This study aims to identify the elements and patterns of school cultural changes related curriculum innovations within the selected the curriculum in Information Technology (IT) and Peer Teaching Observation (PTO) in Hong Kong Primary Schools. The study is also identifying the elements of the receptivity of teachers to the curriculum innovations. The responding subjects will cover 2000 teachers from different primary schools to respond to the main questionnaire survey. The study is important for school level personnel, local school curriculum development and implementation designers and educational researchers. In particular, the Hong Kong curriculum change model of school culture provides a significant alternative conception of the nature of schools and the processes by which they improve.

Traditionally, Hong Kong teachers are trained and performed as subject teachers in the secondary schools. The present study aimed to explore teachers' beliefs about curriculum integration in a secondary school in Hong Kong. Curriculum integration in this particular school meant the fusion of three subjects, i.e. Geography, History and Economic and Public Affairs. Case study was adopted in this study. The unit of analysis was the individual teacher. Multiple methods were used, i.e. documentary evidence, interview and observation. Triangulation of data was ensured. It was found that the teachers generally perceived curriculum integration as a means to solve the problems of the crammed curriculum. Individual teachers' beliefs about integration varied according to their different profiles of professional development. Teachers' implementation was found in accordance with their beliefs. Discussions of the case were in three dimensions, i.e. the influence of school context on teachers' beliefs, the influence of teachers' personal judgments derived from past experiences and the dialectical relationship between teachers' working context and their personal judgments. The results of the study shed light on the literature of teacher development in the upheaval of curriculum innovation. For the policy makers, it is important for them to be aware of teachers' beliefs, which, as the results of the teachers' professional development, were significant factors to the access of curriculum innovation. For the teachers, it is important to help them to be aware of their own beliefs and their respective impact on educational practice.

This study is designed to investigate the impact of school-based curriculum development teams on teacher development and pupil learning, within the tradition of school-based curriculum development in a primary school in Hong Kong. Teacher and pupil interviews are used to evaluate the extent that teacher engagement in curriculum decision making processes within two school based curriculum development teams has led to teacher professional development which will be triangulated with the video taped meetings and tryout lessons. Pupils’ perspectives about how the innovation is perceived are to be collected in order to extend our understanding of the underlying principles in implementing curriculum changes in schools. Qualitative evidence reveals positively that participating teachers have developed themselves professionally through the process of planning, implementing and reflecting (PIR model) upon curriculum practice and innovation under certain conditions. However, the complexity of the structures and processes that are established for involving teachers in curriculum decision making processes needs further empirical and theoretical work.

The control of curriculum content has been a sensitive issue in the Hong Kong school curriculum. During the colonial period, the Hong Kong Government controlled the curriculum content in various subjects, for example, by excluding knowledge concerning modern China or prohibiting overtly political material from being part of the curriculum. By law, the use of text, instructional materials and any forms of classroom instructions were prohibited except in accordance with a syllabus approved by the authority. The use of legal structures to force compliance has been termed “hard policy” since there are legal implications for non-compliance. After 1997, however, the government has given teachers a much more direct role in curriculum reform and renewal through the selection of school-based teaching materials in various key learning areas. This role has been given to teachers through a series of what might be called “soft” policy innovations where the innovations do not have the force of law but their success depend on teachers’ professional decisions more than on persuasion. With such an approach, the role of teachers has experienced vital shift, i.e., instead of being technicians teaching the prescribed texts, teachers are expected to be autonomous professionals in carrying out classroom instructions. The shift is dramatic, as teachers are used to the prescribed textbooks in their classroom teaching. The paper aims to analyze such a shift through the perspectives of government policy and its expected role of teachers. It also argues that political considerations, rather than the instructional needs of the classroom, have significant influence on the Hong Kong curriculum traditionally, resulting in neglect of teachers’ professional development and their autonomy in making instructional decisions. The move from the “hard” to the “soft” policy requires further clarification and communication between the government and the front line teachers.