This article provides two 'portraits' of headteachers in primary schools in England and Hong Kong, derived from semi-structured interviews with these individuals. Contrary to some claims that such a small sample is worthless, this article argues that what is most meaningful is sometimes derived from the singular and unique; that generalisations in education are as likely to be useful if they are 'fuzzy' generalisations as if they are from scientific or statistical generalisations; and that the individual case can strip away the clutter of large contexts and allow recognition of a common shared humanity. What these portraits also show is that responses to larger contexts are heavily dependent on personality and local context, and that if policy implementation and professional development are to have impact, then an attention to the personal and the local are going to be critical factors in any success in these areas
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The author seeks to identify the decisions needed to plan and develop the primary sector of schooling. The planning of the school system requires a sound theoretical base of a kind which can only be provided through the expertise of professional educators. Further, a complete reconceptualization of primary education is needed. Finally, the author identifies the implications of this concept of primary education for the preparation of teachers and for the notice of the graduate primary teachers.

Importing a Western curriculum to another culture is contentious. Through a content analysis of guidance materials in selected primary schools, the authors explore the appropriateness of adopting a Western guidance curriculum in Hong Kong. Using a multi-dimensional framework derived from Lawton's (1973) model of curriculum development, they report the sociological contextual features of the materials and present a content analysis to develop an understanding of the different approaches to psychology embodied in the curriculum. Three forms of the same Western guidance curriculum, as used in three Hong Kong primary schools, are analysed to illustrate how Western notions of 'self' do not fit within an 'East meets West' context such as Hong Kong.
They argue that because of the 'East meets West' context of Hong Kong, there is a need to develop a 'hybrid' guidance curriculum that draws on a psychology guided by an understanding of the 'hybrid self', and that reflects the social and psychological contexts of Hong Kong. Implications of the findings for countries with Confucian heritages are discussed.
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Access via Open Journal Systems: http://www.ojs.unisa.edu.au/index.php/EDEQ]

This study uses data collected from children in Hong Kong for the PIRLS international reading survey of 2001. A total of 4867 students aged 9 to 10 years from 147 primary schools were assessed. The aim of the study is to investigate the observed differences in comprehension skills displayed in the test results from students at three ability levels. Affective factors (attitudes and reading self-concept) are also compared for the three groups. Results indicate that the lower-ability students performed very poorly in all four processes of comprehension even at the most basic level of retrieval of facts. This weakness at the lower level greatly impaired the students' ability to operate at higher levels of comprehension involving inference, prediction, integration of ideas and critical evaluation. The weakest readers had extreme difficulty with test items requiring an extended written response. Even on simple multiple-choice items their performance was inferior to the average and higher-ability groups. Data from the supplementary questionnaires indicates that across all ability groups the children's attitude toward reading is correlated positively with reading achievement. However, data collected on the students' reading self-concept produced anomalous results that cast some doubt on the feasibility of using self-evaluation and self-report questionnaires with this age and cultural group. Practical implications from the findings are discussed.
[Copyright of Australian Journal of Learning Disabilities is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19404150509546781]