How much of a difference do principals make? An analysis of between-schools variation in academic achievement in Hong Kong public secondary schools

This article aims to explain the role principals play in the variation in academic achievement between secondary schools in Hong Kong. The article draws on survey data from 179 key staff and 2,037 students from 42 schools. The study uses 2 analytical approaches. First, it employs classification and regression tree analysis (CART). This was used to sort out the most significant leadership practices associated with student achievement. Second, based on first-stage analysis, the study further explores the effects of leadership practices on academic achievement using hierarchical linear modelling (HLM). Results indicate that transparent and efficient communication structures as managed by principals explained approximately 12% of between-schools variation in academic achievement. Leadership practices related to quality assurance and accountability and resource management also contributed to explaining between-schools variation in academic achievement, yet they had negative effects on student achievement. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Fostering Learning Communities in Classrooms: A Case Study of Hong Kong Schools

Over the past few years, curriculum innovation has been regarded as an essential strategy for educational reform throughout the era of educational change. Because of the changing nature of the knowledge age, students need to develop ways of dealing with complex issues and problems that require different kinds of skills and knowledge they have ever learned. Given the advancement of information and communications technologies (ICT), a number of cases of building learning communities in classrooms have been developed in recent years. Realizing the impact of this new learning culture, six primary schools in Hong Kong participated in the implementation of building learning communities through science project works. During the project, students from different schools engaged in the discussion and knowledge construction using a computer mediated communication (CMC) platform called Knowledge Forum. The aim of this case study is to explore the role of ICT in building learning communities and the conditions are essential to building learning communities from the different ways that students and teachers experienced the processes of community and knowledge construction using Knowledge Forum. Through the analysis of the interviews of students and teachers, conditions that support learning community building were emerged in three major themes, namely, conceptions of learning, knowledge construction processes, and development of social processes. Les communautés d’apprentissage dans les classes: une étude de cas. Durant les années passées, l’innovation dans les curricula a été considérée comme une stratégie essentielle pour toute réforme éducative dans cette période de changement éducatif. A cause de la nature changeante des connaissances, les étudiants doivent développer des moyens de traiter les issues et les problèmes complexes qui requièrent des compétences et des savoirs qu’ils n’ont jamais eus. Etant donné l’avancement des technologies de l’information et de la communication (ICT-TIC), de nombreux cas de création de communautés d’apprentissage dans les classes ont été observés pendant les années récentes. Réalisant l’impact de cette nouvelle culture d’enseignement, 6 écoles primaires de Hong Kong ont participé À la mise en oeuvre de communautés d’apprentissage À l’occasion d’un projet en sciences. Pendant ce projet les élèves des différentes écoles se sont engagés dans la discussion et la construction du savoir en utilisant une plateforme de CMC appelé Forum de Savoir. Le but de cette étude de cas est d’explorer le rÔle des (ICT-TIC) dans la construction de ces communautés d’apprentissage et les

conditions essentielles pour les construire À partir de la facon dont maîtres et élèves ont expérimenté les processus impliqués dans ce Forum. GrÂce À l’analyse des interviews des élèves et des maîtres, les conditions qui supportent la construction de cette communauté sont apparues sous forme de 3 thèmes majeurs: les conceptions de l’apprentissage, la connaissance des processus de construction et le développement des processus sociaux. Lerngemeinschaften im Klassenzimmer: Eine Fallstudie. In den letzten Jahren ist die Curriculum-Erneuerung als eine wesentliche Strategie für Bildungsreformen in Zeiten des Wandels in der Erziehung betrachtet worden. Wegen der änderungen im Wissensalter müssen Studenten Handlungsweisen für den Umgang mit komplexen Sachverhalten und Problemen entwickeln, die andere Arten von Fähigkeiten und anderes Wissen erfordern, als sie jemals gelernt haben. Auf Grund der Fortschritte in den Informations- und kommunikationstechnologien (ICT) haben sich in den vergangenen Jahren eine Reihe von Lerngemeinschaften innerhalb von Schulungsräumen entwickelt. Unter dem Eindruck der Auswirkungen dieser neuen Lernkultur wurden sechs

Grundschulen von Hongkong durch wissenschaftliche Projektarbeiten in den Aufbau von Lerngemeinschaften mit einbezogen. Während der Projektarbeiten haben sich Studenten verschiedener anderer Schulen mit Hilfe einer Computer gestützen Kommunikationssoftware ,,Knowledge Forum’ (CMC) in die Diskussionen und Sacherarbeitungen beteiligt. Diese

Fallstudie soll die Rolle von ICT beim Aufbau von Lerngemeinschaften sowie die wesentlichen Bedingungen, die den Aufbau von Lerngemeinschaften fördern, erforschen. Dabei sollen auch die unterschiedlichen Wege, die Studenten und Lehrer bei der Arbeit mit Knowledge Forum eingeschlagen haben, untersucht werden. Durch die Analyse der Interviews von Studenten und Lehrern zeichneten sich drei Hauptthemen, die die Bildung von Lerngemeinschaften fördern, ab: die Lernkonzeption, der Wissensaufbau und die Entwicklung der sozialen Prozesse.     

Viewpoint on distance education ‐ towards a focus and a future. ICDE World Conference, 11 August 1988. Oslo,Norway

Professor Charles Wedemeyer has appropriately been called the father of American distance education; he could also be termed an uncle of the British Open University, having acted as a consultant before the University opened to students.

As William Lighty Professor of Education at the University of Wisconsin at Madison he broke the ground for much subsequent research in the field of distance education. His most familiar published work is his book Learning at the Back Door (University of Wisconsin Press, 1981).

His long and distinguished career has included the Presidency of the International Council for Distance Education (ICDE), and the award of an Honorary Doctorate from the Open University in 1975.

He has attended many ICDE World conferences over the years, and in Oslo in the summer of 1988 gave a viewpoint on distance education for the future. Professor Wedemeyer has indicated that perhaps this paper will be the last he writes in this area; “This does not indicate a lack of interest... but at 77 years... I find it difficult to keep up with the volume of reading alone that must be maintained if I want to write among the best in our burgeoning field’.     

Leading authentically at the cross-roads of culture and context

This article explores the difficulties Hong Kong school leaders face in leading authentically and suggests that a key to seeking this authenticity lies in ongoing learning in context. It is divided into three sections. The first section describes the crossroads of reform and culture in Hong Kong schools by illustrating the tension between traditional values and modern reform demands. It concludes that the environment within which Hong Kong leaders lead is best characterized by hybridity and that this makes becoming authentic both important and difficult. The second section asserts that being an authentic leader is not a matter of adopting a model, a series of actions or even a set of beliefs, but is about engaging in a continual learning process. Some of what we know about leadership learning is discussed, as is the importance of accounting for cultural variation when designing learning approaches. The third section outlines and describes a set of generic leadership learning gateways designed to guide the development of authenticity. These gateways underpin a new programme implemented in Hong Kong which consciously aims to allow principals to construct authenticity.

Internationalising the content of higher education: the need for a curriculum perspective

Internationalisation of higher education is a strategic theme in current research on higher education and policy debate. Both at national and institutional levels, in many countries, internationalisation is stated to be an educational goal. However, the dominant discourse on internationalisation of higher education in research and research-based discussions tends to be framed by political, economic and organisational perspectives, rather than informed by educational considerations. There is also a tendency to place internationalisation in higher education within the conceptual frame of economic globalisation and the increasing trade in educational services worldwide. While such discussions may shed light on various organisational, political or economic issues, this research does not give a pedagogical basis for the internationalisation of higher education in terms of teaching and learning. In particular, questions relating to the internationalisation of content and learning outcomes need to be addressed. A series of studies conducted in Sweden 1999–2007 by the authors indicates that the didactical realisation of internationalisation as an educational goal can be very elusive. In our findings, the concrete content considered by teachers and students to represent internationalisation did not follow any clear pattern or goal. Internationalisation was assumed to be represented by some form of ‘general knowledge’ and general human qualities, without considering cultural differences. Institutionalised curriculum thinking as a basis for developing internationalisation was lacking. Concrete thinking was very much restricted to organisational and administrative aspects, and thoughts concerning content and learning outcomes tended to be expressed in idealised and general terms, rather than developed into clarifying and useful specifications underpinned by curriculum theory. Certain consequences ensuing from this situation are discussed, and a curriculum approach to internationalisation of higher education is suggested.