0.696 1.204 0.049 8 Item
Variances 1.55 1.285 1.843 0.558 1.434 0.044 8
Inter-Item Covariances
0.774 0.373 1.083 0.711 2.907 0.039 8
Inter-Item Correlations
0.507 0.24 0.707 0.467 2.942 0.02 8
Scale Mean if
Item Deleted
Scale Variance if
Item Deleted
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Squared Multiple
Correlation
Cronbach's Alpha if
Item Deleted
R2 26.2 43.886 0.703 0.548 0.871 R4 26.77 47.476 0.375 0.163 0.902 R6 26.08 42.575 0.783 0.68 0.864 R8 26.46 42.21 0.662 0.521 0.875 R10 26.49 42.744 0.705 0.537 0.87 R15 26.29 42.611 0.739 0.598 0.867 R17 26.43 42.552 0.748 0.597 0.866 R18 26.58 42.776 0.628 0.455 0.879 N of Items
8
Cronbach’s Alpha
0.889
Cronbach’s Alpha Based on
Standardized Items 0.891
178
Appendix-8 The Reliability Analysis of the Strategy Dimension Statistics for Scale N of Items Mean Variance Std.
Deviation 3 9.04 14.038 3.747
Mean Minimum Maximum Range Maximum /
Minimum Variance Item Means 3.013 2.887 3.093 0.206 1.071 0.012 Item Variances
2.481 2.164 2.78 0.616 1.285 0.095
Inter-Item Covariances
1.099 0.857 1.538 0.681 1.795 0.116
Inter-Item Correlations
0.44 0.368 0.583 0.215 1.584 0.012
Scale Mean if
Item Deleted
Scale Variance if Item Deleted
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Squared Multiple
Correlation
Cronbach's Alpha if Item
Deleted
R1 5.98 8.354 0.414 0.171 0.736 R7 6.15 6.376 0.58 0.368 0.537 R11 5.95 6.751 0.583 0.368 0.535 N of Items Cronbach's
Alpha Cronbach's Alpha
Based on Standardized Items
3 0.705 0.702
179
Appendix-9 The Reliability Analysis of the Structure Dimension
Statistics for Scale N of Items Mean Variance Std. Deviation
4 14.1 13.758 3.709
Mean Minimum Maximum Range Maximum /
Minimum Variance Item Means 3.526 3.025 4.02 0.995 1.329 0.202 Item Variances
1.667 1.123 2.103 0.98 1.873 0.236
Inter-Item Covariances
0.591 0.394 0.867 0.473 2.202 0.031
Inter-Item Correlations
0.377 0.237 0.693 0.457 2.93 0.026
Scale Mean if
Item Deleted
Scale Variance if Item Deleted
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Squared Multiple
Correlation
Cronbach's Alpha if
Item Deleted
R3 10.08 9.072 0.558 0.491 0.583 R9 11.08 8.762 0.337 0.123 0.718 R12 10.81 7.948 0.465 0.226 0.628 R14 10.34 8.402 0.579 0.518 0.558 N of Items Cronbach's
Alpha Cronbach's Alpha
Based on Standardized Items
4 0.708 0.687
180
Appendix-10 The Reliability Analysis of the Environment Dimension
Statistics for Scale N of Items Mean Variance Std. Deviation
3 11.03 8.876 2.979
Mean Minimum Maximum Range Maximum /
Minimum Variance Item Means 3.676 3.054 4.01 0.956 1.313 0.291 Item Variances
1.673 1.143 2.702 1.559 2.364 0.793
Inter-Item Covariances
0.643 0.512 0.838 0.326 1.637 0.024
Inter-Item Correlations
0.446 0.291 0.723 0.431 2.481 0.046
Scale Mean if
Item Deleted
Scale Variance if Item Deleted
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Squared Multiple
Correlation
Cronbach's Alpha if
Item Deleted
R5 7.02 5.034 0.563 0.526 0.459 R13 7.98 3.994 0.332 0.112 0.839 R16 7.06 4.868 0.592 0.536 0.421 N of Items Cronbach's
Alpha Cronbach's Alpha
Based on Standardized Items
3 0.652 0.707
181
Appendix-11 Reliability Analysis of the Personal Goals Dimension Statistics for Scale N of Items Mean Variance Std.
Deviation 10 39.94 54.501 7.383
Mean Minimum Maximum Range Maximum /
Minimum Variance Item Means 3.994 3.69 4.177 0.488 1.132 0.028 Item Variances
1.117 0.84 1.71 0.87 2.037 0.083
Inter-Item Covariances
0.481 0.149 0.751 0.602 5.03 0.024
Inter-Item Correlations
0.457 0.125 0.794 0.669 6.369 0.031
Scale Mean if
Item Deleted
Scale Variance if Item Deleted
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Squared Multiple
Correlation
Cronbach's Alpha if Item
Deleted
S1 36.25 48.209 0.252 0.129 0.904 S2 35.91 46.056 0.561 0.376 0.876 S7 35.76 45.667 0.646 0.476 0.87 S18 36.01 44.832 0.573 0.408 0.875 S25 35.88 44.293 0.706 0.572 0.866 S26 35.88 42.729 0.652 0.475 0.869 S27 35.88 43.572 0.799 0.705 0.86 S31 35.88 42.767 0.863 0.806 0.855 S32 35.88 44.133 0.736 0.647 0.864 S33 35.88 44.925 0.552 0.376 0.877 N of Items Cronbach's
Alpha Cronbach's Alpha
Based on Standardized Items
10 0.883 0.894
182
Appendix-12 Reliability Analysis of the Capacity Beliefs Dimension Statistics for Scale N of Items Mean Variance Std.
Deviation
4 16.55 0.017 3.003
Mean Minimum Maximum Range Maximum / Minimum Variance
Item Means 4.138 4.000 4.240 .240 1.060 .012 Item Variances .924 .758 1.212 .454 1.598 .043
Inter-Item Covariances
.444 .388 .535 .147 1.380 .004
Inter-Item Correlations
.489 .419 .633 .214 1.511 .005
Scale Mean if Item Deleted
Scale Variance if Item Deleted
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Squared Multiple
Correlation
Cronbach's Alpha if Item
Deleted
S11 12.45 5.214 .646 .457 .708 S13 12.34 5.547 .661 .472 .706 S15 12.31 5.862 .553 .313 .755 S28 12.55 5.105 .543 .295 .771
N of Items Cronbach's Alpha
Cronbach's Alpha Based on
Standardized Items 4 .787 .793
183
Appendix-13 Reliability Analysis of the Context Beliefs Dimension Statistics for Scale N of Items Means Variances Std. Deviation 12 47.78 86.732 9.313
Mean Minimum Maximum Range Maximum / Minimum Variance
Item Means 3.982 3.814 4.201 .387 1.102 .012 Item Variances
1.056 .841 1.354 .513 1.610 .021
Inter-Item Covariances
.561 .407 .787 .380 1.934 .010
Inter-Item Correlations
.533 .373 .704 .331 1.889 .006
Scale Mean if
Item Deleted
Scale Variance if
Item Deleted
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Squared Multiple
Correlation
Cronbach's Alpha if Item
Deleted
S4 43.81 73.896 .738 .631 .925 S5 43.88 72.124 .765 .656 .923 S8 43.74 74.036 .692 .598 .926 S9 43.97 71.797 .753 .628 .924 S10 43.82 72.110 .752 .640 .924 S17 43.83 72.675 .693 .547 .926 S19 43.77 72.560 .738 .595 .924 S20 43.81 74.261 .688 .508 .926 S21 43.58 75.683 .640 .465 .928 S22 43.97 72.285 .662 .534 .928 S23 43.69 75.024 .639 .465 .928 S24 43.75 73.538 .673 .486 .927 N of Items Cronbach's
Alpha Cronbach's Alpha
Based on Standardized Items
12 .932 .932
184
Appendix-14 Reliability Analysis of the Emotional Arousal Dimension Statistics for Scale N of Items Mean Variance Std.
Deviation 8 33.17 34.252 5.853
Mean Minimum Maximum Range Maximum /
Minimum Variance Item Means 4.147 3.941 4.31 0.369 1.094 0.014 Item Variances
0.904 0.753 1.083 0.33 1.438 0.013
Inter-Item Covariances
0.482 0.327 0.681 0.354 2.083 0.005
Inter-Item Correlations
0.538 0.369 0.702 0.333 1.902 0.007
Scale Mean if
Item Deleted
Scale Variance if Item Deleted
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Squared Multiple Correlation
Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted
S3 29.23 27.07 0.596 0.451 0.898 S6 29.13 26.558 0.688 0.544 0.889 S12 29 26.579 0.711 0.577 0.887 S14 28.95 27.077 0.709 0.529 0.888 S16 29.07 26.183 0.656 0.511 0.893 S29 28.92 27.023 0.718 0.628 0.887 S30 29.04 26.068 0.733 0.61 0.885 S34 28.86 26.189 0.724 0.636 0.886 N of Items Cronbach's
Alpha Cronbach's Alpha
Based on Standardized Items
8 0.902 0.903
185
Reference
Anderson, S.(2008). Comparative Perspective on School Improvement. In Mundy, K. Brickmore, R. Hayhoe.M. Madden & K. Madjidi (Eds.), Comparative and International Education: Issues for Teachers, Ch.7, pp.161-188. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars Press Inc.
Anderson, S. (2009). Continuous improvement in schools: understanding the practice.
International Journal of Educational Development, 29(3), 281-292. Bandura,A.(1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliff, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,Inc. Barendsen, R. (1979). The 1978 national college entrance examination in the people's republic
of China. Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 (Stock No.017-080-02049-1, $4.00).
Bass, B.M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. The Free Press, New
York, NY. Bass,B. M. (1995). Theory of transformational leadership redux. The Leadership Quarterly, 6(4),463–478. Bass,B.M.(1998). Transformational leadership: industrial, military and educational impact. Mahwah,NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Bass, B. M.(2008). The bass handbook of leadership theory, research, and managerial applications. Free Press. Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through
transformational leadership. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Bennis,W., & Nanus,B.(1985). Leaders: the strategies for taking charge. Harper & Row. New York.
Binning, J. F., Zaba, A. J., & Whattam, J. C. (1986). Explaining the biasing effects of
performance cues in terms of cognitive categorization. Academy of Management Journal, 29, 521–525.
Billingsley, B. S., & Cross, L. H. (1992). Predictors of commitment, job satisfaction, and intent
to stay in teaching: a comparison of general and special educators. Journal of Special Education, 25(4), 453-471.
Blaikie, N. W. H. (2000). Designing social research: The logic of anticipation. Cambridge, UK:
Polity Press.
186
Bredeson, P., Kasten, K. L., & Fruth, M. J. (1983). Organizational incentives and secondary school teaching. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 6(4), 53-58.
Brislin, R. (1970). Back-translation for cross-cultural research. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 1(3), 185-216.
Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row. Bush, T. (2003). Theories of educational leadership and management. London: Sage
Publications. Bush, T., Coleman, M., & Si, X. H. (1998). Managing secondary schools in China. Compare,
28(2), 183-195. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/206750777?accountid=14771
Cao,K.(2007). The relationship between transformational leadership of secondary School principal and teachers’ organizational commitment. CNKI.( Unpublished master thesis).
South China Normal University, Guang Zhou. Carnoy, M., Elmore, R., & Siskin, L. S. (Eds.). (2003). The new accountability: High schools
and high- stakes testing. New York: Routledge Falmer. Chapman, D.W., & Carter,J.F. (1979). Translation procedures for the cross-cultural use of
measurement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysi, 1, 71–76.
Chen, C., & Lee, Y.-T. (2008). Leadership and management in China: Philosophies, theories, and practices. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Chen, H., & Boore, J. R. (2010). Translation and back-translation in qualitative nursing research: Methodological review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19(1-2), 234-239.
Chen, Y.X., Jia,L.D., Li, C.P., Song,J.W., & Zhang,J.J.(2006). The transformation leadership, the psychological authorization and staff’s organization commitment: empirical study in Chinese context. Management World, 1, 96-114.
Chin, J. P. (2007). Meta-analysis of transformational school leadership effects on school
outcomes in Taiwan and the USA. Asia Pacific Education, 8, 166-177. Clark-Carter, D. (1997). Doing quantitative psychological research: From design to report. Hove, NY: Psychology Press. Comrey, A. L., & Lee, H. B. (1992). A first course in factor analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Dello-Iacovo, B. (2009). Curriculum reform and "quality education" in China: An overview.
International Journal of Educational Development, 29(3), 241-249.
187
Den Hartog, D. N., House, R. J., Hanges, P. J. et al. (1999). ‘Culture specific and Crossculturally generalizable implicit leadership theories: are attributes of charismatic/ transformational leadership universally endorsed?’, Leadership Quarterly, 10(2),219–256. Dickson, M.W., Den Hartog, D.N.,& Mitchelson, J.K. (2003). Research on leadership in a cross-
cultural context: Making progress, and raising new questions. Leadership Quarterly, 14, 729-768.
Dolmage, W. R., & Yong, Z. (2003). Stress and burnout of secondary public school teachers in
changchun, jilin province, people's republic of china. EAF Journal, 17(1), 57-77. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/214079711?accountid=14771;
Downton, J.V. (1973). Rebel Leadership: Commitment and charisma in the revolutionary Process. Free Press, New York, NY. Feng, D. (2006). China's recent curriculum reform: Progress and problems. Planning and
Changing, 37(1), 131-144. Feng, Y. (1994). From the imperial examination to the national college entrance examination:
The dynamics of political centralism in China's educational enterprise. The Association for the Study of Higher Education annual meeting paper.
Feng, Z. (2002). On the Transition of Teacher Evaluation Mechanism in the Context of Quality
Education. Journal of Shenyang Teacher College, 26(2), 10-12. Ford,M.E.(1992). Motivating humans: Goals, emotions and personal agency beliefs. Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications. Fowler, F. J. (2009).Survey research methods. Los Angeles (i.e. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE
Publications.
Fullan, M. (1982).The meaning of educational change. Toronto: OISE Press/Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
Fullan, M. (2007). The new meaning of educational change. New York: Teachers College Press. Gao, F.Q., Cao,H., Life, P. M., Wang, P.,Lin, P.,& Jiao,T. (2009). The sources of work stress for
Chinese high school teachers. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 37, 459-459.
Gao, Y. (2011). Secondary history/social studies teachers' self-efficacy regarding geography teaching. Virginia Commonwealth University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 176. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/913076080?accountid=14771
188
Geng,X., Shi,J.,&Zhang, W.(2009). The effects of transformational leadership and team climate on organizational citizenship behavior: a cross-level model. Journal of Science
and Management of scientific technology, 9, 53-54. Geijsel, F., Sleegers, P., Leithwood, K., & Jantzi, D. (2003). Transformational leadership effects
on Teacher commitment and effort toward school reform. Journal of Educational Administration, 41(3), 228-256. George, D., & Mallery, P. (2003). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and reference.
11.0 update (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Greenfield, W.D.,Jr.(1995). Toward a theory of school administration: The centrality of leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly,31,61-85.
Goens, G. A., & Clover, S. I. R. (1991). Mastering school reform. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Gu, W., & Thomas, D. Y. (2010). Working with parents and family: Factors that influence Chinese teachers' attitudes toward parent involvement. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 37(2), 146-152. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/613383092?accountid=14771
Guan,L.,&Yu,H.(2004). Exertion of transformational leadership in SARS ward. Nanfang Journal of Nursing,12,53-54.
Guan, Q.,& Meng, W.(2007) China’s New National Curriculum Reform: Innovation, challenges,
and strategies. Frontiers in Education in China, 2(4), 579-604.
Guo, Y., Justice, L. M., Sawyer, B., & Tompkins, V. (2011). Exploring factors related to preschool teachers’ self-efficacy. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(5), 961-968. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2011.03.008
Guppy,N.,& Gray,G. (2008). Successful surveys: Research methods and practice. Thompson Neilson. Hallinger, P. (2003). Leading educational change: reflections on the practice of instructional and
transformational leadership. Cambridge Journal of Education, 33(3), 329-351. Hallinger, P.& Leithwood, K. (1996). Culture and educational administration A case of finding
out what you don’t know what you don’t know. The Journal of educational administration, 34(5), 98.
Hair, J., Anderson, R., Tatham, R.,&Black, W. (1998). Multivariate data: An Analysis, (5th ed.) Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Prentice Hall. Hayhoe, R. (1992). Universities, cultural identity, and democracy: Some Canada-China
comparisons. Interchange, 23(1-2), 165-180.
189
Hayhoe, R. (1999). China’s universities 1895–1995: A century of cultural conflict. Hong Kong, China: Comparative Education Research Center, The University of Hong Kong. Hayhoe, R. (2006). Portraits of influential Chinese educators. Hong Kong, China: Comparative
Education Research Centre, the University of Hong Kong. Hinton, P. R., Brownlow, C., McMurray, I., & Cozens, B. (2004). SPSS explained. New York:
Routledge. Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across cultures. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. House, R.J., Wright, N.S. & Aditya, R.N.(1997). ‘Cross-cultural research on organizational Leadership: A critical analysis and proposed theory’, in P.C. Earley and M. Erez (eds) New perspectives on international industrial/organizational psychology, pp. 535–625. San Francisco: The New Lexington Press. Hoy, W.K., &Sabo, D.J. (1998). Quality middle schools: Open and healthy. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Corwin Press, Inc. Hutcheson, G. D., & Sofroniou, N. (1999). The Multivariate Social Scientist: An introduction to
generalized linear models. Sage Publications.
Janda, K F. (1960). Towards the exploration of the concept of leadership in terms of the concept of power. Human Relations, 13(4), 345-363.
Jantzi, D., & Leithwood, K. (1996). Toward an explanation of variation in teachers' perceptions
of transformational school leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 32(4), 512-538. doi: 10.1177/0013161X9603200404
Johnson,B.,& Christensen, L.(2008). Education research. quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches. Sage Publications.
Knight, J. &.Song, L. (2003). Chinese Peasant Choices: Migration, Rural Industry or Farming.
Oxford Development Studies, 31 (2), 123–147.
Krejcie, R.V., & Morgan, D.W. (1970).Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurements, 30, 607-610.
Kushman, J. W. (1992). The organizational dynamics of teacher workplace commitment: A study of urban elementary and middle schools. Educational Administration Quarterly, 28(1), 5-42. Landis, J. R., & Koch, G. G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical
data. Biometrics, 33(1), 159-174.
190
Lai, M. (2010). Teacher development under curriculum reform: A case study of a secondary school in mainland china. International Review of Education, 56(5-6), 613-631.
Lee, J., & Pang, N. (2011). Educational leadership in China: Contexts and issues. 中国教育学前沿, 6(3), 331-341.
Lee, J., & Yin, H. (2011). Teachers’ emotions and professional identity in curriculum reform: A Chinese perspective. Journal of Educational Change, 12(1), 25-46.
Lee, J. C., Yin, H.B., Zhang, Z.H., & Jin, Y.L. (2011). Teacher empowerment and receptivity in
curriculum reform in china. Chinese Education & Society, 44(4), 64-81. Leithwood, K.(1992). The move toward transformational leadership. Educational Leadership,49,8-12. Leithwood, K.(1993). Building commitment for Change and fostering organizational learning.
Final report for phase four of the research project: implementing British Columbia’s education policy. Prepared for the British Columbia Ministry of Education.
Leithwood, K. (1994), Leadership for school restructuring, Educational Administration
Quarterly, 30(4), 498-518. Leithwood, K. (2002). School leadership and teachers’ motivation to implement accountability
policies, Educational Administration Quarterly, 38(1), 78-94. Leithwood, K. A. (2012). In Louis K. S., Anderson S. E. (Eds.), Linking leadership to student
learning (1st ed). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Leithwood, K., & Beatty, B. (2008). Leading with teacher emotions in mind. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Leithwood, K., Begley, P. T. & Cousins, J.B. (1994). Developing expert leadership for future
schools. London: Falmer. Leithwood,K., Dart,B., Jantzi,D.,& Steinbach, R.(1993). Building commitment for change and
fostering organizational learning. Final report for phase four of the research project: Implementing British Columbia education policy. Prepared for the British Columbia Ministry of Education.
Leithwood, K., Day, C., Sammons, P., Harris, A., &Hopkins, D. (2006). Successful School
Leadership: What it is and how it influences pupil learning (Chapter 2: The Nature of Successful Leadership Practices). London: Department for Education and Skills, Research Report 800.
Leithwood, K.,& Duke,D. (1998). Mapping the conceptual terrain of leadership: a critical point
of departure for cross-cultural studies. Peabody Journal of Education, 73(2), 31-50.
191
Leithwood, K., & Duke, D. (1999). A century's quest to understand school leadership. In J., Murphy, & K.Louis, Seashore (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational administration (pp. 45–72). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Leithwood, K., & Jantzi, D. (1997). Explaining variation in teachers' perceptions of principals'
leadership: A replication. Journal of Educational Administration, 35(4), 312-331. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/220459223?accountid=14771
Leithwood, K.,& Jantzi, D.(2005).A review of transformational school leadership research 1996-
2005,Leadership and Policy in Schools,4(3),177-199. Leithwood, K.,& Jantzi, D .(2006). Transformational school leadership for large-scale reform:
Effects on students, teachers, and their classroom practices, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 17(2), 201-227.
Leithwood,K.,Jantzi,D.,& Fernandez, A. (1993). Secondary school teachers’ commitment to
change: The contributions of transformational leadership. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association(Atlante,GA, April 12-16,1993).
Leithwood,K.,Jantzi,D.,& Fernandez,A. (1994). Transformational leadership and teachers’ commitment to change. In J. Murphy&K. S. Louis (Eds.), Reshaping the principalship (pp. 77-98). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Leithwood, K., Jantzi, D., & Steinbach, R. (1999). Changing leadership for changing times.
Buckingham: Open University Press. Leithwood, K., Louis, K.S., Anderson, S., & Wahlstrom, K. (2004). Review of research: How
leadership influences student learning. Learning from Leadership Project. Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement, University of Minnesota. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Commissioned by The Wallace Foundation
Leithwood, K.,Menzies,T.,&Jantzi, D.(1994).Earning teachers' commitment to curriculum
reform. Peabody Journal of Education, 69(4), 38-61. Levin, B. (2008). How to change 5000 schools: A practical and positive approach for leading
change at every level. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Education Press. Levison,H.(1968). The exceptional executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Li,C.,Meng,H.,&Shi,K.(2007). Comparative study on the relationship of transformational
192
leadership, paternalistic leadership, and the PM theory with leadership effectiveness. Psychological Science, 30(6), 1477-1481.
Li, C.,&Shi,K. (2008). The structure and measurement of transformational leadership in China. Frontiers of business research in China, 2(4), 571-590. Li,C.P.,Tian,B.,&Shi,K.(2006). Transformational leadership and employee work attitudes: The mediating effects of multidimensional psychological empowerment. Journal of Psychology, 38(2), 297-307. Little, J. W. (1990). The persistence of privacy: Autonomy and initiative in teachers’
professional relations. Teachers College Record, 91(4), 509–536.
Liu, Z.W.(2004). Moral Politics of Confucius. Journal of Liaoning Education Administration Institute, 21(9), 59-61.
Liu, H., & Wu, Q. (2006). Consequences of college entrance exams in China and the reform
challenges. KEDI Journal of Educational Policy, 3(1), 7-21. Li,Y.,&Guan,Y.(2007). Theories of transformational leadership and transactional leadership and their implications. Journal of Chongqing University of Science and Technology(Social Sciences Edition),5,14-15. Lord, R. G., &Maher, K. (1993). Leadership and information processing. NewYork:Routledge. Mascall, M. B. (2003). Leaders helping teachers helping students: The role of transformational
leaders in building teacher efficacy. (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation).OISE/ University of Toronto, Toronto.
Mascall, M. B. (2007). Shifting sands of leadership in theory and practice. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 39(1), 49-62.
Menard, S. (1995). Applied Logistic Regression Analysis: Sage University Series on
Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Menzies, T. V. (1995). Teacher commitment in colleges of applied arts and technology:
Sources, objects, practices and influences. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). OISE/University of Toronto, Toronto.
Mischel, W. (1979). On the interface of cognition and personality: Beyond the person/situation
debate. American Psychologist, 34,740–754. MOE. (2007). Regarding curriculum reform in upper secondary schools. Retrieved from Website
of Ministry of Education, China. Http://www.moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_2905/200908/50609.html
193
MOE.(2010). National long-term education reform and development plan. Retrieved from Website of Ministry of Education, China.
http://www.moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_177/201008/93785.html Mohrman, A. M., Cooke, R. S., Mohrman, S. A., Duncan, R. B., & Zaltman, G. (1977). An
assessment of a structural task approach to organizational development in a school system. Washington, DC: National Institute of Education. final report.
Mowday, R., &Steers, R. (1979). The measurement of organizational commitment. Journal of
Vocational Behavior, 14, 224-247. Murphy, J., Hallinger, P., Weil, M.,& Milman, A. (1983). Instructional leadership: a conceptual
framework. Planning and Changing, 14(3),137-149. Musaazi, J.C.S. Neuendorf, K. (2002). The Content Analysis Guidebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Neuman, W. L. (2003). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. New
York: Pearson Education. Northouse,G.(2007).Leadership: Theory and practice (4th ed.). London: Sage. O’Brien, R.M. (2007). A caution regarding rules of thumb for variance inflation factors.
Quality & Quantity, 41,673–690.
Pang, L.(2004). Suzhi Jiaoyu Vs Yingshi Jiaoyu: Shu Sheng? Shu Fu? (Quality education versus examination-oriented education: which one is winning?). Retrieved from http://www.sd.xinhuanet.com/news/2004-11/27/content_3294815.htm.
Peng,X.P.(2006). Evolution and transcendence: The new history of China's basic education curriculum reform. Huling Press. Pepper, S.(1996). Radicalism and Education Reform in 20th Century China. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge.
Robinson, V. M. J. (2007). School leadership and student outcomes: Identifying what works and why. Winmalee, NSW: Australian Council for Educational Leaders: (Monograph 41, ACEL Monograph Series Editor David Gurr) 28 pages. Reprinted in SPANZ: The Journal of the Secondary Principals Association of New Zealand, December 2008.
Robinson, V., Hohepa, M., & Lloyd, C. (2009). School leadership and student outcomes: Identifying what works and why. Best evidence synthesis iteration. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
Rosenholtz, S. (1990). Workplace conditions and the rise and fall of teachers' commitment. Sociology of Education, 63, 241-257.
194
Rush, M. C., Phillips, J. S., & Lord, R. G. (1981). Effects of a temporal delay in rating on leader behavior descriptions: A laboratory investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 66, 442-450.
Sargent,T. & Hannum., E. (2005). Keeping teachers happy: Job satisfaction among primary
school teachers in rural northwest China. Comparative Education Review, 49(2), 173-204.
Sergiovanni, T.J. (1990). Adding value to leadership gets extraordinary results. Educational Leadership, 47 (8), 23-27.
Shenyang Education Bureau.(2007). The file regarding curriculum reform in upper secondary
schools. Shenyang: Shenyang Education Bureau. Shenyang Education Bureau.(2010). Basic information about teaching staffs in Shenyang City.
Shenyang: Shenyang Education Bureau. Singleton, R.,& Straits, B.( 2005). Approaches to social research. New York: Oxford University
Press. Singh, N. (2007). Transformational leadership in India: Developing and validating a new scale using grounded theory approach. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management : CCM, 7(2), 219-236. Stevens, S.S. (1951). Mathematics, measurement and psychophysics. In S.S. Stevens (Ed.), Handbook of experimental psychology (pp. 1-49). New York: Wiley. Su, Z., Gamage, D.& Miniberg,E.(2003). Professional preparation and development of school
leaders in Australia and the USA. International Education Journal,4(1),42-59. Sun,J.P.(2010). A review of transformational leadership research: A meta-analytic approach.
(Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Toronto, Toronto.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2000). Using multivariate statistics. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Tian,L.(2005). A study on transformational leadership of middle school principal and its relationship with leadership effectiveness. CNKI. (Unpublished master thesis). Henan University, Kai Feng. Tung, R. L. (2002). Managing in Asia: Cross-cultural dimensions. In M. Warner & P. Joynt
(Eds.), Managing across cultures: Issues and perspectives (pp. 137–142). London, England: Thomson Learning.
Walker, A., Qian, H., & Zhang, S. (2011). Secondary school principals in curriculum reform:
Victims or accomplices?. Frontiers of Education in China, 6(3), 388-403.
195
Wang, J.J.(2012). Curriculum reform in mainland China, 1978-2008. Chinese Education & Society, 45(1), 59-68.
Wang,L.(2009). The study on transformational leadership and teachers’ job satisfaction. CNKI. (Unpublished master thesis). Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing. Wang,S.,Gao,F.,&Wang,P.(2006). Review of transformational leadership, organization collective effectiveness, and working attitude. Modern Management Science, 9,24-25. Wang, X.H.(2008). A review of the research progress of transformational leadership in nursing management. Journal of Nursing Administration, 3, 19-20. Wang,X.H.(2009). The relationship between nurse managers transformational leadership and staff nurses job satisfaction. Journal of Nursing Administration, 9, 1-3. Washington, K.R.(1991). School Administration in China: a look at the principal’s role.
International Journal of Educational Management, 5(3), 4-5. Wong, K. (2001). Chinese Culture and Leadership. International Journal of Leadership in
Education, 4(4), 309-319. Wu,D.Ch.,&Liao,W.J.(2008).Transformational leadership and the validity of clinical nursing management. Journal of Nursing Science, 11, 14-16. Wu,M.,Huang,X.,Xu,J.,Yan,H., &Shi,K.(2007). Comparative study of transactional, transformational, and paternalistic leadership behaviors and leadership mechanism. Science Research Management, 28(3),168-176. Yang,K., &Ma, J.H.(2009). Transformational and transactional leadership: The predictor of team task-related performance. Psychology Exploration, 29(3),82-88. Yu,B.,& Li,Sh.(2009). Analysis on the effect of transformational leadership on organizational commitment of organizational commitment. Social Sciences Review, 24(12),53-55.
Yukl, G. A. (1989). Leadership in organizations. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall.
Yusuf, S., & Saich, T. (2008). China urbanizes: Consequences, strategies, and policies. Washington, D.C: World Bank.
Zheng,R.L. (2008). Chinese college entrance examination: Review of discussions and the value orientation of reforms. Frontiers of Education in China, 3(1), 137-148. Zhong, Q. (2006). Curriculum reform in China: Challenges and reflections. Frontiers of
Education in China, 1(3), 370-382.
196
Zhu, C. Devos, G. & Li, Y. (2011). Teacher perceptions of school culture and their organizational commitment and well-being in a Chinese school. Asia Pacific Education Review, 12(2), 319-328.