Private tutoring, or shadow education, is one of the unintended outcomes of high-stakes testing worldwide. This study investigated the role of private tutoring in a context of high-stakes testing through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. This year-long in-depth study with 18 Grade-12 learners in private tutoring in Hong Kong shows that learning is skewed towards acquiring examination skills, and mainstream education can be devalued. Conceptualised with Freire’s Pedagogy of the oppressed, the findings reveal that learners are oppressed in the washback of high-stakes testing, and shadow education exploits such negative washback to run a business which reinforces contextual oppression. The findings provide implications for educational change in contexts where education systems increasingly rely on accountability and selection through high-stakes testing. Copyright © 2024 AERA.

Music education is often regarded as an elite discipline in Chinese society, and pre-service teachers in early childhood education may lack musical knowledge and confidence in teaching music due to interdisciplinary teacher training. This study aims to explore the essential components of a quality responsive teacher education course in music for pre-service teachers in Hong Kong and evaluate the impact of six-hour training workshops on their self-perceived musical competence and music teaching confidence. The study employs a quasi-experimental research design and consists of six-hour training workshops in music to enhance pre-service teachers' musicianship and competence in conducting music appreciation, performance, and creative activities. This study answers two research questions based on the quantitative and qualitative data: (1) How will the training workshops impact pre-service teachers' self-perceived musical competence and music teaching confidence? (2) How will the musical competence enhance their music teaching confidence? The study employs a quasi-experimental research design and finds that the workshops significantly improve pre-service teachers' confidence in leading music activities and their perceived importance of children's music education. The study underscores the need for music training in early childhood teacher education and may offer insights into designing responsive music professional development courses for early childhood teachers globally. Copyright © 2023 ACE.

Music education is often considered an elite discipline in Chinese society, resulting in a lack of low confidence in teaching music among pre-service teachers in early childhood education. Additionally, teacher education programs in music often provide separate training in musicianship and pedagogical skills, leading to a gap between teachers’ beliefs and their teaching practices. This study aims to explore the components of a quality responsive teacher education course in music for pre-service teachers in Hong Kong. The study includes six-hour training workshops in music using a play-based approach to enhance pre-service teachers’ musicianship and competence in conducting music appreciation, performance, and creative activities. The study answers two research questions based on qualitative data: (1) How will the training workshops impact pre-service teachers’ self-perceived musical competence and music teaching confidence? (2) What are pre-service teachers’ perceptions of responsive teacher training courses in music? The study highlights the need for music training in early childhood teacher education and provides insights into designing a responsive music professional development course for early childhood teachers in the Chinese context. Copyright © 2023 AQIA.

The purpose of this study was to investigate Hong Kong preschool teachers’ music-specific professional development (PD) preferences and analyze the potential differences among teachers with varying levels of teaching experience (beginning, experienced, and advanced). A survey was developed to assess four music-specific PD preferences: content, facilitators, types, and activities/resources. We found that respondents (N = 1,019) preferred PD that was centered on musical creativity and curriculum integration; facilitated by experts in pedagogy and music performance; conducted as short workshops and mentoring sessions; and focused on observation, skill acquisition, and practice. The data also revealed significant differences between beginning, experienced, and advanced teachers and their PD preferences. Beginning teachers showed a higher preference for graduate studies and blended PD. Beginning and experienced teachers were more interested in playing instruments and in learning by observing other teachers. Advanced teachers showed preference for PD focusing on dance and music appreciation. The study shows that teaching experience is a crucial factor for determining preschool teachers’ music-specific PD preferences. Implications include considering teachers’ interests, motivations, and needs while planning and designing PD for preschool teachers. Further research should explore what teachers with different profiles require in specific educational settings. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

This study explores how students in Hong Kong perceive the influence of parental support and parental cultural capital on their participation in musical activities. A survey questionnaire was distributed to students attending grades seven to nine at eight Hong Kong secondary schools in the early summer of 2015. The findings from that survey, based on the 1,433 valid questionnaires that were returned, show that parents' cultural background informed their support of their children's musical activities, and could, in turn, enhance cultivation of students' cultural capital. Students in the study also perceived parental encouragement to be more important to their musical activities than the possession of musical competence and knowledge. This study provides a nuanced perspective on the interplay between parental cultural capital and parental support, and students' perception of the influence of parental support on their participation in musical activities in the Hong Kong context. Copyright © 2016 The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups.

The relationship between individuals' possession of cultural capital and their musical preferences has been extensively examined in Western society; however, little attention has been given to it in contemporary Chinese contexts. Based on Bourdieu's (1973, 1986) concept of cultural capital, this study focuses on junior secondary school students' (Grades Seven to Nine) preferred musical listening styles, and their perception of how their parents' and their own cultural capital have shaped their musical preferences in contemporary Hong Kong society. Two research questions are addressed: (1) How does parental cultural capital influence students' cultural capital? (2) To what extent does students' cultural capital shape their musical preferences in contemporary Hong Kong society? A survey questionnaire was distributed to nine Hong Kong secondary schools in the summer of 2015, followed by an interview survey conducted in the spring of 2016. Based on a synthesis of the 1,614 completed questionnaires and 28 in-depth individual interviews, the quantitative and qualitative findings provide nuanced insights into students' perceptions of their musical preferences, and how one's cultural capital shapes one's musical preferences, in a Hong Kong context. This study finds that the students' music listening not only served as an aesthetic and leisure activity, but also as a means of inculcating cultural capital-proficiency of English-that is legitimate in Hong Kong and deemed an influential factor in school performance. The study also shows that through technological advancements, more specifically a readilyavailable platform for accessing comprehensive musical resource databases, a new factor has emerged that weakens the relationship between familial social status and students' musical preferences and leads to more autonomous music listening behaviour. In addition, students' musical cultural capital, which is transformed from their parents' cultural capital, may directly and explicitly

The influence of social factors on individuals' musical preferences has been extensively examined in Western society; however, little attention has been given to social influences on students' musical preferences in the Chinese context. With reference to Hong Kong, China, this study focuses on junior secondary school students' (Grades Seven to Nine) preferred musical listening styles, and how different social factors have shaped their musical preferences in contemporary Hong Kong society. Given its British colonial history, Hong Kong is renowned for its blend of Eastern and Western cultures, and its historical and cultural backgrounds may be reflected in its students' musical preferences. Two research questions are addressed in this chapter: (1) How do students perceive their musical preferences in their daily lives? (2) What are the social factors influencing students' musical preferences in Hong Kong society? A survey questionnaire was distributed to nine Hong Kong secondary schools in the summer of 2015. Based on a synthesis of the 1,614 completed questionnaires, the quantitative findings provide nuanced insights into students' perceptions of their musical preferences, and how social influences have shaped their musical preferences, in the Hong Kong context. The study found that social factors - language proficiency, family socialization, and technological advancement - significantly shaped students' musical preferences, which, to some extent, reflected the social values in contemporary Hong Kong. Moreover, this study showed that music listening not only served as an aesthetic and leisure activity, but also as a means of socialization, while advanced technology influenced students' music listening behavior by providing a readily-available platform for accessing huge musical resources. Copyright © 2018 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.