Culturally Intelligent Leadership in a Confucian Cultural Context: Developing a Framework for Culturally Responsive Leaders in Chinese International Schools

Abstract

Leadership is a cultural activity, and as such there are deeply embedded approaches to ways leaders undertake the challenges of their roles across different cultures. This is a pertinent area of reflection for leaders of international schools, particularly in China where leadership is underpinned by a Confucian philosophy. Explicitly in the context of expat leaders working in China, post-colonialism is seen as of use in identifying the importance of reflecting on ways in which expat leaders can be over-reliant on westernized approaches rather reflecting on those of the cultural context in which they find themselves. This paper is a response to this problematic area and will use the concept of cultural intelligence as a means of developing a framework of use to leaders in Chinese International Schools with the aim of bridging the cultural divide and ensuring leaders approach the challenges of educational leadership in a collaborative and compassionate fashion.