Peer-reviewed article
Making sense of teacher leadership in early childhood education in China
Mo Wang, Dora Choi Wa Ho ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper examines how teacher leadership functions in early childhood education (ECE) in China, following government reforms since 2010 aimed at improving education quality. The author identifies a gap between national policy initiatives to develop teacher leadership and actual implementation at school level. The paper proposes that understanding teacher leadership requires considering both formal and informal roles, and distinguishing between role definitions and actual practices. The work highlights the need for better leadership preparation and development in Chinese ECE settings.
Key points
- Chinese government initiated comprehensive ECE education reform in 2010 with strategies for developing teacher leadership
- Significant gap exists between policy initiatives and implementation at school level
- Teacher leadership should be understood across dimensions of formal versus informal roles and role versus practice
- Lack of leadership preparation and development resources in Chinese ECE schools
- Understanding contextual factors is essential for exploring how teacher leadership is conceptualized and enacted
Limitations
This is a theoretical discussion paper rather than an empirical study, so it does not provide data on the actual prevalence, outcomes, or effectiveness of teacher leadership initiatives in Chinese ECE. The paper does not evaluate specific interventions or provide evidence on what works to improve implementation of teacher leadership policies.
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to offer a theoretical discussion on teacher leadership in early childhood education (ECE) in Chinese contexts. Since 2010, the Chinese government has initiated a comprehensive education reform in ECE, with strategies for developing teacher leadership and promoting education quality. However, at the school level there is a lack of leadership preparation and development, along with a gap between policy initiative and its implementation. How to narrow this gap between policy and practice in teacher leadership has become a critical issue for ECE in China. This paper suggests that ‘formal role or informal role’ and ‘role or practice’ are important dimensions of teacher leadership in a Chinese, policy-driven context. In this regard, it is worth exploring how teacher leadership is conceptualized and enacted in the process of quality improvement and related contextual factors. In doing so, an agenda could be identified for future research, contributing to theories on the development of teacher leadership in the global discourse.