Since the creation of systems of mass education, national governments have looked beyond their borders to identify how to develop and improve their education systems. For many decades, the developing world looked to the education systems of the affluent and industrialized West. Since the mid-1980s, however, the source of models of best practice has shifted following the introduction of international tests of pupil achievement, e.g., the studies carried out by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), as well as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Such studies are seen as providing objective evidence of the effectiveness of school systems, and a common feature has been the consistently strong performance of pupils from a number of East Asian contexts (including Hong Kong), and some Scandinavian countries (especially Finland) (Grek 2009, Alexander 2010, Morris 2012). The education policies and practices of these "high performing" education systems and economies have emerged as models of best practices for policy makers around the world (Steiner-Khamsi 2004). Thus what was predominantly a West-East policy flow has become multidirectional. Historically, Hong Kong appropriated British education models as part of its colonial heritage. Significant reforms, tailored to the local context, were proposed by visiting experts from the UK. The process of decolonization began in 1984 with the Joint Declaration, stipulating the retrocession of the territory in 1997. Education policies in Hong Kong since the mid-1980s reflect the parting of ways in the political sense, as Hong Kong distances itself from its colonial past and draws increasingly on other sources to reform the educational system. As one of the "high performing" countries on both PISA and TIMSS, Hong Kong has been used as a model of good practice in many countries, especially in the West

The change of secondary school place allocation method in the last 50 years was an interesting history in education. Due to the increase of population in 1949, the Joint Primary 6 Examination was used to select good primary school graduates for secondary school education. It was then modified in 1962 and renamed as the Secondary School Entrance Examination. Due to the introduction of 9 years compulsory education in 1978, a brand new Secondary School Place Allocation method was adopted. The method was found unsatisfactory after 20 years of administration. The professionals proposed a modified method that they themselves rejected 13 years ago. However, the policy makers suggested another method that was proved theoretically wrong and abandoned 7 years ago. It will be interesting to see what will be the final outcome.