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Scholars have extensively studied acculturation from different theoretical perspectives among immigrants across the societies of settlement. However, there is a dearth of knowledge about acculturation from a culture learning approach in Hong Kong. This article reports the acculturative challenges among sixteen (16) Pakistani students from six different secondary schools in Hong Kong. The phenomenographic data analysis of semi-structured interviews revealed four categories of everyday experiences in schools that hinder their acculturation. These are mainly related to inter-ethnic interactions, sensitivity towards diverse learning and sociocultural needs, and the Chinese language teaching curriculum for non-Chinese speaking students. Although the study reports Pakistani students' experiences, the findings may also translate the acculturative challenges among students with an immigrant or ethnic minority background in settlement societies. The article also discusses both the theoretical and practical implications for studying and helping immigrant young people in multicultural contexts.

The predictors of attitudes regarding academic plagiarism were investigated in Hong Kong secondary school students. The participants were 257 Grade 10 and 11 students who were taking liberal studies. Quantitative analysis showed that the students were unfamiliar with what actions constituted plagiarism. The best predictor of attitudes was the perceived descriptive norm regarding plagiarism (i.e., perception of the frequency of plagiarism in one’s environment). We explain this finding by applying the cultural-self perspective and present our recommendations for teachers.

Preschool teachers are an important element of high-quality, developmentally and multiculturally appropriate early childhood programmes. 7.5% of the total 160,000 children enrolled in Hong Kong kindergartens are ethnic-minority students and they are neglected in the Hong Kong education system until 2008. This study investigated the perceptions of teaching competency in multicultural classrooms held by 347 teachers at 22 kindergartens in Hong Kong. The study aims at (a) using Confirmatory Factor Analysis to validate the factor structure of the multicultural meaching competency scale (MTCS) among preschool teachers, (b) assessing the model difference of MTCS between teachers with and without multicultural training, and (c) informing the practice of multicultural teaching in early childhood education. The results indicated that a tripartite model in which the MTCS assessed skills, knowledge, and relationships obtained a statistical fit to a Hong Kong preschool sample, as in earlier research on a prim...

This book brings together the practice of reflective teaching and the knowledge of inclusive practices in the context of teacher education and continuing professional development. It is a call to leverage reflective teaching for inclusive practices. The first part of the book provides an overview of what constitutes reflective practice in the 21st century and how teachers can become reflective practitioners. It also discusses how teacher professional development can be enhanced for reflective teaching practice. The second part of the book deals with teachers' knowledge development in order to create inclusive teaching and learning environments. It highlights the need for a responsive teaching climate, intercultural competency, pedagogical change and professional literacy. A reflective inclusive teacher is likely to anticipate the multiple needs of diverse learners in pluralistic settings, thus ensuring student success. This book will enhance the efforts of teacher educators and teaching professionals in building a culture of reflective and inclusive teaching practice in the classroom.

Many Hong Kong schools are concerned about how diverse learning needs of ethnic minority students could be better fulfilled. This study examines local teachers’ constructs of assessment classroom environments. Using qualitative data collected from semi-structured interviews with 32 teachers from three secondary schools, this study shows ways in which summative assessment influences teachers’ formative assessment practices. Cultural responsiveness in this study is not limited to the notion of multiculturalism. It can be constructed under the ethos of respect, care and equality. The culturally responsive approach to assessment described in this study foregrounds considerations of cultural influence in teachers’ beliefs regarding assessment. Principles of culturally responsive assessment identified include: (i) integrating the ‘part’ of assessment with the ‘whole’ of teaching, (ii) managing the diverse learning needs of students, (iii) removing language barriers from the assessment process and (iv) examining...

An important feature of Hong Kong’s education reform over the past decade has been the articulation of the “no loser principle”. This policy statement was meant to signal that all students are valuable and will benefit from both basic and senior secondary education. Yet barriers remain for the 2.9% of students under the age of 15 who can be classified as ethnic minorities. Until the 2008 Racial Discrimination Ordinance (RDO), the educational needs of these students remained an invisible issue for the school system. This article examines the policy context in which Hong Kong schools have made provisions for ethnic minority students, and reviews classroom practices that operationalize these policies on a daily basis. In an interview study involving 32 teachers’ narratives of how they managed the cultural diversity of ethnic minority students in classrooms (Hue & Kennedy, 2012, 2013), it was reported that at the practical level, teachers struggle to meet the diverse needs of students and to conceptualize a new rationale for responding to cultural diversity. The implications of promoting ethnic minority education at the three levels of policy, practice and research are discussed.Un rasgo importante de las reformas educativas puesta en marcha en Hong Kong a lo largo de la última década ha sido el “principio del no perdedor”. Esta afirmación política estaba orientada a señalar que todos los alumnos son importantes y se beneficiarán de una educación básica y secundaria. Sin embargo, se mantiene una barrera para el 2,9% de alumnos menores de 15 años clasificados como pertenecientes a alguna minoría étnica. Hasta la Orden de Discriminación Racial (Racial Discrimination Ordinance, RDO) de 2008, las necesidades educativas de estos alumnos permanecían ocultas para el sistema educativo. Este artículo examina el contexto político en el que las escuelas de Hong Kong han aprobado medidas especiales para los alumnos de minorías étnicas, y revisa las prácticas de aula que a diario hacen operativas estas políticas. A través de un estudio de entrevistas que recogen los testimonios de 32 profesores sobre cómo abordan la diversidad cultural que representan los alumnos pertenecientes a minorías étnicas (Hue y Kennedy, 2012, 2013), se pude establecer que al nivel de la práctica, los profesores luchan por responder a las diversas necesidades de sus alumnos y encontrar los medios para atender a la diversidad cultural. Se discuten las implicaciones que tiene promover la educación de las minorías étnicas en los tres niveles: político, práctico e investigador.

Schools in Hong Kong are concerned about the growing enrolments of students with special educational needs (SEN) and how these students could be included in school guidance. This study examines teachers’ narratives of the inclusivity of school guidance. The study was qualitative, being a case study of a Hong Kong secondary school. School documents were collected for textual analysis and semi-structured interviews with 13 teachers were conducted, including nine guidance teachers and four other teachers who worked closely with these guidance teachers. Four dimensions for the inclusivity of school guidance were identified: the development of inclusive practices of guidance, the adoption of a proactive approach, the promotion of inclusive discipline, and the clear definition of the partnership between school guidance and professional organization offering specialised services for students with SEN. The study provides insights into contextual influences of Hong Kong education on school guidance and the develop...

Hong Kong schools are concerned about how students with behavioural problems could be supported. This article reports the findings of a study investigating teachers’ constructs of students’ resilience. Specifically it examines how it could be promoted through school guidance and factors affecting the development of students’ resilient capability. Twenty-four teachers from four secondary schools were interviewed. Their constructs of resiliency were explored from the perspective of social constructivism and the narrative approach was also employed. The study identifies the challenges school guidance faced in developing resiliency are identified. Also four means through which school guidance could be made more resilient are suggested, including helping students explore the natural tendencies of students’ inner-strength, developing a resilient approach to behaviour management, including the resiliency into whole-school guidance curriculum, and building connections between school, home and community. ...

Many Hong Kong schools are concerned about the growing number of ethnic minority students. How they are supported and how the diversity of their pastoral needs is fulfilled become critical. This article examines teachers’, students’ and parents’ narratives of the cross‐cultural experience of ethnic minority students from India, Pakistan, Philippines, Nepal and Thailand, and the diversity of those students’ pastoral needs. The qualitative data were collected from interviews, through which the constructs of 32 teachers and 32 students from three secondary schools were explored. Four groups of focus‐group interviews were conducted, in which 15 parents were involved. This article argues that to implement the ethos of caring, it is not only necessary for the school to promote the intercultural sensitivity of all practitioners, but equally important to develop a connected school system where ethnic minority students and parents can be consistently supported in the subsystems of classroom, school and home.

This article examines how Hong Kong secondary school teachers define caring and the strategies they adopt for behaviour management. The influence of Taoism, emerging as a theme from the data, was prominent, as its principles were incorporated into the teachers’ knowledge of caring. The findings illuminate the influence of Taoism in local schools. Implications for the promotion of culturally responsive programmes of caring are drawn.

Promotion of students’ spiritual development is one of the goals of pastoral care in schools. The heritage of Chinese calligraphy is traditionally used as a way to enhance an individual’s self‐reflection and cultivation, and has an educational value in spiritual development. This study aims to examine the cultural meaning of Chinese calligraphy and its practices in general, and specifically its connection to spiritualism. The methodologies of narrative approach and textual analysis were employed. Accordingly, the narratives of five practitioners’ personal experiences, including the researcher’s, captured in unstructured interviews, plus selected historical texts on calligraphy will be examined. This article suggests that calligraphy serves more than a utilitarian function. The value of spiritualism underlying this art has also been used as a practice of personal development and spiritual discipline, which leads practitioners to reflect in their mind and heart. This value is universal, and can be agreed up...

School guidance seeks to promote the whole person growth of students. It is regarded as an integral part of an educational programme. In Hong Kong secondary schools, a team of teachers are responsible for school guidance. This article examines how guidance teachers made sense of their caring work in general and specifically the counselling services they offered to students. With the use of a narrative analysis and personal experience methods, the study explores the experience of guidance teachers in counselling. Twelve in-service teachers who had enrolled in the Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme at the Hong Kong Institute of Education were interviewed. The influence of the Chinese philosophy of Confucianism, emerging as a theme from the data, was prominent, as its key principles were incorporated into the teachers’ personal systems of counselling. The findings illuminate the influence of Chinese culture in Hong Kong schools. Implications for the promotion of culturally responsive approa...

Hong Kong secondary schools have difficulty in integrating guidance, or counselling, and discipline into schooling. In some schools, discipline is overdeveloped while guidance is underdeveloped. The positive aspect of the caring system is distorted as part of the provision of discipline. This article looks at the distinction between guidance and discipline, and deals with what relatively little is known about in current research, that is, how guidance and discipline function within a school organization. It uses the perspectives of interactionism and social constructionism to contrast the relationship between guidance and discipline in two Hong Kong secondary schools. It employs case study and qualitative methods for data collection. Data for the two schools show that the contextual and organizational factors have a profound impact on the connectedness between guidance and discipline at the three levels of whole school, department and classroom. Finally, the implications for their implementation and integ...

Discipline is a crucial aspect of teachers' and students' classroom lives. Hong Kong secondary teachers, as elsewhere, are concerned with students' misbehaviour. This article examines teachers' constructs of classroom discipline and strategies adopted for behaviour management. Qualitative data were collected by interviews and classroom observation. Sixty teachers were involved. Eighteen classrooms were observed. The influence of the three schools of classic Chinese philosophy, Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism, emerged as a main theme from the data. It was prominent as their key principles were incorporated into the teachers' personal system of classroom discipline. The findings illuminate the influence of Chinese culture in Hong Kong classrooms. Implications for the promotion of culturally responsive classrooms and the development of educational policies on pastoral care are drawn.

In recent years the Brunei Ministry of Education (MoE), along with other interested parties, has taken various steps to develop a system that is more receptive to the educational needs of all students. As with any education system, change comes slowly when it requires a reform to previous systemic principles, standards, and practices. Consequently, Brunei is only beginning to pave the road to inclusive education. This chapter highlights the special education policies which are embedded within the framework of the inclusive education system, and documents the provision and delivery of special education programs and services to students with SEN in Brunei. It also provides a summary of the developments in special education teacher training since the inception of the MoE Special Education Policy Guidelines of 1997, and makes an attempt to point the way forward in the growth of inclusive education in this country.