Trends in educational reforms in the Asia-Pacific region

Educational reform in the Asia-Pacific region, which is one of the fastest developing areas in the world, is receiving strong and intensive local and global attention. Since the 1990s, huge national resources have been invested in education and related initiatives in nearly every country in the region for bringing about substantial improvement and development in many different aspects of society (Cheng & Townsend, 2000). Unfortunately, many countries are still very disappointed with their education systems in view of the challenges of the new century. In order to redress the problems in their education systems, more and more reforms are now proposed to improve the practice and effectiveness of education at different levels. The major question to be asked is: what lessons can be learnt and shared from these ongoing educational reforms in the region such that we can avoid repeating failure, thus, preparing for policy formulation and implementation of educational changes in each of our own countries? Copyright © 2003 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.