Experimental education in Taiwan developed rapidly since the promulgation of the Three Acts Governing Experimental Education in 2014, after which public experimental schools were established in response to local educational needs. The majority of restructuring cases have involved small rural schools faced with high drop-out rates and staff retrenchment plus merger (SRM). Indigenous schools also initiated experimental education by introducing teaching modules on cultural responses to develop ethnic education that better reflects local culture. In metropolitan areas, experimental schools were established through restructuring for educational innovation or for coping with the pressure of competition from neighboring schools. The number of experimental schools and enrolled students has increased yearly, which reveals the expectations of parents about diversified education and their right to make educational choices. The school selected for this study is an elementary school in a metropolitan area that experienced an SRM crisis and was restructured as a public experimental school in 2019. The study examined the methods through which the principal transformed leadership competencies to leadership strategies. The school overcame the competition and SRM crises and even achieved full-capacity enrollment in Taipei city. Information was collected from the relevant literature and through interviews with the principal, a head of department, teachers, a parent, and an administrative official of the Bureau of Education. The study analyzed the leadership competencies and corresponding strategies of the principal and the future prospects of the school. The findings provided principals of experimental schools with a basis for sustained improvement in leadership competencies and recommendations for the future development of school affairs.

PurposeThe educational environment in Taiwan's primary and secondary schools is becoming increasingly diverse and complex. This study examined the relationship between primary and secondary school principals' working values, organisational climate and organisational adaptation.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from the third Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), which targeted 401 principals in Taiwan's primary and secondary schools, conducted in 2018 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED). In this study, a structural equation model was constructed.FindingsThe results indicated that primary and secondary school principals generally had positive work values, and their schools' organisational climate and adaptation were positive. In addition, the work values, organisational climate and organisational adaptation models showed good fit for a variety of potential variables. Furthermore, the organisational climate had a mediating effect that strengthened the principals' work values and was a major factor in enhancing organisational adaptation. The results suggest that in addition to principals' positive work values, fostering a cooperative organisational climate—such as the perceived level of support from supervisors and the environment—is essential to enhance schools' organisational adaptation.Originality/valueThe principal's work value has a profound impact on the creation of a school's organisational atmosphere, the cohesion of members' consensus and the organisation's contingency decision-making in response to the external environment. This study adduces more diverse recommendations for the development of school affairs.