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This paper reports the initial findings of a study about the learning process of 17 pre-service kindergarten teachers in a higher diploma programme at a vocational training institute in Hong Kong. The existing literature regards experiential learning as a reflective process that allows student teachers to make new meaning from learning experiences gained during their training. However, these reflective processes lack commonality, and the findings are rarely situated in the context of vocational education. In this regard, empirical data were gathered as evidence of how student teachers develop their ideas of competence in a vocational training programme based on the perspective of Kolb's experiential learning model. This paper addresses the further implications for programme administrators, institutional fieldwork supervisors and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies on classroom discourse have challenged the traditional classroom role set and emphasised equal contributions from the participants and the emergence of knowledge through active participation. Co-learning emphasises the process in which teachers and students attempt to adapt to one another's behaviour and learn from each other in order to produce desirable learning outcomes. Current research has paid little attention to the ways in which content teachers and students jointly negotiate new knowledge in bi/multilingual classrooms. Based on data collected from a linguistic ethnography in Hong Kong English-Medium-Instruction secondary mathematics classrooms, this paper uses translanguaging as an analytical perspective to analyse how the EMI teacher and students co-learn in the classroom. The data are analysed using Multimodal Conversation Analysis and triangulated with the video-stimulated-recall-interviews which are analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The paper argues that translanguaging creates a safe space for co-learning that emphasises equity in knowledge construction and challenges the hierarchical relationship between the teacher and the learner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has not been ample recent research on teaching older adults. However, as described below, there is mounting research in how and why older adults want to learn. This brief discussion is derived from work undertaken for a workshop in Hong Kong on issues in teaching older adults. It combines recent research on learning and teaching in higher education as it applies to older adults. The paper addresses: learning and ageing, learning choices, an information processing view of learning, deep and surface learning, teaching and learning approaches, formal, non-formal and informal learning, teaching roles, evaluation, and technology. Some sections are exemplified with information from teaching older adults in Australia and Hong Kong [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student teachers' learning in the field experience is seen as being at the heart of their professional training in initial teacher education. This paper reports a qualitative case study of preservice student teachers' learning experiences in school placements in Hong Kong. A multi-case study was conducted in a concurrent teacher education programme for secondary school teachers, with the examination of seven student teachers' professional learning journeys over two years. Methods of data collection included interview, field observation, document analysis and audio-recording of supervisory conferences. Progressive focusing characterized the research process. Student teachers' professional learning is conceptualized as learning how to frame teaching situations. By exploring pre-training influences, the teacher education programme and the student teaching context, the paper seeks to examine the dynamics and complexity of learning how to frame teaching situations. It develops an integrated framework for understanding student teachers' professional learning as the dynamic interaction of the teaching self, knowledge construction in the teaching repertoire and the framing process. This framework can be used as an analytical tool for understanding the dynamics and complexities of student teachers' professional learning and exploring the contribution of coursework and fieldwork to such learning in initial teacher education. The findings of the study reveal that the strength of the teaching self, the richness of the teaching repertoire and the appropriate mix of challenge and support in the student teaching context are important variables that constitute student teachers' productive learning experiences. Implications for practices in initial teacher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring students’ perspective on feedback is high on the research agenda following the comparatively lower satisfaction scores for assessment and feedback in the National Student Survey. However, limited research examines how teachers and students perceive the same feedback events in the post-secondary context. This case study fills the gap by comparing the views of two teachers and 20 first-year students on assessment feedback in an academic English module in a post-secondary institution in Hong Kong. Data collection methods involved documentation of feedback on marked assignments, recordings of verbal feedback sessions, stimulated-recall interviews with teachers, and focus group interviews with students. The conflicting beliefs indicated three problems: insufficient explanation of criteria and standards for feedback interpretation; use of praise for rapport building at a cost of feedback sincerity; limited uptake of error corrections in end-of-term assignments. Possible reasons behind the divergence are discussed. The paper argues that using praise to save students’ face may paradoxically heighten the tensions in feedback processes in a high-stakes assessment context. A more effective method is to foster students’ ‘feedback resilience’ to help them manage negative emotions in feedback processes. Recommendations for developing ‘feedback resilience’ are provided, and avenues for future research discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the relationship between ageing and learning, previous literature having confirmed that participation in continued learning in old age contributes to good health, satisfaction with life, independence and self-esteem. Realizing that learning is vital to active ageing, the Hong Kong government has implemented policies and programmes to encourage continued learning among the elderly to help improve their health and quality of life as they age. Given the government commitment, it is essential that the policy and provision be critically reviewed for effectiveness to ensure that it is meeting the needs and expectations of older people and supporting providers in delivering high-quality programmes to elders. In this light, this paper aims to examine the role of government, providers and community agencies in developing policy and provision for elder learning in Hong Kong; to discuss the approach to elder learning in Hong Kong before and after 1997, which is marked by the establishment of the Hong Kong Elderly Commission; to investigate new directions in elder learning policy and provision; and finally, identify the needs for future research and policy development of elder learning in Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discusses early-career academics' development at a university in Hong Kong. Reflecting the impact of local context, the paper explores cultural and structural influences that can impinge on teaching and learning strategies for new academics. Barriers such as student learning behaviour and publication pressure may discourage new academics from taking an active interest in ongoing professional development beyond the mandatory component. However, the effect of Chinese culture, which places a strong emphasis on 'face' and harmonious human relationships, and the existence of hidden ('ghost') rules can collectively add pitfalls that inhibit new academics' full engagement in their teaching roles. Local contextual capabilities are identified and implications for the design of professional development programmes for early-career academics are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the close collaborative work our research team has been engaged in with two local schools to study how action research measures may help to facilitate the improvement of the Integrated Humanities (IH) curriculum through school-university partnerships. It attempts to understand action research as a form of cultural practice for education, and examines how such collaborative work with local schools may contribute to sustainable cultural work of education and intervene at different levels of the schooling practices. In all, the paper seeks to offer preliminary analysis and reflection on the re-orientation of Cultural Studies as a research and problem-solving, intellectual and critical project with a potential for long-term input to cultural policy-making. It also aims at examining the role of cultural studies practitioners as action researchers in the process of doing cultural work of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on peer feedback in relation to assessment processes. It examines the rationale for peer feedback, emphasizing its potential for enhanced student learning. We draw on relevant literature to argue that the dominance of peer assessment processes using grades can undermine the potential of peer feedback for improving student learning. The paper throws further light on the issue by drawing on a large-scale questionnaire survey of tertiary students (1740) and academics (460) in Hong Kong, supplemented by interview data. The findings indicate that a significant number of academics and students resist peer assessment using grades and that the majority report that students never or rarely grade each other in assessment activities. This paper explores why there is resistance, in particular, by academics to peer assessment and argues the case for a peer feedback process as an end in itself or as a precursor to peer assessment insolving the awarding of marks, It also recommends some strategies for promoting peer feedback, through engaging students with criteria and for embedding peer involvement within normal course processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the concept of ‘cultural cross‐currents,’ their implicit nature and the potential they have to effect second language literacy learning, teaching and curriculum reform in Hong Kong primary classrooms. Despite the substantive implications for learning, the exploration of cultural influences upon teacher and student thinking and the resultant educational consequences, remains a largely unrecognized area. The central argument in the paper is that cultural differences in attitudes, beliefs and values of cultural groups toward the way first and second languages are acquired needs to be made explicit in order to facilitate second language literacy teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is concerned with the politics of lifelong learning policy in post-1997 Hong Kong (HK). The paper is in four parts. Continuing Education, recast as 'lifelong learning', is to be the cornerstone of the post-Handover education reform agenda. The lineaments of a familiar discourse are evident in the Education Commission policy documents. However, to view recent HK education policy just in terms of an apparent convergence with global trends would be to neglect the ways in which the discourse of lifelong learning has been tactically deployed to serve local political agendas. In the second part of this paper, I outline what Scott has called HK's 'disarticulated' political system following its retrocession to China and attempts by an executive-led administration to demonstrate 'performance legitimacy'--through major policy reforms--in the absence of (democratic) political legitimacy. Beijing's designation of HK as a (depoliticized) 'economic' city within greater China must also be taken into account. It is against this political background that the strategic deployment of a 'lifelong learning' discourse needs to be seen. In the third section of this paper, I examine three recent policy episodes to illustrate how lifelong learning discourse has been adopted and has evolved to meet changing circumstances in HK. Finally, I look at the issue of public consultation. The politics of education policy in HK may be seen to mirror at a micro-level, the current macro-level contested interpretations of HK's future polity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to report how school leadership is challenged by the three waves of education reform and development in Hong Kong. Since the 1970s, school leaders in the first wave were mainly concerned with achievement of the planned goals through improvement of teaching and learning. In the 1990s, school leaders of the second wave often focused on interface improvement through various types of quality inspection and assurance. In facing the challenges in the new century, the third wave of changes in Hong Kong is moving towards the pursuit of future effectiveness. The school leaders need to be concerned with enhancing educational relevance and creating new goals. This paper will discuss how the leadership conceptions and concerns of the third wave in Hong Kong are completely different from the traditional thinking. Implications are drawn for educators, policy-makers, and scholars in different parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of leisure in the lives of Hong Kong higher education students. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, the paper explores several patterns of involvement of full-time undergraduate students in leisure and learning. It further suggests various ways in which these two domains of students' lives can be related. A total of 266 diaries and 40 semi-structured interviews were used to solicit the data on student experiences across the seven higher education institutions in Hong Kong. Results showed a unique blend of the leisure and learning domains of students' lives especially in the context of group activities, in which leisure activities were related to strong social bonding and to the establishment of coherent study groups with classmates. The discussion focuses on the possible relationships between student learning and leisure and on how the different patterns of student involvement in these two domains inform an alternative conceptual framework for understanding the role of leisure in their lives and development. References are made to previous studies on higher education students and implications are drawn for future research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In higher education teaching, enhancing learner autonomy has become a key concern for curriculum planners and classroom teachers. The significant body of research about learner autonomy in language learning over the last 20 years (e.g. Holec 1981, 1988; Riley 1985; Dickinson 1987, 1992; Wenden & Rubin 1987; Little, 1991; Dam, 1995; Benson & Voller, 1997) has indicated an on-going search for more understanding of how learner autonomy can be implemented in different contexts. This paper is based on a research study which was conducted in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong. The study explores learners' attitudes and expectations of language learning, teacher and learner roles, their learning preferences and perceptions of learner autonomy. The paper reports the results and discusses their implication on the development of a learner-centred approach in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flipping the classroom centres on the delivery of print, audio or video based material prior to a lecture or class session. The class session is then dedicated to more active learning processes with application of knowledge through problem solving or case based scenarios. The rationale behind this approach is that teachers can spend their face-to-face time supporting students in deeper learning processes. In this paper we provide a background literature review on the flipped classroom along with a three step approach to flipping the classroom comprising implementing, enacting and evaluating this form of pedagogy. Our three step approach is based on actual experience of delivering a flipped classroom at the University of Hong Kong. This initiative was evaluated with positive results. We hope our experience will be transferable to other medical institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws upon a small-scale investigation to shed light on the perceptions of successful ageing by a group of senior adults in Hong Kong. It also identifies attributes that are associated with ageing well and examines the extent to which education or learning is perceived as important in the ageing process. To this end, the research has taken on an educational perspective to find out what older people themselves want and need to learn, what motivates them and what poses as barriers to their participation in learning. By making such data available, policy-makers and educational providers alike will be better placed to understand and determine the role of learning in the ageing process and to plan appropriate interventions in support of late-life learning for and by the elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study attempted to investigate Hong Kong junior secondary students’ conceptions of China before and after the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China, with a view to finding out any changes in their conceptions, and if any, the factors that might have contributed to these changes. The study found that, over the years from 1997 to 2009, students still viewed China as backward in many aspects, and still held superficial, fragmentary and even contradictory and inaccurate conceptions of China, but their conceptions were getting more positive and deeper in 2009 than 12 years ago. This paper maintains that students’ greater exposure to China's development in various aspects through various information sources played a prominent role in shaping their conceptions of China. The implications for learning and teaching are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Policy borrowing' continues to be an important factor in the construction of higher education policy in East Asia. Many post-colonial societies have continued to look to the West for models that will assist them to reengineer their universities in the quest for creating world class institutions. Against this background, Hong Kong's University Grants Committee adopted an outcomes based approach to teaching and learning in 2005 and gained support from institutions under its responsibility for doing so. Supported with ample resources, the subject of numerous public symposia and incorporated into regular quality audit assessments, outcomes based approaches to teaching and learning are in the process of becoming part of Hong Kong's distinctive approach to quality reform in higher education. This paper reviews the policy context in which this initiative emerged, analyses the policy meaning in terms of its underlying theories and derives a set of principles that could guide the implementation of outcomes based approaches. The multiple possibilities associated with outcomes based teaching and learning demonstrate how systemic reform agendas are subject to interpretation and local adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in assessment practices in the direction of assessment for learning (AfL) can be a powerful force to enhance student learning. This article presents a case study of teacher learning in an AfL project in Hong Kong. In the Project, AfL strategies were adopted in Chinese Language and English Language classrooms at the junior secondary level. By examining subject leaders' and classroom teachers' experiences with the project reported in interviews, the paper enriches our understanding of the variations in the subject department contexts of teacher learning, the situatedness of teacher learning in terms of knowledge about student learning, understanding of AfL and curriculum leadership, as well as the relationship between teacher learning and changes in assessment practices. The article concludes with suggestions on fostering subject departments to be expansive environments for teacher professional learning and to be a vehicle of internal change, alerts the importance of integration of AfL into teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and the subject curriculum, and highlights the cultural dimension as an issue for further study in AfL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the concepts, beliefs and understandings of local and non-local teacher educators in a Hong Kong university are grounded in their own cultural cognition and antecedents. It presents the viewpoint that contemporary notions of good practice were compromised when applied to a context that is strongly influenced by the tenets of Confucianism. Thus the conclusion is that the contingencies of teaching and learning contexts are sufficiently different to compromise the goal of having pre-constructed notions of good teaching. The alternative is that university tutors and future researchers re-conceptualise good teaching practices within a context that gives it meaning and purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role and position of continuing education in the lifelong learning society of Hong Kong. The first section describes the basic components of Hong Kong's lifelong learning system, which is composed of two interconnected sub-systems—namely, conventional education and continuing education—integrated under a common qualifications framework. The second section illustrates the contribution of the Federation for Continuing Education in Tertiary Institutions, an organisational alliance formed among key continuing education providers to assure quality in the sector; enhance communication among government, industries and the professional bodies; map strategies for developing human capital; and widen access to higher education by providing high-quality continuing education programs. In the final section, the HKU SPACE case study highlights 'sharing of quality education resources with overseas collaborators', 'achieving self-financing status through economies of scale', and the 'provision of flexible, multiple-level, well articulated and quality education services' as key features of the Hong Kong model of continuing education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews literacy learning conducted in two laboratory preschools in Hong Kong and Canada, and examines the link between cultural values and educational practices. Both preschools maintain that a constructivist view of child learning underpins their practice. However, the author's experience in these two settings illustrates how similarities and differences are identified in the scope, focus, implementation strategies and learning outcomes of the activities observed. Reasons for these findings are explored from the perspectives of cultural values and societal beliefs in education of the East and the West, and how the constructivist ideology is espoused in these settings. Implications of this cross-cultural comparison on the issue of 'best practice' in early childhood education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ‘Teaching and Learning Quality Process Review’ (TLQPR) recently completed in Hong Kong had an emphasis on education quality work. This paper analyses how, from the perspective of academic staff in one university in Hong Kong, the good intentions embedded in that idea are enhanced or subverted by the broader ‘quality system’ setting in which staff operate. A ‘critical incident’ survey suggested that useful changes would involve the following. First, focus on a ‘lean’ philosophy and an associated examination of the extent to which (essentially administrative) system requirements are ‘adding value’ to the fundamental aims of achieving quality in teaching and learning outcomes. Second, build adaptability into the system by giving staff the maximum flexibility to translate a minimal set of overall requirements into activities. Third, tolerate staff and groups who ‘break rules’ in rational and well-intended ways to optimise intended outcomes. Fourth, develop a culture of trust between staff and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a narrative about the use of narrative as a means to understand how the use of technology assisted the educational community of Hong Kong during the SARS crisis of 2003. It is not a carefully planned conventional research study. It is based on seven narratives written by staff at The Chinese University of Hong Kong about their experiences during SARS. The experience of an online conference run by the author has also been considered. Overall, in our context, technology was able to come naturally and appropriately to the fore in our time of crisis. For me, it is a message that technology is now a mainstream tool that can be rapidly mobilized and that is very satisfying indeed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the out-of-class English language learning activities of student teachers in Hong Kong, using questionnaires, interviews and learner diaries. The study Found that while many of the students devoted considerable time to studying and practising English outside the classroom, much of this time was spent on more receptive activities such as Listening and reading, rather than speaking. Students had a tendency to locus on private rather than public activities which did not involve face-to-face contact. Two students' out-of-class learning activities and their feelings towards using in English are examined in more detail. It is suggested that the reasons for their avoidance involved both individual and social/political factors, principally the implications attached to using English and the fear of negative judgement. However, it is pointed out that despite their negative feelings about using English in public, these were successful English learners who actively sought opportunities to use English in their private domain. It is suggested that the private domain may be a valuable setting for out-of-class language learning, since it is both less threatening to identity and is also easier for the student to control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an increasing demand from the public and the field to improve the quality of early childhood education in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Education Commission has recently released an "education blueprint for the 21st century", which presents a set of reform proposals for the education system in Hong Kong. In the document, early childhood education has been acknowledged as the foundation for life-long learning. A key reform proposal is to build a new culture for quality early childhood education through upgrading professional competence and enhancing quality assurance mechanisms. The present paper provides a general background of existing practices in the preschool years, highlights issues that require attention in order to improve quality, and outlines the reforms introduced by the Education Commission. The implications of these reforms and the associated challenges are then discussed in the areas of quality assurance, curriculum, professional development, parental involvement and financial assistance for the early childhood education sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a qualitative study of student teachers' school-based learning in a teacher education program for secondary school teachers in Hong Kong. Learning to teach is examined through the lens of a personal-professional conceptualization of learning. An in-depth study of two cases of student teachers' professional learning is reported. Research methods used include interviewing, tape-recording supervisory meetings, field observation and document analysis. Through an inquiry into the individual's interaction with pre-training influences, the teacher education program and the teaching practice context in the two cases, this study extends our understanding of student teachers' professional learning in terms of the formation of the teaching self and the process of framing in the action and socio-professional contexts of teaching practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the processes for encouraging and/or ensuring the accountability of teachers in Hong Kong. It is argued that, if examined historically, the nature of teacher accountability has been determined by the government, whose approach has been ambivalent and paradoxical. Up until the mid-1980s, through inertia and non-decisions, the low level of professionalization of teaching was reinforced. Subsequently, from the late 1980s onwards, the government resisted and diluted attempts by the professional community to regulate itself. Most recently it has sought to introduce systems to allow the government to scrutinize teachers in an ostensible attempt to promote the level of teacher professionalism, whilst at the same time attempted to maintain the low status of the main institution dedicated to teacher education. These are analysed in terms of the differences between professionalism and professionalization, the government's own legitimacy and the changing political context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]