领启发展 志在四海｜京领-天津英华联合发布《2021国际学校校长领导力报告》
2022年5月17日，京领与天津英华实验学校联合发布《国际学校校长领导力报告》。
天津英华实验学校
天津英华实验学校创办于2000年，原名“天津英华国际学校”，2022年初更名为“天津英华实验学校”。现设有武清·小学校区（2000年成立）、武清·中学校区（2003年成立）、东丽·英华分校（2018年成立）和武清·英华附属鸿蒙幼儿园（2019年成立），是一所集幼儿园、小学、初中、普通高中、国际高中（剑桥项目、加拿大项目）和留学生培养为一体的K12学校。学校办学质量卓越，口碑声誉良好，在京津冀地区具有广泛知名度和影响力。
学校以“兴中融外·启程未来，为中华之崛起而办学”为办学宗旨，坚持“在英华，发现我自己”的办学理念，以“厚德、自强、求是、拓新”为校训，以“培养德智体美劳全面发展的、具备‘彬彬君子 风范公民’特质的社会主义建设者和接班人”为育人目标，形成了一套植根中国传统面向国际化的办学体系。
报告亮点
本报告共包含采访对象、校长领导力、发展与展望、结语四个章节。
报告以由京领人才课题组与中国国际教育交流协会中学分会联合多位哈佛、剑桥、牛津、北大、清华的专家学者共同发起的“百校调研”中部分优秀国际学校校长演讲内容为研究对象。该调研主要聚焦于学校的校长领导力、创新竞争力、品牌影响力三大维度，对全国优质国际学校开展多层次的调查研究与分享交流。目前，已有近百位知名国际学校校长参加百校调研，其中，48位校长的调研内容已正式发布。
《国际学校校长领导力报告》旨在探讨新时期我国国际化学校校长领导力的特征、学校发展进程中的现状与挑战、目标与路径等方面的实践与理论问题；对国际学校治理的基本问题、校长领导力的发挥及发展、校长管理面临的主要挑战、校长和学校发展的关系问题、国际学校创新型人才培养的实践与探索、未来国际学校发展趋势和模式等进行讨论。旨在分享校长领导力建设与提升路径、学校治理先进经验，促进中国国际学校校长领导力提升，推动中国国际教育升级。
领启发展，开创未来
在国际教育发展的新时期，校长领导力的核心在思想、执行、管理三个层面上，时刻约束、鞭策着校长履职。国际学校校长的身份是多元的，他们既是思想上的领航员，又是执行上的掌舵手，还是管理上的“老船长”。他们对内要建设校园，运营学校，管理团队；对外要善于沟通，宣传品牌，寻求合作；作为教育者，还要兼顾督教学、促升学的重任。
管理国际学校的复杂性势必会给校长领导力的发挥带来一定的挑战，比如市场迅猛发展带来的竞争压力、疫情的冲击、人才募集和稳定、中外差异、生源困顿等。但挑战只是暂时的。国际教育发展到今天，已经由面向极小众的家庭和孩子的小型试验，变为更多有识之士追求优质教育资源、满足多元化需求的重要组成部分。我国国际教育已经进入了发展的新阶段，由办学观念、课程体系、教育模式、育人环境等多个方面构成的办学特色决定着国际化学校的核心竞争力。在未来，国际化学校校长可着重在优化办学、加深合作、立足中国等方面发挥领导力，寻突破、图发展。
下文为《国际学校校长领导力报告》内容精选，点击左下角“阅读原文”获取完章内容。
左右滑动查看目录
一、采访对象
国际学校校长作为掌舵人不仅需要具备一系列超越普通教师能力的素质，还需要具备强有力的领导力、品牌意识、创新意识以及优质教育教学人才的鉴别与吸引能力。校长的格局与视野很大意义上影响一所学校所能达到的高度。
本次采访校长共45名，任职于42所学校中，其中有29所民办学校，7所外籍子女学校，6所公立学校国际部。学校分布地区涵盖北京市、上海市、广东省、四川省、黑龙江省、海南省、江苏省、浙江省、天津市、广西省。各学校建校时间跨度从1993年至2020年，办学规模也各异。
京领研究院进而对本次采访的45名校长的基本特征、教育背景、管理背景进行了统计。在这些校长中，12名为外籍校长，33名为中国籍校长。包括23位女校长和22位男校长, 性别分布较为均衡。任职形式有执行校董、名誉校长、创始人、董事会任命校长、运营校长、总学监、总督学等。半数以上的校长拥有硕士、博士文凭，多毕业于海内外知名大学，所学专业涵盖教育、管理、计算机、法学、文学、语言、心理、物理、领导力、生物等等。不少校长都拥有海外求学、生活、工作的经历。受访校长在教育管理经验都在十年及以上。
在调研中，我们发现学校发展阶段和学校规模对时任校长的工作的主要内容和侧重点有着直接影响，而校长的的背景经验又影响着校长对核心领导力的理解以及践行方式。
对于老牌学校来说，学校各方面发展已经较为成熟稳定。经过时间的检验，也大多成为了国际教育领域的标杆。因此，校长会倾注更多精力到维护校园现有发展成果、扩大品牌影响力、寻求突破上，力求“百尺竿头，更进一步”。对于发展中期的学校来说，学校正处于承上启下的关键期，校长一方面需要引领学校发展，一方面需要打造特色，以立于不败之林。对于新建学校来说，学校各方面都处于起步阶段，潜能与挑战并存。校长的工作重心就是指明学校发展方向，与团队齐心协力，扎稳脚跟。下文将对校长领导力进行更详细地分析。
二、校长领导力
（一）领导力核心
1. 思想上的“领航员”
在思想层面，校长要高瞻远瞩，洞察秋毫；认真负责，深耕教育；关心孩子，甘为人梯。
2. 执行上的“掌舵人”
在执行层面，校长应发挥掌舵作用，统筹协调各方发展；贯彻、整合学校理念和价值观；注重创新，引领变革。
3. 管理上的“老船长”
在管理层面，校长要善于沟通，凝聚团队；谦逊包容，赋能他人；以身作则，做好表率。特别地，作为国际学校的校长，还要有跨文化领导力。
（二）具体履行
1. 建设学校
建设学校是校长履职的基础环节，包括校园建设、文化建设、品牌建设。
（1）校园建设
校园建设包括从无到有地创办学校，发展中通过扩建、拓展校区等方式扩大办学规模，以及打造良好的校园环境等。
受调校长中，有7位是建校校长。作为建校校长，在前期需要进行大量的走访调研；谈合作，拉赞助；商定学校路线、办学理念。从无到有的过程从来都不容易。
国际学校的发展是循序渐进的。很多学校在一开始可能只有幼儿园，但经过多年发展，慢慢拓展成提供十五年一贯制教育、拥有多个校区的教育品牌，为更多孩子提供优质教育。在这个过程中，校长有着举足轻重的作用。
（2）文化建设
办一所学校，首先要培育好文化基因，形成一种好的文化。在京领此次调研的学校中，校园文化各有千秋。有的侧重品格养成，有的侧重中西并行，有的倾向培养目标，其中，词频最高的是“爱”，“尊重”，“包容”。校长在校园文化建设的过程中，不仅仅是提出者，更应该是身体力行的实践者，通过组织校园活动等形式，以具体行动带动全校师生共同营造出理想中的校园文化氛围。
（3）品牌建设
国际学校从上世纪九十年代末兴起，根据京领研究院2022年最新统计数据，经过二十年的发展，中国国际学校由不到100所发展到现在的1580所左右。学校之间的竞争日益激烈，品牌成为一所学校脱颖而出，可持续发展的核心要素。拥有属于自身的特定品牌，是学校吸引适合家庭的重要竞争力和独特优势。
品牌的塑造需要时间的沉淀、文化的传承。校长在学校品牌建设中应积极发挥作用，针对学校的实际情况，通过宣传、合作等途径扩大品牌影响力。不同学校在品牌建设上的重心和路径也有所区别。对于建校二十余年的老牌国际学校而言，如何维护好品牌形象，并深化品牌影响力是重中之重。对于国际教育品牌下的各分校来说，如何做好校区与品牌文化的对接，保持品牌的卓越和一致性就显得尤为重要。而对于新兴学校来说，怎样把学校的口碑做起来、推出去，才是当务之急。
2. 领导团队
国际学校有着鲜明的跨文化背景，这对校长领导团队的能力提出了更高的要求。从搭建团队，到内部沟通，再到中外平衡，校长都要尽力做到最好。
（1）搭建团队
学校的团队可以大致分为管理和教学两个组块。受调校长在团队建设上都有着自己的一套经验，从标准建立、人才遴选、人员培训、沟通尊重等多方面入手，以保证团队的人才高质量和人员稳定性。
（2）内部沟通
老师作为互相独立的个体，会因过去的成长和教育经历产生了不同的价值观和判断力。校长需要尽可能地调度老师，促使团队内成员能够在行动和理念上全面配合学校，做到“心往一块儿想，劲儿往一块儿使”。
对于一些董事会制、集团性学校，如哈罗旗下的学校，校长的内部沟通职责还包括向董事会汇报、与集团内其他友校沟通等。
哈罗珠海——Charles Grayhurst：“在过去的两年中，我们逐步打开中国双语学校的市场，因此我们和哈罗重庆、哈罗海口以及哈罗南宁之间的交流十分紧密，与此同时我们和英国哈罗公学的沟通也是非常密切的。我们学校的各个层面和哈罗公学都经常会通过会议进行交流。”
（3）中外平衡
特别地，国际化学校面临的一大挑战是中外平衡问题。这里的中外平衡，既指学校发展方向应该融汇中西，又指中外人员管理应尽力做好“一碗水端平”。
上海诺科——李健：“在诺科，我们希望所有老师，无论是来自哪个国家，都是做一样的事情，我们对他们的标准和要求都努力做到一样，包括师德这方面。”
3. 运营管理
校长作为学校的高级管理者，要对学校的大小事务负责，处理学校的日常事务也是其工作的重要组成部分之一。
（1）保障安全
在校园日常事务中，校园安全无疑是最重要的一环之一。校长最重要的责任之一就是保护其校区内所有人员的安全。
上海新加坡——Billie LEONG：“我会在学校的不同区域走动，并将所有核心领导团队成员以及学校运营委员会成员分成小组，每个月会对学校的各项设施设备，如厨房、安保、校车，进行安全检查，以确保学校各项工作安全有序运营。”
（2）危机处理
校长还应该有敏锐的反应能力，以应对学校可能面临的危机。小到处理孩子、家长、教职工间的冲突，大到应对疫情带来的冲击，校长需要冷静、快速、精准地应对随时随地的各种挑战，软硬兼备，必要时采取怀柔政策，慢慢纾解各方的情绪，同时积极寻求解决办法。
4. 社群维护
校长的工作是围绕着“人”展开的，如何维护学校社群，也是校长履职的重要部分。
（1）家校沟通
在社群维护中，家校沟通可以说是最重要的一环。受调校长中，建立家校联系的方式包括：定期举办家校会议，给家长直接与校长沟通的机会；定期做家长满意度调查，获得第一手反馈；建立专门负责家校沟通的部门，专人专职地重视家校沟通；组织家长社团活动，让家长在学校里也有归属感等。
（2）校友维护
校友会在海外学校中是非常普遍且非常重要的一个群体，我们也看到国内的国际学校也慢慢开始重视起这个群体，通过邀请优秀毕业生演讲、组织校友活动等方式，维护好校友与学校之间的连接。
苏州一中国际部——沈桂芳：“十几年的办学发展以来，我们有学生会、校友会，所有的学生毕业后都会进入我们的校友会大家庭。在学生毕业去往世界各地后，我们也会对他们进行学业追踪与个人关怀。”
5. 外联外宣
校长对内要对学生、家长、员工负责，对外往往要以发言人、代言人、话事人的形象去推广学校，建立合作。如果维护社群是校长对内履职的表现形式，那外联外宣就是校长对外履职的重要途径。
（1）企校联合
对于一些发展得比较成熟的学校来说，稳则求变，变则求交流、求合作。国际学校不同于传统公立学校，在培养人才上更关注全人教育，因此与社会的衔接也会更为紧密。校长通过与企业的洽谈，可以将企业最先进的教育资源拉到学生的课堂中，促进学生发展。
（2）对外交流
国际学校是培养拥有全球视野的国际化人才的重要场所。校长应整合资源，积极拓展合作渠道，为开拓孩子视野创造更多的可能性。
上海诺科——李健：“诺科推行全球资源和行走课堂。全球资源就是利用更多的平台，让孩子们在学习的过程中有更多的机会走出去，同时也会把外面的平台请进来。 行走课堂指在学习时跟上海的研究所进行对接，甚至前往基地区，让学生进行实地了解。”
6. 保障教学
教学质量是衡量一所学校办学能力的根本。无论是学生还是家长，最关心的问题还是会落到学习体验和升学前途上。
（1）把关课程
校课程体系的设置需要系统的考量。学校每年都应该根据国际形势的发展趋势，以及国家对于未来人才的需求，进行培养方案的完善。
学校的课程体系也是学校教育理念的外化，特别是一些特色、校本课程，能够直接反映一所学校在培养人才时的独特优势。国际学校的校本课程在设置上大体有几个方向：弘扬中国传统文化类、体育特色类、艺术特色类、STEM/科技类、领导力类。这些校本课程可以极大地拓展学生的视野，从德智体美多方面培养全才。
（2）课程创新
诚然，课程要随社会对人才需求的变化而不断变化。校长除了主抓已有的课程设置，还要不断思考该如何进行课程创新，以适应时代潮流。
京西学校校长——Dr.Krajnovic：“京西学校在2017-2020阶段制定Flow21创新计划，并继续发展新的目标。计划已实现的目标包括确立11个学生规划与个性化学习方法，改变一些学校空间来适应新的学习方式，重新设置课程表，推行个性化的在线教育，允许学生们自主决定如何提交学习成果展示等。”
京领研究院在近日的“百校调研”中发现，人工智能、大数据等关键词的热度在不断上升。为此，我们也采访了校长的看法。不少校长表示在未来的课程设计中将提升科技特色课程的比重，并通过PBL、企校合作等方式帮助学生跟紧时代步伐。
（三）挑战
那么，校长在日常履职时又会面对怎样的挑战呢？通过调研，京领研究院总结出如下几点。
1. 市场的风云变幻
事实上，国际教育在中国发展时间并不长，最早的国际学校建校时间也在上世纪90年代中后期，至今不过二十余年。然而，国际学校在2010-2020年这10年发展速度非常快，井喷式的数量增长导致市场竞争陡然加剧，并随之引发人才争夺。2020年后，又遇疫情冲击等不可控因素的冲击，国际教育市场遭受了前所未有的挑战。
2. 生源参差，招生困顿
国际学校生源不像体制内的学校那么整齐。很多学生接受的并不是一贯制的国际化教育，不少孩子是在升学期转入国际学校的，因此学生的语言水平、海外课程掌握水平都存在差异。这对学校开展系统化的教育是个不小的挑战。
目前，一些国际学校在招生上也遇到了挫折。疫情和国际形势对国际教育市场造成了一定的冲击，一些家长也并不非常理解国际教育的特色，部分家庭对选择国际升学路径会有一定的摇摆。
3. 教师团队的建设和管理
国际学校在团队管理上的特殊性在于学校有不同国家文化背景的外籍老师。学校对外籍教师有很高的需求，然而，外籍教师在招募和管理上都是校长工作中的“老大难”问题。相较于中方教师，外籍教师的文化、教育背景差异极大，来到中国工作后又会面临文化冲击、不习惯不适应等问题，因而流动性很高。要充分理解他们的需求，并让他们安心是有一定难度的。
另外，有的国际学校在团队管理时会有二元制的现象，因此学校在管理中外教的部分会有摩擦，这也是一个痛点。
三、发展与展望
（一）稳中向好
全球化发展是我们全人类的福祉。全球化向人才发展提出了新的要求，也让大众了解到，在新的历史环境下，人类所面临的社会问题需要跨文化、跨学科、创新型的解决方案。国际教育培养的国际化人才无疑更有效的推动全球化发展，同时也更有能力推动世界往一个命运共同体这个伟大的方向去发展。
在这样的大背景下，虽然目前疫情的阴云仍在，国际形势也错综复杂，但校长们对国际教育的发展仍是积极的。国际教育整体呈稳中向好态势，具体体现在市场需求、受众、资本三个维度上。海外名牌学校对学生的吸引力将持续存在，在这种情况下，大家对国际学校的申请需求也就还在。有需求就有市场，而有市场就有资本的涌入。
（二）办学优化
在国际教育市场竞争愈演愈烈的背景下，一所学校能否“杀出重围”，关键点还是在办学质量上。第一，国际学校应注重办学规范化和高分高能双输出，拿办学成绩来说话。第二，要与公办学校差异化发展，把握好发展重心，形成品牌特色。第三，国际学校需要认真思考中文教学的质量和对于中国文化的立场，放好中国心。未来中国的国际学校想要发展好，有特色课程体系是最为重要的，而这一课程体系一定要融合中西方教育之所长，并以中国文化及国情为根基。
（三）持续创新
我们在调研中发现，“创新”这一理念贯穿校长对领导力的理解以及具体履行。在未来发展中，国际学校必须把握重点，努力找到核心受众，还必须确保在进行创新。如果不进行创新，仅仅依赖于目前已经取得的成果，学校将难以继续成长，也无法满足未来对人才的需求。创新可以着手课程创新、培养重心的转变、发展数字化教育、促进学习模式变革、更新评价体系等方面上。
（四）加强交流合作
交流合作也是促进发展的重要途径。谈及未来工作重心时，不少校长都把加强各层面的交流合作视为重点。
教师与教师
教师之间的合作交流可以博采众长，促进教学质量的提高。不同学科的教师看待问题会有不同的角度，推广合作教学的新模式可以培养学生的跨学科素养。
学校与学校
国际教育行业目前进入调整期。学校也需要不断地加强交流合作，要“走出去，请进来”，多向运营出色的国际学校学习，从课程、从教师团队等从各方面充实自己。
学校与家庭
学校与家庭之间的交流一直都是国际学校工作的重点，特别地，这种紧密联系在疫情发挥了重要作用。在未来，校方也应贯彻家校沟通这一工作路线，不断寻求最好的方式传达学校的战略、目标、使命、愿景，不断思考怎样可以用不同的沟通方式建立起家校间更紧密的连接。
学校与企业
在人工智能、物联网、5G等新技术崛起的时代，学校会更加关注学生核心素养的培养。因此，拓展与企业间的合作是一个未来趋势，以整合资源，为学生提供更多校外实践的机会，提升学生的自主学习能力、批判性思考能力、创新能力，让他们做好应对未来挑战的准备。
（五）扎稳中国根
近年来，在中国自身教育领域提升以及国人的文化自信提升之后，国际学校，特别是民办学校和公立学校国际部，更应做到“扎稳中国根”，把中国文化的精华融入到学校的体系中，让孩子们在成为国际化人才前，先安好一颗“中国心”。未来，中国从目前的生源输出国，或许也能转化为输入国：国外的高中生也愿意选择到中国来，亲自体验中国的教育和文化。
结语
本报告就校长领导力这一话题展开了全面深入的探讨。
在国际教育发展的新时期，校长领导力的核心在思想、执行、管理三个层面上，时刻约束、鞭策着校长履职。国际学校校长的身份是多元的，他们既是思想上的领航员，又是执行上的掌舵手，还是管理上的“老船长”。他们对内要建设校园，运营学校，管理团队；对外要善于沟通，宣传品牌，寻求合作；作为教育者，还要兼顾督教学、促升学的重任。
管理国际学校的复杂性势必会给校长领导力的发挥带来一定的挑战，比如市场迅猛发展带来的竞争压力、疫情的冲击、人才募集和稳定、中外差异、生源困顿等。面对这些挑战，校长们坦言亟需政策性引领，以及更完善、更规范的规章制度。在汇聚人才上，或许把工作重心转到开辟海外招聘渠道和弥合中外教差异上。
我们有理由相信，这些挑战只是暂时的。国际教育发展到今天，已经由面向极小众的家庭和孩子的小型试验，变为更多有识之士追求优质教育资源、满足多元化需求的重要组成部分。我国国际教育已经进入了发展的新阶段，由办学观念、课程体系、教育模式、育人环境等多个方面构成的办学特色决定着国际化学校的核心竞争力。在未来，国际化学校校长可着重在优化办学、加深合作、立足中国等方面发挥领导力，寻突破、图发展。
English Version
On May 17th, 2022, KingLead and Yinghua Experimental School jointly released the "Research Report on International School Principals' Leadership".
Yinghua Experimental School
Yinghua Experimental School was founded in 2000, formerly known as "Yinghua International School". In early 2022, it changed its name to "Yinghua Experimental School". The school now has Wuqing Primary School Campus (established in 2000), Wuqing Middle School Campus (established in 2003), Yinghua International Dongli Branch (established in 2018), and Wuqing Yinghua Affiliated Hongmeng Kindergarten (established in 2019). It is a K12 school that integrates kindergarten, primary school, junior high school, regular high school, international high school (Cambridge project, Canadian project) and international students training. The school has excellent school-running quality, a good reputation, and wide popularity and influence in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
Yinghua Experimental School adheres to the school-running philosophy of "rejuvenating China and integrating foreign countries, setting off for the future, and running a school for the rise of China", and the school's educational philosophy of "discovering myself in Yinghua". The school takes "honorary, self-improvement, truth-seeking, and innovation" as its motto, and "cultivating socialist builders and successors who have the all-round development of morality, intelligence, physique, beauty, and labor, and possess the characteristics of 'gentleman-like citizens'" as its educational goals. It has formed a school-running system rooted in Chinese tradition and oriented towards internationalization.
Highlights of the Report
This report includes four chapters: interviewees, principals' leadership, development and outlook, and conclusion.
The report is based on the interview content of outstanding international school principals in the "Research on Chinese International Schools" which was jointly initiated by the Secondary School Branch of China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), KingLead & Peking University Innovative Talents Research Group, and several experts from Harvard University, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Peking University, and Tsinghua University. The research mainly focuses on three aspects including principal leadership, innovation competitiveness, and brand influence. At present, nearly 100 well-known international school principals have participated in the program, of which 48 principals' survey content has been officially released.
The purpose of this report is to discuss the characteristics of international schools principal's leadership over China, the current situation and challenges in the school's development process, practical or theoretical questions of development goals and paths, challenges of school management, the relationship between principals and school development, the practice and exploration of cultivating innovative talents in international schools, and the future development trends and models of international schools.
Lead the Development,
Build the Future
In the new era of international education, the core elements for principals to exert their leadership are thought, implementation, and management. The identities of principals of international schools are diverse. They are not only the ideological navigator, but also the helmsman in execution, and the "old captain" in management. Internally, they should build a campus, operate the school and manage the team, be good at communicating with the outside world, publicize the brand, and seek cooperation. As an educator, a principal should also consider the important task of supervising teaching and promoting the students’ rising to further education.
The complexity of managing international schools will bring specific challenges to the principals' leadership, such as the competitive pressure brought by the rapid development of the market, the impact of the pandemic, talent recruitment and stability, the differences between China and foreign countries, difficulties in the source of students, etc. But these challenges are temporary. Today, with the development of international education, it has changed from a small-scale experiment for a minimal number of families and children to an essential part for more people to pursue high-quality educational resources and meet diversified needs. China's international education has entered a new stage of development. The school running characteristics are composed of school running concept, curriculum system, education mode, and education environment, which determine the core competitiveness of international schools. In the future, the principal of the international school can give full play to his leadership in optimizing school running and deepening cooperation. The principal will base himself in China to seek breakthroughs and development.
The following is the Condensed Version of the "Research Report on International School Principals' Leadership", click "Read More" in the lower left corner to get the full content.
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1. The Interviewee
The principal of an international school not only needs to have abilities beyond teachers, but also needs to have strong leadership, brand awareness, innovation ability, and the ability to identify and attract high-quality educational talents.
A total of 45 principals were interviewed. They are working in 42 schools, including 29 private schools, 7 schools for children of foreign personnel, and 6 international division of public schools. The distribution area of the schools covers Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Sichuan, Heilongjiang, Hainan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Tianjin, and Guangxi. The time span of the schools establishment is from 1993 to 2020, and the schools’ sizes are also different.
The Kinglead Research Institute further conducted statistics based on characteristics, educational background, and management background of the 45 principals. Among these principals, 12 are foreign principals and 33 are Chinese principals, 23 of them are female principals and 22 are male principals. The gender distribution is relatively balanced. The appointment forms of the principals include executive director, honorary principal, founder, principal appointed by the board of directors, operating principal, chief superintendent, superintendent, etc. More than half of the principals have master's or doctoral degrees, and most of them graduated from well-known universities at home and abroad. Their majors cover education, management, computer science, law, literature, language, psychology, physics, leadership, biology, etc. Many principals have overseas study, living, and working experience. The principals interviewed have ten years or more experience in education management.
During the survey, we found that the school's development stage and size had a direct impact on the main content and the focus of the principal's work. Also, the principal's background experience also affected the principal's understanding of leadership and the way to practice it.
For the schools with established brand, the development in all aspects has been relatively mature and stable. Most of them have become benchmarks in international education. Therefore, the principal will devote more energy to maintaining the existing development achievements of the school, expanding the brand influence, seeking breakthroughs, and striving to "make progress and go further". For schools in the middle of development, they are in a critical period of linking between the preceding and the following. The principals of these schools not only need to lead the school's development, but also need to create school characteristics to stand in firce competition of international education. For new schools, all aspects of the school are in their infancy, with potential and challenges coexisting. The main focus of the principal's work is to point out the direction of the school's development, work together with the team, and establish a firm base for the school. Principal leadership will be analysed in more detail below.
2. The Leadership of Principals
(1) The Core of Leadership
When talking about the core of principal's leadership, the transferred principals have their own understandings, which mainly focus on the perspectives of ideology, execution, and management.
1. Ideology
At the ideological level, principals should be far-sighted and insightful, serious and responsible. They also need to have a deep understanding of education and care about children.
2. Execution
At the executive level, principals should coordinate the development of all parties, implement and integrate the school's philosophy and values, focus on innovation, and lead changes.
3. Management
At the management level, principals should be good at communication and managing the cohesion of the team. They also need to be humble and tolerant, and empower others by setting an example. In particular, as an international school principal, it is necessary to have cross-cultural leadership.
(2) Specific Implementations
1. The Construction of Schools
Building a school is the basic duty for a principal, including campus construction, cultural construction, and brand building.
(1) Campus Construction
Campus construction includes establishing schools, enlarging schools sizes through campuses evelopment, and creating a comfortable pus environment.
Seven of the principals surveyed were the founding principals. As the principal of the school, it is necessary to conduct a large number of visits and researches in the early stage, discuss cooperation and sponsorship, and agree on the school route and school-running philosophy. The process of establishing school is never easy.
The development of international schools is a step-by-step process. Many schools may only have kindergartens at the beginning, but after years of development, they gradually expanded into an education brand that provides 15-year consistent high-quality education with multiple campuses. In this process, the principal plays a pivotal role.
(2) Culture Construction
To run a school, a principal must first form a good school culture. Among the schools surveyed by Kinglead, the schools cultures varies in different aspects. Some focus on character development, others focus on the integration between Chinese and Western. Among them, the words with the highest frequency are "love", "respect", and "tolerance". In the process of building school culture, the principal should not only be a proposer, but also a practitioner. By organizing campus activities, the principal will drive the teachers and students to create an ideal cultural atmosphere.
(3) Brand Building
International schools emerged since the late 1990s. According to the latest statistics from the Kinglead Research Institute in 2022, after 20 years of development, China's international schools have grown from less than 100 to about 1,580 now. Competition among schools is increasing, and brand building has become a core element for a school to stand out in the competition. Having a brand with specific characteristic is a competitive advantage for schools to attract suitable families.
Brand building requires the precipitation of time and the inheritance of culture. Principals should play an active role in school brand building and enhance the brand influence through publicity, cooperation, and other means according to the situation of the school. Different schools have different focuses and methods in brand building. For an international school that has been established for more than 20 years, how to maintain its brand prestige and deepen its brand influence is the top priority. For the branch campuses under the international education brand, connecting between campuses and the brand culture as well as maintaining the brand is particularly important. For emerging schools, builing and promoting the school's reputation is the top priority.
2. Leadership Team
International schools have cross-cultural background, which places a higher demand on the principal's ability to lead the team. From building the team and balancing the communication between local and foreign factulties, Principals also need to do a lot of work on this.
(1) Team Building
The school's team can be roughly divided into two groups: management and teaching. The principals surveyed have their own set of experience in team building to ensure the high quality and the stability of the personnel, for example, the establishing standards, conducting training, etc.
(2) Internal Communication
Teachers may have different values and judgments based on their educational experiences. Principals need to work with teachers to ensure that their team members are fully aligned with the school in terms of their actions and philosophies. In this way, the teachers and the principal can "think together and work together".
For some board-based, group-running schools, such as those international school of Harrow Family, the principal's internal communication responsibilities also include reporting to the board and communicating with other schools in the group.
Harrow Zhuhai - Charles Grayhurst: "Over the past two years, we have gradually opened up the Chinese bilingual school market, so we have very close communication with Harrow Chongqing, Harrow Haikou and Harrow Nanning. At the same time, our communication with Harrow School in London is also very close. There are regular meetings between all levels of our school and Harrow School."
(3) Balance between Local and Foreign Parties
In particular, one of the major challenges faced by international schools is the balance between Chinese and foreign parties. The school's direction should integrate East and West, and ensur an equal management of Chinese and foreign faculty and staff.
North Cross School Shanghai - Li Jian: "At North Cross, we want all teachers, no matter what country they come from, to do the same thing, and we strive to have the same standards and requirements for them, including teacher ethics."
3. Operation Management
As the senior administrator of school, the principal is responsible for all the school's affairs. Handling daily affairs of school is an important part of his or her job.
(1) Security
Security is one of the most important aspects of a school’s daily. One of the most important responsibilities of a school principal is to protect the safety of all persons in the school.
Shanghai Singapore - Billie LEONG: "I will walk around different areas of the school and divide all the core leadership team members as well as the school operation committee members into small groups, and will conduct monthly safety checks on the various facilities and equipment of the school, such as the kitchen, security sector, and school buses, to ensure that the school is operating in a safe and orderly manner."
(2) Crisis Management
The principal should also have the ability to respond to crises that the school may face. From handling conflicts among children, parents, and staff, to dealing with the impact of an epidemic, principals need to respond calmly, quickly, and precisely to these challenges. They need to master both soft and hard tactics and adopt a flexible policy when necessary, easing the negative emotions of all parties while actively seeking solutions.
4. Community Maintenance
The principal's job revolves around "people". Maintaining the school community is an important part of the principal's job.
(1) Home-School Communication
Home-School communication is the most important aspect of community maintenance. Among the principals surveyed, ways to establish home-school communication include: holding regular home-school meetings to give parents the opportunity to communicate directly with the principal, doing parent satisfaction surveys regularly to get first-hand feedback, establishing a specialized home-school communication department , and organizing parent club activities to give parents a sense of school belonging.
(2) Alumni Maintenance
Alumni associations are a very common and important group in overseas schools. International schools in China are gradually starting to pay attention to this group as well. For example, the schools invite outstanding graduates to give speeches and organize alumni events to maintain a good connection between alumni and the school.
International Department of Suzhou No.1 High School - Shen Guifang: "Since the development of the school over ten years, we have a student association and an alumni association, and all of our students will join our alumni family after graduation. We also provide academic follow-up and personal care for our students after they graduate and go to different parts of the world."
5. Outreach
Principals are not only accountable internally to students, parents, and staff, but also externally to promote their schools and build collaboration. If maintaining the community is how principals perform their duties internally, then outreach is an important way for principals to perform their duties externally.
(1) Joint Enterprise and School
For more mature schools, stability leads to change, and change leads to communication and cooperation. Unlike traditional public schools, international schools focus more on holistic education and therefore have a closer connection to society. By communicating with companies, principals can introduce companies’ most advanced educational resources into classrooms and facilitate students’ development.
(2) External Communication
International schools are an important place to develop international talent with a global perspective. Principals should integrate resources and actively expand cooperation channels to create more possibilities for developing students’ horizons.
Shanghai North Cross - Jian Li: "North Cross promotes global resources and walking classroom. Global resources means using more platforms to give children more opportunities to go out in the learning process, while also inviting outside platforms in. Walking classroom means matching with institutes in Shanghai while learning, and even traveling to the base area so that students can have a field understanding."
6. Guarantee of Teaching
Teaching quality is the fundamental measure for school operation. The main concern of both students and parents will still be the learning experience and the students’ future.
(1) Gatekeeping Course
The curriculum of the school needs to be systematically considered. Schools should improve their training programs annually according to the trends and the national demand for future talents.
The school's curriculum is also an externalization of the school's educational philosophy. Especially, the school-based programs directly reflect a school's unique strengths in developing talent. The school-based curriculum of international schools has several general directions: promoting traditional Chinese culture, sports, arts, STEM/technology, and leadership. These school-based programs can greatly expand the horizons of students and nurture the all-round talents in a variety of ways, including moral, intellectual, physical, and aesthetic.
（2）Curriculum Innovation
Curriculum has to keep changing with the needs of society for talents. Principals should not only focus on the existing curriculum, but also constantly think about how to innovate the curriculum to meet the trend of the times.
Principal of Western Academy of Beijing - Dr. Krajnovic: "Western Academy of Beijing has developed the Flow21 Innovation Plan for the 2017-2020 period and continues to develop new goals. Goals already achieved in the plan include establishing 11 approaches to student planning and personalized learning, changing some school spaces to accommodate new learning styles, resetting the curriculum, implementing personalized online education, and allowing students to make their own decisions about how they submit their learning presentations."
In the recent "Research on Chinese International Schools", KingLead Research Institute found that keywords such as artificial intelligence and big data are gaining in popularity. In this regard, we also interviewed principals about their views. Many principals said they would increase the proportion of technology-specific courses in their future curriculum design, and help students keep pace with the times through PBL and cooperation between companies and schools.
(3) Challenges
The challenges that the principals will face in their daily performance is demonstrated in the KingLead Research Institute, and summarizes the following points.
1. Constant Changes of the Market
In fact, there are only 20 years since the first international school in China was established in the late 1990s. However, international schools in China have developed very fast in the 10 years from 2010 to 2020. The growth in number has led to a sharp intensification of market competition and talent competition. After 2020, with the impact of uncontrollable factors such as the pandemic, the international education industry has suffered unprecedented challenges.
2. Uneven Source of Students and Enrollment Difficulty
The student source of international schools is different from schools in the traditional Chinese education system. Many students do not receive a consistent international education, and many students are transferred to international schools when rising semesters. Therefore, there are differences in students' language levels, which is a big challenge for schools to carry out systematic education.
At present, some international schools have also encountered difficulties in enrollment. The pandemic and the global situation have had a certain impact on the international education. Some parents do not fully understand the characteristics of international education, and some families will have some concerns about the further education after graduating from international high school.
3. The Construction and Management of the Faculty
The particularity of team management in international schools is that the school has foreign teachers from different national cultural backgrounds. International schools have a high demand for foreign teachers. However, the recruitment and management of foreign teachers are long-standing problems for principals. Foreign teachers have very different cultural and educational backgrounds compared with Chinese teachers.The foreign faculties will face issues such as culture shock or not adaptable to the living environment while working in China, which will cause high mobility of foreign teachers. It is difficult to understand their needs and reassure them fully.
In addition, some international schools will have a dual system in team management, so there will be friction in managing foreign teachers, which is also a difficult point.
3. Development and Expectation
(1) Stable Improvement
The development of globalization not only puts forward new requirements for talent cultivation, but also makes the public understanding that in today. Social problems faced by humanity need cross-cultural, interdisciplinary, and innovative solutions. International talents trained by international education will promote the development of globalization more effectively, and they are more capable of leading the world in the direction of becoming a community with a shared future.
In this context, although the current pandemic situation is still severe and the global problem is complex, principals are still optimistic about developing international education. The overall trend of international education is stable and positive, which is reflected explicitly in the dimensions of market demand, customer, and capital. The attraction of top universities overseas will continue affect the students in China. In this case, there is still a demand for international schools. Where there is demand, there is a market, and where there is a market, there is an influx of capital.
(2) Optimization of Running a School
Due to the fierce competition in the international education market, the key to whether a school can become outstanding lies in the school-running quality. First, international schools should pay attention to the standardization of running schools as well as the dual output of both high test scores and strong abilities of students. Second, they should develop differently from public schools, grasp the focus of development, and form brand characteristics. Third, international schools need to seriously consider the quality of Chinese teaching, their position on Chinese culture, and have a Chinese heart. If China's international schools want to develop well in the future, the most important thing is to have a unique curriculum system, which must integrate the strengths of Chinese and western education and follow the Chinese culture and national conditions.
(3) Continuing Innovation
In our research, we found that the concept of "innovation" runs through the principal's understanding and specific implementation of leadership. In future development, international schools must grasp the key points, strive to find the suitable students, and ensure the continuing innovation. If they do not innovate and rely only on the existing achievements, it will be difficult for the school to continue to grow and meet the demand for talents in the future. Innovation can start with innovating curriculum, transforming education focus, developing digital education, reforming learning mode, updating the evaluation system, etc.
(4) Strengthen the Communication and Cooperation
Communication and cooperation are also significant ways to promote development. When talking about the focus of their future work, many principals regard strengthening communication and cooperation at all levels as the primary focus.
Cooperation between Teachers
The cooperation between teachers can promote the improvement of teaching quality. Teachers of different disciplines will have different perspectives on problems. Announcing the new model of collaborative teaching can cultivate students' interdisciplinary literacy.
Cooperation between Schools
The international education industry has entered a period of adjustment. Schools also need to strengthen cooperation constantly, apply the "going out and inviting in" development strategy, learn from international schools with excellent operation skills, and enrich themselves from all aspects, such as curriculum and teacher team.
Cooperation between School and Family
Communication between schools and families has always been the focus of international schools. In particular, this close connection has played an essential role during the pandemic period. In the future, international schools should still implement home-school communication, seek the best way to communicate the school's strategy, objectives, mission, and vision with parents, and think about how to use different communication methods to establish a closer connection between home and school constantly.
Cooperation between School and Enterprise
With the rapid progress of AI, IoT, 5G, and other new technologies, schools will pay more attention to cultivating students' core literacy. Therefore, expanding cooperation with enterprises is a future trend to integrate resources and provide more opportunities for students to practice, which will improve students' autonomous learning ability, critical thinking ability, and innovative thinking, and prepare them for future challenges.
(5) Having a Chinese Root
Recently, with the rapid improvement of the Chinese education system and peoples’ cultural confidence, international schools, especially private schools and public school’s international division, should "stabilize student’s Chinese roots" and integrate the essence of Chinese culture into the school system. In this way, students can have a "Chinese heart" before becoming an international talent. In the future, China may also transform into a student importing country: foreign high school students may also choose to come to China to experience China's education and culture personally.
4. Conclusion
This report has carried out a comprehensive and in-depth discussion on principal leadership.
In the new era of international education, the core elements for principals to exert their leadership are thought, implementation, and management. The identities of principals of international schools are diverse. They are not only the ideological navigator, but also the helmsman in execution, and the "old captain" in management. Internally, they should build a campus, operate the school and manage the team, be good at communicating with the outside world, publicize the brand, and seek cooperation. As an educator, a principal should also consider the important task of supervising teaching and promoting the students’ rising to further education.
The complexity of managing international schools will bring specific challenges to the principals' leadership, such as the competitive pressure brought by the rapid development of the market, the impact of the pandemic, talent recruitment and stability, the differences between China and foreign countries, difficulties in the source of students, etc. In the face of these challenges, principals admitted that they urgently need policy guidance and more perfect and standardized rules and regulations. In terms of gathering talents, perhaps the focus of work should be shifted to opening up overseas recruitment channels and bridging the differences between Chinese and foreign teachers.
We have reason to believe that these challenges are only temporary. Today, with the development of international education, it has changed from a small-scale experiment for a minimal number of families and children to an essential part for more people to pursue high-quality educational resources and meet diversified needs. China's international education has entered a new stage of development. The school running characteristics are composed of school running concept, curriculum system, education mode, and education environment, which determine the core competitiveness of international schools. In the future, the principal of the international school can give full play to his leadership in optimizing school running and deepening cooperation. The principal will base himself in China to seek breakthroughs and development.
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