High-Performing Education Systems in Asia: Leadership Art meets Implementation Science

This article looks at high-performing education systems in Asia through the lens of leadership and leadership development. It proposes that the top-performing education systems systematically build the leadership capacity for improvement and that this is part of an implementation science geared to maximizing performance. Drawing upon initial findings from a cross-national comparative study (The 7 System Leadership Study is funded by the University of Malaya and involves Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Russia, England and Australia.), the article focuses upon two high-performing systems in Asia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The article concludes by arguing that the top performing systems in Asia, as determined by international comparative data, not only create the leadership capacity to consistently outperform others but also invest in an implementation science that defines, delineates and ultimately, determines exceptional performance.