The paper introduces a research study which is encapsulated within a broader understanding of knowledge and action, theory and practice as well as policy and research. The inquiry of teacher curriculum decision-making is represented by the introduction of the Target-Oriented Curriculum (TOC) within a context of curriculum change in Hong Kong. The research question is framed by the problem emerging from a new challenge resulting from a curriculum change. The implementation of the TOC may be perceived as a platform for ongoing critique and reconstruction of a dynamic mix of curriculum theory, policy, research and practice. A collaborative journey of reflection and empowerment is ongoing in the research study. This collaborative journey which is an Action Research study (Koo, 1999) is navigated by a researcher from a teacher education institute to work with the participants, who are a selection of primary school teachers and principals. The Action Research has four Action Steps which have separate main activities and strategies. The initial action steps established a platform for ongoing thinking and reconstructive action. Action Step One was collaborative and a generating phase. The overarching theme was to “think about the context of my own curriculum practice”. It linked the conceptual framework with the initial and ongoing conversations. It was the beginning for the researcher of keeping detailed records of the narratives, conversations as well as her reflections as a researcher. All of the researcher’s strategies are linked with ethical considerations and trustworthiness. Action Step Two was a continuing process of engaging the research participants in a critical community for ongoing critique and improvement in curriculum practice. It comprised three individual semi-focused interviews which were spread out over three to five months. The individual in-depth interviews were different from the sharing meetings of Action Steps 1, 3 and 4 in which teachers told personal

Reflection is at the heart of continued professional development (Moore, 2002). Many educators view that reflective abilities are desirable characteristics of teachers (Gore and Zeichner, 1991; Herrmann and Sarracino, 1993). Killon and Todnem (1991) indicate in their study of in-service teachers that reflective thinking can be a tool for continued personal and professional development. My previous study (Tsui, 2004) corroborates their viewpoint. Empirical work on reflection in early childhood teachers in-service is seriously underplayed. The purposes of this study were to explore the elements of early childhood teachers' pedagogical reflection as well as factors affecting the development of reflective thinking among early childhood teachers in the authentic settings. Two beginning and two experienced early childhood teachers were recruited from four preschools in Hong Kong. All participants attended an intervention exercise within ten months. The interventions took the form of interviews, workshops and documents. Findings were emerged in the form of themes and categories: on reflective thinking, on children learning, interaction with children, teachers' teaching, curriculum issues, school context and personal characteristics. Several school factors as well as the mechanism of how these factors affecting reflective thinking and its development were identified in this study. We need to probe deeper into the factors, both school workplace conditions and personal factors.

This paper attempts to explore the complex and multi-dimensional nature of student teachers’ learning to teach in teaching practice from the life history perspective. It first reviews the relevant literature portraying the life history perspective, with particular reference to student teachers’ learning. It then presents the methodology and findings of a pilot study of student teachers’ learning to teach in Hong Kong, adopting the life history lens to analyze the qualitative data collected. The tentative analysis of the data collected tells that the life history perspective is far from offering an adequate explanation of the complexity of student teachers’ learning. Suggestions are made on using the teacher socialization perspective as a conceptual alternative to guide future research.

This paper presents evidence that contemporary teachers in Hong Kong are confronted with professional role diffusion. The phase of stabilization, which characterized many teachers with four to six years of teaching experience in Huberman’s (1989) study, seems to have deferred. In a life history study of four teachers with six to ten year teaching experiences, the absence of a stabilization phase was found in the professional life of the informants. It is argued that the quest of excellence and accountability in school education has contributed to a prolonged period of survival and discovery phase and a rapid recurrence of stabilized and destabilized cycle.

This paper describes a study investigating the professional development of Hong Kong kindergarten teachers. Tracking the teaching and learning of 'play' of six front-line kindergarten teachers by means of the three levels of reflection put forward by Schon (1983, 1987), the study reveals the challenges in the professional lives of these teachers who are working under the conflicting demands and expectations of the society. The result shows that five out of the six informants are entrapped in a 'technicality' of teaching by developing an obsessive hunt for authentic teaching aids. Unfortunately, this behaviour perpetuates under the effect of a self-fulfilling prophecy working within these teachers. Mismatches between the teaching reform and a number of vital core factors for the reform to be succeeded are identified. This paper calls for a due attention to understand the complexities impeding the teaching reform. It echoes the concern of Bascia and Hargreaves (2000) and appeals to policy makers and the public for a fair demand on the role of teachers, who must not be hold accountable for all that is wrong with education, for the scale of the problems that teachers are expected to address just cannot be solved easily by the teachers themselves.