Capacity building for school development: current problems and future challenges

ABSTRACT

This article offers a theoretical discussion on the current problems and future challenges of school capacity building in early childhood education (ECE), aiming to highlight some key areas for future research. In recent years, there has been a notable policy shift from monitoring quality through inspection to improving quality through school capacity building in early childhood institutions in the global discourse for quality. Reflecting this policy shift and its implications on school development, ECE in Hong Kong is used as an illustrative example to deliberate the issues of school capacity building in Chinese educational contexts. We identify three challenging contexts: (1) low professional qualification and minimal teacher education resulting in a deficit approach to processional development, (2) absence of school-based professional learning culture for empowering teachers as internal agents of change, and (3) hierarchical culture within a school and between university and school hindering the process of school capacity building. Corresponding to these challenges, we aim to propose two suggestions, including (1) empowering teachers in ECE through school-based professional learning community and (2) promoting authentic external support in the process of university–school collaboration. Finally, we further propose specific directions for future research on school capacity building in ECE in Hong Kong. In doing so, it will contribute to knowledge-based development in school capacity building in Chinese educational contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• School capacity building
• university–school collaboration
• early childhood education
• Hong Kong
• Chinese context

Acknowledgements

This article is adapted from an original research proposal submitted to the Research Grants Council of the Government of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China. The title of the project proposal is Capacity Building for Quality in Early Childhood Education. The second author of this article acknowledges that his contribution to the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dora Ho is Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Her research interests include school leadership, education policy, curriculum and pedagogy, and early childhood education. She has written extensively on issues of school leadership, curriculum change, education policy, and teacher development. She has published book chapters, articles in leading international, peer-reviewed journals. She is an active researcher in the field of school leadership for change. Many of her research studies are concerned with the role of leadership in leading school-level development. Her publications have led to the professional community to rethink the role of leadership in the process of school development.

Moosung Lee is a Centenary Research Professor at the University of Canberra. Prior to joining the University of Canberra, he held an appointment as an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Hong Kong University. He earned his Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota in 2009, funded by a Fulbright scholarship. He has extensively published articles in the areas of urban education and educational administration some of which have been selected as best papers by academic societies such as American Educational Research Association and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korean government (NRF-2014S1A3A2044609).