Research plan

Within a framework of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ policymaking, and using document analysis, surveys and focused interviews the research plan has been designed to collect data from key participants to provide a multi-dimensional perspective on curriculum policy implementation processes in Hong Kong. This research will be conducted through three stages focusing on policy-makers, school decision-makers and classroom teachers who represent key stakeholders in different levels.

In the first stage of the study, it is intended to interview selected policymakers in Hong Kong who have responsibility for curriculum policy and to examine relevant policy documents. The purpose is to examine closely policy makers’ views on curriculum policy making and the policy instruments that are seen to be necessary to secure the policies’ objectives. The results of these interviews will provide the broad framework in which successive stages of the project will be conducted.

In the second stage of the study, a representative sample of schools will be surveyed to assess school decision-makers’ views on centralized curriculum policy and its implementation at the school level. A sub-sample of school decision makers will be selected for interview in order to follow up in more detail the issues raised in the questionnaire. In the same schools a document analysis will be conducted in order to establish independently from the interviews how the schools have responded to curriculum reform initiatives. The purpose of the interviews and document analysis is to develop a picture of how schools have responded to central policy initiatives and the effectiveness of the policy instruments that were identified in stage 1 of the study.

n the third stage of the study, basing on their subject affiliations and the Principal’s recommendation, a sample of teachers within the sample schools will be selected for interview. The purpose of these interviews is to develop a classroom practitioner perspective on the central policy reforms, assess the effectiveness of the schools response to central policy instruments and to gather teachers views on the helpfulness or otherwise of these instruments.