Rural Principals' Practice Under The Change Of State Governance(1988-2018)

The practice of rural principals is often overshadowed by the locality in the research,and its subject status and the integrity of practice are easily ignored by researchers.Starting from the principals' own experience and through diachronic presentation,it is helpful to reflect on the rural principals' practice and provide a new perspective for understanding the interaction between actors and structures.This study conducted a seven-month field visit to Liuzhen Middle School in North China.Combined with the oral history research of former principals,it analyzed the principals' practice under the change of state governance.On this basis,it put forward the enlightenment of rural principals' practice on rural revitalization and rural school development.The main issues are as followed:First,the changes in the country's governance field,rural society,rural schools and other relevant actors in which rural principals are located.Second,the rural principals of different generations' cognition of individual identity and the generation of action in the changes.Third,the behavior choice and actual consequences of rural principals between different generations.This study does not make any value judgment on principals' practice,but focuses on analyzing how principals' self-cognition and behavior choices occur in the process of state governance changes,and what consistent continuity and breakthroughs exist between different generations.The core conclusions of this study include:First,rural principals' practice under the change of state governance is increasingly open.With the advancement of hierarchical management,the deepening of standardization of running schools,the boundaries of principals' practice have been gradually clarified.With the participation of mass media,the operation of schools has been made public,the practice of rural principals has turned to "front stage",and the game position between rural principals and state governance has gradually weakened.The loss of teachers and students to the city made rural principals realize the sense of loss and deprivation.Second,in the face of the changing situation of state governance,the practice of rural principals is active.Principals' cognition of school operation is based on school construction,teacher arrangement,distribution of responsibilities and rights,individual authority and other factors.Facing the open practice brought by bureaucracy,based on the farmers' survival ethics of safety first and risk avoidance,the practice of rural principals is limited and moderate.Among them,there are not only the principals' persistence as enlighteners,but also their identity as professionals.Third,the subjectivity of rural principals' practice places them in a continuum of tradition and modernity.Based on their understanding of changes,rural principals of different generations ascertain the boundaries of individual identities in practice,constantly review local knowledge in little traditions,and try to bridge the gap between tradition and modernity,and between city and village in the process of state governance.It is realistic and understandable that the marginal experience of rural principals arises from the maintenance of rural schools and individual identities to the greatest extent.Fourth,rural principals' practical experience is the starting point of rural education and even rural development.As an actor,principals combine the dual experience of local little tradition and modern large tradition.Under the habit of being responsible upward,rural principals try to attach themselves to the hierarchy,and at the same time they return to little tradition to obtain the possibility of maintaining the status quo.The structure and actors are in two-way interaction,and the governance of the country will eventually return to human beings.In the search for certainty,the rural headmaster is the forerunner to realize the integration of urban and rural areas and to connect the tradition with the modern.The changing practice of rural principals not only meets the needs of professionals given by the great tradition,but also preserves the expectations of the local little tradition for the enlighteners.The revitalization of the countryside needs to inherit the individual experience of the rural principals in merging the great tradition with the little tradition.