IT WILL BE like getting a driving licence. In future, if you want to become a school principal you will need to pass the test to prove that you're ready to drive a school. 'For the first time Hong Kong's education community has recognised that leaders need to be trained. They are not just born,' said Jack Lam Yee-lay, chair professor of the Department of Leadership and Administration at Chinese University of Hong Kong, the man behind the new professional development programme for aspiring school heads now running at CUHK. Under the Education and Manpower Bureau's new framework for the continuous professional development of principals introduced this year, all aspiring school heads will need to have undergone training and completed project work before they can apply for the job. 'Continuous professional development happens in other trades, among medics, architects, lawyers, dentists. The time is opportune for the teaching profession to join this practice,' said Anthony Poon Hon-hung, deputy chief inspector of the bureau's Quality Assurance Inspectorate (QAI). Until now, it has not happened among the people who hold the keys to the effective education of our children. Lam said: 'This is the first time in Hong Kong that principals have undergone systematic training. Before it all depended on individuals, some of whom might have been interested in further study.' Continuous professional development - or CPD, as it is known in the trade - is a crucial part of the government's three-pronged approach to upgrading the leadership of schools. The other two are school management and governance reform, and external and internal quality assurance. Incorporated management committees will have greater responsibilities for their schools, but will be able to appoint principals equipped with the professional skills to run them effectively, so the theory goes. Government, meanwhile, will keep an eye on its effectiveness through external inspections. But self-evaluation - identified by the QAI in its annual report released this month as the weakest area of current management - will be the key tool the principals of the future use for implementing reform and measuring their schools' proficiency. Poon said: 'Everything is linked: the new school governance, training for principals and inspections.' Lam said: 'We have found that many principals are totally unprepared for the rapid changes taking place under education reforms.' Lam studied leadership in 67 schools before devising his course. The majority took a wait-and-see attitude to change, which he said was not surprising given that in the past many reforms had fizzled out. 'We discovered that when a principal decides not to act the whole school stands still.' But when they move, they can push their staff into what he terms a culture of collective learning. 'This is extremely important for change,' he said. The CUHK course involves 75 contact hours of teaching, and an action-research project to be carried out in their schools. Ninety aspiring principals are participating in the first cycle, with four cycles to be run a year. The course is targeted at all those vice-principals and senior teachers who might be interested in the top job. At least 400 will have been trained by 2004, though the certificates they obtain will only be valid for five years, which means that if graduates have not become principals by then they will need to requalify. Newly appointed principals are also undergoing support training as they find their feet, this time with the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). Finally, serving principals have not escaped the training net. Within each cycle of three years, they must now complete at least 150 hours of CPD related to their roles, including formal and action learning. The formal may include taking a higher degree or diploma of their choice, the action can be a project they have initiated or led in their schools. Quality Education Fund projects can qualify. They must further prove their worth by demonstrating their commitment to the community, participating in education-related committees or associations, or attending relevant events. Thirty hours of such activities need to be clocked during the cycle, according to Poon. For the aspiring principals, the focus is on six areas of leadership: their understanding of government policies, other changes in the external environment and how to reach out to parents and the community; curriculum planning and implementation; teacher development and supervision; financial management and self-evaluation. The HKIEd course for new principals includes observing effective leadership in the field, at schools in Hong Kong as well as Guangzhou and Sydney, in addition to the more theoretical workshops. A mentorship programme provides added support from experienced principals. 'We are trying to provide various channels and opportunities for learning,' said Ip Kin-yuen, of the HKIEd's Department of Educational Policy and Administration. By spending several days observing how other schools were run, they could see how leadership impacts on students, teachers and the general outcome of a school, he said. The government embarked on plans for the CPD programme in 1999. It has since sent delegations to Singapore, Australia and England to familiarise itself with international trends. But Lam said that importing overseas models was not the answer. Instead, his programme is based on the individual needs assessment of each 'student', completed before they start the course. Unlike the type of teaching their pupils currently experience, the emphasis in both the CUHK and HKIEd programmes is on professional sharing. 'Participants can get together, discuss common problems and come up with solutions,' said Lam. Ip sees the sharing as particularly important. 'Principals are lonely people at the top of the hierarchy. In the past they may have had colleagues who were friends, with whom they could talk freely. But after they become principals they find it difficult even to get their colleagues to have lunch with them. 'In this programme we not only prepare them in terms of knowledge and skills, but in networking. There will be a group who can reach out to each other, to share their problems and find the issues they face are not unique. They will learn from other schools' experiences.' This preparation, said Ip, would help them become proactive rather than reactive leaders. 'We also want them to be strategically prepared, to think about what they want to achieve, how they see their own strengths and weaknesses and how they can achieve their goals. They have to know themselves, their own schools and the trends in society and education.' Professor Paul Morris, president of the HKIEd, said that rather than focusing on mere administrative matters, the programme was successfully encouraging principals to focus on seeing themselves as leaders in the broader sense, especially in terms of supporting staff and curriculum development. Ng Tak-kay, chairman of CUHK School Heads Alumni Association and principal of CUHK FAA Thomas Cheung Secondary School in Tin Shui Wai, said experienced principals may resent the time they are now expected to spend on professional development. 'Some will find it a burden,' he said He would like to see more support and encouragement to participate, rather than coercion, and has some concerns about the action research. 'There could be more seminars, more reference materials and sharing so principals are not doing this as individuals,' he said. 'But it's important. Principals like professional development. Advanced countries have this, but this is the first time for Hong Kong.' Graphic: busgan
