No abstract

How school-based management in the form of multilevel self-management is related to educational quality is a crucial issue in current educational reforms. An empirical study was conducted to explore this issue in a sample of 68 primary schools in Hong Kong. It was found that the school environment of sampled schools could be classified into 4 types: Bottom-level Self-Managing (BSM), Top-level Self-Managing (TSM), Mediocre Self-Managing (MSM), and Poor Self-Managing (PSM). The performances of the school, groups, and individual teachers among these 4 types were significantly different. Some implications were drawn for practice and policy formulation.

In current educational reforms, the shift to school-based management is often assumed as the important approach to enhancing school effectiveness and educational quality. This assumption will be problematic if the relationship between education quality and school-based management is conceptually and empirically unclear. This paper aims to provide a theoretical framework to explore this relationship. It explains how the characteristics of school-based management or self-management at multi-levels can contribute to the emphasis and concerns of seven different models of educational quality in school. The proposed framework has useful implications for current educational reforms in international contexts.

Responding to the needs of current education developments, presents a comprehensive framework specifically for the analysis of educational policies and uses different policy cases in Hong Kong to illustrate how it can be applied effectively. The framework consists of four frames and each suggests the major considerations that need to be focused on in analysing the characteristics of educational policy. The first frame analyses the background and underlying principles related to the development of educational policies. The second frame examines the policy formulation process. The third frame investigates the implementation process and the related gaps between implementation and planning. The last frame focuses on the effects of policies. By using these four frames, the policy analysts might have a more comprehensive perspective for critically reviewing current educational policies. The framework can contribute to the ongoing discussion and development of educational policies, not only in Hong Kong, but also in an international context.