With the arrival of the new millennium, school leadership in Hong Kong is at a crossroads. School leaders are called upon to be more professional, more accountable and more active than ever before. Public pressure for better quality schools, and policy moves toward School-Based Management place new and increasing demands on school principals and other educational leaders. Knowledge and information are more available and transferable than at any time in history. Such an environment challenges school leaders to constantly search for ways to develop their skills, knowledge and thoughts. In line with this challenge, a group of professional educators met in May 1999 to reflect on and to analyze school leadership practices in Hong Kong. The group's brief was to consider school leadership specifically within the Hong Kong context and to identify and describe the key functions of the principal's role in Hong Kong schools. The outcome of their deliberations is the present document; a multi-level and multi-dimensional profile of contemporary school leadership practices in Hong Kong. The profile is not presented as a definitive description of school leadership in Hong Kong, nor do we expect everyone to embrace it as a professional tool. Rather, we hope that principals will use the profile as a resource when considering their key roles in school - and that through reading and reflecting upon the profile they will think more deeply about their own and others' roles in furthering the quality of education offered to Hong Kong students.
[Copyrigt© 2000 by Hong Kong Centre for the Development of Educational Leadership, The Chinese University of Hong Kong]