Challenges and strategies to educational change: School based curriculum

Since taking responsibility for government in 1997, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has launched a series of education reform measure. In Learning to Learn, Consultation Document (Curriculum Development Council, 2000), the policy of school based curriculum is advocated. The aim is to allow "schools to have more autonomy in choosing some contents more relevant to their students so long as they are in line with the curriculum aims, strands, principles of learning/teaching, with justifiable modifications that suit their students most" (CDC, 2000:47). This paper reports a case study of a local primary school in implementing the school based curriculum in General Studies in the past three years. The methodology employed includes interviewing different stake-holders, i.e. the head teacher, GS panel, so as to study why they initiated this educational change in their school/classrooms, and the strategies employed in designing the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment as teaching and learning in Hong Kong is generally commented as text-book oriented. Coordinators of each level were also interviewed so as to study their perception and challenges confronted. As classroom teachers are in the best position to effect educational change directly, GS teachers were asked to write a reflection report after a unit was taught in the past three years. At the end of each school year, all GS teachers met together to evaluate their work, comments and suggestion were also documented. Fullan (2001) argued students not only are the potential beneficiaries of educational change, but also participants in the process of change. He also commented parents may initiate, reject, support or block educational changes in schools. Consequently students and parents were also invited to fill in a questionnaire to reflect on their perception on school based curriculum and learning in General Studies. It is hoped that the analysis will provide insight for teachers who want to initiate such educational change.