This paper critically examines parents’ and service providers’ reception of the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme (PEVS), which was designed to enhance the quality of early childhood education in Hong Kong. The PEVS was a universal voucher policy that was designed to harness market forces and increase direct governmental control of quality in a private education market wherein pre-academic training and competition are emphasized. This paper presents the results of a survey of 413 parents and 215 service providers. Findings indicated that despite the government’s efforts in promoting quality as ‘child-centeredness’ and the efforts of preschools in meeting the quality standards, parents remained relatively neutral about the policy's influence on preschool quality. However, all parents appreciated the financial benefits they accrued from the PEVS, and more socially-advantaged families allocated the additional disposable income on extra educational activities and programs for their children. Findings suggest the implementation of the PEVS in a fully private market might unexpectedly exacerbate inequity in educational opportunities. The enrolment size of the preschool was also found to be a determinant of respondents’ views of the PEVS. We argue the government’s idea of ‘joyful learning’ may be even harder to achieve with the current means of service governance.
[Copyright of Journal of Education Policy is the property of Routledge.]

The Hong Kong Secondary Education system moved from the traditional “5 + 2 + 3” system to a new “3 + 3 + 4” structure in 2012 with emphasis on whole-person development. Under the new reform, students are required to undertake a block of new general education (GE) subjects apart from their disciplinary-specific education in their university curriculum. While prior studies mainly investigated the reform of GE and curriculum design, empirical studies on the perceived benefits of GE are sparse. The current study primarily aims to investigate the impact of GE on the generic skills of university students. A survey of 424 undergraduate students enrolled in a self-financing programme in four higher educational institutions in Hong Kong was conducted. The perceived benefits of GE were measured by seven variables, including communication, critical thinking and problem solving, team-work, leadership, lifelong learning and information management skills, ethics, and professional moral knowledge. This study can contribute to the understanding of the interrelationship between GE and the development of generic skills. Results will provide a guideline for educators and management when planning, developing, designing, and reviewing the general education curriculum.
[Copyright of Asia Pacific Journal of Education is the property of Routledge.]

This paper examines the global implications of policy borrowing, employing case examples of Chinese school systems, which enjoy the success of grafting new identities to improve education. The paper comments on contemporary scholars’ use of identity grafting theory (Lee in Managing Chineseness: identity and ethnic management in Singapore, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2017) to generate insights on how schools, teachers and students engaged educational change in mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Scholars presented empirical findings by using identity grafting constructs to explain education stakeholders’ diverse responses to change: (1) born-again—rejecting change by reviving traditional practices; (2) repression—repressing traditional identities instead of embracing change; (3) integration—combining traditional identities and progressive change to achieve a balance; and (4) situationalism—developing new identities that transcend boundaries between traditional identities and progressive change. The scholars contributed research that advances the theorization of identity grafting. First, rising born-again Chinese sentiments seek to reject the imposition of a singular Chinese identity imposed by state governments. Born-again Chineseness no longer singularly focuses on defending traditional identities against Western influences. Second, a better understanding is achieved on identity repression—change resistance results from a displaced focus on repressing traditional identities. Third, the prevalence of identity integration strategies can be explained by intensive policy borrowing in the region. Policy borrowers need to ensure externally imposed identities are represented to overcome challenges generated by identity grafting strategies that impede progressive change. This popularity of integrationist strategies accounts for the challenges in achieving identity situationalism—policy borrowing needs culturally divisive identity markers that provide clear indicators to