This paper is concerned with a qualitative study of how 15 pre-service PE teachers, who are taking the two-year full-time teacher training course, develop professionally in their second field experience. With the interpretive research paradigm as conceptual framework, data were collected through interviewing and writing of reflective journals. Groups of pre-service PE teachers were found possessing different professional learning experiences concerning their conceptions and socializing strategies. Their professional conceptions included "educating pupils to learn", "seeing PE as catharsis, discipline and having fun". Their socializing strategies composed of finding means to improve teaching, and adopt social tactics for managing pupils and defensive attitude for handling crisis. The study provides an understanding of pre-service PE teachers in the Hong Kong Institute of Education and their learning-to-teach processes. The findings serve as the backdrop for recommending possible pedagogical changes for facilitating desirable professional development of pre-service PE teachers.
[Copyright © 2007 Department of Physical Education, Hong Kong Baptist University.]

This paper describes the experience of a teacher educator in fostering teacher development in a reading project in Hong Kong. The teacher educator is interested in finding out the perceptions of teachers in the project and the factors affecting their perceptions and thus participation in the project. Teachers were interviewed and their lessons observed. A study of documents gave background information of the school. The interactions with the teachers in school functions, lesson observation, discussions and workshops recorded in the researcher’s diary had led to holistic interpretation of the teachers’ participation in the project. It is argued that the teacher’s sense of identity, value and moral purposed play an important but often neglected role in their involvement in an innovation.
[Copyright © 2004 International Society for Teacher Education.]

The purpose of the study was to describe the teaching behaviours of Hong Kong physical education student teachers. Thirty-two local pre-service and in-service student teachers were videotaped teaching two lessons in their own schools or in the allocated school during their final practicum. Each videotaped lesson was coded using the Physical Education Teacher Assessment Instrument (PETAI). Data generated by the PETAI were entered into a SPSS programme to produce further statistical analysis. The results were comprehensive described and comparison were made between the in-service and pre-service student teachers' behaviour categories by employing the independent t-test. Results indicated that the in-service student teachers had significantly higher percentages of the response presentation and the total teacher instructional time than the pre-service group. Whilst the pre-service student teachers spent significantly more time in planned presentation, equipment management, organization, behaviour management and overall management time than the in-service group. It is likely the different experience in physical education lesson teaching in school environment of the groups give account for the differences of their teaching behaviours. Findings of the present study implied that there were different teaching behaviour patterns and needs of pre-service and in-service student teachers during their practicum.
[Copyright © 2000 Department of Physical Education, Hong Kong Baptist University.]

Following the education reform in 2001, the Education Bureau (EDB) in Hong Kong initiated a review of early childhood education (ECE) in 2006. The main focus of this review is the quality assurance mechanism for ECE, including the training of teachers, teaching quality, the potential pressures on teachers to upgrade their qualifications etc. This review is supported by the Chief Executive’s Policy Address (2006), which outlines concrete ways to achieve the targeted goals. This paper compares the provision of music training at four major ECE professional teacher-training institutions and examines the perspectives of in-service teachers, principals and early childhood education lecturers on the music training of ECE teachers. Using focus group interviews and survey, in-service ECE teachers expressed their general satisfaction with their pre-service training in music teaching. However, they did not feel prepared and confident enough to teach music in their schools compared to other subjects. They suggested aspects of pre-service training which would have better prepared teachers to teach music and identified three areas of professional development needs of ECE teachers in music teaching. A practical framework of professional development is also presented.
[Copyright © 2007 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

A qualitative research approach which was used to gather data on teachers’ perspectives on Information Technology in Education (ITEd). Data, drawn from three primary schools in Hong Kong uncovered four major themes. First, the definition of ITEd was inconsistent among schools. Secondly, most teachers were concerned about whether or not students could be motivated to learn by using IT. They viewed knowledge enhancement as the main objective when IT was incorporated into their teaching. Thirdly, ITEd was viewed only as one of the events in the movement for education reform in schools. Successful implementation was mainly determined by the perception of principals and veteran teachers. Fourthly, schools used information technology mainly for school administrative purposes in the early stage of the development of ITEd. This study reveals that insufficient consideration was given to the use of information technology for interactive and communicative learning in our case study schools.
[Copyright © 2007 James Nicholas Publishers.]

This paper provides an analysis of recent educational reforms in Hong Kong that aim to transform the ideological basis of the curriculum, teaching and learning. While the reforms appear compatible with current international developments in higher education and school curriculum—movements, for example, towards standards-based accountability, the development of technological expertise and meeting the needs of diverse learners—major aspects of the reforms appear to contradict one another. The implications of current reforms for teacher education, in particular, are discussed together with issues related to the politicisa-tion of reforms and teacher education pedagogy. The discussion highlights the need for an alternative approach to educating and preparing both new and in-service teachers in Hong Kong to cope with the current and future educational reforms.
[Copyright © Nanyang Technological University & National Institute of Education.]