Leveraging ICT for
Educational
Leadership:
Masterplans in
Hong Kong and
Singapore

ICT
Strategies
and Policies
in Hong Kong

The First ICT Strategy in HK- Information Technology for Learning in New Era
-Five year strategy: from 1998 to 2003
Mission1 access
and connectivity
Four missions
of the 1st ICT
strategy
Mission2 teacher
enablement
Mission3:curriculu
m and resource
support
Mission4 community-wide
culture
aim provide sufficient IT
facilities;
funding flexibility;
aim
encourage front-line
teachers;
arrange technical support
service
integrate IT into school
education;
foster better software and
supporting materials
aim
foster the emergence of a
community-wide environment
conductive to culture change
aim
The vision of the First Strategy:
to promote a paradigm shift in school education from a traditional textbook-based teacher-centered
approach to a more interactive and student-centered approach to equip students for information

The Second ICT Strategy in HK-Empowering
Learning and Teaching with Information Technology:
form 2004 to 2007
The vision of the second strategy:
to encourage students, teachers, schools and other stakeholders to
use ICT effectively as a tool for enhancing learning and teaching, with
a view to preparing the younger generation for the information age,
turning schools into dynamic and interactive learning institutions, and
fostering collaboration among schools, parents and community.

The Second ICT Strategy in HK-Empowering Learning and Teaching with Information Technology
form 2004 t0 2007
Seven strategic
goals of the 2nd ICT
strategy
Goal 1: Empowering Learners with IT – empowering students with IT skills and
knowledge, creative problem solving skills and attitudes for lifelong learning.
Goal 2: Empowering Teachers with IT – empowering teachers with IT through the
provision of professional development opportunities and support for the use of IT in
curriculum and pedagogical innovations that aligned with the goals of Curriculum
Reforms.
Goal 3: Enhancing School Leadership for the Knowledge Age – providing guidance and
support so that individual school heads and their associates could establish their own
blueprints for the integration of IT to enhance the learning and teaching process.
Goal 4: Enriching Digital Resources for Learning – establishing platforms for
updating resources and sharing experiences to meet school needs.
Goal 5: Improving IT Infrastructure and Pioneering Pedagogy Using IT –
helping schools upgrade and replace hardware and encouraging innovative
use of IT to enhance learning and teaching.
Goal 6: Providing Continuous Research and Development – providing continuous research
and development to evaluate the effectiveness of IT in education strategies and their
impact on students’ learning outcomes,and to pioneer innovative IT applications in
education.
Goal 7: Promoting Community-wide Support and Community Building –
enhancing partnership between the IT industry and the education
sector, and encouraging support from parents.

The Third ICT Strategy in HK-Right Technology at the Right Time
for the Right Task: from 2008-2014
Six Strategic
Actions of 3rd ICT
strategy
Action1: To provide a
depository of curriculum-based
teaching modules with
appropriate digital resources
Action2: To continue to
sharpen teachers’ IT
pedagogical skills
Action3: To assist schools in
formulating and
implementing school-based
IT in education development
plans
Action6: To collaborate with non-government
organizations to improve
parents’ information literacy and
launch parental guidance programs on
e-learning at home
Action5: To strengthen
technical support to
schools and teachers
Action4: To enable
schools to maintain
effective IT facilities
The Third IT Strategy declared that “the key to success of taking IT in education forward is to enable teachers
to use the right technology at the right time for the right task’’.

A comparison of the key strategic elements identified in the four ICT policies in Hong Kong
1998 2004 2008 2014
Mission1: ICT facilities
and access
Goal5: infrastructure and
pedagogy using ICT
Goal 1: empowering
students with ICT
Action4:effective ICT
facilities
Action5: technical
support
Action1: enhance
school’s IT infrastructure
Mission2: teacher
enablement
Goal 2:teacher
development focusing on
pedagogical innovations,
curriculum reform,and
research
Action2: teachers’ ICT
pedagogical skills
Action 4: professional
development of teachers
Mission3:curriculum
and resource support
Goal 4: enriching digital
resources for learning
Action1: depository of
digital resources
Action 2: the quality of e-learning
resources
upgrade
Action3: curriculum
renewal
Mission4: community-wide
environment
conductive to the culture
change
Goal 7: community-wide
support and community
building
Action6: information
literacy of parents
Action5: parents, skate
holders and the
community involvement
Goal 3: school leadership
for knowledge age
Action 3: school-based
ICT in education
development plans
Action4: professional
leadership building
Goal 6: research and
development
IT infrastructure
teacher competence
digital resource&
IT support
community culture
building
e-leadership
building

Key Implementation outcomes arising from the first and second ICT strategies(based on the
Preliminary Evaluation of the First ICT strategy in 2001, the over Evaluation of the First ICT strategy in 2005, and the
Phase I Evaluation of the second strategy)
The First ICT Strategies The Second ICT Strategies
Infrastructure
and access
1. the average student-computer ratios in SS and
PS reduced from
36:1&53:1 in 1999 to 7.5:1& 13.4:1 in 2001, then
to 7.4:1&4.6:1 in 2005;
2. Internet connectivity of computers in the lab
was improved to 100% until 2005
1. additional ICT-related equipment was
purchased, the gross student-computer ratio
reduced to 3.91:1;
2. All schools had access to the Internet through
broadband connectivity
Support ICT coordinating team was equipped in school to
support teaching
school-based technician support service was
strengthened
Digital resource more and more educational software package
are available in school
two-thirds of teachers used digital resource to
teach
Teacher
competence
all teachers had completed IT training at the
basic level, 77% at the intermediate level or
above
1. teachers are more proficient in using new
software and hardware;
2. More IT training programs provided to meet
teachers’ demand
Pedagogical
use of ICT
Increasing rate of using IT in teaching, but the
ratio is relatively low
over 80% of teachers had used ICT to conduct
learning and teaching activities
Student
learning
More than 80% students have developed
confidence in using IT for learning
different types of learning activities were
engaged with the use of IT, not only for
information search, but also for self-evaluation
Community
culture
a growing culture of IT use by school heads,
teachers in school and outside school
a sharing or collaborative culture was fostered
in a high rate

The Fourth ICT Strategy in HK-Realizing IT potential, Unleashing Learning Power: from 2014
Action1 Enhancing school’s IT
infrastructure and re-engineering
the operation mode
Five
recommende
d actions of
the 4th ICT
strategy
1.1 Providing a WIFI campus for all
1.2 Adopting a diversified service model
1.3 Using mobile devices wisely
Action2 Enhancing the
quality of e-learning
resources
Action3 Renewing curriculum,
transforming pedagogical and
assessment practices
5.1 Communicating with parents
5.2 Working with stakeholders and community
5.3 Leveraging community resources
Action5 Involving parents,
stakeholders and the community
4.1 Empowering e-leadership
4.2 Providing a self-learning web-based
tool kit
4.3 Enhancing professional development
of teachers
4.4 Rendering support services
4.5 Building communities of practice
Action4 Building professional
leadership, capacity and
communities of practice
The goal of the Fourth Strategy:
2.1 Developing an e-textbook market
2.2 Leveraging global e-learning
resources
2.3 Enriching the free resources on
EDB one-step portal
2.4 Sharing of resources by teachers
2.5 Enabling Single Sign-on
2.6 Integrating e-learning platforms
3.1 Articulating clear learning objectives
3.2 Enhancing problem-solving and
programming-related skills
3.3 Applying IT skills across school curricula
3.4Promoting an e-learning repertoire
3.5 Using e-assessment for student learning
3,6Engaging students in IT-related life-wide
learning
3.7 Exploring IT-related career paths
3.7
to unleash the learning power of all our students to learn to learn and to excel through realizing the potential of IT in
enhancing interactive learning and teaching experiences, and aim to strengthen students’ self-directed learning, their
creativity, collaboration, problem- solving and computational thinking skills, as well as ethical use of IT

ICT
Masterplans
in Singapore

Masterplan 1：key dimensions of the masterplan 1
Curriculum
&Assessment
Content
&Learning
Resource
Human
Resource
Management
Physical&
Technology
Infrastructure
 Shift towards better balance
between acquisition of factual
knowledge& mastery of concept of
skill
 Encourage pupils to engage in more
Active & independent learning
 Include assessment measuring
Abilities in applying
information, thinking
&communicating
 Acquire & Stimulate development
Of education software to meet
curriculum needs.
 Facilitate use of relevant
international resources for T&L
 Provide a system of
Convenient procurement
help schools obtain
software easily & on
time
 Train every teacher
In purposeful use of
ICT for teaching
 Equip trainee teachers with
core skills in teaching with ICT
 Involve institutions of higher
learning & industry partners in
school
 Provide pupils with
Access to ICT in learning
Areas in school
 Provide school-wide network &
Link all schools through wide-
Network eventually connected to
Singapore ONE, enabling speed
Delivery of multimedia services
On island-wide basis

Launched incubator
schools Scheme
Initiated devolution
Scheme for ICT funds
Formed ICT
consultancy teams
Launched MS-MOE l
Development Award for
Teachers
Set up learning Sciences
Lab in the national Institute
of Education
Launched ISHARE on
inter-cluster resource
sharing platform
Initiated roll-out of
baseline ICT standards
for school
Launched LEAD ICT@
Schools programme
Introduced graphic
calculators for A level
Mathematics
Introduced data loggers
for O level Science
Practical assessment
Launched FutureSchool
@Singapore programme
Launched Lenovo
Innovation Award for
teachers
Masterplan 2 ：
Implementation of Milestones
Ensure baseline level
of ICT use
Develop schools’ capacity
for ICT implementation
Strengthen the integr
-ation of ICT into C & A
Encourage higher levels
of ICT use

Masterplan 3 ：Implementation
• MOE & MCI
Build up
coordinates
well
• still
government-driven
overall
• Driven from
the top
• Key
constructs like
SDL & CoL
Centralized
Top-down
Decentralized
Top-down
Decentralized
Bottom-up
Centralized
• Top-down Bottom-up
support for
bottom-up
• Policies to
encourage
innovations
• Agency from
the grassroots
• Build up
constituency
• Collaboration
with industry
partners

Implementation outcomes arising
from MP3
• A high usage of ICT
• The integration of ICT into curriculum
• Formal Learning
Masterplans in future
• Different outcomes toward different
masterplan strategies projects
• Masterplans in future towards 21CC

Necessary Transformation of MP
C & A ICT supporting
Curriculum
ICT integration into C
& A
ICT embedded into
syllabuses teaching
guide
Professional
Development
Core training for all
teachers and school
leaders
Differentiated prof
Development
Consultancy to
school leaders
ICT mentorship
Professional learning
communities
R & D
Spearheading R&D
Efforts in
collaboration with
industry & schools
Seeding innovation
in schools
Translating Research
to influence
classroom practices
Central provision to
equip all schools
One-size-fits-all
Flexible provision to
suit schools needs
Closer alignment to
curriculum change
and schools needs
Infrastructure
for Learning
MP1 MP2 MP3

Key Differences
from ICT Masterplans of
Singapore and Hong kong

Hong
Kong
Strengthen &maintain
R&D
E-Leadership from MP2
Community-wide
support and
community building
Focus on Post-PC era,
the 4st strategy
Singapore
SDL+COL with two
types of goals
Centralized
Research &
Development
Focus on cyber
wellness
&sustainablty

Learning without ICT
Homework is so
difficult without ICT.
Just killing me!

Learning without ICT
Math, I don’t know!
Chinese , I don’t know!
Science ,I don’t know!
Everything ,I don’t know!
Help! Help! Help!

Learning with ICT
So easy!
媽咪，再也不擔心我的學習了！

Summary of
Hong Kong
and Singapore
ICT Masterplans

Hong Kong ICT strategy
The First Strategy
focused on access
to computing
equipment and the
development of a
network
infrastructure
within schools.
The Second
strategic focus was
on the further
integration of ICT
into the teaching
and learning
process.
The Third Strategy
focused on the
human factor
necessary for the
integration of IT into
learning and teaching
and the appropriate
use of IT.
The fourth strategy
focus on
strengthening
students’ self-directed
learning,
creativity,
collaboration,
problem- solving and
computational
thinking skills

Singapore Masterplans
MP1 laid a strong foundation for schools to harness ICT, particularly in
the provision of basic ICT infrastructure and in equipping teachers with
a basic level of ICT integration competency.
MP2 focused on strengthening the integration of ICT into the
curriculum, establishing baseline ICT standards for students, and
seeding innovative use of ICT among schools.
MP3 focuses on both students and teachers as learners .It envisages
that through the use of ICT, learning will not just take place in the
classroom ,but wherever and whenever the learner chooses..

Which policy is better?
--Funding
Hong Kong Singapore
ICT exp (US$million) 922(98-07) 1000(97-02)
Annual exp per
head(US$)
14.6 39.4
The investment of Singapore has been much larger
than the Hong Kong. Singapore’s determination in the
development of ICT in education is clear.

-- Initial Goal
Hong Kong Singapore
The effort to integrate IT
in support of learning and
teaching as primarily a
technological
transformation rather than
an educational one.(The
first strategy)
ICT was regarded as
educational linkages
between the school and the
world, generate innovative
processes in education,
enhance creative thinking,
lifelong learning and social
responsibility, and promote
administrative and
management excellence in
the education system.（MP1）
The educational property is important.

-- Research &Development
Hong Kong:
Promoting research &
development in the
second strategy.
Singapore :
Improve research &
development in the
MP1
Research & Development can promote and affect
the progress of ICT.

-- Curriculum and Pedagogical
Reform
Hong Kong Singapore
Building leadership capacity,
fostering the establishment of
communities of practice for
pedagogical innovation and
supporting continuous research and
development were distinctive
strategic goals that were not found in
the first IT in Education policy
document. The identification of
these omissions indicate a
recognition of the challenges that
needs to be overcame to achieve
deep curricular and pedagogical
reform.
In parallel to the sustained
systemic efforts on curriculum and
pedagogical reform, the Singapore
government made a landmark
commitment to education research
on schools and pedagogy through
the establishment in 2002(MP1) of
the Centre for Research in Pedagogy
and Practice (CRPP) within the
National Institute of Education,
which is affiliated with the Nanyang
Technological University and is the
sole teacher-training institution in
Singapore.
An efficient government Institution will determine execution and development of ICT