Contextualising the career pathways of women principals in Hong Kong: A critical examination

Contextualising the career pathways of women principals in Hong Kong: A critical examination

• Chan, Anita Kit Wa Dept. of Social Sciences, Hong Kong Institute of Education
• Ngai, George Siu Keung Dept. of Education Policy and Leadership, Hong Kong Institute of Education
• Choi, Po King Dept. of Educational Administration & Policy, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 1-20, 2014

Routledge

2014

• R Educational Policy & Administration
  • RH Supervisors, School Principals & Administrators

Gender Leadership Culture Chinese Patriarchy Career Pathways

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Primary Education

The fields of gender and educational leadership have been enriched recently by analyses of national case studies from non-western contexts. By contextualising women's career development, these studies highlight the importance of including experiences other than those generated from Anglo-American-Australian contexts, thus broadening our knowledge base for more nuanced theorisation in the field. This paper contributes a close examination of the career histories of eight female primary school principals in Hong Kong. Our analyses identify a range of facilitators, including the expansion of promotion opportunities, strong values placed on education and training, professional encouragement and support and help in relieving family responsibilities. Valuable these factors may be, but we argue that they are incidental, informal, familial and individual, and incur the costs of burn-out and guilt. The discussion not only underlines the significance of case study and cultural and contextual specificities, it also provides a nuanced understanding of Chinese patriarchy.
[Copyright of Compare: A Journal of Comparative Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2014.884919]

• English

Journal Articles

• 03057925

• 10.1080/03057925.2014.884919

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/f0034ff1

2014-10-22