Tuesday, November 4, 2008
November 4, 2008 AM
- This AM the forum participants divided into three groups and held rountable discussions on three separate topics. My group discussed “Curriculum Focused Leadership”
- Unlike Western schools were the curriculum supervision model is very dependent on the size of the school and the size of the district, Chinese schools in the Jiangsu province then to be much larger, and therefore there are usually multiple levels of curriculum supervisors.
- The British schools consider that they have a lot of curriculum flexibility, but when pressed it was acknowledged that there is a national curricula that they must address; however, teachers are allowed a lot of leeway on what instructional activities/resources they use to address those standards.
- Both Eastern and Western principals are trying to find the proper balance between national standards and local autonomy/needs. However, we are approaching this challenge from opposite ends of the continuum. The West is moving away from the totally autonomous individual classroom and the East is moving away from a very controlling national government. Both groups spoke to the challenge of addressing the individual needs of the community or the students.
- In Chinese schools there is little flexibility; all texts and resources are chosen by the Provincial bureaus, and it was obviously a source of much comment by the Chinese princapls, however, all of their comments were not translated.
- We discussed teacher evaluation. The Chinese noted that student test scores are the sole focus of a teacher’s effectiveness, and that this is a source of a great deal of pressure from parents. The Chinese viewed this focus on students test results as “not scientific”.
- The roundtable discussions lasted 90 minutes and then everyone gathered together and the chairs of each group summarized their discussions.
- The group that discussed “Leadership and School Management for Principals” seemed to have a great deal of common experiences. The multiple demands of the principalship seemed universal and both Eastern and Western principals agreed that they deal with the same tensions: regulations vs. autonomy, being reactive vs. proactive, visionary vs. mico-manager, loose vs. tight.
- Both groups agreed that principals are no longer autocrats, but now a member of the leadership team. Principals must have a strong understanding of the traditions and culture of a school in order to build for the future. The principal is a servant for the school.
- All agreed that the internal issues in all schools are very similar.
- Once the summaries of the roundtables were completed, the various bureau chiefs of the municipal and provincial boards of education spoke about the importance of international exchange Clearly it is the focus of the Chinese schools and it is something that is a very high priority for all levels of their educational institutions.
