Relationship between principal leadership and student achievement: A comparative study between Germany and China

This article examines the differences in principal leadership based on Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and the relationships between principal leadership and student achievements in mathematics, reading, science, and collaborative problem solving via the Multilevel Structural Equation model (MSEM) between Germany and China. The data retrieved from PISA 2015 covered 6504 students and 256 school principals from German schools and 9841 students and 268 school principals from Chinese schools. The results revealed non-significant relationships between the generic Principal Leadership (PL) and student achievement in all domains in both Germany and China. Significant relationships were found between the sub-dimensions of principal leadership and student achievement in both countries, with the exception of developing people (P3) in Germany and instructional leadership (P2) in China. The current study indicates that German and Chinese principals had similar conceptual constructs of principal leadership, but the effective ways to cultivate student achievement differed in both countries.