A lack of analysis and research into primary education in general, and primary school leadership in particular, has left primary practitioners exposed like never before to the vagaries of policy-makers and unpredictable contextual pressures. The purpose of this article is to initiate discussion on the state of primary school leadership in Hong Kong since 2000. It attempts to explore some of the major reforms and other contextual factors impacting primary school leaders and comment on the challenges which accompany these. It further proposes that when initiatives confront the existing structural and cultural make up of primary schools they are blocked by what we call the bottleneck effect. The article also attempts to explain and illustrate this effect and what it means for primary school principals. It is hoped that the analysis serves to highlight interest in primary school leadership in Hong Kong and stimulate research in the area locally and internationally.
[Copyright of School Leadership & Management is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632430802499994]

Preparation for school leadership has become a major global educational issue since the late 1990s. In Hong Kong, the establishment and implementation of school-based management in the 1990s have made significant demands on principals. In 1999, a leadership development and training programme for serving and aspiring principals was initiated by the Government of the Special Administrative Region, after visits to and study of similar programmes in England, Scotland, Australia (State of Victoria) and Singapore. In 2002, further suggestions were made to draw up a framework for principals' training in Hong Kong. With an adapted evaluation framework, and based on the evaluation findings of a principals' training programme developed by a tertiary institution in 1998, this paper attempts to give answers to: (1) why do serving principals attend principals' training programmes? (2) what sort of training programme do principals regard as useful? (3) are the findings consistent with the proposals of the Government? (4) do training programmes bring about changes in attitudes and behaviours of principals? The paper concludes with recommendations for (1) and (2).
[Copyright of School Leadership & Management is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632430410001695796]

This paper aims to report how school leadership is challenged by the three waves of education reform and development in Hong Kong. Since the 1970s, school leaders in the first wave were mainly concerned with achievement of the planned goals through improvement of teaching and learning. In the 1990s, school leaders of the second wave often focused on interface improvement through various types of quality inspection and assurance. In facing the challenges in the new century, the third wave of changes in Hong Kong is moving towards the pursuit of future effectiveness. The school leaders need to be concerned with enhancing educational relevance and creating new goals. This paper will discuss how the leadership conceptions and concerns of the third wave in Hong Kong are completely different from the traditional thinking. Implications are drawn for educators, policy-makers, and scholars in different parts of the world.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0305764032000122041]

Trainers and developers of school leaders across the globe are currently searching for models of best practice leadership development programmes. Are there generic features and principles of design underpinning such programmes? This article argues that corroborative evidence of what works in leadership training and development – to influence principals' knowledge, skills, values and behaviours – is now emerging. It describes a model of best practice in Hong Kong called Blue Skies, founded on and derived from a body of international research-based evidence from successful principal leadership programmes, together with evaluation evidence from another recent Hong Kong leadership programme. First, however, the policy background to leadership preparation in Hong Kong since 1990 is outlined. This is followed by an explanation of the structure for school leader training and development established by the Hong Kong Government since 2000. It is argued that with the structure in place, attention has been able to shift to the design principles of effective leadership programmes that maximize leader learning. Designs based on research evidence of what works emphasize, inter alia , learning linked to real school contexts, substantial involvement of trained and experienced principals as mentors, flexibility to meet diverse needs, multiple opportunities for reflection, and cohort bonding and networking – all of which form the platform for Blue Skies .
[Copyright of School Leadership & Management is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13634230600589659]