In Searching For The Learning Leader--A Qualitative Research On The High School Principal

At the end of the 20th Century, a new type of economy which bases on knowledge and science came into being. The birth of the knowledge-based economy declared the coming of knowledge-based society. During the age of knowledge-based economy, science and technology develop rapidly and knowledge experiences quick expansion and upgrading. Everything is changing except the change itself. Changing stimulates people's active thinking, continuous learning and creation to win the room for self-development. The former Chinese President Jiang Zeming once pointed out that: "We should create the life-long learning system to create the learning society." The report from the 16th session of People's Congress also emphasizes that: "We should form an all citizens participated and life-long learning society to promote people's all-round development." The learning society is made up by many learning organizations. Peter Senge is a master on the theory of learning organizations. He puts forward that the theory of learning organizations in the book entitled "The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization." The theory of learning organizations was developed from management theory and practice since 1990s' and considered as the new organizational management theory which representing the trend of the new century management. Peter Senge's five principals serve the basis for the theory of learning organizations, i.e. systematic theory, self-surpassing, improvement of vision and thinking patterns, establishment for the mutual goal and team-learning. According to Peter Senge, "the learning organization is based on the continuous reflection on the ultimate goal from the deep of our heart to emphasize the respect to personal wishes and to establish the mutual goal. It's based on our born capacity to creatively communicate with human communities which makes the wisdom of the group superior to personal wisdom. It's based on our capacity on the concept of human society system and the establishment of mutual understanding. It's based on the thinking patterns which emphasize the all-round interaction instead of partly analysis." The connotation of "learning" in the theory of learning organizations refers to the creative learning which relates to the existence and development between single person and organizations instead of traditional acquiring knowledge and information.It's required that the leaders should have a qualitative change in their thinking patterns about leadership in the age of knowledge-based society and the learning society. The objective condition changes even faster in the age of knowledge-based economy. The only superiority that the leaders hold is to learn faster than others. Failing to do so will be considered as an evil act. The introduction of the theory of learning organizations made us begin to explore the learning leaders. The learning leaders play a leading role in establishing learning organizations. Through the learning leaders' continuous learning, the collective learning of the members of the learning organizations will be influenced and the learning ability of the organization members will be improved, which will lead to the realization of the mutual goal of the learning organizations. Schools possess more features of the learning organizations than other organizations. It's necessary for schools to become learning schools in the modern time. Because of the leading position of the leaders in the school, the rising of the learning leaders is the key to the establishment of learning schools. This is a new topic nowadays. There are profound social backgrounds in the study of learning leaders. First: the great stimulation of the knowledge-based economy. Second: the establishment of learning society. Third: the spread of the theory of learning organizations. Fourth: the need to reform the primary education. Thus, there are deep social meanings in the research of learning leaders. One: learning and creation have a deep meaning in improving leaders' management skills. Two...