Implications for Practice

The goal of the current curriculum reform is to enhance the quality of learning. It will be necessary, therefore, in the longer term to look for evidence of improvement in student learning outcomes. Before attempting this, however, it was deemed useful to ascertain how the curriculum changes are perceived and being implemented in classrooms.

This study has provided useful information about the current state of the curriculum in schools and about areas in which further support to schools and teachers is required. As stated in a previous section, a significant proportion of schools did not meet the standard provision of 190 school days per year set out in the BECG. When compared with the lesson time recommended in the BECG, many schools placed higher or lower emphasis on certain KLAs. A review of the amount of lesson time allocated to each KLA at each Key Stage of learning is deemed necessary to achieve a balance in learning. Apart from this, a majority number of respondents who had read the curriculum documents perceived the document helpful, and in turn, tended to feel more confident and competent in implementing the curriculum reform. The findings suggest that the EMB and school heads need to re-emphasize the importance of reading the BECG and the KLA Curriculum Guides, and to encourage teachers to read these documents.

The significance of the study lies in its potential to inform practice. As perceived by school heads, teachers professional development in relation to the curriculum reform, agreement among teachers about the aims of the curriculum reform, support from the school sponsoring body/school management committee for curriculum reform, the team culture of the school, parents’ support and assistance and resources support were all considered to be of help in implementing the school curriculum. KLA heads and teachers agreed that the following factors were helpful: understanding among teachers about the aims of the curriculum reform, coordination among various reforms implemented in schools in recent years, resources (e.g. manpower, funding), and leadership of the school head. In the light of these findings, the following recommendations are made. They are listed as action directions, and are designed to achieve greater impact on student learning.

	Communication among the EMB, schools and teachers should be strengthened to enhance teacher understanding of the aims of the school curriculum reform.
	Since the need for curriculum leadership among school heads and KLA heads comes up often throughout the study, it is clear that strong leadership should be provided in schools to facilitate the development of whole-school curriculum planning and school-based KLA curriculum planning, to achieve a broad and balanced school curriculum, to inspire a positive team spirit and to bring about effective management of resources.
	The Education Commission and the EMB should coordinate the various education reform initiatives introduced in recent years and improve the connections among them, so that teachers find them more manageable.
	The sharing of good practices and successful experiences should be promoted. These will provide an opportunity for enhancing teachers’ professionalism, confidence and competence in implementing the curriculum reform.
	Parents and the community should be helped to gain a better understanding of the curriculum reform, so that they can become more effective partners in making the reform a reality. School heads and teachers can make use of success stories to promote the curriculum reform at school open days and parents’ days. Such stories might also be promoted through the mass media in television documentaries and/or radio programmes.

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