This paper recognizes the pressures to teachers in the broader climate of educational reform, and asserts that rich opportunities of professional learning are situated in challenges and critical incidents. By drawing data from experienced teacher, this paper elucidates teachers' guilt and resolution with a framework for promoting a culture of personal growth and professional development. The paper concludes by highlighting the creative energy inside teachers who can team up as networks of learners. When sharing deeply the minds and the hearts, they can re-discover deep values in realities of everyday life in a journey of life-long learning together.
[Copyright of Hong Kong Special Education Forum is the property of Special Education Society of Hong Kong Ltd.. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
https://sites.google.com/a/seshk.org.hk/seshk-org-hk/c_publication]

From the Americas to Asia, neoliberal policy restructuring continues to present major challenges to educational equity. In Hong Kong, teacher educators grapple with training students in pedagogy they believe in, versus the daily status quo of high-stakes exam prep, privatized "shadow education," and a system seemingly pushed to the brink of neoliberal social efficiency. Indeed, in recent years, Hong Kong has recorded top rankings on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the Programme for International Student Assessment, along with record-setting protests and student suicides. Like in the USA, neoliberalization of teacher education in Hong Kong has proffered dilemmas of standardized curricula, evaluation, and licensure, often under the guise of "21st century skills and technology." Both regions also face perpetual threats of being under- or de-funded, based on "data-driven" decision-making and leadership that are supposedly more accountable and efficient. Unsurprisingly, neoliberal policies and practices have often exacerbated inequities in teaching and learning, especially for communities labelled as minority or working-class. Within traditions of critical pedagogy, this article's authors engage in a discussion on how educators and students are navigating the neoliberal behemoth and developing more inclusive spaces across local contexts of language, class, and culture. Based on the authors' research in the Americas and Greater China, this article interrogates some of the junctures and ruptures of neoliberal education in Hong Kong, long-held as bridge between "East" and "West." The article draws from the first author Benji Chang's action research projects with pre-and in-service teachers in the region, which examines how they are critiquing and challenging dominant discourses of neoliberalism (e.g., positivism, standardization, and market-economy), and what brings hope. Given Hong Kong's history of colonization with Europe and the USA, and the

This study aims to deliver a school‐based mode of training for in‐service teachers of students with ASD in Hong Kong. The training is delivered following the phases of implementation science, namely, exploration, installation, and implementation. The project team used the theory of mind approach, which enables teachers to engage with students with ASD and to focus on recognizing and reacting to emotions. Participants in this study included four educators from a teacher education institution, three expert teachers, and 19 in‐service teacher trainees. The most salient responses came from trainees who were provided with the opportunity to apply learned skills in their own classrooms immediately and to share the knowledge and skills in dealing with students with ASD in the post‐conference meetings.
[Copyright of Support for Learning is the property of Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9604.12199]

本文以香港中文准教師沉浸課程的學習成果為研究材料，比較學前學後 PSC（國家普通話水準測試）成績，結合自我評估問卷調查，檢測沉浸課程的普通話學習成效。資料顯示，有超過 70% 的准教師在參加沉浸課程後達到了 PSC 二級乙等或以上水準，較之前增加 30% ；個人成績提升了 6 分左右，近 70% 的准教師提升了至少一個等級 ；沉浸課程對 PSC 三級甲等或以下等級的提升作用最明顯。研究發現，以 PSC 為導向的普通話能力訓練，以及語言環境、語伴活動和文化考察等多元化的語境實踐，可以從多個層面促進准教師的普通話進步，以及專業發展和個人成長。沉浸課程具備可以提高內在動機和外在動機的多種誘因，同時也需要照顧學生的認知和情感 ；而學習者開放心態，投入學習，也是課程成功的重要因素。This research examines the effectiveness of an immersion program in the Putonghua learning of pre-service Chinese teachers in Hong Kong by studying their selfevaluation questionnaires, as well as their pre- and post-PSC (Putonghua Shuiping Ceshi ‘Putonghua Proficiency Test’) results. It is shown that more than 70% of preservice Chinese teachers are able to attain Level 2B or above in their PSC through this program, at least a level higher than the one they previously attained. Each of them is able to get around 6 more marks in his/her PSC. The total number of preservice Chinese teachers attaining the aforementioned level or above increases by 30%. It also leads to a remarkable improvement in the PSC results of pre-service Chinese teachers who previously attained Level 3A or below. The immersion program has the most obvious effect on the students at Level 3A below. Moreover, this research discovers that a PSC oriented Putonghua skills training, along with the application of language skills in real-life contexts through culture exploration activities or a language buddy program, can lead to a significant improvement in the Putonghua proficiency of pre-service Chinese teachers in Hong Kong, as well as professional development and personal growth. An immersion program provides them intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to improve their Putonghua proficiency. Meanwhile, we need to take care of students’ cognition and emotion. The success of such immersion program depends on whether pre-service Chinese teachers are openminded and willing to concentrate on their Putonghua learning. Copyright © 2018 香港教育大學.

Understandings of social media and its pedagogical potentials remain controversial. Teachers tend to integrate social media in their teaching, which may bring about considerable impacts on their pedagogies in practices. In fact, this is an imperative issue which teacher educators in Hong Kong and those in other places are concerned. This paper reports a multi-case study about preservice teachers’ pedagogies when using social media in teaching. A classification of the social media landscape is called for due to confusion regarding the meanings of such terms as social media, Web 2.0 and user-created content. Two research questions were addressed: (1) What social media did the preservice teachers prefer to use in during their practicums; and (2) what pedagogies did the teachers adopted while involving social media in teaching in the placement schools? A total of 33 preservice teachers (N = 33) from a higher education institution in Hong Kong voluntarily participated in this study after open invitation. YouTube was the most popular standalone social medium and was also used in combination with other social media and non-social media websites to reflect the teachers’ practices in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools. Despite this, the preservice teachers mostly adopted didactic pedagogy with high frequencies of social media use during teaching practicums. This study contributes the salient understandings of pre-service teachers’ pedagogical orientations in using social media. Implications for teacher education are discussed. Copyright © 2018 ADTEL. All Rights Reserved

This paper reports on an investigation into two pre-service teachers' reflective learning through a series of integrated and interactive tasks (i.e., collaborative lesson planning, group consultation, microteaching and videoed reflections) in a teacher education course in Hong Kong. Relying on data gathered from interviews and reflection videos and informed by a tripartite model on teacher identity in practice, discourse and activity, the study revealed how the pre-service teachers engaged in reflective practice and identity construction in the course. The paper concludes with practical implications on how to design and implement effective reflective tasks in preparing and developing competent language teachers. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ethnic minorities (EM) comprise 5% of Hong Kong's population of 7 million. In schools 3% (14,000) are ethnic/linguistic minority students whose poor achievement in senior secondary years is evidence of disproportionate educational outcomes compared with those of Chinese speaking students. The government has rolled out support measures to meet the learning needs of EM students. Research reported here gathered perceptions of the impact of these support measures in achieving the stated objectives - minimising language and cultural barriers to school achievement, and facilitating smooth integration of EM students into Hong Kong society. Findings reveal that the singularly focused pedagogical provision for Chinese language acquisition is too narrow and exposes the role language policy plays in the construction of social inequality in Hong Kong. There are absences; unacknowledged culture diversity; unaddressed discrimination, and unrecognised pedagogical challenges emanating from teachers' calls for more support. Copyright © 2013 International Society for Teacher Education.

Developing early-career teachers' leadership is a part of teacher learning both inside and outside schools. Teachers' learning processes have not yet been explored in relation to principals' delegation and teachers' recognition of leadership roles in a culturally hierarchical structure. This article discusses a cross-case study of four early-career Chinese teachers' experiences of leadership development in the Hong Kong school system. After teaching for five years, the teachers' leadership capabilities are reflected in their functional roles, membership, and promotion in their schools as approved by their school principals. Implications for teacher leadership development through teacher learning are also discussed. Copyright © 2017 Education Pub.