Teachers, policymakers and project learning: The questionable use of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ policy instruments to influence the implementation of curriculum reform in Hong Kong

Following the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region developed wide-ranging curriculum reforms, including project learning. A recent survey has indicated that over 80% of Hong Kong primary and secondary schools have adopted project learning as a curriculum task. Such an outcome is hard to reconcile both with the culture of Hong Kong schools and the generally bleak picture that pervades the literature on educational change. In seeking an explanation for this apparent success we focus attention on the policy instruments that were used by government agencies to facilitate the process of implementation. Our analysis revealed that teachers were caught in a pincer movement that involved voluntary activities promoting project learning and coercive measures that monitored and evaluated successful implementation. Teachers’ views of these policy instruments differed markedly from those of policymakers. This confluence of mixed approaches, while apparently successful, is also shown to be problematic. Finally, the paper is located in a theoretical framework with its origins in recent policy theory that to date has not been applied to educational contexts

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

面向新高中課程改革：學校政策制定者的觀點和決定The New Senior Secondary School Curriculum Reform in Hong Kong: School Policy Makers’ Perspectives and Decision Making

自2009年開始，香港高中課程進行大規模的改革，所有適齡的中學生，須接受六年免費的中學教育，在初中至高中期間，無需經歷任何公開考試，直至完成中六，才接受一次中學文憑考試，以作為升學或就業的依據。在這改革背景之下，香港的高中課程和教學須面對有史以來最重要的改革和挑戰。在課程路向方面，新高中課程從以往的菁英主義走向普及主義；在教學路向方面，它須走向多元化的教學方向，才能處理新高中課程會出現的學生個別差異的問題。面對這種種的挑戰，究竟學校政策制定者對新高中課程所持的觀點，與官方課程是否相同，抑或有異？在他們工作的學校環境中，建構新課程時又有何決定？本研究以香港新高中課程改革為背景，以實徵研究為本，探討香港中學的政策制定者對新高中課程的觀點和決定，問題有三：一、香港的學校政策制定者對新高中課程持哪些觀點？二、學校政策制定者在學校課程的建構方面有何決定？三、哪些因素影響學校政策制定者的決定？Since 2009, the senior secondary school curriculum in Hong Kong has undergone a large scale of change. Instead of taking two public examinations, all students will receive free six-year secondary school education and sit the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination at their exit point. With such a change, the Hong Kong senior secondary school curriculum faces its greatest challenge that has ever met. In terms of curriculum orientations, the new secondary school curriculum espouses compulsory education instead of elitist education. In terms of teaching and learning, the new secondary school curriculum needs to adopt various teaching methods in order to solve the problems of individual differences. With this challenge, it is interesting to explore how school policy makers perceive the new senior secondary school curriculum, as well as the decisions they make on the planning and construction of their new school curriculum. This paper aims to explore the perspectives and decision making of the school policy makers on the new secondary school curriculum. It focuses on three questions: (1) What are the perspectives of the school policy makers on the new secondary school curriculum? (2) What are the decision making of the school policy makers in constructing the new school curriculum in their own school contexts? (3) What are the factors affecting school policy makers’ decisions

課程的「軟」和「硬」政策實施：教師層面的理解The Implementation of “Soft” and “Hard” Policy on the School Curriculum: Teachers’ Perspectives

「硬」政策是以法令為根據，具有法律約束力的實施政策，「軟」政策則源於國際法律和有關歐洲工會的政治分析，它沒有法令的約束力或硬性的規條，主要是經由遊說、溝通、指引、資源分享、會議等等的方式，吸引實施者採納有關的政策。由於現代社會的不斷改變，「硬」政策在推行時有很大的局限，而「軟」政策就填補了這空間，為政府的決策帶來了不同的施政效果。本文就以香港課程改革為例，從教師的層面與角度探討課程的「軟」和「硬」政策實施。自2000年的課程改革以來，香港政府採納了「軟」政策來推行新課程，以實質可觀的資源，提供各種人力、物力讓學校採用，期望協助學校實施各種校本革新。表面上，「軟」政策應該受到教師的歡迎，但事實上，教師對「軟」政策所提供的支援並不樂觀，他們所理解的「軟」政策，其實和「硬」政策只是一線之差而已。 The use of legal structures to force compliance has been termed as ‘Hard’ policy. ‘Soft’ policy is derived from international law and has been used to analyze the European Union policies. ‘Soft’ policy is non-binding in character. It attracts actors’ adoption of newly installed policies through persuasions, communications, guidelines, sharing of resources, meetings, etc. As contemporary society changes, ‘hard’ policy has its limitation in the implementation of new policies. ‘Soft’ policy fills this gap and brings along a different perspective for implementation. By using the example of the current curriculum reform in Hong Kong, this paper aimed to explore the ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ policy implementation through teachers’ perspectives. Since 2000, ‘soft’ policy has been used by the Hong Kong Government through the provision of resources and manpower to assist the innovations implemented in local schools. It seemed that these ‘soft’ methods should be welcomed by the local school teachers. However, teachers were pessimistic about the current policy implementation. In general, teachers perceived that they had no choice but to implement the stated government reforms in their schools. In the end, they felt that ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ policy did not differ much

「促進學習的評估」改革： 學校的實施與挑戰 The Reform of “Assessment for Learning”: School Implementation and Challenges

自2001年香港實施大規模的課程改革以來，學校評估也相應地改革以配合課改的需要，「促進學習的評估」是其中的改革重點，它對傳統上以考試為主導的評估來說，是重要的改革和挑戰。在意念上，「促進學習的評估」重視評估和學習的關係，側重提升評估的質素，對學校和教師在改善課堂評估方面尤為重要。本文的目的是透過香港六所學校的實施個案，探討有關的評估改革實施，以及學校所面對的挑戰。研究結果顯示，學校在總體發展計畫、具體措施、課堂教學及評估方面，對中央文件所提的「促進學習的評估」都有不同程度的理解和實施。總體上，學校對評估的革新取向，採取由上而下的實施措施，反映學校對評估改革的概念和取向，並未有深入的認識和發展策略，而學校教師在課堂實施方面，仍然以總結性評估為主要的考慮，對知識為主的課堂傳授及測考較為重視，顯示「促進學習的評估」其實施過程遇到不少的困難和挑戰，包括學校實施者對有關理念的重視和理解、學校發展的環境脈絡和困難，以及社會的價值和文化取向等，都不能掉以輕心。 Since 2001, Hong Kong has initiated and adopted a large-scale curriculum reform, of which “assessment for learning” (AfL) is used to best suit the spirit of the reform. AfL , as a significant reform in assessment, has posed a challenge for the traditional examination-oriented assessment in Hong Kong. In essence, AfL promotes the relationship between assessment and learning. It also functions as a way to improve the quality of assessment and thus becomes a significant aspect of improving classroom assessment for schools and teachers. This study aims to explore the implementation of AfL and the challenges met through six case studies. The results found that there were different interpretations and implementation of AfL in school planning, implementation measures, classroom teaching and assessment practice. It showed that the implementation was a top-down strategy and school did not have an in-depth understanding of the concept of AfL and development strategies. Classroom implementation reflected that teachers’ major concerns were summative assessments. Knowledge delivery and test and examinations still prevailed. It showed that there were difficulties and challenges in the implementation of AfL which included the different interpretations of AfL by the school implementers, the difficulties of implementation in individual school contexts and the dominated social values and cultures