Author(s): Guan Xinyu

Abstract: Understanding how the scope of principals’ authority in China differs from international practice is a prerequisite for rationalizing the scope and structure of principals’ decision-making powers. Using samples from the PISA 2022 and PISA 2015 databases, this study examines international trends in school-level decision making on major matters such as teacher personnel, budget allocation, student management, and curriculum management. The findings indicate that high-performing PISA countries/economies tend to grant principals relatively broad authority, and OECD reports show a correlation between strong principal authority and higher PISA performance. By contrast, principals in the four Chinese provinces/cities studied have, on average, less authority over major school matters than principals in the high-scoring PISA jurisdictions. The paper recommends, in line with the Opinions on Establishing a Principal-Responsibility System under the Leadership of the Party Organization in Primary and Secondary Schools (trial), strengthening principals’ decision-making authority on major school matters—especially personnel, budget, student and curriculum issues—and building managerial supervision mechanisms to improve decision efficiency.

Keywords: principal-responsibility system; PISA 2022; PISA 2015

Article Info: Received: 27 Sep 2025; Received in revised form: 22 Oct 2025; Accepted: 25 Oct 2025; Available online: 31 Oct 2025

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.105.85