Set within the market-driven context in educare for young children in Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, this paper points to the importance of exploring the definitions of quality in early childhood programmes from the multiple perspectives of school stakeholders. This study describes two preschools that were rated highly in the quality assurance inspections. Data collected in semi-structured, individual and group interviews indicated that the views of the school stakeholders on the quality of early childhood programmes shifted from childrearing to developmental nurturing but still emphasised academic learning and preparedness. This was largely due to the 'backwash effect' of primary education creating academic pressure on the local preschools. The two case study schools formulated successful strategies for reconciling conflicts between professional values of learning through play and parental expectations of academic preparation for primary education. In addition, the schools put a lot of effort into sharpening their competitive edge. They did this by maintaining close communication with their parents through various channels and offering free after-school custodial care, emotional and financial support. These are outside the primary duties of a preschool but highlight the way in which schools in the local field address and give high priority to parents' needs and expectations. In line with Woodhead's 1998 contextually appropriate approach to quality, the study sets a challenge for our understanding of quality frameworks for early childhood programmes. These should not be based mainly on a universalist view of developmental appropriateness but should also take into account the multiplicity of stakeholders' views on quality in a market-driven context. The data also demonstrate that the provision of preschooling in Hong Kong is shaped by market forces. The implications for quality educare are discussed.
[Copyright of International

There is an increasing demand from the public and the field to improve the quality of early childhood education in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Education Commission has recently released an "education blueprint for the 21st century", which presents a set of reform proposals for the education system in Hong Kong. In the document, early childhood education has been acknowledged as the foundation for life-long learning. A key reform proposal is to build a new culture for quality early childhood education through upgrading professional competence and enhancing quality assurance mechanisms. The present paper provides a general background of existing practices in the preschool years, highlights issues that require attention in order to improve quality, and outlines the reforms introduced by the Education Commission. The implications of these reforms and the associated challenges are then discussed in the areas of quality assurance, curriculum, professional development, parental involvement and financial assistance for the early childhood education sector.
[Copyright of Early Child Development and Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0300443022000022387 ]

It has been a global trend, since the 1980s, that the process of marketisation has been influential in the decision making of social policies around the world, and that this tidal wave is now crossing over to the Asia–Pacific region as well. Education policy, as one of the important social policies for many developing countries, has been influential in the forefront of national development in terms of manpower training, as well as in other arenas of economic and social developments. In this way, these countries are trying to improve the quality of their educational services so that they can be more competitive in order to cater for the demands in the international markets. One of the outcomes of this global trend is the international quality assurance movement in streamlining the educational institutions as well as in using different coping strategies to promote quality education for all concerned. For the Chinese mainland, it seems that the central government is adopting a policy of decentralisation in getting local governments to use multiple channels of resources and other methods to provide for their own educational services. Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, however, has adopted quite a different approach by employing the principle of managerialism in order to enhance its competitiveness in providing quality education to meet the increasing market demands. Hence, the present study is to compare and contrast the educational reforms and coping strategies that have been adopted by the socialist mainland, on the one hand, and the capitalist Hong Kong SAR, on the other hand, in order to face this new challenge of marketisation.
[Copyright of Comparative Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03050060020020417]

After considering colonialism and the transition of Hong Kong, this article explores the state of curriculum management now at the micro- level, through a case study of two secondary schools, It provides a picture of the tensions, compromises and evolution of the educational system.
[Copyright of Curriculum Studies is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14681369800200024 ]

Relatively little is known about how and by whom curriculum leadership and management occur inside secondary schools, especially in Asian contexts. This article aims to analyse curriculum decision-making in two academically effective secondary schools in Hong Kong. It employs qualitative methods to capture the contributions made by various school personnel, and in particular the principals, to curriculum leadership and management. Data for the two schools show that whilst neither of the principals plays a significant role in curriculum monitoring and innovation, the vice-principal (male), the senior teachers and teachers in one school were perceived to place more emphasis on curriculum monitoring and innovation than their counterparts in the other school. Whilst teachers in both schools shared high expectations for students' academic achievement, one subtle difference between them related to the pursuit of academic excellence. In one school, students did not exert much pressure on their teachers whereas in the other school, teachers felt they had to fulfil students' demands for good lesson preparation and take account of students' opinions of their teaching.
[Copyright of School Leadership & Management is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632439968970]