There is a strong need to understand, monitor, and enhance educational quality. This paper reports on a project that developed a framework of indicators for monitoring educational quality in Hong Kong primary schools. The framework was developed through various case studies and 2 large surveys of over 200 Hong Kong primary schools (involving over 650 classes, 3,800 teachers, and 20,000 students) during 1991-95. A preliminary framework, based on the research literature, included indicators at the student individual level, the classroom level, the teacher individual level, the teacher group level, and the organizational level. The framework was tested and developed through the 2 surveys (the first conducted in 1992 and the second in 1993-94) and a total of 12 case studies. Survey data was used to map the education profiles of Hong Kong primary schools by means on indicators; by percentage of schools in high, satisfactory, and low performance; by distribution of schools on each indicator; and by profiles of characteristics of effective and ineffective schools. Six tables and seven figures are included.

With a view to achieving quality school education (QES) with all its concomitant benefits, the Education Commission published a Consultation Document on the subject in November 1996. Public views were sought thereafter for two months and the final report is expected to come out in the near future. Generally speaking, the public found the recommendations contained in the Document positive and forward-looking. We strongly back the Commission's brave initiative in attempting to improving school education in Hong Kong. Of the various areas in which recommendations for improvement were made, we would like to focus our discussion on three of them, namely, the relationship between SMI and the development of quality school education, the requirements for schools to be economically efficient and quality assurance inspections. Through studying these three areas in greater detail, we hope that we will be in a better position to suggest some of the prerequisites for quality school education and ways to make schools more accountable to the general public.

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the use of performance indicators in higher education for quality assessment and assurance in the UK, the USA, Australia, and other European countries. This is due to an increased emphasis on accountability of the higher education institutions to stake holders, and the continuing desire of all involved in higher education to improve the quality of teaching and learning. This article describes the developmental stage of an indicator system for an in-service "refresher" training course at a teacher education institution in Hong Kong. The article examines the role of performance indicators as a means of quality assurance in in-service teacher education and training at the course level. It also outlines key performance indicators and associated data collection methods for the evaluation of programme quality. In this article, it will be argued that monitoring change through in-service teacher education and training is likely to be a long process of continuous evolution or development.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

In Hong Kong, as a result of an education reform, the School Management Initiative (SMI), which started in 1991, formally introduced a teacher appraisal system to the schools. Whereas some criteria for teacher appraisal have been set up, there has not been any clear guideline as to who is going to use them to appraise whom. Addressing this issue, this chapter is based on two recent studies on the purpose of teacher appraisal and approaches for formative and summative appraisal. The chapter concludes with some suggestions for implementing a teacher appraisal system for achieving formative and summative purposes, paying special attention to the roles of appraisers and appraisees as well as relationship between appraisal and professional development.
[Copyright © 2005 Nova Science Publishers.]

This study investigated how the Performance Indicators (PIs), a quantifiable check of school effectiveness and accountable issued by the government, was used by Chinese preschools to do self-evaluation and improvement in Hong Kong. Sixty-four representative pre-primary institutions of 15 035 children and 1 600 practitioners, and 9 project members worked collaboratively through the self-evaluation and improvement cycle within 18 months. Post-project surveys, group interviews, documentation analysis, and multiple case studies were conducted to gauge the participants’ views on the progress and problems regarding school improvement. The results indicated that: (1) the revised 7-step Chinese model of self-evaluation and improvement was workable for Hong Kong pre-primary institutions; (2) the institutions did benefit from the project and got better understanding of the PIs, reflections on children’s learning and teacher’s teaching, professional development, heightening of organizational morale and team spirit; (3) the common difficulties encountered in the processes were time limitation, lack of resources, and under-qualified teachers; and (4) the successful experiences might include strong leadership, team work with deep collaboration, school-based training, peer observation, useful instruments, and support from external advisor. The sociocontextual factors and the educational implications of these findings are discussed.
[Copyright © College of Education and Human Development, University of North Dakota. The publisher website is located at http://www.und.edu/dept/ehd]

To argue against the current discourse on the language policy of Hong Kong, which has mainly focused on economic rationalism, a more holistic view with the educational value of language with respect to one’s civic duty in light of dialogic constructivism will be suggested. It proposes that the quality of a language as resources has to have something to do with the formation of one’s self and life history, the identification of a collectivity where one’s identity is appropriated, and the proliferation of a potential dialogic environment where creativity emerges in contrast to the current notion of a technical mentality of language use which leads to a closure of meaning making in our language policy. And it is towards such quality, which is based on the kind of value where identity, community, and the potential of a hermeneutic situation play fair that enhances understanding, this paper is driving.
[Copyright © 2006 The Chinese University Press.]

從香港教育統籌局網頁裏，學校教育質素保證項目中，經常提及「質素」一詞。雖然「質素」是一個被廣泛應用的名詞，但卻帶有一定的主觀判斷成份。不同人士對此名詞都有不同的見解，同樣地不同教育學者對「教學質素」有不同的闡釋。本文回顧學者對「質素」、「教學質素」的討論，希望藉此論文來闡釋「教學質素」的概念，從而引發幼教同工思考「教學質素」概念的意義。
[Copyright © 2006 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

In the recent education reform, teachers are encouraged to take a more active guidance role in teaching, learning and solving student disciplinary problems under the comprehensive school guidance system promoted in public documents in Hong Kong. The whole school approach to student guidance has been evolved for more than a decade in schools, but to what extent is the comprehensive guidance system approach an advance in education leadership, or just another empty slogan? This paper investigates how teachers coping with change in five primary schools perceived their changing guidance roles under the system approach model: from understanding the aims of education and guidance; strategies used for teacher-student interaction and solving student problems, participation in guidance activities in schools; to the design and implementation of the personal growth and guidance curriculum since the education reform in 2002. Qualitative research methods include the use of survey questionnaires; in-depth interviews, classroom observation and school visits. Results showed that teachers appreciated the education and guidance rationale for whole person development for the majority of students with educational, developmental and preventative approaches whilst specialists would be provided for remedial service. Most participant teachers considered that teaching was their primary role and sitting for the competence language tests was their immediate concern for job survival in the current education reform. Although teachers were more prepared to take a broader perspective to respond to the needs of students implicitly, to participate more in the guidance activities and involve more in the design and implementation of the guidance curriculum, they found it difficult to achieve an effective guidance role owing to the lack of time and resources. Unless more resources and support are provided for teacher development, the comprehensive guidance system approach for a child’s whole person development