This article examines the politics of school-based management (SBM) in Hong Kong, with a specific focus on the conflicts between the state and three Christian churches (Catholic, Anglican, and Methodist) running state-funded religious schools. Although the state based its advocacy for SBM on neoliberally driven ideas of participation, transparency, and accountability, religious groups expressed worry about the loss of control over schools as an institution of value transmission anchored in religious beliefs. This article uses the SBM controversy as a case study to advance geographical debates on religious schools and argues that neoliberalism forms a necessary lens through which to examine the state-religion relations concerning religious schools. It offers an analytical framework that emphasizes the mutually constitutive relationship between religious schools and state building. It lends evidence to this argument by situating religious schools in the context of neoliberalization of education policies and arguing that faith-based sensibilities create new vectors of resistance to neoliberalism as a distinctive secular formation. The empirical analyses address three questions. First, we develop a detailed analysis of the discourses and rationalities upheld by the Hong Kong government and the churches. Second, we consider interactions and exchanges between the state and the churches, focusing on the assertions, negotiations, and concessions that both needed to make in a prolonged struggle over the decision-making process. Third, we reflect briefly on the aftermath of the passing of SBM to situate the churches' concerns in a broader context of neoliberal education policy.
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This thesis presents three research studies on fundamental movement skills (FMS). The thesis aims to provide insight into FMS teaching and learning in primary school physical education (PE) and to examine the effectiveness of a school-based intervention that can improve FMS proficiency among primary school children in Hong Kong. The first study (Chapter 2) examined the relationships between FMS, perceived physical competence, perceived movement skill competence, enjoyment, and physical activity (PA) among primary school children in Hong Kong. The differences among these variables in terms of gender and grade level were addressed, as well as FMS acquisition and mastery levels among primary school children from grades one to six were reported. Their results revealed that locomotor skill competence had an indirect effect on self-reported PA through perceived physical competence and enjoyment after adjustment for age, gender, and body mass index. Overall, children exhibited low levels of FMS proficiency and moderate-to-vigorous PA. Students from higher grade levels, particularly girls, had lower levels of perceived physical competence, movement skill competence, and enjoyment as compared with younger students. The second study (Chapter 3) examined the current FMS teaching practice in primary school PE. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach to explore the views of teachers and students on their experiences of PE for FMS development and on the motivational climate in PE. The quantitative data demonstrated that students' active time during FMS class was low. Teachers spent a large amount of time on instructions and management but spent a small amount of time to engage the students in movement skill activities and games. Thus, students were prevented from remaining physically active during FMS practice throughout the lessons. The interviews with the students also indicate that the PE lessons offered are not effective enough to provide a broad range of game-related movement

Aims: This paper was intended to explore the leadership practices of principals for knowledge management (KM) in the school context, and the influence of KM on the strategic planning (SP) capacity of school organizations to provide quality education for effectively coping with the challenges from education reforms. Methodology: A single-case study was conducted in a secondary school in Hong Kong. The school participated in a two-year QEF project for applying KM concepts and mechanism. In-depth interviews were conducted with the school principal, middle managers, and front-line teachers to investigate the leadership practices of the principal to implement KM in the school, and the influence of KM on the school's SP capacity for providing quality education. Results: Setting school direction for KM, developing teachers' skills and awareness for KM, creating supporting conditions and infrastructures for KM, aligning KM with the school's teaching and learning process, and building external coalitions for KM were found as the principal leadership practices for school KM. These practices could support the school in adopting the codification and personalization KM strategies and facilitate the acquisition, storage, and sharing of knowledge in the school. KM could help the school to effectively acquire, store, and share the knowledge for strategic analysis, choice, and implementation in the SP process, improving the school's SP capacity for providing quality education. Conclusion: Principal leadership has significant effect on the successful implementation of KM in the school context, which in turn plays an essential role on the school's SP capacity for providing quality education.

The last decade has witnessed a sharp decrease of school-aged children in the East-Asia and Pacific regions. In some affected districts in Hong Kong, for example, the insufficient student enrolment has brought to school closure. Teacher job satisfaction and principal leadership approaches have been greatly affected. In response to the situation, the Education Bureau of Hong Kong launched the Voluntary Optimisation of Class Structure Scheme (hereafter the Scheme) to cushion the shock and to lower the risk of secondary school closures. There are 220 schools participate in the Scheme involving around 12,000 principals and teachers. The Scheme has direct implications on the number of class structure and teacher career advancement. The negative impacts of the Scheme on teacher job satisfaction has since been widely discussed. Yet, there has no parallel research attention been given to this situation. This doctoral study is the first of its kind to conduct a systematic investigation into the impact of the Scheme on teacher job satisfaction looking at both the individual and contextual factors. Mixed methods include semi-structured interviews and questionnaire survey were employed. Multiple Regression analyses were performed to examine the impacts of the Scheme on principal leadership and teacher job satisfaction. Additionally, the predictive factors of principal leadership for teacher job satisfaction were determined. Based on the empirical data, this presentation will discuss the obstacles and success factors of the implementation of Scheme for teacher job satisfaction. Recommendations will be made for addressing the problem in terms of principal leadership and policy enactment.

Purpose: Empirical research on leadership for social justice is in progress in many parts of the world. The purpose of this paper is to explore principals' school-leadership journeys in response to social-justice issues caused by specific contextual changes at times of uncertainty. It seeks to answer the following key questions: What social-justice issues do principals identify as arising from their schools' transformation due to contextual changes? How do principals practise leadership for social justice in response to these contextual changes at different levels? Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on qualitative data from a cross-case study of two principals' school-leadership journeys. The authors pay particular attention to the understanding of leadership for social justice grounded in principals' efforts to foster equality in learning development for a diverse student population. Findings: Timely adverse conditions may be required to foster leadership for social justice in schools. The principals reacted to contextual changes at several levels, planning and implementing innovative and flexible interventions to ensure equality in students' learning development. These findings contribute to international accounts of educational leadership. Research limitations/implications: This study of leadership for social justice in schools is contextually specific. Therefore, more empirical comparisons of school leadership are required in future studies, as principals' practices vary between education settings. Originality/value: This paper offers insights into the evolution of leadership for social justice in schools in response to contextual changes. Principals' leadership strategies can be reoriented and their actions reshaped to overcome threats to social justice in schools. Accordingly, although leadership for social justice in school communities is culturally and pedagogically inclusive, it is also socially distinctive.
[Copyright © 2017 Emerald Publishing

Curriculum reform with a school-based approach is often assumed to offer schools and teachers autonomy at the site level, thus enabling them to develop a school-based curriculum and pedagogies to better fit the needs of students. Over the past decade, school-based curriculum development in Hong Kong has encountered issues that deserve worldwide attention and discussion. By reviewing the experiences of two schools in Hong Kong and drawing on international evidence, this study identifies key challenges and difficulties in school-based curriculum reform in three areas. Intellectually, there is a lack of a strong and broad shared knowledge base for curriculum development. As a result, most school-based curriculum initiatives have been piecemeal, fragmented and shallow. Structurally, many teachers have wasted time ‘re-inventing the wheel’ when developing school-based curricula. This effort has left them without sufficient time and energy to be effective in teaching. Culturally, reliance on school management to steer school-based reforms has prevented the development of a new culture in which teachers have the autonomy to make changes in their daily practices. Without cultural changes, curriculum reforms are not sustainable or effective. This study proposes a cooperative platform that integrates the strengths of central intelligence and school-based initiatives to maximise support for curriculum development at the teacher, school-site and system levels.
[Copyright © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.]

This study examines changing nature of school leaders’ work during education reform in complex settings. We adopted a case study of investigating how two Hong Kong principals’ work was changed in responding to the 10-year education reform and demographic changes. Multiple qualitative data were collected. The results show that the principals’ scope of work had been changing and expanding to identify new opportunities for school development. Implications for school improvement and effectiveness are discussed.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how principals' leadership approaches to teacher professional development arise from school banding and may impact upon teacher professional capital and student achievement. Design/methodology/approach: The case study is situated within the context of school-based management, comprising reflective accounts of nine school principals selected by stratified sampling from a sample of 56 Hong Kong schools to represent Bands One, Two, and Three schools. The reflective accounts were triangulated with observations of teachers and analysis of school websites. Findings: First, under school-based management, principals remain obliged to recognize the power of state-defined examinations in determining the schools' future priorities. Second, the exercise of school autonomy in response to this obligation varies, depending upon the competitive advantage schools have in the school banding system. Ideally, effective school-based management is dependent upon the principal's capacity to facilitate good instructional practices. However, principals need to adjust their leadership practices to school contextual demands. Third, adaptations to contexts result in the varied developments of teacher capacities in schools, corresponding with the types of principal leadership adopted. Originality/value: While statistical studies have identified attributes of exemplary principal leadership, few studies have examined the qualitative reasons for the exemplification of these attributes, and the influence of the school context in shaping these attributes. Departing from assumptions that leadership attributes are intrinsic to individuals, this paper considers how principals contextualize leadership in teacher professional development to the schools' student academic achievement.
[Copyright © 2017 Emerald Publishing Limited.]

2015年8月,筆者作為教育部從全國各地遴選的42名教師成員之一,參加了2015~2016年度赴港教學交流活動。在香港特別行政區教育行政部門安排下,筆者先後到香港島、九龍區、新界東、新界西等多所學校,深入課堂進行教學研究,并參與學校各種活動。這一年,筆者切身感受到香港教育的最大特色是"我的學校我做主",具體體現在辦學主體、教材選擇、課程設置、教學語言等方面的多元化辦學體制。