Many schools and NGOs in Hong Kong are deeply concerned with the welfare of ethnic minority students. This paper examines the experience of teachers working in schools where Chinese and non-Chinese students are accommodated. Quantitative and qualitative data respectively collected from a survey and an interview study will be reported. The survey involving 282 teachers from 10 schools explored their perceptions of teaching efficacy. The findings showed that teachers felt more confident in teaching non-Chinese than teaching Chinese students. This finding was illuminated by an interview study into teachers’ view of the cross-experience of students. 25 teachers from four schools were involved. It showed that teachers constructed the behaviour and needs of Chinese and non-Chinese students and their parents differently, in terms of social behaviour, cultural practices, gender identities, languages, and educational aspiration, and that the school, home and community were disconnected. This paper argues that to implement the ethos of equality and social justices, it is not only necessary for the school and government to develop culturally responsive approaches to teaching, but equally important to develop a connected schooling ecology where ethnic minority students and parents can be consistently supported in classroom, in school, at home and in community.

Over the past decades, the art curricula of the Hong Kong Institute have undergone revision in response to the current trend of art education and the needs of the society. In the process of on-going review and modification of course structure and contents, it is essential to study similar programmes offered by other institutions, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. This paper aims to review the strength and weakness of the BEd. (P) art major programme by comparing its rationale, course structure and teaching contents with similar programmes of East China Normal University of Shanghai. The different approaches in course design in relation to individual regions’ historical contexts will be explored and recommendations will be made for future development.

Daily about 75 school-aged children from Mainland China arrived in the schools in Hong Kong. Although children from China were similar in cultural heritage, their "foreignness" in terms of personal characteristics, such as behavior and learning style, dialect differences, or lack of colloquialness, gave them away as "different". This study intends to examine the lived experiences of the teachers in teaching newly arrived children (NAG). The study consists of multiple case studies using a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with school administrators and teachers in nine schools. Findings indicate that schools that operated from an open-door policy contain a higher percentage of MAC than schools that applied strict admission policy. Teachers of the former schools were more negative and apprehensive in their experience in teaching and managing NAC's learning and behavior. They saw the later cohort of NAC more difficult to teach than the earlier cohort. Teachers were unprepared and the strategies they resorted in varied from applying a difference-blind principle to watering down the curriculum. The study causes concern of an education system that lacks critical cultural understanding and sensitivity in catering for cultural diversity. Poverty of bilingual and multicultural education knowledge prevailed in most schools. In order to achieve just educational provisions for these pupils, the study concludes that schools should consider a more flexible grade level system, a curriculum that takes equality of access, survival, output, and outcome into serious considerations. Further, a multicultural teacher education training program is highly recommended to ensure culturally proficient teachers.

This paper describes, analyses and evaluates changes in teaching methodologies of the English curriculum formally proposed for Hong Kong secondary schools from 1975 to 1998. “Formally proposed” means “stated in written documents produced by agencies with official authority”. Aspects of the formal, or planned curriculum in Hong Kong have been stated in written documents produced by agencies such as the Educational Management Board (EMB) and the Curriculum Development Council (CDC). The documents used for this analysis are the 1975 (provisional) Syllabus for English (Forms 1-5) and the 1983 Syllabus for English (Forms 1-5). In additions, since the current research project falls at a time when another major curriculum renewal process is in process, there will be some extrapolation from the 1997 task-based primary English curriculum to the task-based secondary English curriculum planned for the year 2000. The planned curriculum is examined here as the first step in a larger research project which aims to compare the planned and implemented curriculum of the HK Special Administrative Region and Shanghai. The research question relevant to this paper is: “What are the aims, objectives, teaching methodology and assessment of the English curriculum formally proposed in Hong Kong schools?” The planned curriculum is seen as only one aspect of the process which shapes a curriculum. It is acknowledged that a curriculum plan is like a blueprint for a building which may never be constructed, or may not be constructed as planned, or if constructed may not serve its intended functions (Cornbleth, 1990, p.6). The paper focuses on methodology, while other aspects of the planned curriculum are treated in other papers (forthcoming) produced under the auspices of the project.

This paper will describe a project that was designed to encourage dialogue and exchange between students taking courses in Special Education at the University of North Texas and The Hong Kong Institute of Education via the Internet. The project was designed for the to develop a peer mentoring relationship sharing their experiences, increasing their cultural awareness, and examining their philosophy. Information will be presented on the manner in which the project was designed. Details of the mechanics of the project, samples of the exchanges and the evaluation of the project as well as future plans will be presented.

An important feature of Hong Kong's education reform over the past decade has been the articulation of the "no loser principle". This policy statement was meant to signal that all students are valuable and will benefit from both basic and senior secondary education. Yet barriers remain for the 2.9% of students under the age of 15 who can be classified as ethnic minorities. Until the 2008 Racial Discrimination Ordinance (RDO), the educational needs of these students remained an invisible issue for the school system. This article examines the policy context in which Hong Kong schools have made provisions for ethnic minority students, and reviews classroom practices that operationalize these policies on a daily basis. In an interview study involving 32 teachers' narratives of how they managed the cultural diversity of ethnic minority students in classrooms (Hue & Kennedy, 2012, 2013), it was reported that at the practical level, teachers struggle to meet the diverse needs of students and to conceptualize a new rationale for responding to cultural diversity. The implications of promoting ethnic minority education at the three levels of policy, practice and research are discussed.
[Copyright © Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED)].

This paper reports data from a study about the challenges of educational reform through play carried out by three in-service preschool teachers in Hong Kong. Intending to abide with the new paradigm shift to quality teaching and learning originated from the West, these teachers tried to adopt the Vygotskian social constructivist theory and the Deweyan learning theory through the application of scaffolding technique to foster a democratic child-centred classroom through play. Case study methodology is employed in the study. The findings highlighted the differences and similarities between the types of scaffolding techniques employed and the situation on which to apply respectively by the West and those adopted in the East in the case of Hong Kong. The paper concludes with a discussion that education is a complex and complicated endeavour involving a plethora of judgments, ideologies and belief system which will affect diverse people and the "meaning" of their experiences, lives and Institutions. Implications are drawn through some reflections gained in this study. Future research work on the comparative studies on the belief system of the teachers and its relationship with the application of pedagogic approaches for a 'democratic' early childhood classroom between the East and the West is recommended.
[Copyright © Comparative Education Society of Hong Kong.].

There is a growing body of literature highlighting issues concerning current educational provision for ethnic minority students in Hong Kong. The popular media is also featuring these issues. In addition, the Equal Opportunities Commission has formally notified the Education Bureau of its concerns about the education of ethnic minority students. This article reviews a range of issues and concerns that have been raised regarding educational provision for ethnic minority students in Hong Kong. It particularly raises the issue of "out of school" ethnic minority children in Hong Kong. To date, most of the existing literature has been on ethnic minority students who are already in the school. Yet a careful analysis of the reports and tables published from the 2006 census data suggests that a good number of ethnic minority children are probably not in school, including pre-primary, lower secondary, upper secondary and post-secondary age groups. Despite the fact that some legislation is in place to protect the educational rights of ethnic minority children in Hong Kong, they are nevertheless facing a number of issues and challenges inside school. In addition, the fact that ethnic minority children are "out of school" raises new issues about access and equity in Hong Kong's education system.
[Copyright © Hong Kong Educational Research Association].

Internationally there have been serious efforts to identify effective modes of delivering civic education for preparing youth for the future challenges of citizenship. This article addresses the research question, 'why is an independent subject not preferred in civic education by Hong Kong civic education teachers?'. It starts with a brief review of international debates and of the development of civic education policy in Hong Kong. Then it moves on to discuss why teachers tend to reject civic education as an independent subject based on the findings from an interview informed research study. The findings reveal that teachers' misunderstandings of the nature of civic education are the major reasons. Treating civic education as comprising educational activities involving the nurturing of attitudes, values and skills of students with little content knowledge, the teachers consider that civic education is best accomplished through, for example, extra-curricular activities and not as a subject that demands time slots in the school timetable. It is argued that these misunderstandings will have negative impacts on the effectiveness of civic education, which is unfavourable to the nurturing of democratic cultures necessary for the development of the democratic system in Hong Kong and has to be rectified. Lastly, some recommendations for rectification that relate to civil society are discussed. Hopefully, this article can shed light on the understanding of the preferences towards the modes of implementation of front line practitioners in schools internationally, since this phenomenon is common in some other nations.
[Copyright © Symposium Journals Ltd.].