Educational researchers, policymakers, and administrators agree that providing in-service teachers with high-quality professional development (PD) opportunities is essential to educational success. Despite the substantial sums invested in teacher PD by countries and jurisdictions, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused serious challenges to teacher learning around the world. As conventional face-to-face initiatives became impracticable (e.g., workshops, conferences, school-based PD) and the need to prioritize pandemic-specific topics intensified (e.g., emergency remote teaching), teacher PD was recast both formally (where and how teachers engaged in PD) and substantively (what teachers sought to learn from PD). Amidst the international upheavals caused by COVID-19, how have teacher PD infrastructures (policies, practices, theories) responded? For this Special Issue, we put this and other questions before a panel of PD scholars in six contexts: United States, Scotland (United Kingdom), Uruguay, Australia, United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong (SAR China). In their respective contributions, authors discuss issues such as the limitations of PD systems based on compliance and external accountability mechanisms, the need to center teacher motivation in existing PD frameworks, matters of access and equity, the importance of developing technological infrastructures for online and hybrid learning, problems of online safety and wellbeing, and more. The Special Issue shows that the uncertainty of today’s times requires new, global perspectives on PD design, implementation, evaluation, theory, and scholarship. To nurture agentic, highly motivated, and effective teachers for the pandemic era and beyond, countries and jurisdictions should think more creatively about how to best support teacher learning. Copyright © 2022 International Journal for Research in Education.

A significant challenge in studying formative assessment is the lack of suitable instruments for assessing teachers’ formative assessment practices. This paper reports the development of the Teacher Formative Assessment Practice Scale (TFAPS) and its psychometric properties based on two samples of primary and secondary school teachers: one from Hong Kong (N = 449) and the other from Italy (N = 309). Exploratory factor analysis identified two distinct factors, including teacher-directed formative assessment (TdFA, six items) and student-directed formative assessment (SdFA, four items). The confirmatory factor analysis supported this two-factor structure. Rasch analysis provided further psychometric evidence regarding scale dimensionality and item quality. This study suggests that TFAPS is an appropriate instrument for assessing teachers’ formative assessment practices, but the cultural influence on teachers’ formative assessment practices should be noted in the applications of the instrument. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s).

This article describes the current teacher professional development (PD) infrastructure of Hong Kong, one of the world’s top performers in education. Drawing on contemporary policy frameworks, institutional websites, and research literature, we outline how teachers from primary and secondary local schools are supported to enhance their professional capacity. After introducing the structure of the Hong Kong education system, we describe pre-service teacher education and the Professional Ladder framework, designed by the Education Bureau (EDB) to regulate in-service PD. We then describe the work done by the leading PD providers and the PD-related obstacles, difficulties, and constraints reported in the literature. The article shows that Hong Kong has developed a solid PD infrastructure with hybrid characteristics. While the system is based on compliance and external accountability mechanisms, teachers are encouraged to design their PD journeys based on their interests, needs, and career aspirations. Every three years, teachers are required to complete 90 to 150 hours of PD (depending on seniority), including core and elective training (approximately 1/3 and 2/3 of the PD allotment, respectively). Structured, on-the-job, project-based, whole-school, and individual PD activities are available. The article also describes the strategies recently adopted to tackle the challenges of COVID-19. We conclude that Hong Kong has made great efforts to design a high-quality PD infrastructure within a hierarchical educational system, in which quantity of provision and content coverage have been prioritized over teacher agency and autonomy. More research is required to investigate the actual impact of PD on teachers’ practices and students’ learning.تصف هذه المقالة البنية التحتية الحالية للتطوير المهني للمعلمين في هونج كونج، أحد أفضل الدول أداء في العالم من الناحية التعليمية. استناداً على أطر عمل السياسة المعاصرة، المواقع المؤسسية والأدبيات البحثية، وتوضح كيفية دعم المعلمين من المدارس

This small-scale exploratory study explores the practices and experiences of two experienced Hong Kong Education Bureau Advisory Teachers (ATs) engaged in school-based professional support (SBPS) of teachers during school closure caused the COVID-19 pandemic. It documents the ATs usual practices, conditions for effective SBPS, the effect the pandemic had on their practices, and the specific support they provided remotely during the pandemic. Key findings indicate that effective SBPS requires clear role expectations, a collaborative support approach, building strong relationships and durability. The SBPS model is resilient and allows ATs and teachers to adjust to the evolving situation. ATs have continued to provide support throughout the school closures, something that would not have been possible without the existing SBPS model, relationship cultivated over an extended period of support and available technology. The authors recommend that Education Bureaus explore SBPS as a way to continue supporting teachers during school closures. Copyright © 2021 Taylor and Francis.

This paper aims to report a case study of exploring the effect of "assessment for learning" on improving student learning and facilitating teachers' professional development in the examination-oriented context of Hong Kong. By adopting Variation Theory of the Lesson Study approach, data were collected through pre- and post-tests, interviews with students and teacher participants and observation field-notes in order to help diagnose students' learning difficulties and provide evidence for teachers to refine their teaching strategies to enhance students' learning effectiveness. The students' improvement in learning performance informed the teacher participants of the usefulness of 'assessment for learning' in the classroom. Copyright © Sage Publications Ltd.

This paper draws on the experiences of nine secondary school teachers in Hong Kong who conducted practitioner research (PR) in their Liberal Studies classrooms. The purpose of the study is to 1) investigate the impact and effectiveness of PR as a teacher professional development strategy and 2) identify effective support from the university team addressing the challenges relevant to an Asia-Pacific context. The study employed a qualitative design. Data were drawn from teacher interviews, meetings between the research team and the teachers, school documents and field notes. Findings suggest that while contextual challenges exist, PR is an effective approach for teacher professional development. Teachers perceived the direct impact of PR as observing the improvement of pupil performance and engagement, and a readiness to adopt new teaching strategies. Teachers also reflected on the benefits of professional development as related to the use of evidence to support reflection on pupil learning and teaching, and redefining teachers’ roles. The findings provide insight into designing effective support and collaborative strategies for PR. With the support of the findings, a feasible approach to PR as a teacher professional development strategy relevant to an Asia-Pacific context is proposed. Copyright © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Reflection has long been used as a professional development tool in teacher education. However, researchers have criticised that reflection is a loosely defined term and that there is little agreement on how reflection should be conducted. To achieve a more systematic application, a critical incident framework is proposed in this study and used as a reflective tool in a workshop with in-service teachers in Hong Kong. This small-scale study is based on the stories of critical incidents, journal entries and follow-up interviews provided by a sample of Hong Kong teachers. The results show that after being given the opportunity to reflect on their practices with a small community of peers, the participants showed more engaging participation in professional development and became more mindful of their ability to learn from personal experience. Moreover, after practising reflection, the teachers engaged in self-cure and used the knowledge of their previous experiences to effect changes in their classroom practices. Copyright © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

本文敍述本地一所中學如何透過全面地改革課程、教材、教學法及評估,推進融合教育發展的一段歷程。該校副校長以局內人的身份,闡述學校如何打破教師「各自為政」的文化,培育着重分享協作的團隊,以照顧不斷增加有學習困難學生的需要。This paper chronicles the comprehensive restructuring in curriculum, learning materials, instructional practices, and assessment in a local secondary school moving towards inclusive provision. It is written from the insider’s perspective of the school’s Vice Principal who recounts how the school moved away from practices of teaching in isolation and embraced a culture based on sharing and collaboration among teachers to accommodate the needs of an increasing number of students with learning difficulties.
[Copyright of 香港特殊教育期刊 is the property of 香港特殊教育學會有限公司. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
https://sites.google.com/a/seshk.org.hk/seshk-org-hk/c_publication]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how principals' leadership approaches to teacher professional development arise from school banding and may impact upon teacher professional capital and student achievement. Design/methodology/approach: The case study is situated within the context of school-based management, comprising reflective accounts of nine school principals selected by stratified sampling from a sample of 56 Hong Kong schools to represent Bands One, Two, and Three schools. The reflective accounts were triangulated with observations of teachers and analysis of school websites. Findings: First, under school-based management, principals remain obliged to recognize the power of state-defined examinations in determining the schools' future priorities. Second, the exercise of school autonomy in response to this obligation varies, depending upon the competitive advantage schools have in the school banding system. Ideally, effective school-based management is dependent upon the principal's capacity to facilitate good instructional practices. However, principals need to adjust their leadership practices to school contextual demands. Third, adaptations to contexts result in the varied developments of teacher capacities in schools, corresponding with the types of principal leadership adopted. Originality/value: While statistical studies have identified attributes of exemplary principal leadership, few studies have examined the qualitative reasons for the exemplification of these attributes, and the influence of the school context in shaping these attributes. Departing from assumptions that leadership attributes are intrinsic to individuals, this paper considers how principals contextualize leadership in teacher professional development to the schools' student academic achievement.
[Copyright © 2017 Emerald Publishing Limited.]

Differentiated instruction (DI) is nothing new and is believed to be an effective research-based strategy to cater for learner diversity. Differentiation involves finding multiple ways to structure a lesson so that each student is provided with an opportunity to work at a moderately challenging level. Previous studies, however, found that teachers were not well prepared and insufficiently equipped with skills and knowledge about DI. In the recent Hong Kong curriculum reform, DI has been highlighted as one of the ways to catering to learner diversity. The purpose of the study is to examine in-service teachers' readiness for using DI strategies and perceived challenges in its implementation. Using a mixed-methods design, a questionnaire was used to investigate teachers' perceived readiness for and obstacles toward using DI strategies, as followed by semi-structured focus group interviews that were done to in-service teachers of two schools. Qualitative data as obtained from the interviews was used to explain the quantitative data. With the use of factor analysis, two factors were identified in the survey, including Factor 1 Teacher-centred approach and Factor 2 Student-centred approach. Findings indicated that teachers generally tended to be ready for using DI strategies; however, they were more ready for using teacher-centred approach. Three perceived obstacles toward DI were identified: class size and diversity, time, and understanding of teaching strategies. Implications for curriculum development, professional development and research directions will be discussed at the end of the paper.