APCLC Directors Gave Invited Presentation at Yunnan Normal University
Prof. Allan Walker (Joseph Lau Chair Professor of International Educational Leadership, Director of APCLC and Dean of FEHD) and Dr Qian Haiyan (Co-Director of APCLC) were invited to give presentations to leaders and academics at Yunnan Normal University this December.
Prof. Walker and Dr Qian’s presentation “Reform Disconnection – The Leadership Challenge” discussed many of the frustrations associated with implementing education reforms in mainland Chinese schools. Many of the recent reforms are beneficial, but when parceled together and thrust hastily at schools, they are unwieldy and disconnected. Prof. Walker and Dr Qian suggest that the inability of the reforms to impact schools is due in large part to their lack of sufficient connection to the reality of school life, to each other, to educative and public perceptions, and to the political and cultural context of China. Prof. Walker and Dr Qian illustrated these issues under headings of instrumental, intellectual, political, cultural, and communicative disconnections.
