Mathematics education in Hong Kong went through various stages of development under the period of British colonial rule for more than a century. Though modern ideas from the West were influential, they were blended with Chinese tradition and local pragmatism, and a localized mathematics curriculum was then eventually consolidated. This was a result of a careful striking of balance between laissez-faire and direct control. Looking back on such historical developments, one may gain insights into the issues induced by the current trend of managerialism and performativity.
[Copyright of British Society for the History of Mathematics. Bulletin is the property of Taylor & Francis. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17498430.2012.628480]

This study examines the influence of the colonial experience (1945-1997) on the planning of secondary technical education in Hong Kong. Specifically, the origins of secondary technical institutions and their positioning in secondary education are examined. Primary source materials are used as the basis of investigation and analysis, supplemented by secondary sources. The study finds that the origins and form of secondary technical education in Hong Kong mirrored those of secondary technical education in the British tripartite school system (grammar, technical, and modern). The breakdown of the tripartite school system in Britain might have led the colonial government not to adopt the full British model of secondary technical education. Nevertheless, the British tripartite school system had a long-term impact on the development of secondary technical schools in Hong Kong. Following the end of colonial rule, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government initiated education reform, which brought an end to curriculum differentiation by school types (grammar, technical, and prevocational) and replaced it with comprehensive education.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2011.561929]

To enhance the cost effectiveness of primary schools, the government of Hong Kong imposed a regulation for operating primary one classes up to a minimum enrolment rate in 2003. This policy has forced a number of village schools to cease operation. During 2005–2006, 36 of them were involved in this enforcement, accounting for two-thirds of the total number of such schools, causing a possible extinction of them. This paper is part of a research project with the purpose of tracing the history and development of village schools in Hong Kong since the 1930s and 1940s. Adapting Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, capital and field, this paper examined the village school context of Hong Kong from a socio-historical perspective and examined how the context was related to leadership characteristics of village school principals. Related issues were also discussed. It is hoped that the study has suggested a direction for understanding principal leadership within different school contexts.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2011.587410]