Behind the starting line: school capacity building in early childhood education

This paper describes the process of school capacity building in Hong Kong's early childhood education at a time when there was a quest for quality education. A local preschool was selected for the study, which took part in a university–school support programme through which consultancy was hired from a university to provide school-based support. An action research approach was chosen in the research design. The process of building capacity was examined in the selected preschool over a year. The findings indicated that the preschool went through a process of capacity building, from the status quo ante, through the exploration stage to the initial implementation stage of change. Restructuring and reculturing were emerging in the change process, with the support of the school consultants.