Abstract
This chapter gives insight into how principals of SAP schools can leave a legacy that promotes the uniqueness of SAP schools in preserving traditions whilst reinventing themselves to thrive in a globalized world as well as in nurturing bilingual and bicultural students with a sense of responsibility to the nation. This chapter asserts the importance of school leaders as culture builders. In this regard, the chapter draws from Sergiovanni’s notion of the “cultural force of leadership”, and Schein’s notion of the “cultural leadership”. Three cases of three school principals were used to compare and contrast the cultural nuances that are manifested in the day-to-day school activities and events. From these cases, it is evident that effective school leaders play a significant, deliberate and conscious role in building school culture, which serves as catalyst and capital for continual and sustainable school improvement.
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Badaracco, L., Jr. (2002). Leading quietly: An unorthodox guide to doing the right thing. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Barrett, D. J. (2008). Leadership communication (2nd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
McKee, A., Boyatzis, R., & Johnston, F. (2008). Becoming a resonant leader. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Ubben, G., & Hughes, L. (2010). The principal: Creative leadership for excellence in schools (7th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
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Teng, A.K.W., Zhang, Y. (2019). School Culture. In: Wong, B., Hairon, S., Ng, P. (eds) School Leadership and Educational Change in Singapore. Springer Texts in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74746-0_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74746-0_10
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