Since the late 1990s, early childhood education in Hong Kong has progressively lounged a series of reforms to raise the quality of early year education. Along with the emphasis on adopting the 'child-centred' concept of children's learning, the Guide to the Pre-primary Curriculum issued in 2006 recommend an integrated approach in the curriculum design. The integrated "holistic" approach calls for a shift of paradigm from the formal didactic teaching of academic knowledge to an informal development of the children through quality teacher-children interactions. Hitherto, small class teaching environment is created via the increase in teacher-student ratio at the start of the 2003-2004 academic year. A review of literature on small class teaching suggested that teacher-children ratio, classroom settings and the relevant pedagogic applications are important ingredients for the philosophical enhancement of the small class spirit. This paper will report some preliminary data collected in a pilot study conducted in two classrooms in a Hong Kong Kindergarten. The findings are reported as case studies which suggest that the spirit of small class teaching is not restricted in an informal teaching environment but in some formal teaching settings in the school as well. Discussion and implications on this understanding will be made.

Hong Kong is moving towards a knowledge-based economy. To nurture a population to continuously support and drive its development to achieve a world-class success, Hong Kong's education system has been reformed tremendously since 1997 with a balanced focus of academic and practical learning. Generic form of learning outcomes are critical outcomes for students to demonstrate high flexibility and adaptability in respond to the future ever-changing challenges. Using instruments that measure "cultural literacy" (Hui, 2012) and "student engagement" (Hui & Cheung, forthcoming), this study sets out the agenda to assess the development of generic learning outcomes of Hong Kong senior secondary school students, the extent to which they are well equipped with the skills to prepare themselves for a knowledge-based economy. Results of a survey study of 1,715 students inferred not up-to-standard performance and which questioned the design of the New Senior Secondary (NSS) school curriculum, the core subject of Liberal Studies and the Applied Learning courses in particular. Regression model further suggested generic learning outcomes could be explained largely by how schools plan and facilitate students‟ learning inside and outside the classroom. It is the primary role of NSS schools to provide students with meaningful and useful learning experiences to achieve the curriculum goal of fostering generic learning. This paper will contribute to the discussion of how to support more NSS school reform in Hong Kong.

在教育改革的大潮中，世界各地的教育改革都明確了課程與教學改革的重要性，只有教室的教與學有所更新和提高，學生才可能在教育改革中得益。香港自1997年成立質素保證視學之後，教育當局吸收了質素視學外評學校的經驗，瞭解到學校自我評估對學校自我完善的作用，正大力推行校本評估；設計貫徹校本管理的精神，鼓勵各校以學生為本專業地提升各校的教與學。筆者兩人藉參加由香港初等教育研究學會及教育統籌局聯合主辦，於2002至2003年度推行的小學學校自我評估的行動研究與分享計劃，瞭解到有些參與學校利用自我評估的手段，來檢視和反思學校的教與學，使課堂教學和學生學習符合教育改革的方向，以提升學生的學習能力與表現。此論文將以行動研究我方式，結合理論和實踐，介紹聖公會田灣始南小學如何利用外評結果和校本評估的方法，來推動學校教學變革的過程與經驗；並從中提出一些反思及啟示，以使更多香港學校利用校本評估促進教學的變革。