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.

This paper aims to contribute to the theorisation of effective teacher development (TD) provision in a reform context. Based on a literature review, the paper identifies key reform features, i.e., ambiguity and conflict generation, that shape teachers' engagement with pedagogic reforms and suggests a framework for designing TD programmes that address reform-specific needs. It then explores the utility of this heuristic framework through an in-depth case study of implementation of, and perceptions about, eight reforms in two schools in Hong Kong. The case study confirmed that customising the TD provision to perceived reform characteristics could contribute to teachers' positive perceptions of and experience with reforms. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Educators and politicians in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea expound the necessity for their East Asian school systems to become more like those in the West. They complain that there is too much rote learning, uniformity, and standardization and too little emphasis on creativity, diversity, and problem solving. In addition, competition is fierce for scarce places in elite schools and universities, leading to unfulfilled ambitions and wastage of talent among the high proportions of young people failing to gain entry. Meanwhile, their counterparts in North America, Australia, and Great Britain look in the reverse direction to these same East Asian countries and wonder what they can learn from the superior academic results of East Asian students on International Achievement Tests in mathematics and science (Atkin & Black, 1997). Copyright © 2002 by Routledge.

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]

With restructuring characterising many school systems throughout the world, and major change leaving few schools untouched, school leaders are facing major challenges. This study focuses on a group of Hong Kong principals who conceptualise some of their challenges as dilemmas. The paper draws on previous literature to highlight the importance of articulating principals' perceptions of dilemmas in their daily lives, and identifies typologies and categories of dilemmas. It notes that dilemma research to date is grounded in Western examples and cultural settings, and that dilemmas faced by principals in non-Western settings have been ignored. Analysing dilemma situations recounted by Hong Kong principals, we identify the sources, coping mechanisms and outcomes of their dilemmas and examine the relationships between these phenomena. Among our findings are that dilemmas are multifaceted and irresolvable situations, and that principals tend to rely on a narrow range of deeply embedded Chinese cultural values as coping strategies. Copyright © 2000 Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

This study captures the thoughts and perceptions of a group of Hong Kong principals on the transfer of sovereignty and its effects on education. The investigation addressed the following guiding research question: What, according to their perceptions, have been, and will be, the effects on education policy and on school-level management and curriculum, of the transfer of sovereignty? A qualitative approach was adopted, using naturalistic methods of inquiry. Nine principals of aided secondary schools were selected for interview according to procedures of purposive sampling. Findings indicate that, faced with uncertainty arising from the change of sovereignty, principals feel confident of managing and coping with situations at the school level in connection with curriculum and management. However, they express concern and greater uncertainty about their ability to manage changes emanating in the broader socio-political educational environment, especially in regard to values and norms and access and opportunity, all of which are likely to impact on their schools. Copyright © 1997 Carfax Publishing Ltd.

On 1 July 1997, after 150 years of British colonial rule, Hong Kong returned to its mother country, the People's Republic of China (PRC). Anticipation of reunification spawned speculation about the possibilities, prospects and problems for the political, economic and social life of Hong Kong after 1997. This paper argues that the unpredictability and uncertainty which have characterized the educational policy environment in Hong Kong for many years were compounded by the imminence of the change of sovereignty. It is suggested that examination of the policy process in the contemporary Hong Kong context can best be understood by examining both macro‐ and micro‐policy perspectives, and the interrelationships between them. Two guiding questions related to the influence of sovereignty change on education are addressed. The first question asks how system‐level policies are being interpreted in schools. The second question asks whether, how and to what extent change of sovereignty has politicized the policy process, particularly at the school level. The paper has three parts: the first provides a socio‐politico‐economic context to Hong Kong's handover; the second describes important educational policies shaping the system during the period of transition; and the third discusses school‐level responses and reactions to the policies within the context of a politicized environment. Copyright © 1998 Taylor & Francis Ltd.

This chapter considers the cutting-edge of educational leadership in Asia, which people view as encompassing leadership research, policy, and practice. It uses the concept of geography, literally and metaphorically, to examine the terrain in which the three dimensions of educational leadership are enacted. To do this, the chapter first defines the broader Asian region to demonstrate its complexity and diversity. Then, it delineates the scope of the research knowledge base, the physical terrain, on educational leadership in Asia, focusing on the diverse Confucian heritage societies of East Asia, which tend to have newly emerging research capacities. The chapter uses the research knowledge base to examine the dimensions of policy and practice by considering the political influence on educational leadership and then on the cultural contexts. For this portion of the analysis, it focuses on five Confucian-heritage societies: mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Vietnam.

The findings are based on a larger study on systematically comparing leadership development and practice in seven differentially performing education systems (Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong, England, Indonesia, Russia, and Singapore) (Harris et al.). The contextual background of principalship training in Hong Kong was the Principals’ Continuing Professional Development Framework introduced since 2002 (Education Department, 2002). Under this Framework, all existing and newly appointed principals have been required to undergo continuous professional development or prior certification (Education Bureau, 2010). Based on 20 interviews with principals, key staff and teachers of three secondary schools in three different bandings. One of key themes identified in the data is the roles of the school principal as a change agent. This key finding is compatible with findings that highlighted the prominent role of the principal as a key change agent for the successful implementation of school-based management, both in Hong Kong (e.g. Cheng, 1992; Ma, 1993; Ko & Walker, 2014; Ko, Cheng & Lee, 2016) and in schools worldwide (e.g. Hallinger, 1992; Hopkins & Reynolds, 2001; Marks & Printy, 2003; Wohlstetter et al., 2008).More specifically, the roles of school principals are discussed in relation to the different conceptualisations and charaterisations of principalship in transactional, instructional, transformational, and distributed leadership theories.

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]