Such words are a far cry from the vocabulary so often heard in a school staff room. 'It takes time,' is a common response to the rallying call for change in education. Many principals and teachers remain entrenched in the status quo, paying lip service to education while they carry on their normal practices of working through textbooks in preparation for test or exam.

Principals are being asked to shake off the status quo, shape up through professional development and learn the ways of the best managers in the corporate world. It was such an initiative that brought Ada Ng Soo-min, principal of SKH Kei Hau Secondary School, Lam Tin, and So Ping-fai, principal of Tin Shui Wai Methodist Primary School, to Cathay Pacific City this month.

Cathay is one of six businesses sharing its management skills with principals in public-sector schools in the School Principals - Business Executives Partnership Scheme organised by the Education and Manpower Bureau, the British Chamber of Commerce and the English Schools Foundation. Twelve principals are taking part, spending three to four days with their business partners which, in addition to Cathay, include Jardine Matheson Limited, Jardines Restaurant Group, the British Council, Standard Chartered Bank and East Point Property Management.

The attachment is part of the 'action learning' component of these head teachers' continuous professional development now required for their licences to be school leaders. Although only 12 are taking part in this particular scheme, they will share their experiences with others in workshops being arranged by the EMB.

Ms Ng and Mr So both comment that it is only in recent years that principals have had the task of leading teachers to embrace change. Few foresaw the added challenges of falling enrolment, empty classrooms and the threat of school closures.

Cathay provides an excellent model in its readiness for change. The company's chief executive and chief operating officer are known as the 'chief disturbance officers', according to Mr Higgins. 'Their job is to disturb today's thinking, going around asking 'why do we do this or that?'' he said. Changes today were aimed at ensuring the airline was 'fit for purpose' in three years' time, Mr Higgins explained. 'People don't get that enough. But that is what leadership is about.'

Mr Higgins puts a positive spin on the airline's recent troubles, one from which many in the school sector could learn.

'The advantage has been that they made people wake up,' he said of the successive crises the company has faced. Management had found that things it couldn't do in the good times became easy in the bad, such as asking staff to take on new roles. The company is once again in expansion mode, providing more flights to more destinations. 'We are trying to grow as fast as we can, but at the same time we are still driving costs down. We have to grow and get leaner, otherwise we can't survive,' he said.

William Yip Kam-yuen, a principal on one year's secondment to the EMB as its chief development officer, professional development and training, oversees the attachment programme.

'School-based management is expecting principals to work like CEOs. They have to project five or 10 years ahead, what the school will be like going forward, and keeping up the morale of teachers. There are a lot of challenges, a lot of threats,' he said. Principals could no longer be mere administrators carrying out the orders of the EMB. They had to have their own vision as leaders, he said.

Mr Higgins believes there is much the worlds of education and business can share. 'The leadership challenge is I think of a similar nature, creating the environment where employees will engage actively in bringing about improvements,' he said. 'Getting the best out of people at work is necessary thinking for leaders, whether for CX staff or teachers.'

At Cathay, principals have sat at the controls of an aircraft and learnt about managing for every contingency an airline might face. But the focus of the attachment has been discovering how the company manages staff relations.

One of the first things Ms Ng noticed was the warm working environment in both the physical facilities and relationships between staff, resulting in a strong sense of belonging. Last year's Pisa [Programme for International Student Assessment] study found that sense of belonging among Hong Kong students was lowest among the 43 countries surveyed. Cathay may have its eye firmly on the bottom line, but it is heavily into education for the development for its 14,600 staff. It has a vast training operation at its headquarters and flight training centre in Hong Kong, as well as at regional centres across the globe and, increasingly, through its intranet. Hundreds of employees a year pass through its classrooms, with courses ranging from fast-track training for future managers to refresher courses for cabin crew and language teaching. Preparation for change is part of the timetable.

It was this readiness for change that so impressed Mr So.

'The biggest challenge for a principal is how to make our staff adapt or accept change,' he said. 'Cathay puts much emphasis on that and on emphasising people management.' The principals also found how Cathay staff are encouraged to help themselves, in initiating their training, managing their work schedules and even updating their personal records.

'If staff don't have control and choice, ownership disappears,' Mr Higgins said. This, he added, created a culture in which staff could take responsibility for what went right and wrong in their working day. Regular staff appraisal is also part of Cathay culture, something the academic world traditionally views with suspicion - few teachers welcome having their lessons observed. Cabin crew, for instance, are regularly assessed and will receive coaching as required to help them improve. Mr Higgins laughs off concerns that regular assessment can result in a shoe-shining culture. 'There is more likely to be shoe-shining if you know you don't have to deliver,' he said. 'It is not business enhancing if it doesn't pay you to be better than others.'

But the terms of assessment have to be clearly spelt out. 'People have a right to understand what is expected of them, even if this is sometimes difficult to define. They have a right to evidence-based assessment and open discussion,' Mr Higgins said. They are also expected to set their own performance standards. 'There is then no excuse about what is expected.'

The concept of professional development for principals may be new, but Mr Yip is confident that most have come to accept its benefits. 'Most secondary principals are very professionally involved,' he said. School sponsoring bodies and associations were also responding, bringing principals together for workshops.

Mr Yip, Mr So and Ms Ng are at the forefront of change in school management. Mr Yip does not fear it. 'That is life, that is Hong Kong, that is the world,' he said. 'But the pace of change is slower in education than other businesses.' That was because schools had remained closed environments. 'If principals are more open and dynamic it is better for the school to grow,' he said. Principals had to be proactive in motivating their staff. 'They have to encourage teachers to stay in the profession, to develop themselves, enjoy their teaching and value people and students. The principal should be a good coach and facilitator, rather than administrator. They should play the role of leader rather than micro-manager.'

For Ms Ng the key to school improvement is building a culture where students are more motivated to learn, and can develop a stronger attachment to school. To achieve this, her school has been focusing on the wider development of children beyond academic achievement, though it goes out of its way to give weaker students support in subjects such as maths, Chinese and English. If students could have that sense of motivation and belonging in a school then problems like bullying would go away.

All students take part in community service, for instance, ranging from tree planting to visiting the elderly. Project learning has also been put on the timetable, giving students greater chances to develop skills in research and presentation. But Ms Ng has some reservations as to how much of Cathay's culture can be applied to a school. 'Building lives takes time. We have to change the minds of students and the workforce,' she said. This was more complex than coping with routine operations such as issuing tickets, or even with crises such as Sars. And for the corporate world, profit was a key priority, she said. 'For us, the most important thing is building students to lead abundant lives, and face the future.'

Mr So said: 'Walking around Cathay I could feel, taste and smell the freedom, that people can do things on their own, and be responsible.' He would like this spirit to take off in his school.