Following the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region developed wide-ranging curriculum reforms, including project learning. A recent survey has indicated that over 80% of Hong Kong primary and secondary schools have adopted project learning as a curriculum task. Such an outcome is hard to reconcile both with the culture of Hong Kong schools and the generally bleak picture that pervades the literature on educational change.In seeking an explanation for this apparent success we focus attention on the policy instruments that were used by government agencies to facilitate the process of implementation. Our analysis revealed that teachers were caught in a pincer movement that involved voluntary activities promoting project learning and coercive measures that monitored and evaluated successful implementation. Teachers' views of these policy instruments differed markedly from those of policymakers. This confluence of mixed approaches, while apparently successful, is also shown to be problematic. Finally, the paper is located in a theoretical framework with its origins in recent policy theory that to date has not been applied to educational contexts.
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Little relevant research examining the leadership patterns of heads of department (HoD) coping with curriculum changes is found within the Chinese context. This article presents an exploratory case study which delineates the leadership qualities exhibited by a HoD as he overcomes the difficulties typically confronted in the process of school-based curriculum development (SBCD) in a Hong Kong secondary school. The findings showed that the challenges faced by the HoD included: (1) teachers' low receptivity of SBCD; (2) teachers' limited time and expertise in SBCD; and (3) a need for more effective collaboration in the department. The essential leadership patterns detected were: (1) personal charisma; (2) shared vision building; (3) empowerment of teachers; (4) changing beliefs and enhancing the capacity of teachers; and (5) fostering collegiality among teachers. This study suggests that unless the HoD is committed to making an innovation a priority, the potential of teachers to contribute to any curriculum change may not be realised.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2010.497480]

In Hong Kong, extensive reading education among junior secondary students has always been overlooked. The significance of extensive reading had always been emphasized at different stages of Chinese Language Curriculum development. The revised Chinese Language Curriculum for secondary schools issued in 2001 further stipulates that the impact of extensive reading on Chinese Language acquisition with detailed elaborations on the setting of reading environment, the design of reading activities, and the criteria of selecting books for extensive reading. Despite the emphasis and effort put on extensive reading, the ranking of local junior secondary school students at the reading assessment of PISA has disappointingly descended from the 6th in 2001 to the 10th in 2003. To reverse the trend and enhance students' reading ability, not only should emphasis be placed on the teaching and learning of reading in the curriculum, but extensive reading must also be promoted to consolidate knowledge students learn so that junior secondary students can develop good attitude of extensive reading. Urgent as it is and to accomplish this task, teachers must further understand the way in which junior secondary students develop their attitude of extensive reading in order to better solve the difficulties encountered in the implementation of an extensive reading curriculum in Hong Kong.
This research is based on the theories and thoughts on extensive reading in western countries and pioneers in adopting 'engaged reading' concept in designing a school-based junior secondary extensive reading curriculum. A 3-year longitudinal action research on Form one students of an English medium secondary school aims at exploring the difficulties and effectiveness of implementing an extensive reading curriculum, the causes of difficulties that may be involved and the reasons why junior secondary students find it difficult in developing good attitude of extensive reading.
The research findings have

The call for professionalism in kindergarten education has been an important educational issue over the past several decades in Hong Kong. Official expectations have been published to guide the services of kindergarten education and to supervise teachers' pedagogical practice. Kindergarten education services that are child centred and play based, and that practise integrated learning to nourish children's holistic and balanced development are advocated. However, Quality Assurance Inspection reports have shown that kindergarten teaching and learning is still teacher directed. Young children are passive recipients of knowledge. The services run counter to the progressive motives of the 2000 Education Reform in nurturing young children to be active and self-motivated life-long learners. Driven by the interest to study the practice-expectation gap, the present study sought to observe kindergarten teachers' classroom practice, investigate their pedagogical decision making, and reveal the complexities underpinning their pedagogical roles which, to an extent, emerged from the practice-expectation gap.
The present study, framed by in a qualitative research design, employed on-site observations and teacher interviews, together with official document analysis and training curriculum document analysis. The wealth of data and information collected revealed that a practice-expectation gap does exist.
The data analysis suggests that the teacher informants' pedagogical decision making and practice were shaped by a number of intervening forces. These forces can be categorised into (a) the personal variables of the teacher informants in terms of their personal beliefs and values towards kindergarten education, (b) the contextual variables of school management structure and administrative arrangements within which the teacher informants delivered their teaching and fostered the children's learning, (c) the societal variables of parental expectations of the kindergarten education

鑑古識今，本文從分析1940 - 1980期間香港小學數學課程的發展，指出香港過往的數學課程發展雖然由教育部門作「中央監控」，但亦採取「漸進發展」的課程發展模式，因應時勢，有序地推行數學課程改革，而且以吸納政治的技巧，引入民間力量和聲音，著重與教師團體的互動。從歷史發展的探索，本文提出五方面的思考：課程發展策略要因應時勢發展，需因地制宜，雖由上而下但仍給予自主空間和彈性，容納民間聲音，以及探討權力下放的可行性以回應時代需求。
This article, by analysing the Mathematics curriculum development of Hong Kong in the period 1940s-1980s, aimed to learn from the past. It stressed that the education bureau had adopted various effective strategies in curriculum development, though it centrally-controlled the development. The education bureau had adopted incremental model through consideration of context, implemented curriculum orderly and used techniques of absorptive politics to introduce strengths and ideas from grassroots and to interact with teacher associations.Inquiring from historical development, this article raised five dimensions of thought for curriculum development: strategies need to consider trends of recent change, considering the context of society, provision of space and flexibility when using top-down approach, accepting voice from grassroots, and investigating the possibility of devolution of power when responding to requests.
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