A contextualized instructional leadership model in China: Perceptions of 22 principals in Shenzhen and Guangzhou

The aim of this study is to explore how Chinese principals perceive and enact instructional leadership in the current curriculum reform context. Launched in 2001, the latest national curriculum reforms hold school principals accountable for enhanced student learning. Instructional leadership on the part of principals has become critical to the success of a school. The increasingly complex reform context calls for more indigenous investigations into the instructional leadership practices of Chinese principals. Accordingly, the research reported here constituted an in-depth qualitative study conducted amongst 22 primary school principals in Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The main study outcome is a non-Western model of instructional leadership that enriches the international knowledge base on school leadership.