The seminar aims at disseminating the research findings of the research project exploring the “Project Approach in Hong Kong Preschools: A Collaborative Effort” funded by the Teaching Development Grant. The research was led by two lecturers of Hong Kong Institute of Education, School of Early Childhood Education, in collaboration with 5 graduates of CE / KG Course who separated into two teaching teams implemented two different projects in two collaborated kindergartens. One objective of the research was to explore how the project approach could be implemented in Hong Kong preschools as a contemporary teaching approach that provides children with the opportunities for interactive learning, intrinsic motivation and child directed activities. The research started in July 1997 and two major findings were observed: (a) Teacher conception of their roles in the Project Approach is crucial to the successful implementation of this approach; (b) For kindergartens beginning to implement the Project Approach, the concept of scaffolding’ initiated by Vogosky should be applied to help the less experience staff. Two videos, one on the implementation of the two projects and the other on the changing roles of a teacher during the implementation process will be shown in the seminar. Discussion will focus on issues arisen from the videos. The participants will be requested to fill in a questionnaire evaluating the effectiveness of the videos as a guide to implementation of the Project Approach in the Hong Kong context.

Music teaching in Hong Kong has played a minor role in the pre-primary educational curriculum, and music education in the kindergarten is one of the weakest areas. These are undesirable as the all-round development of young children is at stake. In this paper, a strategic implementing procedure is recommended to preschool educators. It aims to enable them to engage in early childhood creative activities and to feel more comfortable about introducing singing and other kinds of music making - Musical Games, Musical Mapping, Musical puzzles, Highlighting, Creative Movement and Storytelling. Music and Movement are special dimensions in the pre-school children classroom. The Song-Experience-Games strategy to be introduced here provides children with opportunities for aesthetic experiences at their own level, with the experience games built on the song work as a learning tool for the development of social awareness; the strategy also affects children in such a way that they are better able to think, to invent, to discover, to respond and to communicate. Such a variety of explorations and the process of problem solving and creation will enhance the self-esteem and confidence of children of all ages. The Creative Music Curriculum implications are discussed in this paper. The subjects of this research are kindergarten teachers and supervisors.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

Current curriculum reform in Hong Kong has highlighted the importance of leadership at the school level. It is reflected in the allocation of special funding by the Government to develop a scheme for creating a curriculum leadership position entitled "Primary Senior Masters/ Mistresses - Curriculum Development (PSMCDs)" in primary schools. To be effective curriculum leaders in leading school-based curriculum reforms, the PSMCDs need to build up working relationship with their colleagues at different levels. Thus this study aims to explore, from a micro-political perspective, the strategic role of PSMCDs in leading curriculum development in primary schools. The research questions are: - What strategies have the PSMCDs used to build up their working relationship with colleagues so as to perform their role of curriculum leaders? - What support have the PSMCDs received in schools for performing their role of curriculum leaders? - What problems and difficulties have they encountered in performing their role? By interviewing three PSMCDs who have just completed their first year of service in schools, it is found that one of them used authoritarian approach while the other two used interpersonal tactics to build up working relationship with their colleagues. Both strategies appeared to be effective in helping these PSMCDs to perform their role as curriculum leaders in their schools. The outcomes of this study are significant in helping school principals, curriculum leaders, serving teachers and other educators to have an in-depth understanding of the characteristics of PSMCDs in performing their change agent role in schools.

每一所學校創立目的各異。有的學校負有單一教育下一代，為國家培育年幼一代，或是具有示範、輔導及研究發展之功能與任務等。每一所學校都需要涵孕出以自己特有的校風，同時需要在各項教育設施和經營上作出配合，才可以成功發展，成為具有與眾不同符特色。本文是作者在參與籌辦學校過程中，針對學校課程組織和設計，設計者所應作的準備、校舍設立及校園布局等工作的反思文章。文章目標一把從美國、內地和台灣等地搜集所得的實驗、附實學校等，所採用課程及學校布局等等相關文獻進行分析，並作綜合報告；目標二是探討學校在發展過程中，預期遇上的挑戰，我們可以如何運用學校文化範式為對策；目標三是從教育教育機構中的一員的身分和角度，與參與者分享及收集教育同工對具有實驗小學的學校課程，所引發的期望和意見。