A Study On The Effect Of School-based Support Services Of The Hong Kong SAR Government On School-based Curriculum Development

With globalization and development of information technology in recent decades,knowledge dissemination and acquisition have undergone tremendous changes.In this context,countries and regions,included the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region(SAR)have carried out education reforms to increase their competitiveness in the international arena.The SAR government has advocated the development of school-based curricula,suggesting that schools based on the basic curriculum framework to develop such curricula geared toward helping students achieve the educational goals and objectives.These measures include adapting learning objectives,teaching content,learning and teaching strategy,as well as assessment,so as to strike a balance between the curriculum guidelines and the professional autonomy of individual schools and teachers.However,although the school-based curriculum is nominally a school-based product,it still exists in the national or regional curriculum.Therefore,it is widely accepted that intervention from educational authorities is inevitable during school-based curriculum development.Accordingly,the Education Bureau of Hong Kong,to support schools to develop school-based curricula effectively,has established several school-based service teams.The support teams make use of their subject knowledge and curriculum development expertise to provide schools with resources,curriculum development,teacher professional development activities,as well as curriculum leadership development.Due to the social and historical background of Hong Kong,Cantonese used to be the medium of instruction for the Chinese Language Subject.After the handover,the status of Putonghua has increasingly improved in the region.To enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong,the SAR chief executives have emphasized the need to enhance the "biliterate and trilingual" ability of Hong Kong people.Against this background,the proposal of using Putonghua as the medium of instruction for teaching the Chinese Language Subject(PMIC)was put forward as it is considered as an effective way to improve Putonghua ability and language competency of Hong Kong students.However,due to the lack of clear guideline and timetable of implementation from the Education Bureau,schools interested in PMIC can only implement it in the form of school-based curriculum.In 2008,the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research(the SCOLAR)launched the "Scheme to Support Schools in using Putonghua to teach the Chinese Language Subject"(the Scheme)to support Hong Kong primary and secondary schools to implement PMIC.160 primary and secondary schools participated in the Scheme,representing a massive school-based curriculum development program in education reform.This study,taking the Scheme as an example,aims to shed light on how support for school-based curriculum development can be organized,illustrated and implemented.Meanwhile,it is also intended to give insight on how support for school-based curriculum development can facilitate teacher professional development,curriculum design,teaching material development and optimization of learning and teaching strategies.Based on these,the study is designed to explore effective school-based curriculum development pattern so as to facilitate curriculum reform in Hong Kong.The study is divided into following parts:The introduction is an overview of the study,including research background and objectives,research questions and methodology,significance and limitations of the study,and the structure of the paper.Chapter 1 reviews the literature about school-based curriculum home and abroad,its development in Hong Kong,support services for school-based curriculum,policies about the Chinese Language Subject in Hong Kong and researches related to PMIC.Chapter 2 summarizes the development of school-based curriculum and related support services in Hong Kong,discusses the background and development of school-based curriculum in the region,and sorts out the context in which school-based curriculum support services are embedded.Chapter 3 states how PMIC has come into being in Hong Kong.This is done by examining the language history in Hong Kong from the vague language policy during the British Hong Kong government,to the biliteracy and trilingualism policy after the handover,further to the proposal and development of PMIC.This part,by examining the development of related policies and school-based PMIC curricula,attempts to unveil the complexity of the school-based curriculum and the urgency of relevant support in PMIC school-based curriculum development,as well as the relationship between the Chinese Language and Putonghua in Hong Kong SAR.Chapter 4 analyzes the implementation of the Scheme from the aspects of teacher professional development,curriculum development and pedagogy.Subsequently,this study investigates teachers'perceptions of school-based curriculum development and student learning,as well as teachers'feedback on the support measures for school-based PMIC curriculum.It also examines the performance of teachers and students in the PMIC classroom to understand how students' speaking competency develops in the PMIC context.This is carried out by comparing students' ability in Putonghua and Cantonese,exploring students' attitude in learning Chinese via Putonghua,and accordingly understanding the effect of support services on the development of school-based curriculum from the perspective of student learning.Additionally,this study illustrates how related support services affect school-based curriculum development by examining the roles played by support teams and their concrete support measures within two schools during the collaborative school-based PMIC curriculum development by the schools and their support teams.The study,by reviewing the involvement of the school-based support team in the development of school-based curriculum,can boost the confidence and willingness of school leadership in the development of school-based curriculum at the professional level.Meanwhile,it can also enhance teacher confidence and willingness to develop school-based curricula by broadening their horizon,and giving them hands-on experience under theoretical guidance.In terms of learning and teaching,this study provides schools with different solutions to meet their curriculum and teaching needs by taking school affordances and restrictions into consideration.Meanwhile,the study suggests that the efficacy of school-based support services hinges on specific school priority.Additionally,the study also points out the necessity to consider how to make the effect from support services sustainable during the development of school-based curricula.