School reform and changing professional work culture of teacher: The case of Hong Kong

Present day education requires professional expertise of teachers in facilitating modern learning, which enables students to cope with life changes brought forth by a learning society in the new era to come. Reform in school, which liberates teachers from bureaucratic practices and creates a new professional work culture is inevitable. Hong Kong schools now undergo quality school education reforms where organisational and school based management innovations are the focus of reform changes. The reform aims, among others, at enhancing professional involvement of teachers in school administration and curriculum for the sake of fostering the lifelong learning among students, a paradigm shift of learning in the learning society in the forthcoming Y2K. Observations however reveal that the profeesional role of Hong Kong school teachers does not change much as expected in recent policy reform papers on school education. Copyright © 2000 International Educational Research Forum.