School-based curriculum development: the Hong Kong experience.

The purpose of this article is to analyse the nature of the School-based Curriculum Project Scheme (SBCPS), which was introduced into the Hong Kong education system ir 1988. The aims of the scheme were to promote school-based curriculum development (SBCD) designed to meet the learning needs of pupils and to encourage teachers to solve curriculum problems. Overall, the article provides insights into the characteristics of the SBCPS which was introduced into a highly centralized context and was initiated through a highly centralized mechanism, and describes how it was implemented into Hong Kong schools. This underlines the need both to view curriculum policies critically and to recognize the impact that the prevailing culture in schools has on attempts at curriculum innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]