Leadership for school-based teacher professional development in early childhood education: A study of preschools in Hong Kong

Promoting teacher professional development is generally regarded as one of the core practices of principal leadership for building school capacity and promoting student learning. This study aimed to explore the practice of leadership in promoting teacher professional development through a case study of local preschools in Hong Kong. The research question guiding this study is ‚What is the leadership practice in promoting school-based teacher professional development in early childhood education in Hong Kong?‛. In this study, a case study method was used to achieve the research aim. The purposive sampling was employed for selecting the case study school. 8 interviews were conducted from a local preschool where the leaders endeavored on promoting teachers’ teaching skills in a schoolbased teacher professional development programme. The interview participants were the 4 positional leaders (i.e. the principal, vice principal, curriculum coordinator and resource coordinator) and 4 classroom teachers, each from 4 stages (i.e. stage 1: 2-3 years old class, stage 2: 3-4 years old class, stage 3: 4-5 years old class, and stage 4: 5-6 years old class). Emerging from the interview data, three main themes: direction setting, communication and collaboration were identified as the characteristics of leadership practices in the process of school-based teacher professional development. Teacher participation which was constrained by the hierarchical structure of the preschool setting was discussed. There are implications on developing a critical awareness of the constraints hindering the empowering nature of school-based teacher professional development within the hieratical school structure in a Chinese educational context.