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n Improving Schools in Hong Kong — Lessons from the Past Paul Morris, Mun4ing Lo and Bob Adamson INTRODUCTION฀ This boo k ha s explore d th e impac t o f a systemi c curriculu m refor m o n schools, teacher s an d classroom s i n Hon g Kong . W e hav e locate d ou r analysis in the international literature that relates to innovation and change, and ou r audience , so far, ha s primarily bee n ou r peer s who ar e involve d with analysin g educationa l reforms . However , fo r tw o reasons , it woul d be unwise if we were to leave as implicit the lessons that could specificall y be learnt in Hong Kong from th e case of the Target Oriented Curriculu m (TOC). Firstly, at this juncture of Hong Kong's history, educational refor m generally an d curriculu m refor m specificall y hav e bee n place d a t th e forefront o f th e polic y agend a a s the governmen t strive s t o improv e th e quality o f schoolin g an d re-creat e Hon g Kon g a s bot h a par t o f Chin a and a par t o f th e globa l economy . Thus , fo r example , a t th e tim e o f writing, the Education Commissio n was engaged i n a major an d ongoin g comprehensive revie w o f th e overal l educationa l syste m i n Hon g Kon g (Education Commissio n 1999 a and b). To date this has resulted in a new statement o f educationa l aim s an d wide-rangin g publi c consultations fo r the purpos e o f reformin g th e academi c structure , th e curriculu m an d 246฀\ ฀PAUL ฀MORRIS,฀MUN4JNG฀LO ฀AND฀BOB ฀ADAMSON฀ assessment mechanisms . Secondly, to leave the lessons of TOC for other s to infe r increase s th e potentia l fo r misinterpretation . Accordingly , ou r purpose i n thi s chapte r i s to spel l ou t concisel y wha t w e believ e ca n b e learnt abou t educationa l innovatio n an d refor m fro m th e experience s o f TOC. Sadly , muc h o f ou r analysi s suggest s tha t policy-maker s ar e onl y learning slowly and that many of the errors of the past are being revisited and tha t thes e ar e no t uniqu e t o Hon g Kon g (Eisne r 1992 ; Fulla n an d Miles 1995) . The lessons that can be learnt from the TOC experience can be broadly distinguished int o those which seeme d to contribut e positively t o chang e and are thus potentially worthy of emulation, and those which were more negative in their impact an d ar e thus probably bes t avoided in future . We saw in Chapter Two that the first phas e of the TOC reform fro m 1991 to 199 3 — which primarily involved the processes of policy-making and it s disseminatio n — provides th e sourc e o f mos t o f th e lesson s o f a more problematic an d negativ e emphasis. In contrast, the later phases — which sa w adjustment s t o th e natur e o f th e polic y an d it s adaptatio n i n schools — tend to provide those lessons of a more positive nature. In the following sections , w e focu s initiall y o n th e lesson s tha t appl y t o th e process o f policy-making , an d subsequentl y o n thos e tha t relat e t o th e operation of schools. Throughout, we draw comparisons with the ongoing process o f refor m o f th e educationa l system . A theme tha t run s throug h our analysi s relate s t o th e wa y reform s hav e bee n constructe d upo n a deficit o r pathologica l mode l o f teachers ' pedagog y an d schooling . W e argue tha t thi s embodie s a conceptio n o f ho w peopl e lear n an...

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