The University Council of Educational Administration is a consortium of higher education institutions committed to advancing the preparation and practice of educational leaders. From 27 to 31 October 2010, the Council held its annual convention in New Orleans, USA, with the theme: "Building Bridges: Politics, Partnerships, and the Purpose of Schooling". As one of its member institutions, the Department of Education Administration and Policy sent a delegate of five to attend the convention. They were Prof. Pang Sun Keung, Dr. Tam Wai Ming and three PhD students, Zheng Yulian, Li Xiaolei and Wang Xueju. The five of them collaborated to present a symposium entitled "Evolving School Leadership Practices in China in The New Millennium." The symposium was well-attended and there were stimulating dialogues between the speakers and the audience.
The first decade of the new millennium has witnessed a series of paradigmatic changes in the education system of China and Hong Kong. The urgency of developing a sustainable schooling system with a global perspective has prompted policy makers in these two regions to introduce numerous reform initiatives. Out of the many school reform initiatives, school management reform, coupled with curriculum reform in China, appears to be more far reaching than others. The purpose of implementing school management reform in both Hong Kong and China is to enable schools to ignite the momentum of learning (and teaching) innovation which, in the past, had been inhibited by various social and political mechanisms. However, actual experiences suggest that this is easier said than done. This symposium attempts to examine the problems and issues arising from these recent reform efforts and the roles that principalship and leadership development play in them. The symposium focused on the following three connected themes: "Values and school management", "Power and leadership practices", and "Leadership development and school improvement".
To explore the three symposium themes – value, power, leadership development, and future lines of research – a set of five papers was presented and discussed. They were:
1. The politics of educational leadership in Chinese societies: When Confucianism is confronted with globalization
2. A study of the sustainability of educational reform in Hong Kong from the perception of principals
3. Power relations in China's schools: A call for research
4. Chinese principals' leadership strategies in curriculum reform
5. Preparing leaders for school improvement: A case study of provincial innovative programs in mainland China
