ABSTRACT
The decade prior to the departure of the colonial government in Hong Kong saw the introduction of a wide range of policy initiatives primarily designed to produce a more democratic system of government. In the education arena this period also saw the introduction of a reform initiative in 1990 which attempted to bring about fundamental changes to the nature of the primary school curriculum. The reform was initially termed ‘Targets and Target Related Assessment’ (TTRA) but in 1993 was renamed the ‘Target Oriented Curriculum’ (TOC). The goal of this chapter is to address two interrelated questions arising from the introduction of the TTRA/TOC. First, what were the perspectives on the reform which emerged in the interactions between policy makers (which includes all individuals and groups that developed and promoted the TTRA/TOC policy) and teachers? Second, what was the impact of the reform and what practices did schools introduce to support it? The first question focuses primarily on the period 1990-94 which saw the introduction of, and public response to, the policy. The latter questions focus on the period from 1995 when the TOC was being adopted in some schools.
