There is a huge gap between urban and rural education in China. School principal is the key person for reducing the gap, whose change is crucial to education reform and development. And, the change should start with beliefs. This research adopted mixed methodology of quantitative and qualitative research to describe the general characteristics of educational beliefs of rural primary school principals by macroscopic investigation, explore the realistic performances, the factors of influence, and impacts on school-running practice by microscopic case study. There are substantial variations in the definitions of educational beliefs in previous studies. In this research, the educational beliefs of school principals are defined as the educational views and ideas that school principals believe in firmly and undoubtedly. It includes six aspects: school planning, school culture, curriculum and teaching, development of teachers, internal school management, and external school environment etc. The questionnaire is constructed on the basis of these aspects.
Through questionnaire survey of 420 primary school principals, the general characteristics of the educational beliefs of rural primary school principals are: (1) the overall level of educational beliefs of rural principals is "good", while it is uneven in other levels; (2) there are significant differences on origin, ethnicity, age, teaching age and professional title variables; (3) there are no significant differences on gender and educational background variables.
Subsequently, fieldwork including interview, observation, and document inspections was conducted to collect qualitative data for the case study. Based on Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, this research analyzed the influencing factors of principals' beliefs such as family, important people, relations between family and school, other schools, backward regional culture and earthquake, and elaborated the actual effects of school-running practices from school culture construction, changes of students and teachers, and parents' feedback etc. Based on the above analyses, the conclusions are: (1) educational beliefs do not necessarily lead to changes in practice, which are also constrained by other factors; (2) the actual situation of the school determines the focus of the principal's educational beliefs; (3) in the educational beliefs system, there is a belief that has not been publicly declared but has had an important impact on practice; (4) the lack of belief education for pre-service teachers; (5) the advocacy of ideas has no meaning for the promotion of educational beliefs, and educational practice has a great influence on beliefs.
Last but not least, some suggestions for promoting educational beliefs of rural primary school principals in China, limitations and prospects of this research were discussed.
Anotace v angličtině
There is a huge gap between urban and rural education in China. School principal is the key person for reducing the gap, whose change is crucial to education reform and development. And, the change should start with beliefs. This research adopted mixed methodology of quantitative and qualitative research to describe the general characteristics of educational beliefs of rural primary school principals by macroscopic investigation, explore the realistic performances, the factors of influence, and impacts on school-running practice by microscopic case study. There are substantial variations in the definitions of educational beliefs in previous studies. In this research, the educational beliefs of school principals are defined as the educational views and ideas that school principals believe in firmly and undoubtedly. It includes six aspects: school planning, school culture, curriculum and teaching, development of teachers, internal school management, and external school environment etc. The questionnaire is constructed on the basis of these aspects.
Through questionnaire survey of 420 primary school principals, the general characteristics of the educational beliefs of rural primary school principals are: (1) the overall level of educational beliefs of rural principals is "good", while it is uneven in other levels; (2) there are significant differences on origin, ethnicity, age, teaching age and professional title variables; (3) there are no significant differences on gender and educational background variables.
Subsequently, fieldwork including interview, observation, and document inspections was conducted to collect qualitative data for the case study. Based on Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, this research analyzed the influencing factors of principals' beliefs such as family, important people, relations between family and school, other schools, backward regional culture and earthquake, and elaborated the actual effects of school-running practices from school culture construction, changes of students and teachers, and parents' feedback etc. Based on the above analyses, the conclusions are: (1) educational beliefs do not necessarily lead to changes in practice, which are also constrained by other factors; (2) the actual situation of the school determines the focus of the principal's educational beliefs; (3) in the educational beliefs system, there is a belief that has not been publicly declared but has had an important impact on practice; (4) the lack of belief education for pre-service teachers; (5) the advocacy of ideas has no meaning for the promotion of educational beliefs, and educational practice has a great influence on beliefs.
Last but not least, some suggestions for promoting educational beliefs of rural primary school principals in China, limitations and prospects of this research were discussed.
Klíčová slova
Educational beliefs, Rural primary school principal, Educational beliefs of school principals, China
Klíčová slova v angličtině
Educational beliefs, Rural primary school principal, Educational beliefs of school principals, China
Rozsah průvodní práce
192 p. (366 180 characters)
Jazyk
AN
Anotace
There is a huge gap between urban and rural education in China. School principal is the key person for reducing the gap, whose change is crucial to education reform and development. And, the change should start with beliefs. This research adopted mixed methodology of quantitative and qualitative research to describe the general characteristics of educational beliefs of rural primary school principals by macroscopic investigation, explore the realistic performances, the factors of influence, and impacts on school-running practice by microscopic case study. There are substantial variations in the definitions of educational beliefs in previous studies. In this research, the educational beliefs of school principals are defined as the educational views and ideas that school principals believe in firmly and undoubtedly. It includes six aspects: school planning, school culture, curriculum and teaching, development of teachers, internal school management, and external school environment etc. The questionnaire is constructed on the basis of these aspects.
Through questionnaire survey of 420 primary school principals, the general characteristics of the educational beliefs of rural primary school principals are: (1) the overall level of educational beliefs of rural principals is "good", while it is uneven in other levels; (2) there are significant differences on origin, ethnicity, age, teaching age and professional title variables; (3) there are no significant differences on gender and educational background variables.
Subsequently, fieldwork including interview, observation, and document inspections was conducted to collect qualitative data for the case study. Based on Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, this research analyzed the influencing factors of principals' beliefs such as family, important people, relations between family and school, other schools, backward regional culture and earthquake, and elaborated the actual effects of school-running practices from school culture construction, changes of students and teachers, and parents' feedback etc. Based on the above analyses, the conclusions are: (1) educational beliefs do not necessarily lead to changes in practice, which are also constrained by other factors; (2) the actual situation of the school determines the focus of the principal's educational beliefs; (3) in the educational beliefs system, there is a belief that has not been publicly declared but has had an important impact on practice; (4) the lack of belief education for pre-service teachers; (5) the advocacy of ideas has no meaning for the promotion of educational beliefs, and educational practice has a great influence on beliefs.
Last but not least, some suggestions for promoting educational beliefs of rural primary school principals in China, limitations and prospects of this research were discussed.
Anotace v angličtině
There is a huge gap between urban and rural education in China. School principal is the key person for reducing the gap, whose change is crucial to education reform and development. And, the change should start with beliefs. This research adopted mixed methodology of quantitative and qualitative research to describe the general characteristics of educational beliefs of rural primary school principals by macroscopic investigation, explore the realistic performances, the factors of influence, and impacts on school-running practice by microscopic case study. There are substantial variations in the definitions of educational beliefs in previous studies. In this research, the educational beliefs of school principals are defined as the educational views and ideas that school principals believe in firmly and undoubtedly. It includes six aspects: school planning, school culture, curriculum and teaching, development of teachers, internal school management, and external school environment etc. The questionnaire is constructed on the basis of these aspects.
Through questionnaire survey of 420 primary school principals, the general characteristics of the educational beliefs of rural primary school principals are: (1) the overall level of educational beliefs of rural principals is "good", while it is uneven in other levels; (2) there are significant differences on origin, ethnicity, age, teaching age and professional title variables; (3) there are no significant differences on gender and educational background variables.
Subsequently, fieldwork including interview, observation, and document inspections was conducted to collect qualitative data for the case study. Based on Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, this research analyzed the influencing factors of principals' beliefs such as family, important people, relations between family and school, other schools, backward regional culture and earthquake, and elaborated the actual effects of school-running practices from school culture construction, changes of students and teachers, and parents' feedback etc. Based on the above analyses, the conclusions are: (1) educational beliefs do not necessarily lead to changes in practice, which are also constrained by other factors; (2) the actual situation of the school determines the focus of the principal's educational beliefs; (3) in the educational beliefs system, there is a belief that has not been publicly declared but has had an important impact on practice; (4) the lack of belief education for pre-service teachers; (5) the advocacy of ideas has no meaning for the promotion of educational beliefs, and educational practice has a great influence on beliefs.
Last but not least, some suggestions for promoting educational beliefs of rural primary school principals in China, limitations and prospects of this research were discussed.
Klíčová slova
Educational beliefs, Rural primary school principal, Educational beliefs of school principals, China
Klíčová slova v angličtině
Educational beliefs, Rural primary school principal, Educational beliefs of school principals, China
Zásady pro vypracování
The research was divided into three stages. The first stage was the preparation from January to June 2017, and the primary missions were preparing the questionnaire, interview syllabus, sampling plan and fieldwork plan. The second stage began in September 2017, and the main mission was to collect quantitative and qualitative data through questionnaire surveys and fieldworks. The final stage started in January 2018, and the primary missions were to analyze the research results, draw conclusions, and finish the doctoral dissertation.
Zásady pro vypracování
The research was divided into three stages. The first stage was the preparation from January to June 2017, and the primary missions were preparing the questionnaire, interview syllabus, sampling plan and fieldwork plan. The second stage began in September 2017, and the main mission was to collect quantitative and qualitative data through questionnaire surveys and fieldworks. The final stage started in January 2018, and the primary missions were to analyze the research results, draw conclusions, and finish the doctoral dissertation.
Seznam doporučené literatury
Abelson, R. (1979). Difference between belief systems and knowledge systems. Cognitive Science, 3(4), 355-366.
Bechhofer, F., & Paterson, L. (2012). Principles of research design in the social sciences. London: Routledge.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Chu, H. Q., & Yang, H. Y. (2009). Toward Principal professionalization. Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press.
Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed method approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Crow, G., Day, C., & Moller, J. (2017). Framing research on School Principals' identities. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 20(3), 265-277.
Day, C., Gu, Q., & Sammons, P. (2016). The impact of leadership on student outcomes: How successful school leaders use transformational and instructional strategies to make a difference. Educational Administration Quarterly, 52(2), 221-258.
Department for Education. (2015). National Standards of Excellence for Headteachers. Retrieved from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/396247/National_Standards_of_Excellence_for_Headteachers.pdf
Dunleavy, P. (2003). Authoring a PhD: How to plan, draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or dissertation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hays, P. A. (2004). Case study research. In K. deMarrais & S. D. Lapan (Eds.), Foundations for research: Methods of inquiry in education and the social sciences (pp. 217-234). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Jiang, L. F. (2013). The case study of the professional development of the headmasters in primary and secondary schools in the rural area (Unpublished master dissertation). Sichuan Normal University, China.
Jin, Z. M. (2016). The responsibility and mission of contemporary principals: Rational thinking and sapiential strategy in school management. Shanghai: Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press.
Ke, L. (2010). Construction of rural education community: Based on the exploration and practice in Pi County. Chengdu: Sichuan University Press.
Li, J. L. (2009). A cultural study on teachers' belief (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Southwest University, China.
Liu, T. F. (2014). The school principal: The one to bring the essence of education to the present. Journal of Teacher Education, 1(2), 116-124.
Ma, Y. (2012). Research on teachers' belief of elementary education curriculum reform (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Shanxi Normal University, China.
Qian, L. Q. (2013). The reconstruction of rural culture and education is our own responsibility. Survey of Education, 2(15), 77-82.
Qian, Z. L. (2016). Diary of a school principal: When I was a school principal in the United States. Beijing: Chinese People's Publishing House.
Wiersma, W., & Jurs, S. G. (2009). Research methods in education: An Introduction(2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Wu, M. L. (2010). Questionnaire statistical analysis practice: SPSS operation and application. Chongqing: Chongqing University Press.
Wu, Z. H., & Qin, Y. Y. (2017). Rural Education Development in China: An Annual Report. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press.
Xie, Y. (2006). Teachers' belief: "Ghost" in school education - A case study of an ordinary middle school (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Northeast Normal University, China.
Xie, Z. (2017). Policy innovation and future trend of Chinese rural education reform and development. Chinese Rural Education, (10), 10-15.
Zheng, Q., Li, L., Chen, H., & Loeb, S. (2017). What aspects of principal leadership are most highly correlated with school outcomes in China?. Educational Administration Quarterly, 53(3), 409-447.
Zhu, Y. X. (2016). The records of thinking of Chinese famous school principals. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press.
Seznam doporučené literatury
Abelson, R. (1979). Difference between belief systems and knowledge systems. Cognitive Science, 3(4), 355-366.
Bechhofer, F., & Paterson, L. (2012). Principles of research design in the social sciences. London: Routledge.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Chu, H. Q., & Yang, H. Y. (2009). Toward Principal professionalization. Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press.
Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed method approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Crow, G., Day, C., & Moller, J. (2017). Framing research on School Principals' identities. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 20(3), 265-277.
Day, C., Gu, Q., & Sammons, P. (2016). The impact of leadership on student outcomes: How successful school leaders use transformational and instructional strategies to make a difference. Educational Administration Quarterly, 52(2), 221-258.
Department for Education. (2015). National Standards of Excellence for Headteachers. Retrieved from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/396247/National_Standards_of_Excellence_for_Headteachers.pdf
Dunleavy, P. (2003). Authoring a PhD: How to plan, draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or dissertation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hays, P. A. (2004). Case study research. In K. deMarrais & S. D. Lapan (Eds.), Foundations for research: Methods of inquiry in education and the social sciences (pp. 217-234). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Jiang, L. F. (2013). The case study of the professional development of the headmasters in primary and secondary schools in the rural area (Unpublished master dissertation). Sichuan Normal University, China.
Jin, Z. M. (2016). The responsibility and mission of contemporary principals: Rational thinking and sapiential strategy in school management. Shanghai: Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press.
Ke, L. (2010). Construction of rural education community: Based on the exploration and practice in Pi County. Chengdu: Sichuan University Press.
Li, J. L. (2009). A cultural study on teachers' belief (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Southwest University, China.
Liu, T. F. (2014). The school principal: The one to bring the essence of education to the present. Journal of Teacher Education, 1(2), 116-124.
Ma, Y. (2012). Research on teachers' belief of elementary education curriculum reform (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Shanxi Normal University, China.
Qian, L. Q. (2013). The reconstruction of rural culture and education is our own responsibility. Survey of Education, 2(15), 77-82.
Qian, Z. L. (2016). Diary of a school principal: When I was a school principal in the United States. Beijing: Chinese People's Publishing House.
Wiersma, W., & Jurs, S. G. (2009). Research methods in education: An Introduction(2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Wu, M. L. (2010). Questionnaire statistical analysis practice: SPSS operation and application. Chongqing: Chongqing University Press.
Wu, Z. H., & Qin, Y. Y. (2017). Rural Education Development in China: An Annual Report. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press.
Xie, Y. (2006). Teachers' belief: "Ghost" in school education - A case study of an ordinary middle school (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Northeast Normal University, China.
Xie, Z. (2017). Policy innovation and future trend of Chinese rural education reform and development. Chinese Rural Education, (10), 10-15.
Zheng, Q., Li, L., Chen, H., & Loeb, S. (2017). What aspects of principal leadership are most highly correlated with school outcomes in China?. Educational Administration Quarterly, 53(3), 409-447.
Zhu, Y. X. (2016). The records of thinking of Chinese famous school principals. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press.