This study used interviews with three important groups of stakeholders in kindergartens, namely principals, teachers, and parents, to explore their perspectives on, and practices of, home-school partnership in early childhood education. The participants were six kindergarten principals, 12 teachers, and 12 parents, from six Hong Kong kindergartens. The study reveals that principals, teachers and parents have consistent perceptions of the importance of home-school partnership. They also show a wide range of home-school partnership activities have been implemented, even though the establishment of a parent-teacher association (PTA) is not common. Participants saw time limitations and the parents' lack of knowledge relevant to home-school partnership as the main barriers to its implementation. While strategies have been suggested to tackle time barriers, no strategies were discussed to overcome educators' and parents' worries over parents' lack of competency. The findings suggest that more teacher training should be provided to focus on skills that enable educators to better communicate and work with parents from diverse backgrounds to overcome barriers related to parents' lack of competency perceived by principals and teachers. Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

本文敍述本地一所中學如何透過全面地改革課程、教材、教學法及評估,推進融合教育發展的一段歷程。該校副校長以局內人的身份,闡述學校如何打破教師「各自為政」的文化,培育着重分享協作的團隊,以照顧不斷增加有學習困難學生的需要。This paper chronicles the comprehensive restructuring in curriculum, learning materials, instructional practices, and assessment in a local secondary school moving towards inclusive provision. It is written from the insider’s perspective of the school’s Vice Principal who recounts how the school moved away from practices of teaching in isolation and embraced a culture based on sharing and collaboration among teachers to accommodate the needs of an increasing number of students with learning difficulties.
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Challenges to equal educational opportunities for all students still exist in many places across different societies in times of increasingly diverse student populations in schools. Not only students with different learning abilities but also those from different social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds have diverse learning needs. We argue that inclusive education should take a broader perspective regarding students of difference and/or difficulty,while principals play out important leadership roles for equal educational opportunity in schools. This paper aims to examine two principal leadership approaches to practices for the diversity of student populations. By conducting a cross-case study, the principals cultivated an inclusive and multicultural school environment for the students. The findings show that the principals turned their schools around by adopting similar and different leadership practices. Hence, they can transform the schools towards more inclusion for students of differences and difficulties. 隨著學校學生的差異性不斷擴大,在不同地方為所有學生提供平等教育機會仍然面對各樣挑戰。主要除了學習能力的差異,亦可能因來自不同社會、文化及種族背景,學生的學習需要變得更複雜。我們認為校長在平等教育機會中擔任重要的領導角色,而融合教育應以更全面的觀點去應對學生的學習差異與困難。這篇文章以跨個案研究分析兩位校長在面對學生複雜和差異的學習需要時的領導方式,為學生的學習提供一個共融及多元文化的校園環境。研究結果顯示兩位校長實踐相似但不相同的領導方式促使學校轉型,他們帶領學校發展成為更能接納學生差異與困難的共融校園。
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This study forms part of a wider comparative research project investigating the mechanisms and outcomes of school-based curriculum (SBC) development in kindergartens between the two neighbouring cities of Hong Kong and Shenzhen, under the umbrella of ‘one country, two systems’. This comparison will help to clarify how sociocultural contexts may affect early childhood curriculum (ECC) innovations by comparing the kindergartens of socialist and capitalist China. Data are presented from qualitative case studies of four kindergartens—two in each city—corresponding to the three levels of curriculum analysis and comparison: intended curriculum, implemented curriculum and curriculum ideology. Comparative analyses revealed that the SBCs of the four cases were different but all tended to balance and integrate diverse approaches in terms of curricular and pedagogical practices. The commonalities of SBCs in Hong Kong and Shenzhen kindergartens were due to shared cultural values, propelled by both ‘modernization’ and Chinese traditions, while the unique characteristics of SBC practices in each society were shaped by different social contexts. The educational philosophy of progressivism has greatly influenced ECC innovations in the Chinese kindergartens to varying degrees and in different ways. Implications of this comparative study are also presented for future research and practice.
[Copyright of Journal of Curriculum Studies is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2018.1428367]

This article analyzes how principals of high-performing secondary schools in England and Hong Kong establish structural arrangements aligned to their core values as educators. Such values-driven structures provide a platform by which principals create the conditions in which policy and reform can be managed and absorbed without compromising the core purpose and contextual priorities of these schools. The findings reveal how the participating school principals have carefully embedded and institutionalized these structures within the cultures of their organizations as part of a multilayered approach to leadership. Copyright © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This article draws on data from cases of high-performing and improving schools in Hong Kong. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with principals, middle leaders, and senior teachers to identify key policies and steps taken for their enactment, and to solicit interpretations of the policies. Principals were found to actively select, prioritize, and emphasize policies based on clearly articulated values. These values-led and contextually informed decisions formed the basis for redesigning the school organization and leadership structures, allocating resources, and aligning multiple initiatives to policies. School-based and mandated policies worked in synergy, and school principals responded rather than reacted to mandates. Copyright © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

With the arrival of the new millennium, school leadership in Hong Kong is at a crossroads. School leaders are called upon to be more professional, more accountable and more active than ever before. Public pressure for better quality schools, and policy moves toward School-Based Management place new and increasing demands on school principals and other educational leaders. Knowledge and information are more available and transferable than at any time in history. Such an environment challenges school leaders to constantly search for ways to develop their skills, knowledge and thoughts. In line with this challenge, a group of professional educators met in May 1999 to reflect on and to analyze school leadership practices in Hong Kong. The group's brief was to consider school leadership specifically within the Hong Kong context and to identify and describe the key functions of the principal's role in Hong Kong schools. The outcome of their deliberations is the present document; a multi-level and multi-dimensional profile of contemporary school leadership practices in Hong Kong. The profile is not presented as a definitive description of school leadership in Hong Kong, nor do we expect everyone to embrace it as a professional tool. Rather, we hope that principals will use the profile as a resource when considering their key roles in school - and that through reading and reflecting upon the profile they will think more deeply about their own and others' roles in furthering the quality of education offered to Hong Kong students.
[Copyrigt© 2000 by Hong Kong Centre for the Development of Educational Leadership, The Chinese University of Hong Kong]

This study captures the thoughts and perceptions of a group of Hong Kong principals on the transfer of sovereignty and its effects on education. The investigation addressed the following guiding research question: What, according to their perceptions, have been, and will be, the effects on education policy and on school-level management and curriculum, of the transfer of sovereignty? A qualitative approach was adopted, using naturalistic methods of inquiry. Nine principals of aided secondary schools were selected for interview according to procedures of purposive sampling. Findings indicate that, faced with uncertainty arising from the change of sovereignty, principals feel confident of managing and coping with situations at the school level in connection with curriculum and management. However, they express concern and greater uncertainty about their ability to manage changes emanating in the broader socio-political educational environment, especially in regard to values and norms and access and opportunity, all of which are likely to impact on their schools. Copyright © 1997 Carfax Publishing Ltd.

Students with special educational needs (SEN) are at an elevated risk of psychological and behavioural dysfunctions. In this study, we conducted a survey of parents of students with SEN in Hong Kong to examine the impact of two school practices – learning support and school climate – on the psychological and behavioural functioning (PBF) of students with SEN. We also examined the mediating effects of social participation and academic engagement. Questionnaires were distributed to 586 parents in 139 primary schools. The results of structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis show that perceived school climate has a direct effect on perceived PBF, while perceived learning support does not. Perceived learning support has two indirect effects on perceived PBF, with perceived academic engagement or social participation as a mediator. The findings have implications for the effective use of educational resources to support the inclusive education of students with SEN.
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