ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses principal development policies in China from 1989 to 2016. It understands principal development in China by analysing the most recent policies, and specifically the role of the state in determining the intention, shape and substance of the principal development. The chapter identifies the changes and continuities in principal development in China over the past two and half decades. The state has organised principal development in China over the last few decades through a multi-tiered system of structural and ideological control. Principals in China are quasi civil servants whose appointment and promotion are made by the local educational authority. Principals have minimal influence on the form or content of their development programmes. Two important policies were released to guide principal development during this stage. These were Strengthening the Training of Principals of Elementary and Secondary Schools Nationwide and the Qualification Training for Elementary and Secondary School Principals.
