OBJECTIVES: To understand how neighbourhood characteristics affect the health of immigrant children in Canadian cities. We question whether the health of children is influenced by immigrants living in enclaves of people with similar ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. METHODS: Two datasets were used: the New Canadian Children and Youth Study (NCCYS) and Statistics Canada census data. The NCCYS comprises children from Hong Kong, the Philippines and Mainland China living in Canada's largest cities. Logistic regression was used to examine the influence of neighbourhood ethnic concentrations and mean income on health. RESULTS: Girls were more likely to be reported to have excellent health compared to boys, as were children living in neighbourhoods with lower mean parental education. Children from Hong Kong were less likely to have excellent health compared to the reference group. For the Mainland Chinese group only, there was an inverse relationship between reported health status and the concentration of people from the same ethnic background in the neighbourhood. CONCLUSION: The health of children from different ethnic backgrounds is influenced by different social and economic factors. In practice and in research, "immigrants" and even broadly defined cultural groupings, such as "Asian immigrants", should be considered as heterogeneous.
[Copyright of Canadian Journal of Public Health is the property of Canadian Public Health Association. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://journal.cpha.ca/index.php/cjph/issue/archive]

The purpose of the study was to identify if performance of speech-language pathology students in problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials could predict subsequent clinical performance evaluated through (a) a non-standardized, custom clinical evaluation form (HKU form) and (b) a standardized competency assessment for speech pathology developed in Australia (COMPASS (R)). Students' scores from PBL tutorial performance were correlated with scores in clinical placement on both the HKU form and the COMPASS. Significant correlations were found between students' PBL tutorial performance (reflective journals and participation in the tutorial process) and their clinical performance (treatment and interpersonal skills) on the HKU clinical evaluation form. Significant correlations were also found between (a) PBL tutorial performance (participation in the tutorial process) and their clinical performance (all generic and occupational competencies, and the overall score) on the COMPASS, (b) PBL tutorial performance (reading forms) and two occupational competencies on the COMPASS, (c) PBL tutorial performance (reflective journals) and four occupational competencies and the overall score on the COMPASS. The results highlighted the need for validating the assessment for the learning process in PBL tutorials with empirical evidence and the advantage of assessing clinical performance through COMPASS in Hong Kong. Tutors, clinical supervisors and students should be given clear behavioral descriptors for expected performance in PBL tutorials and clinical practice at different year levels.
[Copyright of Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics is the property of Informa Healthcare. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2013.812146]

Background: Embedding the concept of international mindedness' in teaching across a range of subject matter is seen as increasingly important in today's education. Understanding the situated challenges that teachers may encounter in doing this is critical to the development of effective professional development in different socio-cultural and instructional contexts.Purpose: This study examined the enactment of international mindedness in International Baccalaureate diploma programmes (IBDP) in the Hong Kong context, focusing on the subject of Chinese language teaching.Sample: Nine experienced Chinese language teachers in IBDP programmes from six International Baccalaureate schools participated in the study. The schools were selected on the basis that they had some variety in student demographic profiles and organisational structures and had been offering the IBDP programmes for several years. Participant teachers either had several years of teaching IBDP Chinese or were holding leadership roles in the Chinese department and were very familiar with IBDP Chinese teaching.Design and methods: Individual, semi-structured interviews of approximately an hour's duration were conducted with participant teachers. A thematic analysis technique was used to analyse the interview data both deductively and inductively.Findings: Analysis revealed a set of internal and external challenges that were described as arising from the characteristics of the individual teachers, the curriculum and the teaching contexts. Challenges internal to the teachers included their educational experience, pedagogical beliefs and interpretations of the concept of international mindedness in teaching. External challenges included the characteristics of the IBDP curriculum, the subject matter and schools' and parents' expectations concerning international mindedness. Teachers and schools were found to utilise various strategies in order to enhance the perceived compatibility and relevancy of international

There is a clear need for new research into the work and life outcomes for graduates of Australian international education. Drawing upon divergent post-study transitions, this article aims to present a multi-faceted, qualitative foundation for the consideration of both positional and transformative impacts of international education on graduates' post study lives and careers. We compare three divergent study and life pathways for international students via three case studies of different models of Australian international and transnational education provision. The findings show that positional and transformative outcomes were often intertwined in surprising ways in participants' stories. The pathways that they followed after graduation were strongly influenced by their engagement with international education as a life as well as a learning experience. All three case studies also suggest that concepts of the prestige of the Western degree need further consideration.
[Copyright of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2011.562369]

According to self-regulated learning theory, the activities of studying and using learning strategies, which reflect self-regulated learning, promote academic achievement. In contrast, a student's participation in other activities may not produce positive effects. In the present study, structural equation modeling was used to test these hypotheses in a sample of 593 full-time, Ist-year undergraduates in Hong Kong. The results indicated that studying and using elaborative learning strategy were positively related to the student's self-assessed learning. Studying was also related positively to the expected grade point average. These results provide some support for self-regulated learning theory. Relationships between other activities and self-assessed learning were negative and nonsignificant; relationships between other activities and expected GPA were mixed.
[Copyright of Journal of Genetic Psychology is the property of Psychology Press . Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00221329809596142 ]