Home-school Cooperation in the Changing Context - An Ecological Approach

This paper aims at examining the development and conditions of home-school cooperation in Hong Kong during the past 15 years. Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory is adapted in the analysis whereby interactions between home-school cooperation and various contextual factors in the microsystem, exosystem and macrosystem are examined. The change of social capital in the process is also examined. It is argued that the development of home-school cooperation has been subjected to great influences from the interrelated contextual factors and the forces experienced by different types of cooperation. The Government is found to play a critical role in shaping the development of home-school cooperation and the reform has focused on meeting the requirement of school accountability rather than on developing partnership for student learning. Suggestions for further development are made and new research directions are proposed.