Perceived impacts on schools, students, school heads, KLA/subject heads and teachers

The following sections outline the findings on the impact of the curriculum reform, as perceived by different groups. The scope examined includes the impact on the school as a whole, the benefits to students, and the professional development of the respondents.

Impact on Schools

School heads were asked whether they had found changes in a give list of areas since the implementation of the curriculum reform in their schools on a 5-point scale from –2 (undermined) to +2 (improved). In general, the majority of school heads reported improvement in these seven areas:

	school as a learning community (83% for primary, 75% for secondary)
	relationship between school and parents (71% for primary, 45% for secondary)
	team culture among teaching staff (77% for primary, 62% for secondary)
	teachers’ enthusiasm in teaching (72% for primary, 47% for secondary)
	relationship between teachers and students (76% for primary, 61% for secondary);
	deployment of school resources (73% for primary, 56% for secondary);
	parents’ recognition of curriculum reform in their schools (82% for primary, 55% for secondary).

As shown by the data, more primary than secondary school heads found improvement in the above areas.

However, the heads also raised a number of problems. Over 60% of school heads perceived “teacher workload” as having changed somewhat for the worse in their schools. In addition, around 20% of school heads, some primary, some secondary, felt that “morale of teaching staff” and “conflicts among the staff” had worsened slightly. In their open-ended comments, respondents mentioned that providing additional manpower resources and small class teaching would facilitate the implementation of curriculum reform.

Impact on School Heads

When asked what changes they had noticed, since introducing curriculum reform in their schools, over 60% of primary and secondary heads indicated that they had noticed slight improvements or improvements in the following aspects:

	leadership competence (72% for primary, 62% for secondary)
	professional development (86% for primary, 81% for secondary)
	collaboration with teachers (83% for primary, 76% for secondary)
	confidence in leading the school curriculum development (82% for primary, 73% for secondary)
	Competence in leading the school curriculum development (81% for primary, 68% for secondary)

Interestingly, the primary school group indicated a substantially higher level of improvement than the secondary school group in all five aspects.

Impact on Teachers

KLA/Subject heads and teachers were asked to indicate the extent of benefit they felt in their own professional development from implementing the relevant KLA/subject curriculum reform in their schools on a 5-point scale from 0 (not significant) to 4 (very significant). Apart from the secondary school English Language Education and Mathematics Education groups, the majority of KLA heads and teachers (around 80%) reported “2” or “3” in the following areas:

	subject knowledge
	teaching strategies
	knowledge about curriculum development
	skills for developing and evaluating the school-based curriculum
	skills for developing assessment strategies

Again the primary school groups perceived a slightly higher level of benefit than the corresponding secondary school groups. Overall results suggested that both KLA/subject heads and teachers perceived that they had derived personal / professional growth from the reform. It can be argued that this might in turn reinforce their future commitment and contribution to the reform.

It is worth noting that the four variables, namely: confidence in implementing curriculum reform strategies in school, perceived competence in implementing curriculum reform strategies, whether the respondents had read the curriculum reform documents, and the stage reached in school-based curriculum planning, were positively correlated with the perceived benefit felt by teachers. This indicates that the more teachers are involved in curriculum reform, the more they feel they benefit professionally from the process.

Impact on Students

As emphasised in the curriculum documents, generic skills are essential elements of learning and are to be developed through learning and teaching in the context of the various KLAs/subject. The nine generic skills are: collaboration skills, communication skills, creativity, critical thinking skills, information technology skills, numerical skills, problem-solving skills, self-management skills and study skills. For 2001-2006, priority is to be placed on the development of the ‘3Cs’, i.e. communication skills, critical thinking skills and creativity. In addition, there are five priority values including responsibility, commitment, respect for others, perseverance, and national identity.

According to the responses from primary school heads, students improved in all eleven areas. Most school heads (about 90%) reported that their students showed slight improvement or improvement in communication skills, learning interest and overall learning performance. In contrast, fewer school heads (about 55%) reported that their students improved in perseverance and national identity. For secondary schools, over half of the school heads reported that their students showed slight improvement or improvement in most areas except national identity (38.5%) and perseverance (30.8%). Over 70% of respondents reported that their students showed slight improvement or improvement in the 3Cs. As reflected in table 29, the primary school heads indicated a substantially higher level of perceived improvement than secondary school heads in the eleven aspects, especially in the areas of learning motivation, learning interest, and overall performance of students.

On a 5-point scale from 0 (not significant) to 4 (very significant), the majority of KLA/subject heads and teachers felt that students had benefited from the implementation of KLA curriculum reforms in most areas. Except in Mathematics Education, the majority of KLA/subject heads and teachers (over 80% for primary, 70% - 80% for secondary) felt that students had benefited in terms of student motivation and interest in learning and in the three priority generic skills of communication, creativity, and critical thinking.

For both primary and secondary school groups, those who felt confident and competent in implementing the curriculum reform in their schools tended to see significant benefits among their students. It can be argued that this shows that KLA heads and teachers who feel confident and competent in implementing curriculum reform are more likely to put reform strategies into practice and to recognise their benefits.

Among secondary school teachers in Chinese Language Education, English Language Education, Mathematics Education, Technology Education, and Arts Education, those who had read the curriculum documents reported significantly higher levels of perceived student benefit than those who had not. Among primary school teachers, the same result applied to all six KLAs/subject. Again, the findings show that if respondents read the documents, they are more likely to perceive benefits among students.

Schools that had reached the stage of school-based curriculum planning seemed to feel that students were benefiting from the curriculum reform. Among secondary schools, in Chinese Language Education, English Language Education, and Arts Education, the benefit to students perceived by the KLA groups was in proportion to the level of maturity reached in school-based curriculum implementation. The more mature the school-based nature of the work, the higher the perceived level of benefit to students. This relationship was also evident in primary schools.

Interestingly, the perception of benefit to students from curriculum reform was inversely associated with the respondents’ year of experience. Among secondary school respondents, the Chinese Language Education and Personal, Social & Humanities Education groups with longer years of teaching experience tended to report lower levels of perceived student benefits. Among primary school respondents, the English Language Education, Mathematics Education, and Arts Education groups with longer years of teaching experience also tended to report lower levels of perceived benefit to students. Whether this reflects that the more experienced respondents generally saw little or no improvement in student performance, or simply that they were more sceptical about the benefits of curriculum reform would need to be further explored.