This chapter outlines the background, purpose, strategies, and initial outcomes of one centre’s research agenda into school leadership and change in the East and South-East Asian region. The Centre is the Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change (APCLC) at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). The first section outlines research on the state of indigenous knowledge in the region. This provides the context and justification for our research agenda. The second section presents our purpose statements, the broad research agenda, and the projects under this agenda. The third section describes progress to date. The fourth section summarises some of the key contributions of the Centre – the intention here is to illustrate our outcomes. The final section summarises what we see as the major contributions of the Centre to date.
[Copyright © 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland]

Although the essential role of school leaders in school improvement processes has been confirmed in the literature, the link between school leadership and student outcomes has only been recently addressed. Research suggests that the effect of school leaders on student outcomes is mediated through the creation of certain school conditions. Our study aimed to verify the mediating effect of some school conditions on the school leadership and student outcomes link. Based on empirical data collected from the principals and key staff in 49 secondary schools in Hong Kong, our results showed that staff collaboration was a mediating factor influencing the link and it was more commonly found in schools whose leaders were more attentive to the professional development of teachers.

The World School Leadership Study (WSLS) aims to gain empirical insights into functions, job models, practices, job satisfaction, and the professional health of school leaders on a global scale. The study builds on two pre-studies previously described. The WSLS is designed as a quantitative study on practices and resilience of school leaders. It will feature a strong international comparative component (the common core of the survey) but also allows national add-ons for country specific research needs and interests. At the moment, around 30 countries have decided to participate, including for instance Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, England, Spain, Cyprus, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Mexico, and the US. - There are two levels of coordination. The overall design is coordinated by a core research group in collaboration with members from all around the world that form the international research consortium. On the national level, the study is coordinated and conducted by national coordinators who ally with the respective national and regional bodies to guarantee high acceptance in the profession and, therefore, high response rates. National and regional bodies include governments, authorities as well as school leadership (and teacher) associations and unions, depending on context. Complementing the members of the international core research group and the national coordinators is an international advisory board, comprising well-known senior researchers from different continents. - The study will consist of several phases: • Decision on the focus of the research questions, development of hypothesis, operationalization; • Decision on national add-ons for country specific research needs and interests; • Thorough examination of the existing research instruments by an international panel of experts (this will be done with the aim to identify relevant factors of school leadership practices

This study tests mediated principal leadership effects on teacher professional learning through collegial trust, communication and collaboration in Hong Kong primary schools. It is based on a series of single mediator studies, and uses the same convenience sample of 970 teachers from 32 local primary schools. It also adopts regression-based macros, integrated with bootstrapping, to examine and compare sizes and proportions of potential mediating effects of the three human relational variables. The findings affirm the role and nature trust, communication, and collaboration play in the mediated relationship. In contrast, the mediating power of collaboration is non-significantly stronger than that of communication, and is more than double that of trust. The conclusion is that a school environment featuring mutual trust, effective communication and genuine collaboration is a core condition for teacher learning and change. Provided that the forces that bind people together in schools are multiple, principals are recommended to create school culture and conditions strategically for teacher learning to thrive.
[Copyright © 2016 Taylor & Francis.]

Since the introduction of accountability framework was introduced in 2003 and the school-based management policy that included parents as school managers was reinforced, a community model in Hong Kong secondary schools seems emerging. Drawing from a landmark study in Hong Kong secondary schools that looked into the impact of principal leadership on student outcomes using both cognitive and affective data, this paper begins with an examination of the empirical evidence that seems to support a positive prospect for a community model. Specifically, the leadership dimension that characterizes principals’ external communication and connection was most highly correlated with the dependable variable, the school condition Support for Students. However, using hierarchical multiple regression, this leadership dimension was also found contributed to only about 3.38% of the variance. This result contrasts with that quality assurance and accountability policy of schools tended to have a negative impact on support for students. Moreover, for some of the forty-seven principals investigated, their scores in this dimension were the lowest among all the seven leadership dimensions studied. These results suggest a mixed message. On the one hand, they indicate that a good communication and connection with parents and the community seemed to help principals provide better support for students. On the other hand, many principals are yet to prepare for the change in power structure in school management (Walker, 2004). In the interviews with the principals and key staff teachers, some strategies adopted by schools to attempt a community model were found. First, as most schools in Hong Kong also have strong affiliations with or under the governance of religious bodies or charitable organizations, some forms of external communication and connection to the community may have already existed. Second, some secondary schools were eager to build stronger connections with primary schools in the local

This paper begins with an account of the various measures for promoting the professional development of teachers and principals as the complementary strategy of the Hong Kong government when it introduced a new accountability framework in 2003. Then, drawing on the evidence derived from a landmark study in Hong Kong secondary schools that looked into the impact of principal leadership on student outcomes using both cognitive and affective data, this paper presents part of the findings that showed how principals also tend to emphasise the professional development of teachers and key staff as a way to strengthen alignment within the school and between school and government policies. Specifically, this leadership dimension was most highly correlated with the dependable variable, the school condition Alignment, Coherence and Structure. Using hierarchical multiple regression, this leadership dimension was also found contributed to about 20% of the variance. This paper further seeks for evidence in interviews with principals and their key staff to explore the significance of professional development in schools demonstrated continuous significant school improvement. Teachers reported that their principals could succeed to align school policies with the contextual demands imposed on the schools, such as medium of instruction policy and the New Curriculum Structure by setting goals for teaching and learning. While these principals could enhance teachers' aspirations and translate meanings for their work, teachers' achievements in administration and teaching further strengthened their confidence and reinforced their participations. Many current key staff teachers who took up new, and more, duties were not necessary those teachers who were previously responsible for more formal roles such as vice principals. Many effective principals reported that they led their staff to meet strategic goals in an accountability context by mentoring and training and development. This builds up

Data from primary school administrators about professional development in Hong Kong schools and its possible relationship with change and improvement were collected through interviews, a self-report instrument and targeted dominant professional development beliefs and practices. Incongruence between espoused administrator beliefs about professional development and practices in schools was found. Inconsistencies were evident in terms of planning, purposes, activities and teacher involvement. Administrators did not appear to associate strongly professional development with school improvement or change. It is suggested that administrators consider increasing involvement and building a environment based on norms of ongoing improvement. System support, particularly focused on encouraging broader understandings of professional development and greater contextualisation are needed.
[Copyright © 1996 Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business.]

The internationalisation of higher education in countries such as Australia and the UK has resulted in increased numbers of South-East Asia students in higher education classrooms. While considerable attention has been given to exploring the implications of internationalisation on students in ‘Western’ university contexts, less attention is given to researching the effects on teachers of higher education, and in particular those employed to teach in countries culturally foreign to their own. This aims to initiate such discussion through an exploration of the current results of an ongoing ethnographic study of two teaching academics working in Hong Kong. Issues that will be addressed include language and communication, social and cultural distance and the effect of hierarchy and related teaching strategies developed to meet the inter-cultural learning needs of themselves and their students. The authors argue that the development of inter-cultural understandings must permeate the curricula and be a shared goal and responsibility of both teachers and students.