背景：1990 年代以來，香港政府銳意提高教師專業水準，積極地主導教師的專業發展。由於小學教師多屬非學位學歷，一向所接受的師資培訓也是針對通材教學的需要，政策的改變對他們做成很大的衝擊。
討論焦點： 本文從香港小學教師所處的脈絡因素入手，去探討他們專業化的路向，特別對影響教師專業發展的主導意識及權力形態，進行了分析。
論點： 香港教師專業化方向日益由政府的科層官僚主導，側重於教師專業發展，具體策略是以教師資歷要求系統化、專科知識化及持續專業發展制度化為特徵的。但各項政策的制訂缺乏協調，推行的方式多是由上而下，廣大教師處於被動位置。加上教師就業環境近年持續惡化，進修的選擇往往是為了迎合政策要求，以求自保，而並非是針對個人和整體學校發展的實際需要。
總結： 政府一方面提倡教師專業化，但另一方面透過行政指令，加強對教師專業化議程的主導和對教師整體性水準的監控，這種支配取向只會扼殺了教師的積極性。教師亦需積極爭取成立教師專業組織，以提高本身的專業自主權。
The paper examines the contextual factors and the dominant forces influencing the professionalisation of Hong Kong primary school teachers. The findings indicate that the recent direction of professionalisation has been focused on teachers' professional development, which has been increasingly controlled by the bureaucracy. The strategies for professional development are characterised by systemic requirements of teachers' qualification standards, specialist subject knowledge and continuing professional development. However, the policy formulation often lacks coordination, and the implementation process is typically top-down, with teachers' autonomy being ignored. In addition, amidst a worsening employment environment, teachers' choices of development activities are often aimed at meeting policy requirements, which may improve their job security. The findings suggest that the Government cannot advocate teacher professionalisation on the one hand, and mandate the professionalisation agendas and standards for teachers on the other, which would only ruin teachers' initiatives. Teachers also have to strive for the setting up of a professional body to exercise their professional autonomy.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

This article presents the finding of an interim evaluation survey commissioned by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong on the effectiveness of the curriculum reform initiated in 2001. Drawing upon change theories for analysis of the study, the article examines the perceptions of both principals and teachers on the effectiveness of short-term curriculum development in schools from 2001 to 2006 through self-administered questionnaire survey as well as focus group interviews. The quantitative survey shows that evaluations from principals were more positive than those of frontline teachers in many aspects of the reform. Data collected from focus group interviews help explain the discrepancy in attitudes of these two stakeholder groups towards the reform. Insufficient knowledge, lack of support and consensus, and top-down initiation of the reform are the reasons accounting for the different responses to the reform. Strengthening professional development programs and developing a culture of collegiality and collaboration are the strategies recommended to improve the implementation of the curriculum reform in the medium-term phase (2007-2011).
[Copyright of Teacher Development is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13664530903335558]

This article reports on both writers' experiences as participants in a collaborative action research project in Hong Kong. The article draws a distinction between teachers as research consumers and teachers as research producers. The authors suggest that active teacher agency in research is a positive element in the professional development of English teachers. Teachers primarily become research producers through involvement in some form of action research project. Although action research is increasingly recognized as a teacher competency in Hong Kong, it is nevertheless difficult for teachers to initiate and conduct when research is not seen as a core professional activity by their school with subsequent limited support. The authors view collaboration with professional researchers as a positive way for teachers to be apprenticed into the research process. The article ends by suggesting possible strategies that would support and encourage teachers to undertake research.
[Copyright of English Teaching: Practice & Critique is the property of Universidad del Zulia.
Access via Directory of Open Access Journals: http://edlinked.soe.waikato.ac.nz/research/journal/index.php?id=1]

A teacher shortage in Hong Kong in core subjects, such as English, has led to interest in the recruitment and retention of second-career teachers. Drawing upon Wenger's theory of identity formation and using data from interviews with eight second-career English language teachers in Hong Kong, this article explores how second-career teachers may be better supported in their professional development. The study found that second-career teachers' skills and experiences were not valued within their schools and that this was reflected in a rigid division the participants drew between the institutionally endorsed identity positions made available to them and the type of teachers they wanted to be. In response to this antagonism, second- career teachers used their position of non-participation to establish identity territories that connected aspects of their first-career identities, such as engineers and managers, to their emerging teacher identities. It is suggested that non-participation, a potentially negative experience in Wenger's framework, was deployed by this group of teachers to create the space they needed to enact their own preferred teacher identities. Implications for attracting and retaining second-career teachers are discussed.
[Copyright of Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13598660903052449]

This paper describes the development of Learning Study in Hong Kong and analyses the factors that lead to the success and ready acceptance of Learning Study by the school community in Hong Kong. The paper first describes how Lesson Study, as described by Stigler and Hiebert, was brought into the Hong Kong context through a three year project in 2000. It was then further developed and renamed Learning Study to differentiate it from the Japanese Lesson Study. The potential of Learning Study as a powerful tool for teachers' professional development was quickly recognized. Two subsequent projects led to the adoption of Learning Study by over 100 primary and secondary schools in a matter of four years. The success of Learning Study in Hong Kong will be analysed under the following factors: methodology, partnership with higher education institutions, positioning, reform context and culture, and dissemination strategy. Its contributions to pre-service education, teachers' continuing development, research and development in education, and also to improving the status of the profession as a whole are also discussed.
[Copyright of Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) at http://www.aare.edu.au]