This study aims at investigating the effectiveness of the establishment of the school based curriculum development teams as a response to the challenges of the school performance and student learning. A theoretical framework is derived from the various assumptions about school leadership, patterns of dissemination and teacher development. This framework will then be used to evaluate the extent that school based curriculum development teams contribute to teacher development and school improvement. The findings will shed light on the necessary conditions for successful implementation of school based curriculum development in a policy context of decentralizing curriculum decision making. Two case schools from two different socio-cultural milieu, Hong Kong and the Netherlands, are chosen for comparison. A mixed method approach of investigation is adopted and methods include interviews of teachers and students, analysis of video taped meetings and questionnaires.

This study is designed to investigate the impact of school-based curriculum development teams on teacher development and pupil learning, within the tradition of school-based curriculum development in a primary school in Hong Kong. Teacher and pupil interviews are used to evaluate the extent that teacher engagement in curriculum decision making processes within two school based curriculum development teams has led to teacher professional development which will be triangulated with the video taped meetings and tryout lessons. Pupils’ perspectives about how the innovation is perceived are to be collected in order to extend our understanding of the underlying principles in implementing curriculum changes in schools. Qualitative evidence reveals positively that participating teachers have developed themselves professionally through the process of planning, implementing and reflecting (PIR model) upon curriculum practice and innovation under certain conditions. However, the complexity of the structures and processes that are established for involving teachers in curriculum decision making processes needs further empirical and theoretical work.