CUHK
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The Department of Educational Administration and Policy of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), the Hong Kong Centre for the Development of Educational Leadership of CUHK and the Hong Kong Association of Deputy Principals (HKADP) hosted the Conference for Deputy Principals 2016 at Yasumoto International Academic Park of CUHK today (24 May). It was supported and co-organised by the Department of Education Studies of Hong Kong Baptist University, the School Partnership and Field Experience Office of The Hong Kong Institute of Education, and the Association of Assistant Principals of Government Secondary Schools. Mr. Ng Hak-kim, Eddie, Secretary for Education, was invited to officiate at the opening ceremony and deliver an opening speech. In his speech, he encouraged the participants to strive for PROFESSIONALISM and to develop a sense of PRIDE in their work.

The research findings on ‘The roles and challenges of Deputy Principals in Hong Kong’ were released in the conference. The research team, comprising a number of executive members from HKADP, was led by Prof. Kwan Yu-kwong, Vice Chairperson of the Department of Educational Administration and Policy, CUHK. A total of 1,486 sets of questionnaires were sent to all deputy principals in secondary and primary schools in Hong Kong in March 2016 and 603 replies were returned, giving a satisfactory response rate of 40.6%. The results showed that Hong Kong deputy principals maintained a high level of positive psychological capital, scoring high in the four dimensions of ‘Self-efficacy’, ‘Hope’, ‘Resilience’ and ‘Optimism’. These psychological qualities had a positive and significant impact on their enactments of the leadership roles of agent-of-change, harmonizer, and relationship-builder in Hong Kong schools. In addition, the respondents all pointed to the difficulties of handling human issues in Hong Kong. The research suggested that professional development programmes catering for their different stages of growth and development should be warranted.

The theme of the conference this year was ‘School leadership in a time of upheaval’ and more than 350 school administrators and educators were attracted to join the conference. Mr. Tsang Yok-sing, Jasper, President of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, and Prof. Pang Sun-keung, Chairman of the Department of Educational Administration and Policy each presented a keynote speech on ‘The role of school leadership upheaval of the times’ and ‘The professional development and inheritance’ respectively. It was followed by eight sharing sessions participated in by scholars and practitioners with different school backgrounds from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.