School Culture Development in China : Perceptions of Teachers and Principals

School culture is playing an increasingly important role in school performance and educational development. Within the national campaign in China for the innovative and sustainable development of education, local governments in Beijing Municipality have encouraged and facilitated educational innovation toward better school culture. In recent years, a select group of schools have undertaken various initiatives to develop strategies and further action toward innovation and change.

This book documents an investigation of how teachers and principals perceive school culture development in China. A survey was conducted among 1,992 informants from 37 schools (located in four different districts) in Beijing Municipality. The results of this study indicated that the respondents had overall positive perceptions of school culture construction and development in the educational change process. In general, they showed a positive attitude toward the school culture improvement initiatives, reported satisfaction about their current school culture, and held confidence in the direction their school culture is heading.

On the other hand, this study demonstrated that factors such as school geographical location and respondents’ job duty, job title, and gender make a difference in how participants perceive their school’s culture. Teachers and principals from a less economically developed district had less awareness of, involvement in, and understanding of school culture development in all its aspects. A notable gap between teachers and principals was identified in their perception of the core values and norms of the school and of communication between teachers and principals. This study suggests that for educational development to successfully move forward, there is an urgent need for better distribution of educational resources (both financial and leadership), common understanding, agreed-upon goals, and efficient communication between principals and teachers.

Xiangyun Du is with Qatar University, Qatar, and Aalborg University, Denmark.