Curriculum reform through university and school partnership case studies of new Whole Language writing project

Marching into the 21st century, an era of information technology, "Knowledge Explosion" is a real problem by no means of exergeration. Schools can no longer stick to the traditional curriculum and unified mode of teaching in order to prepare the new generation to face the challenges of an ever changing world. Thus deep curriculum reforms inside the classroom is a necessary process.;From the nineties of last century, schools in Hong Kong have undergone numerous curriculum reforms of various dimensions but unfortunately there has hardly any real success. There could be many causes for the failures but one of the reasons is due to the lack of professional competence of the school workers to generate a deep and wide curriculum reform. The motive of this research study is to investigate how the curriculum innovations can really be implemented in the classrooms for the benefits of the pupils.;Professor S. K. Tse of Curriculum Department, University of Hong Kong introduced from overseas the concept of "Whole Language" approach in the teaching of writing in local primary schools. With certain modifications to accommodate local features, Prof. Tse tried to launch a programme named "New Whole-language Writing Project" in a number of primary schools. The project was really dynamic, it explored a completely new way in teaching Chinese writing in the classroom.;Pilot studies showed that new momentum had been created in schools which participated in the "School-University Partnership" programme. Most of the school teachers acknowledged that university professors could help them to be more receptive to change. As a result substantive reforms happened in the classroom.;Such being the case, the researcher found it worthy to carry out an in-depth study on six of the primary schools which had joined the "New Whole-language Writing Project" in order to find out what sort of school and university partnership could then be established and the effects towards curriculum reforms.;The study adopted a qualitative case study research approach. Deep interviews and document analysis have been employed to extract the data. The researchers have interviewed people in various sectors of the society, so that people in different levels such us teachers, senior teachers, headmasters, university professors, deans of faculties, and even officials from the education department, all contributed their opinions and experiences on school-university partnership.;There are many findings and insights from the studies. Firstly, it is found that different models of school and university partnership were adopted in the six primary schools. This was attributed to the different styles of leadership, individual personal characteristics, professional competence, etc. In general, the university professor acts as an expertise provider, conceptual theory interpreter, enabler and supporter, The data shows that most schools can only establish a "mentor relationship" with the university professors in the present situation. It is in fact, an ideal if the school and university can establish a "symbiotic" relationship. It needs both parties to understand the importance of working together on an equal status with mutual trusts and benefits. On a wider perspective, the partnership shares a common goal of bettering the well-being of the pupils.;One of the most significant insights in the study is that substantive reform can never be accomplished by one single entity. It must be the result of a number of people's concerted efforts. The transformational leadership of the school head, the collaboration of the teachers, the partnership of the university and society, the favourable cosmo social environment all play a vital role to make the second order changes among the teachers and pupils at the classroom level.