Developing a Program to Enhance Leadership of Kindergarten Rural Principals in Guangxi Province, China

Abstract

The research objectives were to 1) investigate components of leadership of kindergarten rural principals in Guangxi, China; 2) explore the existent condition, desired condition, and priority needs of leadership of kindergarten rural principals in Guangxi, China; 3) Create and evaluate a program to enhance leadership of kindergarten rural principals in Guangxi, China. This research was 3 phases. Phase 1: Investigating the components of leadership of kindergarten rural principals by content analysis and synthesis conducted and confirmed them by 5 experts. Phase 2: Exploring the existent condition, desired condition and modified priority needs index (PNImodified) of leadership of kindergarten rural principals in Guang xi by a questionnaire from 384 kindergarten principals in rural area in Guangxi. Phase 3: Creating and evaluating a program to enhance leadership of kindergarten rural principals in Guangxi by interviewing 5 experts. The research tools were interview form, questionnaire, and evaluation form . Analyzing statistics were mean, percentage, standard deviation and PNImodified.

The results were as following:

1. The components of leadership of kindergarten rural principals in Guangxi consisted of 1) Planning rural kindergarten development 2) Creating a culture fostering student development 3) Leading preschool care and education 4) Guiding and facilitating teacher development 5) Optimizing internal management 6) Adapting the external environment and those of which were overall at the very high level of suitability.

2. The existent condition of leadership of kindergarten rural principals in Guang xi was overall at the medium level, the desired condition was overall at the very high level, and PNImodified was ranked from high to low including:1) Planning rural kindergarten development 2) Creating a culture fostering student development 3) Leading preschool care and education 4) Guiding and facilitating teacher development 5) Adapting the external environment 6) Optimizing internal management.

3. The program to enhance leadership of kindergarten rural principals in Guangxi consisted of 1) Principles 2) Objectives 3) Contents and Methods: 70% Learning through experience including Problem-solving and Challenging tasks, 20% Learning through others including Peer coaching, Communities of practice and Mentoring, 10% Learning through formal training 4) Development process, and 5) Evaluation. The suitability and feasibility of the Program to enhance kindergarten leadership of rural principals in Guangxi were overall at the very high level.

-