Assessment has become an important topic of debate and even reform in many Western countries. It is equally important in other regions of the world, although less subject to reform. Yet discussions of assessment across cultural boundaries are not frequent and in a globalizing world this can be problematic. The purposes of this article, therefore, are to review concepts such as 'formative' and 'summative' assessment and how they have developed over time. A focus of this review will be to identify the implications of different kinds of assessment for student learning, especially in relation to the cultural contexts in which they take place. The article will argue that different forms of assessment can be directed towards different learning purposes, especially where cultural pressures dictate certain kinds of assessment practices. Valorizing one form of assessment over another may well be counterproductive in particular cultural contexts.
Curriculum implementation as both an educational practice and a policy conundrum has been the focus of academic research since the 1970s. A new perspective is taken in this article by borrowing from the literature on policy implementation in multilevel systems of government. The concepts
of 'hard' and 'soft' policy are used to show that policy-makers choose from a range of strategies and it is these choices rather than teacher attitudes that may account for the level of implementation of a policy. A case study of curriculum implementation in Hong Kong is used to show how 'hard'
and 'soft' policy can be identified in practice.
Soft' policy has newly emerged as a policy implementation concept in relation to governance. Non-binding in character, 'soft' policy is designed for multi-level systems of governance in which there is relative autonomy at different levels of collective decision-making. 'Soft' policy has gained attention since the adoption of curriculum reforms in various countries that involve governance and coordination among multi-level systems. In real practice, 'soft' methods or measures are used to assist implementation at various levels. The present study explores how 'soft' policy has been realised in recent large-scale curriculum reform in Hong Kong. In essence, the study explores the 'soft' measures used by the government in the curriculum change, how these 'soft' measures have brought changes to schools, and how they were received by school principals and teachers. Implications are also drawn from these real cases of 'soft' policy implementation.
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