Vice-principals' role and their relationship with principals are of paramount importance in shaping the effectiveness of school management, particularly after the implementation of school-based management (SBM) worldwide. This paper reports primarily on prior studies on the vice-principalship and suggests a framework to help explain the different working relationships between principals and vice-principals. The framework is a matrix based on three dimensions, namely status, roles and management tasks. The framework was then examined through an illustrative case study. What emerged was that the framework provides a powerful means to explain the different combinations of relationship between principals and vice-principals.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632430902775558]

Surprisingly little is known about the micro-leadership and management of the curriculum within schools. This study first applies a purpose-designed set of research instruments to penetrate the micro-workings of school decision-making in curriculum, teaching and learning. Second, it reports the findings from an application of the instruments in six Hong Kong primary schools. In regard to the principal's influence on curriculum, teaching and learning, in four of the six case-study primary schools, the principal's influence was deemed to be direct. This finding stands in contradistinction to the existing body of evidence - gathered mainly from secondary schools - that emphasises the indirect effect of principal leadership. In regard to the second question, concerning the general patterns of within-school curriculum decision-making, leadership and management, there appears to be a high degree of conformity across the six case-study primary schools.
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This article aims to identify leadership roles for quality in early childhood programmes in the local settings of a sample of Hong Kong preschools. Two schools were selected for the study, both of which were rated as excellent in the quality assurance inspections of a local education authority. Effective leadership was explored from the multiple perspectives of various school stakeholders, including school governors, principals, teachers, members of support staff and parents. The qualitative interviews were used for data collection. The interview data indicated that the teachers, members of support staff and parents quite often viewed themselves as followers and were dependent on a single leader, the head. As perceived by the school stakeholders, the principals tended to take up three major roles: role model, school manager and mentor for curriculum and pedagogy. Characteristics of the associated patterns of the three leadership roles were similar to those of moral, managerial and instructional leadership documented in the Western literature. The implications of the study for promoting moral leadership and developing teacher leadership are discussed.
[Copyright of International Journal of Leadership in Education: Theory and Practice is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13603120903387561]

Different scholars have defined and redefined leadership at different levels and in different contexts (e.g., Ball, 1981; Hargreaves, 1967; Richardson, 1973), although the results of research on the characteristics of effective leaders may not apply in all contexts. This study compares and contrasts the meanings of leadership in the Hong Kong secondary school context, and examines whether educators at different levels hold conflicting opinions of the qualities of leadership. The study adopts both quantitative and qualitative approaches to examine whether principals and teachers interpret leadership differently. The results show that these two groups of educators do indeed hold different views about what it means to be a leader. The reasons for these different points of view are explored.
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This study investigates how beginning principals in Hong Kong secondary schools managed the first two years of their principalship during a time of substantial educational reform. Given that this area is under-researched in Hong Kong, the study intends to add to the leadership knowledge base and inform principal preparation.
The research yielded five major categories that were related to the beginning principals, namely, preferred leadership orientations, strength of heart, managing people, approach to curriculum reform, and contextual influences. These categories were inter-related in that they interacted with one another to affect how the beginning principals played their new roles. Role-playing included the processes of role adoption, role enactment and role changes. Beginning principals in the study went through these processes in different fashions, but they sometimes shared similarities in their perceptions and behaviors. These differences and commonalities led to the categorization of the principals into four types, namely the shaper-founder, the shaper-changer, the moderator-tinkerer and the inheritor-maintainer. The four types constitute the typology established by the research. It was also found that the typology was not static; there were shifts within it as a consequence of role change adopted by the beginning principals. The findings point to a tentative concept of adaptive role-playing within the phenomenon of the beginning principalship, which requires further investigation to establish its validity.
The research has implications for the knowledge base of the beginning principalship. It points to the complexity and fluidity of beginning principals' leadership roles as well as the importance of their inner worlds, of people in school management, of implementation strategies for curriculum reform and of the school context. It also brings into focus the inter-relationships among the variables affecting the beginning principalship, the significance

背景：中層人員在學校管理與日常運作中有關鍵的角色，在教育改革的年代中，不少香港小學校長感到校內中層人員的表現和能力的重要性；有些辦學團體更舉辦了中央性培訓以提昇層下小學的中層人員。為了支援香港小學中層人員的成長，香港初等教育研究學會開展了一個校本教師培訓計劃，為八所小學中層人員提供校本的專業培訓。
目的：基於香港本土和國際的文獻，分析受訓中層人員的回饋與反思，希透過整理這些質性的資料，能結合中層人員專業發展的理論與實踐。
調查對象：八所參與校本教師培訓計劃的小學中層人員，一共有158份有效的回應問卷。
調查方法：此文章除整理中層人員發展及校本培訓的文獻外，再根據中層人員的質性回應，顯示出香港小學中層人員對專業發展的需要，關注和反省。
調查結果：問卷發現受訓中層人員對「中層人員的角色與成長」的培訓滿意度比整體評價為高。他們亦反映出要學習多些與團隊發展有關的知識和技能。同時，有些中層人員十分享受其行動學習計劃，並在分享中顯示出其在計劃過程中的成長。
總結：從八間小學中層人員的培訓個案中，發現讓中層人員對自己角色的反思，掌握發展團隊的技能和實踐行動學習等，皆能有效地促進中層人員的專業成長；而這計劃亦同時豐富了香港小學的校本教師培訓經驗及中層人員培訓的模式。
Background: A middle manager plays an essential role in the school management and daily operation. In the educational reform era, many principals aware the performance and competence of the middle managers is critical for the development of their primary schools in Hong Kong. A few of school sponsoring body provide some central training for the middle managers in their primary schools. In order to support the professional development of middle managers of primary school in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Primary Education Research Association carries out a school-based teacher development project and eight primary schools participate in this project.
Aims: Based on reviewing local and international literatures, this study investigated the feedback and reflection of trained middle manager. After analysis these data, this paper try to link up the theory and practice in the professional development of middle manager.
Sample: Questionnaires were sent to all trained middle managers in these eight primary schools, and a total of 158 questionnaires are filled.
Method: Besides literatures in middle manager professional development and school-based training, qualitative information from middle managers of these schools are used to illustrate their needs, concerns and reflections.
Result: Trained middle managers give a higher responses rate in the session: Role and development of middle managers.