The Quality School Improvement Project (QSIP) has been partnering with frontline educators for over twenty-five years, witnessing the different stages of local education reform. Reflecting on QSIP’s journey, it initially drew inspiration from international experiences and established a three-year school-based support program, laying the foundation for comprehensive school improvement locally. With the support of the Education Bureau and private funds, QSIP has evolved into an organisation that implements multiple improvement programs simultaneously, covering various areas of education. In recent years, as the educational landscape continues to evolve, schools not only face ongoing curriculum reforms but also need to address their specific needs. In response, QSIP has made significant efforts to further develop comprehensive school-based support specifically designed for each individual school, working collaboratively to plan and implement various school-based initiatives from a holistic perspective.

In terms of support content, it seems to have gone through a cycle over the past two decades. Following the education reform in the early 2000s, schools needed to develop self-evaluation mechanism, leading to a strong demand for self-evaluation cycles of ‘planning, implementation, and evaluation’ (PIE), as well as support in the domains of ‘Learning and Teaching’ and ‘Student Support’. Subsequently, as the School Self-Evaluation (SSE) and External School Review (ESR) mechanisms were established and schools’ counselling systems became more mature, a worldwide emphasis on innovative learning and teaching strategies emerged. Focuses like ‘catering for learner diversity’ and ‘fostering self-directed learning’ gained significant attention during this period. Meanwhile, local schools were undergoing an adaptation period for the new Senior Secondary Curriculum and the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination, resulting in a significant increase in the demand for support in the ‘Learning and Teaching’ domain. Moving on to recent years, the pandemic has posed challenges for schools in cultivating students’ learning habits, developing interpersonal relationships, and promoting mental and physical well-being. Furthermore, schools need to strengthen the development of new middle-level leaders and new teachers due to talent mobility, while also aligning with the ‘enhanced School Development and Accountability framework’. As a result, schools once again have significant support needs in the three domains of ‘Management and Organisation’, ‘Learning and Teaching’, and ‘Student Support’, and QSIP has developed accordingly, progressing in various aspects such as talent recruitment and internal training.

The QSIP team believes that effective school support should be comprehensive and tailored to the individual school’s needs. Therefore, since its establishment, QSIP has been designing school-based support programs tailored to each school’s context without preset boundaries, and arranging team members with the relevant expertise to provide on-site support with the focus on fostering collaboration at both the school and subject/department levels.

Although this support model presents its challenges, the QSIP team is immensely grateful for the recognition received from school leaders and teachers. Looking ahead to the future, we will undoubtedly continue to spare no effort in assisting schools in their ongoing development and promoting the professional growth of teachers.

Dr. Chan Hung Cheong, Morton
Director
QSIP