This paper aims to report a case study of exploring the effect of "assessment for learning" on improving student learning and facilitating teachers' professional development in the examination-oriented context of Hong Kong. By adopting Variation Theory of the Lesson Study approach, data were collected through pre- and post-tests, interviews with students and teacher participants and observation field-notes in order to help diagnose students' learning difficulties and provide evidence for teachers to refine their teaching strategies to enhance students' learning effectiveness. The students' improvement in learning performance informed the teacher participants of the usefulness of 'assessment for learning' in the classroom. Copyright © Sage Publications Ltd.

Education Bureaus in various regions have developed professional development programs to provide aspiring school leaders with the support they need to be successful. In Hong Kong, newly appointed principals and aspiring principals are required to have a good mastery of leadership capacities for the new paradigm of education development in the century. This paper aims to examine 188 senior teachers’ perception on how useful and applicable their learnt leadership skills in their leadership positions in schools. A questionnaire consisting of 24 questions in six core areas of leadership was constructed and mailed to the samples two years after they were awarded the Certificate for Principalship. Findings demonstrated that most of the aspirants found that leadership capacities of ‘strategic direction and policy environment', and ‘quality assurance and accountability' were more useful and applicable to their leadership positions in school than those in the leadership areas of ‘teacher professional growth and development', ‘external communication and connection to the outside world', ‘learning, teaching and curriculum', and ‘staff and resources management’.

This paper introduces a framework for providing beginning teachers with induction and mentoring support. The policy being put into practice in Hong Kong is adopted as a vehicle for facilitating beginning teachers' first year teaching and learning in a school specific context so as to ensure their smooth transition to classroom teachers and that they can develop 'threshold' competencies upon completion of a one year induction period.
[Copyright © International Association of Computer Science and Information Technology]

-Objectives of the study: Decentralization of power through school based management is one of the global trends of educational development in which the notion that parents as partners and stakeholders in children education is gradually recognized in diffe

With the rapid economic growth and development of the Asian economies in recent decades, there has been a continued rise of students in Asian countries studying outside their home country. The importance of the Asian market has been acknowledged by countries keen on exporting educational services. Hong Kong is aspiring to be an education hub. If this is to be achieved, strategic analysis in relation to how the territory can export its education service to the Asian region is much needed. This study attempts to highlight the major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Hong Kong’s higher education in relation to its potential of being a regional education hub in Asia. It follows the study visits which the researchers conducted in such Asian countries as India, Malaysia, and Indonesia, which are important sources of international students in the region. To ensure that the latest trend of development can be accurately reflected, further literature review and documentary studies subsequent to the visits were conducted. The paper concludes by examining the implications for the Hong Kong government and the higher education sector when they seek to capture these increasingly growing Asian markets.
[Copyright © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore.]

This chapter aims to review and analyze the functions, modes, requirements, and related issues of developing a regional education hub in the Asia-Pacific region. Taking Hong Kong as an emerging case, it examines the relationship between education hub development and higher education development as well as the strategic functions of an education hub to the future development of Hong Kong. The development of an education hub was found closely linked to the demands for higher education in the Asia-Pacific region as well as the internal dynamic of higher education and societal developments in Hong Kong. The mode of education hub development in Hong Kong should put more emphasis on world-class soft power building instead of marketization for generating financial incomes. The requirements for successful education hub development include the huge demands for provision and internationalization of higher education in the region, the strengths of the higher education sector, the policies and measures for attracting and supporting international students and education service providers, and the leadership and support of key government bureaus or central agencies. The discussion and analysis in this chapter will contribute to the related literature, policy development, and initiative implementation in areas of education hub and higher education internationalization not only in Hong Kong but also in other parts of the world.
[Copyright © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore.]

Hong Kong has signaled its intention to develop itself as a regional education hub for a decade. However, the policy is being criticized because Hong Kong has neither diversified its student population ethnically and culturally nor expanded its share in the global higher education market. This chapter explores the significance of the education hub concept in the development of higher education in Hong Kong. It begins with a brief examination of the existing approach to the concept of education hub and internationalization of higher education. It then looks into the main initiatives made by the Hong Kong government to implement its education hub strategy. This is followed by a critical examination of the effects of the hub strategy with a focus on the tensions between Hong Kong and mainland China. It also explores the special status of Hong Kong’s higher education sector in China under the “one country, two systems” constitutional framework. The chapter concludes by arguing that a capitalist and instrumentalist interpretation of internationalization of higher education is not a sufficient condition to underpin an effective education hub notion. Instead, it sees cosmopolitanism as a better ideological rationale for the development of internationalization of higher education in the city.
[Copyright © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore.]

The main purpose of the present study was to explore effective strategies and policies for exporting Hong Kong’s higher education to Asian markets. It examined and compared the current strategies and policies that are currently employed by Australia, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. The data for this project was obtained primarily from documents and in-depth interviews. Documents included the latest government reports, policy addresses, and official statistics. The in-depth interviews were conducted in Hong Kong as well as in the four studied cities—Mumbai, New Delhi, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur. Interviewees included government officials, academics, higher education institutions’ representatives, consulate generals, and officials from policy bodies. It is clear from the findings of this present study that a set of favorable policies and strategies at the national level was behind the success of these competitors. Such policies are not confined to educational policies but extend to population and employment policies.
[Copyright © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore.]

Given the strong worldwide trend of internationalisation of higher education, what implications can be drawn from the ongoing progress for research development, policy improvement and practical innovation in higher education? Based on international literature, this chapter will review and discuss the complicated nature of higher education internationalisation and propose a conceptualization matrix to capture its major characteristics. A typology of higher education development will also be proposed to illustrate how internationalisation is related to the future directions and scenarios of higher education development in Hong Kong and beyond. It is hoped that both the development typology and conceptualization matrix can help policy makers, educators, researchers, social leaders and change agents to understand the related issues of internationalisation of higher education in a wider context. Taking Hong Kong as a case in the fast-developing Asia-Pacific region, this chapter will also introduce the key features of the book composed of three parts with ten chapters which provide comprehensive studies with quantitative and qualitative empirical evidence and diverse perspectives to analyse and review the key issues and challenges in different aspects of the internationalisation of higher education. It aims to draw implications and recommendations for future developments in both Hong Kong and international communities.
[Copyright © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore.]