Principal instructional leadership in China: An integrative review

Abstract Principal instructional leadership (IL) has gained increasing prominence in educational policies and studies in China. However, research on IL in the Chinese context is limited, and there has been limited scholarly engagement in synthesising insights from the few existing studies on IL in China. This integrative review seeks to address this gap by examining the knowledge landscape of IL in China, identifying patterns and highlighting areas that remain underexplored. This review systematically identified and examined 18 empirical studies on IL in China, published in English between 2010 and 2023. The reviewed articles encompassed qualitative, quantitative and mixed‐method approaches. Through thematic analysis, we investigated three areas: (1) the studies' purposes and associated research methodologies; (2) interpretations of IL in the studies; and (3) the extent to which the studies focused on two critical IL practices—principal classroom observation and feedback to teachers. The findings reveal that IL research in China predominantly employs quantitative approaches to explore variables related to IL, offering relatively limited insights into how Chinese principals navigate IL within the contextual constraints. Our analysis also highlights the need to develop a contextually relevant interpretation of IL for China and calls for more in‐depth investigations into principals' classroom observation practices and their feedback to teachers. Context and implications Rationale for this study: In China, principal IL has been emphasised in policies and increasingly studied, creating an urgent need to understand how IL has been investigated. Yet, no comprehensive literature review has addressed this topic. Why the new findings matter: The findings overview how principal IL has been investigated and interpreted in China and highlight multiple research gaps. Implications for researchers and principal preparation programs: For researchers, our study highlights the significant influence of context on IL practices and impacts in China. As these contextual factors remain underexplored in current literature, they warrant further investigation. Further research is recommended to investigate specific IL practices, such as principal classroom observation and feedback to teachers, which are policy‐mandated and widely implemented in Chinese schools but remain underexplored. For principal preparation program organisers, our findings highlight the need to consider socio‐cultural constraints when preparing principals, rather than relying solely on Western IL practices.