This comparative analysis aims to capture the complex roles and positionings of the International Baccalaureate (IB) in conjunction with local education systems in Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea. Our analysis focused on how the IB’s institutional legitimacy is presented in the three societies. We conducted a documentary analysis of texts on the introduction and implementation of IB programmes into local school systems. Our findings suggest that there are commonalities and variations in how the IB is interpreted by key local agents and is positioned into local education systems. Specifically, across the three societies, the IB has expanded continuously. At the same time, its institutionalisation process varies by each society’s socio-historical context and needs: substantive legitimacy as the international curriculum of choice in Hong Kong, a quiet supplement to elite education in Singapore, and instrumental curriculum borrowing for fixing the education system in Korea. We also find that the institutionalisation of the IB is limited at a symbolic level and controlled by the Singaporean government, while the IB is saliently promoted by local education authorities in the context of education reform in Korea. The institutionalisation process of the IB in Hong Kong is primarily swayed by market principles under the existing school choice system. Copyright © 2021 Educational Review.

This paper introduces and summarizes the articles in this Special Issue of the Journal of Educational Change on “Identity Grafting: Teacher and School Development in Chinese School Systems.” (Lee, Managing Chineseness: Identity and ethnic management in Singapore, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2017). It begins with Fengqiao Yan’s key thoughts and alternative views on the modernization of China’s academic system. Next, it surveys Fei Yan et al.’s study, which examines Beijing teachers’ and students’ responses toward the recent history textbook reforms in mainland China to instill the Core Socialist Values of the Chinese Communist Party. Third, it examines Wing On Lee and Ji Qi’s study, which maps the identity journeys of migrant Chinese communities in Beijing. Fourth, it summarizes Koon Lin Wong et al.’s study, which revisits the dilemma Hong Kong teachers face because of the obligation to implement the national education agenda. Fifth, it extends insights from Maxwell Ho and Daphnee Lee’s study of student behaviors in financial literacy education to understand the underpinning identity influences of the recent waves of student protests in Hong Kong. Sixth, the paper introduces Daphnee Lee’s study of the group dynamics of Singaporean Chinese teachers who engage in professional learning communities to achieve change, and the cultural identity processes that explain why some teams of teachers resist educational change, while other teams of teachers can come to embrace it. Copyright © 2021 Springer Nature B.V.

1965至1985年間，香港高等教育的發展相當緩慢，只有不足5%的適齡青年可升讀由大學教育資助委員會資助的大學學位課程，及至20世紀80年代中起，大學學位開始大量增加，進入大學的適齡人口百分比提升至18%。2000年，香港特別行政區行政長官更進一步提出要在十年內令香港高等教育的普及率達到60%。由2000–2001至2005–2006學年，高等教育參與率已增加至超過60%。本文探討在香港高等教育擴張後期，中學生對升讀高等教育期望的變化。本文研究數據來自2009年和2012年的學生能力國際評估計劃（以下簡稱PISA）。2009年香港的PISA調查在該年5至6月間進行，而2012年的調查則在該年4至5月間進行。本研究嘗試探索以下四個範疇：（1）學生的教育期望在兩次調查期間（2009至2012年）的變化；（2）學生的家庭社經背景與教育期望間的關係；（3）學生能力與教育期望間的關係；（4）家庭社經背景與學生能力等因素對學生期望升讀大學的相對影響程度。From 1965 to 1985, the development of higher education was very slow in Hong Kong. Less than 5% of age-eligible adolescents were admitted to UGC-funded university degree program. However, since the mid-1980s, there has been an expansion of university places and the university admission rate has increased to 18% of the age-eligible population. In 2000, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region proposed that the admission rate of higher education be increased to 60% within ten years. As a consequence, the participation rate of higher education was increased to over 60% from the school year 2000–2001 to 2005–2006. This article focuses on the change in expectation for pursuing higher education of Hong Kong secondary school students during the post-massification of Hong Kong higher education.The data of this article originates from two cycles of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) — PISA 2009 and PISA 2012. PISA 2009 in Hong Kong was conducted from May to June 2009, while PISA 2012 was conducted from April to May 2012. This article attempts to investigate the following four areas: (1) the changes in students’ educational expectation during 2009 to 2012; (2) the relationship between students’ family socioeconomic background and their educational expectation; (3) the relationship between students’ ability and their educational expectation; (4) the relative impact of family socioeconomic background and students’ ability on their educational expectation toward the pursuit of university education. Copyright © 2009

The conflicting education values in Hong Kong kindergartens and primary schools pose various challenges to kindergarten teachers in providing pupils with a smooth transition to primary school which requires collaboration from schools and families. This study explored these challenges as well as the benefits of a professional teacher training programme. In-service teachers (N = 35) and tutors (N = 2) engaged in the module ‘The Social and Emotional Aspects of Teaching and Learning’ participated in this study. The trainees’ weekly reflective journals throughout the 22-week module were subjected to documentation analysis. Group interviews with the in-service teachers and individual interviews with the tutors were conducted on completion of the module. Findings reveal a gap between teacher training and providing pastoral care for pupils through supporting the social and emotional aspects of their families in Hong Kong, and indicated that traditional beliefs associated with the teaching profession should be widened. Meanwhile, counselling knowledge and skills should be contextualised and integrated into teacher training programmes.
[Copyright of International Journal of Early Years Education is the property of Routledge.]

It is important for us to be on the same page from the outset of our discourse. Thus, I will make clear who and what are included in this chapter. The primary subsets of the population included in this discourse of education for all in Hong Kong are school-age children (up to the completion of secondary education) with disabilities and persons from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Hong Kong’s journey is closely tied to its historical and political past as a British colony. As such, this chapter begins with an examination and analysis of Hong Kong’s policy development in education as a British colony and examines legislation and policies toward education equity for the above subgroups of the population before July 1997. This is followed by a critical review and analysis of the change after the handover of sovereignty to the Chinese government when the implementation of the inclusive education policy officially began. The persistent challenges caused by the elite-oriented education system and social demands in Hong Kong’s struggle toward education for all permeate the discourse. Finally, this chapter stresses the importance of understanding issues regarding difficulties in distinguishing and assessing certain disabilities (e.g. language-related disabilities) from difficulties due to cultural and linguistic diversity. This would aid the move toward education equity in Hong Kong, a vital and multicultural gateway to China, Asia, and beyond (Hong Kong Government, Brand Hong Kong. Retrieved from http://www.brandhk.gov.hk/en/#/en/about/development/launch.html, 2014a). Copyright © 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

A number of East Asian education systems (e.g. Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Shanghai, Singapore and Taiwan) have gained international prominence over the years, due to their rapid climbs to top positions in international tests such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). For example, Hong Kong was placed 17th in PIRLS reading literacy, and Singapore ranked 15th in 2001, but within 5 years, they garnered 2nd and 4th places in 2006, respectively. In the 2015 PISA results, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, Japan and Beijing-Shanghai-Jiangsu-Guangzhou (B-S-J-G), China, were top achievers (OECD, Report on PISA 2015: results in focus. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2016).The sterling report cards of these East Asian systems, combined with the declining performance of western systems such as those of the United Kingdom and the United States, have led the West to a “look East” drive for inspiration. Whether it be scholarly publications or media articles, much literature has been generated on the “success” of education in East Asia, which has become “the new ‘poster boy’ in the global discourse of education policy borrowing” (You and Morris, Compare 46(6), 2016, p. 883).Increasingly, a good education system is considered one that not only produces high achievements but is also equitable in terms of the distribution of its success across the system and its student population. Perhaps a more nuanced understanding of these East Asian education systems could be facilitated if we could examine them considering both equity and quality issues, since the pursuit of each often affects the other. The chapters in this book illustrate that excellence and equity are not independent and separate but can be paradoxically intertwined. Copyright © 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.