The purpose of this paper is to review the empirical literature on teacher leadership in China, drawing on both English and Chinese language sources.
The paper is based on a systematic review of empirical sources on teacher leadership in mainland China, drawing on high-prestige international and English-language journals. The study adopts the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis guidelines, widely accepted as appropriate for systematic reviews. Papers from the eight leading international educational leadership journals, including JEA, were considered for inclusion. Similarly, nine journals listed in the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index were eligible for inclusion.
The study identified 32 papers for inclusion in the review. The findings indicate that Chinese scholars mostly reprise international perspectives on teacher leadership, with only a few distinctive to Chinese culture and context. The review also shows that the formal and informal binary is unhelpful, with blended teacher leadership more appropriate for China. Boundary spanning is also an important construct to understand how teacher leaders may operate within and beyond their own schools. While the hierarchy constrains teacher leadership enactment, it also functions as an enabling condition through which within-school collegiality and cross-school influence are structurally arranged.
This paper reports what is believed to be the first systematic review of teacher leadership in mainland China, drawing on both English and Chinese language sources.
