A global trend towards formulation of curriculum has emerged over the past decade. The concepts of project approach have aroused growing attention, and many literatures have indicated its benefits to children. It is believed that to achieve these potential benefits of project learning, teachers needed to formulate a curriculum that follows the interests of children, to design appropriate activities, to build a good relationship with children and help them in the process of learning. The study revealed that teachers were positive towards the impact of project learning on children's experience but fell back to a traditional way of implementing curriculum.
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It was a classroom research study with two main purposes. First, to describe, using the information gathered during observation, some of the richness and variety of what goes on in a kindergarten classroom. Second, to search for patterns from among these events and the complex interactions of theory, practice and beliefs in order to help explain why certain teachers do one thing while others do something else. This will enable kindergarten teachers to reflect on their own practice in a way which up to now has not been possible, since there was little attention given in Hong Kong to the systematic study of teaching by observing teacher behaviour in the classroom. The research would help identify some hidden aspects of classroom culture or beliefs that affects teachers’ professional development. No claim is made that either of these in any way typical of kindergarten teaching as a whole. However, it casts light on approaches which some teachers have found appropriate in the circumstances. Moreover, it should allow those how train student teachers to bridge the gap between theory with practice by offering the means of illuminating theory with precise and detailed information about life and perception inside the kindergarten classroom.

Currently, there are rigorous school-improvement interventions which have one goal in commonVthe improvement of instruction and student learning in schools. New system of accountability expects schools to produce specific improvements in a self-assessment and evaluation basis. A mechanism of school planning prioritizing and reporting is in place to ensure that the focus is on activities directly related to student achievement and improvement strategies. However, normative structures inside schools, such as the privacy of classroom practice and the culture of teaching are often determining factors not only in the implementation of policy, but, more importantly, in the school's overall effectiveness in fostering children's learning. It will be of concern to develop teachers to generate and focus attention on information relevant to teaching and learning, motivate individuals and schools to use that information and expend effort to improve practice, and build the knowledge base necessary for interpreting and applying new information to improve practice. This study aims to explore the views and practices of school improvement among pre-school teachers in Hong Kong, and to examine emergent visions and innovations adopted in practices in the process of school-based self-assessment. Of particular interest is a close-up study of the context in which teachers are expected to learn, and the impact of school support incentives on teachers' work in delivering high quality ECE. A combined quantitative and qualitative methodology will be applied, and the researchers and participants will work collaboratively over 30 months to collect data on school improvement. This action research process will involve 4 cycles of data collection and analysis; the focus of the enquiry will be the strategic plans and activities undertaken by ten schools in implementing self-assessment and school improvement plans.

The pre-school sector in Singapore and Hong Kong (both British colonies in the past) have traditionally been regulated by two different government organizations : kindergartens come under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education(MOE)/Education Bureau (EB) while child care centres are regulated by Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS)/Social Welfare Department (SWD) respectively. Such a system is not unusual in the international landscape of early child care and education (ECCE) where "education" and "care" are seen as separate and hence, regulated by different government agencies. This paper will trace the historical development of teacher education and development in both the former British colonies. However, the focus of the paper will be on recent initiatives which will be discussed within the context of recent policy changes spearheaded by a Steering Committee on Preschool Education (SCPE) in the late 1990s in Singapore, resulting in outcomes such as the establishment of a Preschool Qualification Accreditation Committee (PQAC) and the development of a recommended curriculum framework Nurturing Early Learners (2003). Parallel developments in Hong Kong could be traced within the context of developments leading to a comprehensive education reform that has impacted on early childhood education as well, with similar outcomes, such as the development of A Guide to Pre-primary Curriculum (1996), subsequently revised in 2006. Another important Hong Kong initiative - the Preschool Education Voucher Scheme - deserves mention. These recent initiatives have resulted in a movement towards enhancing teacher quality and professional development. The question remains: Are these initiatives sustainable?

Several leadership approaches have been advocated as effective ways of bringing about substantial changes in practices. “Instructional” or “transactional leadership” describes the qualities of a leader who provides the vision and impetus for change. In contrast, “transformational leadership” refers to those whose approach is more consistent with evolving trends in educational reform such as empowerment, distributed leadership, and co-construction of learning. Hong Kong has launched a variety of education reforms that focus on quality of learning and teaching. While there has been a general recognition of the importance of teacher leadership few efforts have been made to identify and promote specific approaches to teacher leadership designed to bring about desired improvements at the early childhood stage. The present study examines how teacher leaders conceive their role within current school leadership models. In this study kindergarten/preschool teachers of the senior management team were asked to complete a questionnaire concerning various aspects of leadership. Factor analysis, however, was unable to replicate the clear patterns found in Western countries which broadly differentiated between transactional and transformational styles of leadership. Instead a mix of styles was more often reported. A number of possible explanations for this finding are considered and some implications for policy makers wishing to transform kindergarten education in Hong Kong are put forward.
[Copyright © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York.]

Each curriculum reflects a vision of what children 'ought to be and become' based on a view of social values and a structure that translates those values into experiences for learners. Curriculum management is the leadership and coordination of shared work in schools. The impact of child centred philosophy that encourages learning through activity and experience has been great in the field of early childhood education. However, there is an implementation gap in our curriculum in Hong Kong. Supporting interactions among teachers within and between kindergartens is the key to curriculum management.
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