Studies have shown that teacher leaders take the initiative to shape and exercise pastoral care practices to meet the rapid changes in student learning and well-being. The present study aims to examine and conceptualize the relationship between teacher entrepreneurial behaviour (TEB) and the renewal of pastoral care practices while accounting for any possible mediating effects of new technologies. We collected 446 responses to survey questions from teacher leaders from 53 secondary and primary schools in Hong Kong. We then employed structural equation modelling to test the associations between TEB, renewing pastoral care practice, and technological opportunism. The results support three proposed hypotheses insofar as higher levels of TEB are positively associated with renewing pastoral care, which is in turn mediated by technological opportunism. The results advance teacher leadership research regarding how TEB contributes to the sustainable development of pastoral care strategies in schools. They also demonstrate that teacher leaders with strong TEB are more willing to seek new technologies and treat them as opportunities for change, which contributes to the literature showing that information and communication technology (ICT) resources not only support teachers initiatives but also help them develop new ideas. Copyright © 2023 National Institute of Education, Singapore.

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is critical to students' academic success and lifelong learning. Although the benefits of SRL have been examined in many studies, few have explored it in a broader educational context. This study presents an eight-month institutional case study that demonstrates how SRL has been developed as a pedagogy through the collective endeavours of teachers, researchers, and experts at a university in Hong Kong. A case study method protocol was followed. Data were obtained from multiple sources, including surveys of teachers (N = 93) and students (N = 215), interviews with teachers (n = 5) and students (n = 19), archived course documents, videos, and project reports. T-tests, coding, and document analysis were applied to analyse the collected data. The results showed that the teachers had good knowledge of SRL strategies but some students struggled to apply them effectively. Our study's findings have various implications for the effective promotion of SRL at the university level, and include the importance of developing a collective approach involving various members of the university, integrating responsive pedagogy, and adapting SRL strategies to students' individual needs. Future research can follow our methodology to replicate the study in different educational contexts.

In this chapter, Phoebe Siu, Pedro dos Santos, and Angel Lin investigate current theories in language and bilingual education that view learning as a dynamic process of meaning-making in which participants draw from their available semiotic resources to engage in classroom tasks, negotiate meanings, and establish their identities. The authors argue that such an approach is a good way to examine English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) classrooms. In Hong Kong, where post-secondary institutions have offered EMI to comply with the language policies and the view of English as the language of internationalisation, such theories can provide fruitful insights into EMI classrooms. As Siu, dos Santos, and Lin show, EMI classrooms are configured as spaces where the monoglossic and monologic desire added to the pressure for the exclusive use of English for completing assessment and learning tasks in academic registers and genres confront students’ frequent use of their home languages. Copyright © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Mark E. King and Paul J. Thibault; individual chapters, the contributors.

This paper explores the pedagogical approaches teachers employ and the strategies that school leaders implement to promote the use of an Adaptive Learning Platform (ALP) in a high school in Hong Kong. It assesses how such an AI-powered platform can support teachers in enhancing student engagement and learning outcomes. The study employs a case study methodology to identify the factors influencing the incorporation of ALP. Qualitative data were collected through teacher interviews, and an in-depth analysis was carried out to identify effective pedagogies and strategies for implementing adaptive learning. The findings of this study underscore the significance of supportive school leadership that encourages teachers to embrace ALP as a tool for promoting student learning. Additionally, effective implementation of ALP necessitates a shift in pedagogical practices from traditional teacher-centred approaches to more student-centred strategies. The study concludes that the integration of ALP into teaching practices can boost student engagement and elevate the quality of learning outcomes. In summary, this research contributes to understanding the successful implementation of ALP in high schools, emphasising the critical roles of school leadership support and the adoption of student-centred pedagogies. The findings provide valuable insights for educators, administrators, and policymakers interested in utilising ALP to improve student learning outcomes. Copyright © 2023 by the owner/author(s).

Guided by a sociocultural perspective, this study aims to explore the views of kindergarten teachers on ChatGPT, its potential benefits and challenges in education, and the support and training required for effective implementation. The study involved 10 teachers from several kindergartens in Hong Kong. Face-to-face interviews were conducted. The findings revealed that teachers had mixed opinions about ChatGPT, with some considering it a powerful tool while others seeing it as mediocre. Potential benefits of using ChatGPT in education were identified in the areas of lesson planning, pedagogical and content knowledge, and twenty-first-century skills. However, teachers also highlighted concerns regarding hardware issues, lack of resources, and accuracy. To facilitate the effective use of ChatGPT in teaching practices, teachers identified the need for policy and school support, as well as teacher training. It is crucial for policymakers and school administrators to recognize the potential of ChatGPT in enhancing teaching and learning and to provide resources and develop supportive policies accordingly. Moreover, providing teachers with adequate training on how to utilize ChatGPT effectively can boost their confidence and competence in incorporating this technology into their classrooms. Copyright ©2023 Routledge.

Despite the increasing use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI), teachers who teach at EMI schools encounter significant challenges, such as difficulties in teaching content-subjects in English and students' limited understanding of content presented in English. To examine the extent of these challenges, six early-full and 14 late-partial EMI science teachers from eight schools in Hong Kong were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews on the challenges they faced as teachers of EMI science subjects. A biographic approach was used to analyse the interviews, and the results showed that despite the metacognitive overlap between the two groups of teachers, there were noticeable differences in their pedagogical strategies. These findings suggest that the implementation of EMI instruction influences teachers' metacognition and pedagogical practices. Teachers' frequent use of Cantonese (L1) further suggest that English language skills are not as prioritised compared to the subject content. Further research is needed to investigate the complex and diverse factors that influence teachers' metacognition under EMI contexts. Copyright ©2023 Routledge.

This paper reports on an exploration into difficulties in junior secondary science lessons taught through English in the largely Cantonese-speaking context of Hong Kong. The study was carried out by an educational linguist and a science education specialist working in collaboration, and identified difficulties through student questionnaires, interviews with teachers, and classroom observation. Understandings of genre based in systemic functional linguistics were used in conjunction with knowledge of the science curriculum to investigate these difficulties. Extracts from lessons and teaching materials on energy conversion are discussed, with additional reference to interviews and questionnaires. Analysis revealed the influence of teaching materials on coherence between curricular objectives and teacher discourse. In particular, complex description detracted from explanations, affecting student understanding of the lesson. Copyright ©2024 Elsevier.

Against the backdrop of internationalisation and growing attention to intercultural experiences in tertiary education, this mixed-methods study examined, in part I, language learning benefits reaped by active participants in intercultural activities. As English is widely used for communication among multilinguals, part II of the study focused specifically on English. We set out to investigate the relationship between individuals' language background (actual and self-perceived English proficiency) and intercultural participation, as well as their views of the formal English language education they received prior to entering universities. The participants (n = 518) recruited from two universities in Hong Kong responded to a questionnaire and 11 of them also attended individual semi-structured interviews. Overall, five categories of benefits emerged from the interview findings, namely psychological benefits, proficiency enhancement, identification of problems, communicative strategies for accommodation, and communicative strategies for expression. A weak positive correlation was found between self-rated English speaking proficiency and participation. The interviewees also commented on the formal English education they received from curricular and environmental perspectives. Copyright ©2023 Routledge.

E-learning has been proposed as a sustainable delivery method for higher education. During the COVID-19 pandemic, online/e-service-learning was widely adopted around the world as a replacement for face-to-face service learning, providing an opportunity to explore whether e-learning as a sustainable delivery method could be applied to service learning. The present study adopted a qualitative approach to investigate the e-service-learning experiences of Mainland Chinese students studying at a Hong Kong university with regard to their general perceptions about the e-service-learning projects, perceived learning gains, and factors associated with their learning gains. A total of 28 undergraduates who participated in e-service-learning in the 2020/21 academic year were recruited from different faculties of the university. Seven focus groups were established with the participants. The results showed that Mainland Chinese students generally had positive perceptions about their experiences in e-service-learning during the pandemic. They appreciated the convenient and effective online learning and service, although they needed contact that is more direct with service recipients to deepen their reflection. Students perceived that they had improved their problem-solving skills and subject knowledge; they also gained meaningful personal growth and positive emotions through e-service-learning. Facilitators of and barriers to students' effective learning were also identified. The findings provide important evidence for the effectiveness of e-service-learning from the perspective of Mainland Chinese students at Hong Kong universities and the potential of e-service-learning as a sustainable delivery method for service-learning programs in the post-pandemic era. Copyright ©2023 Mdpi.

The use of English in international communication has focused scholarly attention on L2 learners' development of interactional competence (IC), that is, the ability to co-construct interactions purposefully and meaningfully in specific contexts. Under Hong Kong's bilingual education policy, students mainly learn and speak English in two classroom contexts: (1) English language and (2) English-medium-instruction (EMI) content-area subject lessons, which may contribute to their IC development. This study compared the English-speaking/learning experiences of students in these two classroom settings in three Hong Kong secondary schools. Task-based language teaching (TBLT) was the recommended teaching approach in the English language subject in all these schools, but they adopted different medium-of-instruction arrangements in content-area subjects. Their students also had different academic attainments. The investigation adopted a case study approach consisting of a questionnaire and semi-structured focus group interviews (N = 160). Our findings suggest that students generally lacked opportunities to speak English, regardless of the specific school-based policies. The higher-proficiency students were given more opportunities to speak English in group/pair activities both in English language and EMI content-area subjects. In contrast, the lower-proficiency students received more explicit teaching of the linguistic forms/structures required in English examinations. The paper concludes by highlighting several critical issues concerning students' IC development in bilingual education, namely, the effects of English-medium education on students' speaking ability, implementation of TBLT, the influence of examinations on teaching practices, and teachers' role in promoting students' interactional competence through classroom interactions. Copyright ©2023 Wiley.