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Curriculum change refers to a whole set of concepts, including innovation, development, and adoption. It encompasses both planned and unplanned changes and can occur at the level of the classroom, school, or whole education system. Teachers may find that changes accompany their teaching from time to time. In fact, curriculum change particularly involves teachers, schools, and the community. It is expected that the associated changes are instrumental in enhancing the professional growth of both the teachers and schools involved. Changes in the curriculum thereby are assumed to be a complicated process which can be influenced by a number of factors. Apart from giving an account of the basic concepts of change and curriculum implementation, this chapter also identifies various models of change and some strategies of curriculum implementation. It then proceeds with the critical reflections on the major obstacles and complexities of curriculum implementation, and finally the multitudes of efforts made by the local government, the community, schools, and teachers in curriculum implementation are appreciated.

Scores of Asian and Western countries have recognized curriculum leadership in schools as the key to bringing about effective school-based curriculum change. Improvements to the curriculum help students enhance their learning and help them adapt better to the changing society. The notion of curriculum leadership in schools first emerged in the last decade, when the responsibility for curriculum development shifted to individual schools. Public concern about the quality of student performance and achievement in schools has gradually grown. As a result, there has been a general call for a reinvigoration of the teaching workforce and for teachers to become leaders in the school curriculum. In this chapter, the conceptualized characteristics of curriculum leadership in schools are elucidated. In addition to analyzing the practice of curriculum leadership in school-based curriculum development, the chapter also discusses the importance of changing school cultures to sustain curriculum leadership in schools. Last but not least, through a detailed case study, it looks into how a curriculum leader establishes a positive working relationship with the school principal.

With the fundamental curriculum concepts and methods introduced in the preceding chapters, it is hoped that readers can manage to devise alternative ways to design the most appropriate curriculum for the new generations in the twenty-first century. However, unless our community moves ahead with authentic reforms in education, the aims of the reforms will remain rhetorical or superficially implemented in classrooms. Hence, we stress in this chapter that curriculum change is pertinent to educational change. This stance is indeed supported by a famous academic of educational change, Michael Fullan. This chapter begins with an analysis of the perceptible threats we now face in our curriculum, followed by a brief account of ideas raised by some academics/researchers on how to reform the school curriculum. Curriculum trend, in relation to critical pedagogy and moral/value education, is also addressed. It is anticipated that readers will gain useful insights which are conducive to helping them shape their professional stance and vision in an era of change. Finally, it proposes some basic questions and principles for readers to consider when they deliberate on a future curriculum.