Understanding education reform: Insights from stories of the changing school context

In this article, the authors argue that no matter how well a reform is conceptualized and planned, it is in the frontline schools and classrooms that the reform goals and strategies are tried out, reflected on, and refined. This article reports on a study of reforms that were carried out in one local primary school in Hong Kong. The study seeks to learn from the experiences of the teachers and principal about the challenges and dynamics of the reform process in the school by attending closely to their everyday stories and experiences from the field. In the study, the authors adapted a narrative inquiry methodology. In the background of the study, they discuss the changing school context and changing social context. They also discuss the principal's story of reform, the teacher's story of reform, and teachers' practice in the reform context, as well as learning for education reform in schools. Copyright © 2006 Illinois State University.