Increasing internationalisation of education has not only led to surging international mobility of students and staff, but also mobility of institutions, programs, and curriculum delivery on a large scale (Wang, 2013). The phenomenon, a longstanding feature of higher education, has now begun to permeate K-12 education. One striking example is the establishment and proliferation over the last 20 years of offshore schools – educational services established to grant home country recognized high school diplomas to students in overseas countries (Paskes & Han, 2015; Schuetze, 2008). Since the province of British Columbia (B.C.) authorized the establishment of the first offshore school in China in 1995, the number of B.C. offshore schools in China has increased significantly. As of 2016, there are 32 B.C. certified offshore schools in over 30 cities in China (CICIC, 2016). In response to criticism from various sides (e.g., opposition parties, independent newspaper reports), the criteria for the establishment and operation of offshore schools have changed significantly over the years, outpacing research into the impact of the regulatory and legal framework of the international collaboration on offshore schools involved in both B.C. and China. How to integrate disconnected and differing regulatory regimes of education for the purpose of delivering a formerly domestic program across international lines is clearly an on-going dilemma (Parkes & Han, 2015).

The problems in the operation of offshore schools may influence their long-term viability and sustainability. Such problems concern issues such as school leadership and governance, quality control, supply and demand, value and objective differences between Canadian and Chinese education (Schuetze, 2008), and regulatory procedures (Cosco, 2011). These problems are closely related to the legislative framework, policies and regulations, and cultural and ideological differences in China and Canada. To address these problems, transnational leadership plays a significant role in navigating the political and educational values and objectives of both countries. Nevertheless, research on school leadership and governance in offshore school settings is thus far very limited. This case study contributes a novel analysis of the offshore schools and their problems in particular through the perspectives of offshore school inspectors, principals, and teachers. The study examines these pressing issues concerning current offshore schools in China by focusing on the following research questions:

1. What are the major challenges in governing and operating offshore schools given the cultural and political differences of B.C. (Canada) and China?
2. How do Canadian educational values and objectives influence offshore school leadership, governance and operation from the perspective of inspectors, principals, and teachers?

Conceptual framework 

This study used Keller’s (2015) “leading dualities” as a framework to guide the inquiry. Keller proposed two categories of dualities for the study of leadership in a transnational context: spatial dualities (opening gateways across eras) and temporal dualities (bridging boundaries across cultures). The spatial dualities may include: “local citizens versus expatriates, on-campus residents versus off campus staff, upper campus versus lower campus, and many more” (Keller, 2015, p. 904). The spatial dualities pose complex challenges for leaders in terms of developing intercultural literacy and cross-cultural leadership sensitivity. The examples of temporal dualities include “the school’s history versus needed changes, senior staff versus rookies, graduating seniors versus entering kindergarteners, and traditional education versus innovative education” (Keller, 2015, p. 905). Principals in international schools may face tensions between economic realities and ideological commitments. This duality framework helps draw insights into how school principals develop intercultural competency that enables them to lead effectively in offshore schools and how they overcome spatial and temporal barriers in their transnational leadership.

This study employed a case study approach to investigate and report the complex dynamics and unfolding interactions of relationships and events and leadership in B.C. offshore schools in China. Case studies are able to capture the complexity and “embeddedness” of social truth (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2011) and are ideal for exploring in-depth particular instances of a phenomenon (Merriam, 2009). In this instance, the study of the B.C. case provided the opportunity to more deeply analyse the multifarious phenomena and laid a foundation for studies on offshore schools and their leadership from other Canadian provinces. For this study, three offshore school inspectors and six principals were interviewed (~1 hour) through phone or Skype to examine leadership and challenges in the daily operation of offshore schools. With each principal’s recommendation and consent, five teachers were also interviewed (~1 hour/person) about their perceptions of and experience in offshore schools. Interviews offer a means for exploring in detail complex subjects (Merriam, 2009). The interviews gleaned data on challenges and potentialities of offshore schools from multiple different interest groups. All interviews were transcribed and subject to a cross-comparative analysis (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2018) with the aid of NVivo. The in-depth comparative analysis of interviews allowed for an examination of the different interpretations of emerging issues and capture the contextual similarities and differences of offshore schools.

Guided by the conceptual framework, results are presented surrounding the spatial and temporal challenges and strategies on principals’ transnational leadership. The following provides a brief summary of the key findings and the complete findings on leading dualities and the comparisons between inspectors, principals, and teachers’ views on principals’ transnational leadership are in the full paper. The analysis results on principals’ transnational leadership and its challenges show that offshore school principals experience a wide range of challenges, including cultural, educational value, and political differences; communication with Chinese counterparts; coping with parents who hold different educational values; students’ health and safety concerns; and policy and pollical constraints on their work. In order to overcome the challenges they face, principals acknowledged that they had to resort to various strategies in their daily operation of the offshore schools. These strategies include cultural orientation and understanding, interpersonal skills with a strong sense of cultural sensitivity, adaptability and resourcefulness in their leadership practices, and breaking school policies to get their work done. The results show that both countries are making policies and action plans based on their national interest in the international context without giving adequate attention to their implications on educational leadership in a cross-cultural context. This leads to inconsistencies and confusions in their international educational cooperation and creates potential hindrance to Canadian principals’ leadership and governance in offshore schools. While both Canada and China use transnational education as a tool to facilitate their economic development and international competitiveness, constructive communication and deep understanding of transnational leadership and governance in differing cultural and political contexts is necessary in order to move toward a successful international engagement in basic education.

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