Education reform is increasingly portrayed as a quest to achieve a "world class" education system through a process of identifying and adopting the practices of those systems whose pupils perform best in league tables of achievement. This is the rationale for the range of new policies proposed by the coalition government in the schools White Paper…

In 2007, a Judicial Commission of Inquiry was established by the Government of Hong Kong to investigate allegations that senior officials had interfered with the academic freedom and institutional autonomy of the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). It concluded that a former minister had requested the President of that institution to curb…

Analyzes the relationship between educational reform in Hong Kong and the changing political system. Finds that political problems (regime legitimacy, destructive political culture) have obstructed the meaningful implementation of educational reform. Thus reform initiatives have been largely symbolic. (Contains 30 references.) (PKP)

Analyzes creation and implementation of Hong Kong's Target Oriented Curriculum (TOC), an education reform effort, in light of the country's transition to Chinese rule in 1997. Examines TOC's origins, its nature, means of implementation, and its impact. Discusses tension between "policy intent" and "policy actions," and consequent evolution of the…

Drawing on selected literature about education in seven east Asian countries that have shown remarkable economic development since World War II, this paper considers how the nature of the curriculum might have contributed to these nations' economic growth. The systems are highly centralized, with a curriculum component promoting national goals.…