「優質學校改進計劃」是個大學與學校夥伴協作計劃，自1998年起一直給予中、小學全面專業支援，目的是整體學校改進。2000年，教育統籌委員會發表了《香港教育制度改革建議》，在充滿理想的改革原則策動下，中、小學教育及課程有明顯改變，但在推行及實踐各樣改革時，教與學的實際困境亦一一浮現。本文以香港「優質學校改進計劃」下的學校個案，探討學校領導為何在由上而下的改革浪潮下，引進大學專業人員的知識及實踐經驗，並從學校領導的視角，探索「計劃」在學校教育的不同層面所起的作用。Quality School Improvement Project (QSIP) is a university-school partnership program for comprehensive school improvement. Since 1998, QSIP has provided holistic professional support to primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. In 2000, Education Commission published the Reform Proposals for the Education System in Hong Kong to outline some desirable education reform principles and proposals for schools. Following the reform principles, school education system and curriculum have some remarkable changes. When implementing the various education reforms, challenges and difficulties have also surfaced in the teaching and learning environment in schools. This article reviews why school leaders introduce QSIP into their school reform environment and how the professional supports from QSIP have influenced school education in different levels from school leaders' perspectives. Copyright © 2011 香港中文大學.

Many critics tended to oppose the education reforms in the last two decades in Hong Kong for its neoliberalist and managerialist origins and aim to achieve performativity, accountability and global competitiveness (e.g., Chee, 2012; Choi, 2005; Ho & Tsang, 2008). However, Ko, Cheng and Lee (2016) argued that these reforms also contributed to school autonomy, teacher professionalism, transparent school governance, flexibility in curriculum and resources management and the development of a self-evaluation culture. This paper examines the paradoxical interactions of professionalism and neoliberalism on professionalising school leadership and governance from findings in the interviews with school leaders from the middle to school-sponsoring body level. Unlike the academic critics, different actors (senior teachers, principals, school managers) were less concerned about the anti-neoliberalist issues but stronger expectations on developing their professionalism in changing times like innovative pedagogy, learner diversity, organisational learning, and crisis management. Copyright © 2019 The Education University of Hong Kong.

New vice-principals (VPs) inevitably experience high levels of uncertainty when assuming the position, and undergo a process of socialisation, involving engaging with both professional and relational sources of support in schools, to adjust to their changing role. Drawing on socialisation theories, this exploratory study proposes that novice VPs would rely on the school's structural feedback mechanism, peer affirmation and principal's sponsorship in their adaptation process; the first of these is professionally oriented whereas the remaining two are relationally oriented. The study further argues that VPs would experience varying degrees of dependence on these factors corresponding to the stage of their development in the socialisation process. Findings of the study, informed by a Hong Kong data set covering VPs in their first, second, and third years of tenure respectively, support these propositions. Peer affirmation appears to be a continuous source of support to VPs in all tenure groups and it stands at odds with principal's sponsorship. The effects of the structural feedback mechanism and principal's sponsorship on VP's transition are only evident in the 2-year group, with the former being positive and the latter negative. Implications of the findings are discussed.
[Copyright of School Leadership & Management is the property of Routledge.]

This proposal reports a case study of four principals’ leadership approaches to equality of learning opportunities towards inclusion for all students with different special educational needs (SEN). The study was conducted in the Chinese education system in Hong Kong where more SEN students are placed in ordinary public schools. The key questions are: What are the challenges facing the principals for equality of learning opportunity for SEN students in ordinary public schools? How do the principals enact leadership for equal learning opportunity for SEN students? What effects of the principal leadership on the student learning are regarded as school improvement towards inclusion? The findings unveil the principals’ concerns with the effects of leadership practice for whole-school inclusion on all students. Copyright © 2019 AERA.

This study aimed to explore the principals’ perspectives in terms of their understanding, support and expectation towards programming education among primary schools in Hong Kong. 147 primary school principals (30.2%) responded to the survey. The results indicated that all principals have positive perspectives towards programming education in all three aspects. Their major concern was the competency of teachers in teaching programming. They suggested that more teacher development courses should be provided to address this problem. Copyright © 2019 Central China Normal University.

Positive attitudes of key stakeholders, such as school principals, towards a new policy are considered a necessary pre-requisite to implement any such policy. Hong Kong has recently formulated a policy that supports the integration of students with disabilities into regular schools. This study investigated the attitudes of Hong Kong primary school principals toward integration, with a view to determining if these school leaders are prepared to implement integrated education practices in their schools. A modified version of the School Principals’ Attitudes toward Inclusion scale (Bailey, 2004) was used to collect data from participants. Based on the responses of 130 primary school principals, it was found that their attitudes toward integration were slightly negative. Principals who had less teaching experience and who were administering schools with smaller student enrolment were found to hold more positive attitudes toward integration. The variable of "having a family member or close friend with a disability" had a significant and positive effect on the principals’ attitudes toward integration. Copyright © 2008 by Education Research Institute.

Little research has explored the challenges of difference and difficulty to principal leadership in changing school contexts. This paper explores two Chinese principals’ journeys to enact different leadership approaches to overcome these challenges during a time of massive education reform. Three specific questions are asked: What challenges do the principals face in diverse student populations? What leadership practices do the principals adopt to support the learning development of these students? What support do the principals need most to enact this leadership? This cross-case study, conducted in Hong Kong, finds that principal leadership that focuses on inclusion is important in efforts to overcome these challenges, with innovative and flexible interventions to ensure equality in student learning development. Despite this, they need support from every part of the school community: the school sponsoring body, the teaching team and parents. The implications of these findings for interpreting the meanings of principal leadership for inclusion are also discussed. Copyright © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This article analyzes how principals of high-performing secondary schools in England and Hong Kong establish structural arrangements aligned to their core values as educators. Such values-driven structures provide a platform by which principals create the conditions in which policy and reform can be managed and absorbed without compromising the core purpose and contextual priorities of these schools. The findings reveal how the participating school principals have carefully embedded and institutionalized these structures within the cultures of their organizations as part of a multilayered approach to leadership. Copyright © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This article draws on data from cases of high-performing and improving schools in Hong Kong. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with principals, middle leaders, and senior teachers to identify key policies and steps taken for their enactment, and to solicit interpretations of the policies. Principals were found to actively select, prioritize, and emphasize policies based on clearly articulated values. These values-led and contextually informed decisions formed the basis for redesigning the school organization and leadership structures, allocating resources, and aligning multiple initiatives to policies. School-based and mandated policies worked in synergy, and school principals responded rather than reacted to mandates. Copyright © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

With the arrival of the new millennium, school leadership in Hong Kong is at a crossroads. School leaders are called upon to be more professional, more accountable and more active than ever before. Public pressure for better quality schools, and policy moves toward School-Based Management place new and increasing demands on school principals and other educational leaders. Knowledge and information are more available and transferable than at any time in history. Such an environment challenges school leaders to constantly search for ways to develop their skills, knowledge and thoughts. In line with this challenge, a group of professional educators met in May 1999 to reflect on and to analyze school leadership practices in Hong Kong. The group's brief was to consider school leadership specifically within the Hong Kong context and to identify and describe the key functions of the principal's role in Hong Kong schools. The outcome of their deliberations is the present document; a multi-level and multi-dimensional profile of contemporary school leadership practices in Hong Kong. The profile is not presented as a definitive description of school leadership in Hong Kong, nor do we expect everyone to embrace it as a professional tool. Rather, we hope that principals will use the profile as a resource when considering their key roles in school - and that through reading and reflecting upon the profile they will think more deeply about their own and others' roles in furthering the quality of education offered to Hong Kong students.
[Copyrigt© 2000 by Hong Kong Centre for the Development of Educational Leadership, The Chinese University of Hong Kong]