Special Journal Issue

Special Journal Issues - School Leaders’ Emotional Experiences: Challenges, and Prospects Volume 30, Issue 4, 2021 The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher

Theme	The papers in this special issue provide an important portrait of the complex nature of school leaders’ emotions and how these affect other critical aspects of schooling. This special issue justly epitomises a mix of data sources and viewpoints concerning school leaders’ emotional experience. We sincerely wish that the contributions from this special issue will stimulate scientific academic and educational work on this theme in the future, and encourage as well as serve practitioners and policymakers.

Issue Co-editors		Dr CHEN Junjun Associate Professor Department of Education Policy and Leadership & APCLC Research Fellow & Research Co-ordinator The Education University of Hong Kong China : jjchen@eduhk.hk	Dr Izhak BERKERVICH Associate Professor The Open University of Israel, Israel : izhakb@openu.ac.il	Dr Ori EYAL Associate PrHebrew University of Jerusalem. Israel : ori.eyal1@mail.huji.ac.il

Contributors	Dr Chen Junjun Department of Education Policy and Leadership and The Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change The Education University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR, China Dr Izhak Berkovich The Open University of Israel Israel Dr Ori Eyal The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel *School Leaders’ Emotional Experiences and Capabilities: Perspectives, Challenges, and Prospects* https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00564-y
	Dr Ken Hang To Centre for University and School Partnership, Faculty of Education, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China Prof Hongbiao Yin Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China Being the Weather Gauge of Mood: Demystifying the Emotion Regulation of Kindergarten Principals https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00559-9 Abstract The study examined how emotion regulation strategies were utilised by kindergarten principals to fulfil their leading roles. In-depth interviews and document analysis were conducted with five kindergarten principals in Hong Kong. The principals linked their emotions to the psychosocial climate of the kindergartens, highlighting that emotion regulation is essential for the flourishing of the kindergartens. In line with the process model of emotion regulation, principals employed both antecedent-focused and response-focused emotion regulation strategies throughout their work to maintain a positive and rational outlook. In addition, the study also identified that the principals employed interpersonal emotion regulation strategies to facilitate their emotion regulation through social interactions. Together, these strategies contributed to the emotional well-being of the principals, thus optimising their interactions with teachers and parents, so that the children would also benefit. Implications for emotion regulation theory and kindergarten principal leadership are discussed.
	Dr Qian Haiyan Department of Education Policy and Leadership and The Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change The Education University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR, China Prof Allan Walker Department of Education Policy and Leadership and The Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change The Education University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR, China *Principal–Teacher Relationships in Chinese Schools: Reflecting on Paternalistic Leadership* https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00563-z Abstract Leadership is enacted through relationships. Relationships between leaders and followers entail building emotional connections. A successful leader facilitates and supports mutually beneficial relationships with teachers, students and other community members. They do this through displaying high levels of emotional competence, confidence and empathy. Using data collected from 101 primary school principals from six Chinese provinces, this paper explores how principals build reciprocal relationships with teachers via the display and enactment of paternalistic leadership. That is, the principals adopted a paternal leadership approach where they provided protection and care for teachers’ professional and personal lives while maintaining high expectations of quality teaching and cultivating a shared understanding of what teachers should and should not do. Many of the principals managed to win trust from teachers, which appeared to signify a strong personal bond founded on positive emotions. As such, the study provides an empirical basis to reflect and revisit the concept of paternalistic leadership and relationship between culture, leadership and emotional relationships.
	Dr Julia Mahfouz University of Colorado-Denver Denver, USA Dr Kathleen King North Central College Naperville, USA Mr Lebon D. James III University of Texas at Austin Austin, USA Lessons from the Storm: Emotions, Meaning-Making & Leadership During Transition https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00574-w Abstract Emotions influence the cognition, motivation, and behavior of an individual. However, the role of leaders’ emotions in navigating organizational change remains relatively underexplored. This study examines the role of emotions in educational leadership during a period of organizational crisis through a case study analysis of an assistant superintendent who successfully used emotional awareness to confront challenges and facilitate positive change. The findings, which reveal the effective use of emotional responses to promote positive organizational change, provide guidance for educational leadership preparatory programs which must cultivate future leaders’ emotional regulation skills. This study addresses a notable gap in the literature by examining a leader’s effective employment of self-awareness, emotional management, and emotional impact for meaning-making in order to navigate organizational change.
	Dr Izhak Berkovich The Open University of Israel Israel Dr Ori EyalIzhak Berkovich The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel *Profiles of Emotional Feedback and Their Effect on Principal's Attributed Charisma and Leader–Member Exchange Quality (LMX)* https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00552-2 Abstract The present research explored the effect of different profiles of emotional feedback in principal-teacher relations on followers' perceptions of the leader (attributed charisma and leader–member exchange (LMX)). The study is based on a field survey of 645 teachers. The findings indicate four profiles of emotional feedback from principal, as experienced by teachers: profile 1—positive emphasis: high positive emotional manipulations (PEM) and low negative emotional manipulations (NEM); profile 2—mixed feedback: high PEM and high NEM; profile 3—non-manipulative: low PEM and low NEM; and profile 4—negative emphasis: high NEM and low PEM. In general, profile 1 (positive emphasis) resulted in higher attributed charisma and higher LMX quality, followed by profile 2 (mixed), profile 3 (non-manipulative), and profile 4 (negative emphasis). The study showed that as long as there is a positive feedback, even if it is accompanied by a negative one, the followers' perceptions of the leader are positive. Negative feedback was less associated with positive followers' perceptions of the leader than was low emotional feedback (i.e., non-manipulative).
	Dr Tianjun Cheng School of Education Science, Centre for Sociology of Education, Nanjing Normal University Nanjing, China Dr Chen Junjun Department of Education Policy and Leadership and The Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change The Education University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR, China Dr Darren Bryant Department of Education Policy and Leadership and The Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change The Education University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR, China *Teacher Leaders’ Emotions Mirror Teacher Professionalism via Collegial Trust* https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00551-3 Abstract The current study explores teacher leaders’ emotions and its relationship with teacher professionalism and collegial trust in the Chinese context. A sample of 477 teacher leaders in China responded to three measures, namely, teacher leader emotions, teacher professionalism and trust in colleagues. To analyse the data, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were utilised. The results confirmed three hypotheses on the relationships between three constructs. Specifically, positive emotions (e.g., pride and love) from teacher leaders positively and significantly affected their trust in colleagues. Moreover, enjoyment positively affected, and fatigue and anxiety negatively affected, teacher professionalism. The structural model showed that enjoyment, anxiety, and fatigue of teacher leaders directly affected teacher professionalism but pride and love indirectly affected teacher professionalism mediated by their trust in colleagues. It is also interesting to note that pride negatively affected teacher professionalism through collegial trust. Implications and future directions are proposed in the form of theory and practice.