School-based Management (SBM) is regarded as the centrepiece of the current educational reforms which aims to enhance quality of education since 1980s (Caldwell & Spinks, 1992; Cheng, 1996b; Gamage, 1996; Wong, 1995). To enhance quality culture, flexibility, transparency and accountability, the policy-makers introduce a new school management reform policy, entitled “The School Management Initiative (SMI)”, to Hong Kong schools in 1991. Mr. Tung Chee-hwa, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), even announced in his policy address (Tung, 1998) that all schools should practise SBM by 2000. With reference to the latest SMI report, there are altogether 43% secondary schools and 23.3% primary schools practising SBM in 1997-98 academic year. The implication shows that many schools need to join the new initiative within two years time. Why is there a huge gap in between the policy and the front line? In order to have a closer look at how people interact and how these effects affect the promotion of school improvement in the change process, a small scale research with a stratified sample of nine aided primary schools was conducted in May, 1998. The result of the findings demonstrated some important implications that effective leadership, collegiality, healthy interpersonal relations are essential to accelerate the effectiveness of the school management scheme which can enhance the quality of school education of Hong Kong as a whole.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education]

Higher education worldwide is undergoing a process of globalization and internationalization. Hong Kong is no exception, supported by both government policy and defined visions of local universities. This process involves not just the recruitment of international students and faculties, but also the transformation of local/national higher education institutions into international higher education institutions operating beyond national boundaries and competing actively in international branding and the international ranking “game”. While internationalization of higher education is a natural outcome of the new globalized era, there are also concerns about the growing commercialization and commodification of education, as well as the marginalization or even loss of cultural and national identities in the name of internationalization. This paper discusses the context and challenges of internationalization, and the tensions between the local/regional and the international – highlighting issues such as: the definition of “international” scholarship; the language and venue of academic publication; the role of “local” knowledge and tradition; the benchmarking of educational achievements; the language of instruction; and the content of the curriculum. It raises some pertinent questions and addresses the fundamental question: Is internationalization necessarily in conflict with a vibrant local/national identity and knowledge tradition?

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.

Assessment of young children has been an area where there have been many difficulties because of the special nature of learning in these early years. This study examined the procedures and methods of assessment of children used in kindergartens in Hong Kong. Through the use of questionnaires to 160 local kindergarten teachers followed by a structured group interview with 3 kindergarten principals, information was gathered on: (a) the aims of assessing children in kindergartens (b) the types of procedures used for assessing children (c) the areas of development and learning experience covered by various methods of assessment; and (d) the use to which the assessment information was put once it had been collected. Participants were also asked about their perceived difficulties and the support they needed in carrying out assessment of children.