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International Education Programme
The International Education programme covers research and consultancy projects in the areas of International Schooling and international education for development. Our focus is on East and SE Asia. We will also contribute to the development of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in these areas.
Core Project(s)
Enhancement of Global Perspectives of Students at EdUHK
Prof Bob Adamson, Prof John Lee, Ms Stephanie Chan, Ms Josey Ho
The flagship project is a Teaching Development Grant funded project in Globalization which is designed to enhance the global perspectives of students in the Institute. The purpose is to establish and manage an on-line forum for academic and administrative staff to share views and experiences of teaching global issues; maintain a database of courses incorporating global perspectives and subsequent impacts; organize events to disseminate good practice; conduct and analyze surveys, interviews and other assessment tools; and to gauge and evaluate the development of students’ global perspectives.
Hong Kong as a Source for Education Policy in England: Rhetoric and Reality
Prof Bob Adamson, Dr Katherine Forestier (Education University of Hong Kong)
Prof Paul Morris, Dr Christine Han, Dr Yun You, Dr Euan Auld (UCL: Institute of Education, UK)
As political parties in England compete to promote their vision of schooling, their plans for reform are often based on the claim that what they are proposing is a feature of one or all of the high performing East Asian societies that do well on international tests of pupil achievement e.g. the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). For instance, the 2010 Schools White Paper in England and the on-going review of the National Curriculum extensively cite practices in Hong Kong to support their policies.
Some of these claims seem far removed from the reality that the Principal Investigators have experienced both as academics and as participants in policy making and policy implementation in Hong Kong. What is more worrying is that these claims are largely unchallenged in England. The claims are accepted partly because people there tend to have limited knowledge of foreign education systems, and comparative educators have tended to avoid engagement in public debates relating to on-going policy making about how schools should be reformed. The purpose of this study is to help address that situation. We focus on how policy makers in England portray features of Hong Kong's education system to promote their own domestic reforms. We examine the nature of these features in Hong Kong by finding out what the relevant laws or rules are, and by interviewing people who are directly involved with these education features. This allows us to gauge the extent to which the claims made in England are valid and accurate. By doing so, we are contributing to the on-going debates in comparative education as to the influence of global and local factors on education reform.
Our study therefore is informing academic debates in both comparative education and national policy analysis. It is also making a significant contribution to the various stakeholders who contribute to, and are affected by, education reform, but do not have the expertise to evaluate or assess the claims that underpin these reforms.
Funded by The UK Economic and Social Research Council/Research Grants Council, Hong Kong, Joint Research Scheme.
Research Output
Adamson, B., Forestier, K., Morris, P. & Han, C. (2017). PISA, policymaking and political pantomime: education policy referencing between England and Hong Kong. Comparative Education, 53(2), 192-208.
Forestier, K. & Adamson, B. (2017). A critique of PISA and what Jullien’s Plan might offer. Compare - A Journal of Comparative Education, 47, 359-373.
Forestier, K., Adamson, B., Han, C. & Morris, P. (2016). Referencing and borrowing from other systems: the Hong Kong education reforms. Educational Research, 58 (2), 149-165.
You, Y. & Morris, P. (2016). Imagining school autonomy in high-performing education systems: East Asia as a source of policy referencing in England. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 46:6; 882-905.
Auld E., & Morris, P. (2016). PISA, Policy and Persuasion: Translating Complex Conditions into Education ‘Best Practice’ Comparative Education 52 (2): 202-229.
Morris, P. (2015). Comparative education, PISA, politics and educational reform: a cautionary note. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 45:3; 470-474.
Forestier, K. & Crossley, M. (2014). International education policy transfer: borrowing both ways – the Hong Kong and England experience. Compare, A Journal of Comparative and International Education 45 (5): 664-685
Resources on International Education
FreshEd podcasts on issues in international education
Partner Projects
A Distributed Perspective on Middle Leadership in International Baccalaureate Continuum Schools in Northeast Asia
A Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change (APCLC) project funded by the International Baccalaureate
Principal Investigator: Dr Darren Bryant, Dept EPL
This APCLC research project focuses on middle leaders’ interaction with senior leaders. Framing the study around distributed leadership in International Baccalaureate (IB) continuum schools will result in the identification of leadership practices, the materials, resources and routines that middle leaders use and develop to support their practice, and the impact of contextual factor, such as participation in the IB continuum, that facilitate or impede effective leadership distributions. This research will suggest context-relevant strategies that support middle leaders in their work.
Ideology and Instruction in Global Education: Case Studies of International and Local Schools in Hong Kong, New York, and Singapore
A Project by the Department of C&I
Principal Investigator: Dr Theresa Alviar
Global education (GE) is a curriculum approach that aims to expand students’ global awareness and develop skills and values to participate in an interconnected world. GE teachers are positioned at the centre of divergent ideological perspectives that wield powerful implications on curricular intentions, schools’ roles in society, and instructional pedagogy. Few studies describe teachers’ understanding of GE and how they mitigate conflicting agendas in the classroom. This qualitative study investigates conceptions about GE teaching, actual teaching, and the societal and institutional contexts in which teaching occurs. The study focus on Hong Kong, New York, and Singapore, where policies encourage global curriculum innovations, but where schooling is situated within nationalistic, utilitarian societal discourses regarding students’ future global roles.
Hong Kong youths’national identity: Impacts of Mainland exchange programmes, study tours and volunteer activities 內地交流活動對香港青少年國民身份的影響
A Project by the Department of EPL, Funded by Public Policy Research Grant of Central Policy Unit, HKSAR
Principal Investigator: Dr Annie Cheng
Co-Investigator: Dr Elson Szeto
Since the handover of Hong Kong to China, “National Identity” has become a vital focus promoted by the HKSAR government. According to the poll by the University of Hong Kong’s Public Opinion Programme (2010 – 2015), young people aged between 18 and 29 have the least and decreasing recognition, an average 5.5%, of their Chinese identity. Past research has shown that student participation in exchange programmes and study tours provides the possibility of new formulations of national identity. Since the Policy Address 2008, the HKSAR government has been actively expanding and exploring the feasibility of Mainland exchange programmes to enhance our youths’ understanding of Chineseness and to strengthen their national identity. Schools have been sponsored or subsidized with the costs of Mainland exchange activities through various grants and channels. Considering the significantly increasing number of Hong Kong youths who have participated in these Mainland exchange programmes and study tours, however, the effectiveness of these activities is understudied. At present, there is lack of systematic research on the impacts of these activities and the ways in which they influence our students’ perceptions of national identity. Thus, this study aims to:
1. examine secondary students’ perceptions of their national identity;
2. evaluate whether the Mainland exchange programmes or study tours have influences on students’ perceptions of national identity;
3. identify which type(s) of those activities (in terms of content, duration, destination, and organization of meetings, etc.) are the most effective in terms of enhancing their formation of national identity; and
4. identify what factors of Mainland exchange programmes or study tours attribute to their change in national identity.
The findings of this study can inform policy makers how to formulate effective strategies for promoting national identity through future Mainland exchange activities. In addition, it can provide significant feedback for secondary schools to organize meaningful Mainland exchange activities or study tours. Ultimately, it may enhance Hong Kong youths’ national identity.
Success Factors of Vocational Education Policies in Korea: Building Partnerships
A project by the Department of International Education and Lifelong Learning
Principal Investigator: Dr Tamara Savelyeva
The study investigates success factors of Korean vocational education and solidify the recently emerged partnership between EdUHK (through Dept. of IELL) and KRIVET, a top vocational education research institution in the region. Korea has quickly responded to the demands of a globalized economy by developing a successful vocational education model. The study looks at how the Korean model may inform and enhance vocational education in Hong Kong.
The study is conducted by means of policy analysis of existing KRIVET documentation and interviews with the President of KRIVET and his key staff. Resulting videos form part of the IELL research video series - Dialogues with Dr Tamara Savelyeva. The findings of this international study will be combined with an ongoing study on hong Kong vocational education undertaken by Dr Tamara Savelyeva and Prof. Chou Kee Lee.
Programme Director of 2016-2017 ESD Learning Programme (Sustainable Environment) with the UNESCO Hong Kong Association
A project by the Department of International Education and Lifelong Learning
Programme Director: Dr Tamara Savelyeva
UNESCO Hong Kong Association (UNESCO HK) is a charitable institution dedicated to facilitating and achieving UNESCO's mission. The ESD Learning Programme is a 5-month programme offered since 2009 which develops students’ in group project on selected learning areas in the context of sustainable development. It is an inter-school award bearing programme with support from eminent industrialists, professionals and institutional partners. It enhances students' knowledge about the concept of sustainable development in different areas: "Built Environment and Placemaking", "Sustainable Agriculture", "Sustainable Tourism", "Mental and Behavioral Health" and "Sustainable Environment".
Student Partner Project: Ms Chan, Shin Ying
Intercultural Education and the Building of Global Citizenship: Developing Intercultural Competence
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