The spread of quality assurance (QA) regimes in higher education has been an explosive phenomenon over the last 25 years. By one estimate, for example, half of all the countries in the world have adopted QA systems or QA regulatory agencies to oversee their higher education sector. Typically, this phenomenon is explained as a process of policy diffusion, the advent of marketization, the spread of neoliberalism, massification and, concomitantly, the emergence of a 'global market' for higher education, prompting governments to respond by validating standards, quality, and introducing certification and compliance regimes. In this paper I question the utility of these explanatory frameworks, specifically looking at the case of Hong Kong in order to explore the role coercive institutional isomorphism plays in policy adoption and the implications of this for regulatory performativity.
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This article aims to identify leadership roles for quality in early childhood programmes in the local settings of a sample of Hong Kong preschools. Two schools were selected for the study, both of which were rated as excellent in the quality assurance inspections of a local education authority. Effective leadership was explored from the multiple perspectives of various school stakeholders, including school governors, principals, teachers, members of support staff and parents. The qualitative interviews were used for data collection. The interview data indicated that the teachers, members of support staff and parents quite often viewed themselves as followers and were dependent on a single leader, the head. As perceived by the school stakeholders, the principals tended to take up three major roles: role model, school manager and mentor for curriculum and pedagogy. Characteristics of the associated patterns of the three leadership roles were similar to those of moral, managerial and instructional leadership documented in the Western literature. The implications of the study for promoting moral leadership and developing teacher leadership are discussed.
[Copyright of International Journal of Leadership in Education: Theory and Practice is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13603120903387561]

隨著中小學學位數目供應漸趨穩定，政府在上世紀九十年代提出推行教育質素保證程序。本文回顧了教育質素保證的發展經過，由分科視學到目前的學校發展與問責架構。內文亦從前線教育人員的角度討論質素保證程序的影響和提出一些發展期望。
Following the stable supply of the places for school education, Hong Kong government proposed quality assurance for the education system in the 1990s of the last century. This paper reviews the process of implementing the quality assurance procedures, from subject inspection to the school development and accountability framework. Discussion on the influence of quality assurance and expectation on future development is given, from the point of view of a frontline teacher.
[Copyright of Hong Kong Teachers' Centre Journal is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Centre at http://www.edb.org.hk/hktc]

Operating a quality assurance system in tertiary education is the rule rather than the exception, because of the belief that it will improve quality. However, proving this is not easy. This study examines three ways of providing the evidence: the a priori method, the stepwise backtracking method, and the external evaluation method. The quality assurance system of the Vocational Training Council of Hong Kong is used as a case-study, but the findings on the advantages and disadvantages of using these methods have relevance for testing the effectiveness of quality assurance systems for other education institutions.
[Copyright of Journal of Vocational Education and Training is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13636820902933247 ]