Possible Uses of the PCF - by Dr. Robin Chung
Now that the PCF has been developed, thanks to the effort of all those who are involved, it is time to ponder how it can be best used to help principals develop themselves professionally and also the HKPI grow into a professional body.
The PCF can be seen as a common language spoken by the profession in educational and leadership discourse. It is therefore imperative to publicize it as much as possible and also contextualize it, with real-life cases and scenarios, to illustrate its contents which are intentionally written in simple and concise terms so as to ease understanding and memorization on the part of principals.
It can be used as a personal reflection tool, as it has been shown in the last workshop run by Professor Bennett. Principals can use the PCF as a quick reference to review their work and see which domains or areas need strengthening or to look ahead to the next stage of their career and devise CPD plans for themselves to meet expectations. As things now stand, two of the four domains may call for more attention from fellow principals i.e. Domain 3 (Professional community of principals) and Domain 4 (Connection to the local and international communities) as these are usually the least developed parts of a principal’s work. Of course, more evaluative tools can be developed by the HKPI to help principals use it this way
As a development tool, the PCF provides a framework for the HKPI as well as other training institutes to develop suitable training programs or courses for principals to use at different career stages. It can be used alongside the Key Qualities as it supplements the latter by drawing principals’ attention to the importance of Self (Domain 1) and Professional community of principals (Domain 3) to their work and professional development, and the two are missing from the Key Qualities, which was developed more than a decade ago. The PCF can also provide discussion points concerning different domains of a principal’s work for in-house training groups or Happy Hour-type of conversation groups run by the HKPI. For instance, with reference to the Self Domain, principals can have a discussion on how to meditate and increase self-awareness and self-renewal. The PCF, which by nature is a conceptual framework, is best to be used with other management and leadership tools and with the help of experts in other fields, to help principals conduct self-reflection, mentoring, strategizing, career planning, job evaluation, and so on.
To facilitate exchanges with oversea principals’ organizations, the PCF serves as a concise and convenient means to introduce the HKPI’s thinking on the principalship. It can act as a platform for professional dialogues or exchange programs to be conducted.
