Hong Kong children nowadays are undergoing rapid changes in their development. What they experience and encounter in their childhood has profound influence on the development of their behaviours and psychological state of the minds. In this critical period of development, school years, primary school education in particular, form a prominent portion of their childhood. According to Dewey, schools provide the formal environment for learning and for children to assimilate the ways adults think and behave. Research has shown that the school is an important agent of socialization of children (Lau, S., Siu, K.K. and Chik, P.Y., 1988). What children experience and enjoy in schools should henceforth deserve great attention in the community – the policy makers and administrators, curriculum developers, parents, school principals and teachers. Given this, the paper outlines the experience and reflection of the writer on her two week of teaching junior primary pupils. The arrangements are part of the Lecturers' Attachment Scheme jointly organized by the Hong Kong Institute of Education and its partner schools. The aim is to enhance lecturers' understanding of primary classroom teaching contexts and children learning needs. The writer attempted to find out how theory and practice work in the learning of primary children in school environment. A short questionnaire administered to the pupils she taught examines the kind of learning environment children like most. The information collected was useful to substantiate the qualitative interpretive reflection of the writer herself. Implications will also be discussed.
[Copyright © 2000 The Save the Children Fund (Hong Kong).]

The teacher's self as a crucial element for 'a more inclusive notion of professional development' has gained greater attention in the teacher education literature. Teacher development involves not only 'the nature of the knowledge of teaching' (epistemology), but also 'the nature of becoming and being a teacher (ontology) (Tickle, 2000:90). This paper attempts to seek a more coherent understanding of the notion of teacher's professional self and its relationship with professional learning. Based on the findings of 4 case studies of ESL teachers in the context of primary English classroom in Hong Kong, dispositional and affective factors are drawn to inform the notion of agency in professional learning. The paper first presents a review of the relevant literature to set the theoretical contexts. It then proceeds to report on the findings of the 4 case studies to provide empirical pictures of the issue. Based on an internal-external model of dispositions developed by Ritchhart (2002), the paper ends with a proposed framework of agency in professional learning. Implications and recommendations for teacher education to cater for various teacher agencies in learning will also be made.

Curriculum change in Hong Kong usually involved subject revision rather than curriculum framework consideration. Subject revision may improve the learning of the subject knowledge and enable a more effective teaching or assessment. However, such changes do not touch on the element of students' behaviour and attitude. Civic education in Hong Kong is implemented through subject contents of Arts and Crafts, Music and others, but the main burden of civic education is still on the subject General Studies. It is obvious that civic education at the moment is not effectively implemented in the primary schools, otherwise it cannot explain the increasing deviated behavioural problems among primary and secondary students. Reports on problems faced by school counselors suggest that it is time to rethink the curriculum structure of the primary school in Hong Kong at least for the betterment in civic education. The present civic education in Hong Kong primary schools is usually implemented by a) extra- curriculum activities, b) issues in the studies of general studies like drug education and sex education, c) seminar conducted by schools, d) assembly during school hours, and e) visits outside school hours. However, many of these involvements are passive and a more active learning process for the students in terms of their attitude is desired. As there are many constraints in the primary education, for example, bi- sessional mode is one, the inclusion of Drama in education is one feasible possibility as it enables students to participate actively in the learning process. The mode of operation of Theatre in Lducation in Hong Kong is mostly drama delivery to school plus one follow up discussion or drama workshop and games conducted by tutors employed by the subsided theatres. The workshops offered are usually performance linked, that is, related to a product like annual Parents' Night. Though there are certain encouraging effects for the students in terms of the building of their personality

Educational Technology has long been a major component in the teacher education programme in Hong Kong. However, its application in actual classroom teaching is very limited. Recent studies in the science teaching in secondary classes and the trend of using instructional media in primary schools in Hong Kong revealed that the types of media being used are limited to those traditional ones. Textbook, blackboard and printed text materials remain the dominant instructional media in current practice of teaching although there are varieties of other choices (Yeung et al, 1996; Li et al, 1999). Other traditional media such as photos, graphics, OHTs and video were used occasionally and were mainly used as information delivery aids in a teaching process. Reports on the use of computer technology were rare. This phenomenon of limited use of technologies and little use of computer technology in teaching may have relation with the general adoption of directed teaching strategies by most teachers currently or may be a result of insufficient preparation in initial teacher education programme. Teacher educators have been being too emphasised on the teaching "about" technologies- the skills for operation of -equipment and computer software rather than the concepts and knowledge of their applications in real learning situations. That is how teachers and students teach and learn "with" technologies. This study aims at verifying the effects of a new teaching approach in which portfolio was used as a guide, a record and a monitor of the learning process of the revised technology competencies for teachers in a group of pre-service teachers in a primary teacher education programme. A conceptual framework that governs the design of the revised competencies was also established and will be discussed in this paper. Preliminary investigation shows positive result in the acquisition of concepts, ideas and skills in the newly revised technology competencies.

Outdoor education, a general term describing the use of resources (including both natural and artificial environments) outside the classroom, has long been considered a method to improve student learning (Knapp, 1996). It is a popular teaching and learning tool in environmental education due to its anticipated effectiveness in promoting students’ pro-environmental behaviour, knowledge and positive attitudes towards the environment (Rickinson et al., 2004).