To Innovate and Change: A Critique on How Education Policy Is Implemented and What Necessary Conditions for School Improvement Should Be Created in Hong Kong

• Main Author: Chow, Ping-yan Alan
• Format: Paper
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2000
• Subjects: Educational Assessment; Educational Change; Educational Development; Educational Improvement; Educational Legislation; Educational Policy; Elementary Secondary Education; Foreign Countries; Hong Kong; Public Schools; School District Autonomy; Hong Kong

In the 1990s, Hong Kong underwent a great deal of education reforms in response to the public's concern for the quality of education. To keep pace with social and economic developments, education policies have had to be reviewed periodically so that necessary modifications could be made. In 1999, the Education Commission was requested to conduct a comprehensive review of the overall education system and required to submit its recommendations. In Hong Kong, the change agenda has increasingly been set by politicians rather than educators. With the centralization of education reform, teachers have seemingly lost control of change. This paper describes how education policies could be adequately implemented at school levels and what necessary conditions should be created for possible school improvement in Hong Kong. The discussion adopts a critical perspective and, in its conclusion, outlines several implications to alert policymakers as well as the "frontier practitioners" as to how this education policy can be successfully implemented. (Contains 54 references.) (DFR)