Purpose: Empirical research on leadership for social justice is in progress in many parts of the world. The purpose of this paper is to explore principals' school-leadership journeys in response to social-justice issues caused by specific contextual changes at times of uncertainty. It seeks to answer the following key questions: What social-justice issues do principals identify as arising from their schools' transformation due to contextual changes? How do principals practise leadership for social justice in response to these contextual changes at different levels? Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on qualitative data from a cross-case study of two principals' school-leadership journeys. The authors pay particular attention to the understanding of leadership for social justice grounded in principals' efforts to foster equality in learning development for a diverse student population. Findings: Timely adverse conditions may be required to foster leadership for social justice in schools. The principals reacted to contextual changes at several levels, planning and implementing innovative and flexible interventions to ensure equality in students' learning development. These findings contribute to international accounts of educational leadership. Research limitations/implications: This study of leadership for social justice in schools is contextually specific. Therefore, more empirical comparisons of school leadership are required in future studies, as principals' practices vary between education settings. Originality/value: This paper offers insights into the evolution of leadership for social justice in schools in response to contextual changes. Principals' leadership strategies can be reoriented and their actions reshaped to overcome threats to social justice in schools. Accordingly, although leadership for social justice in school communities is culturally and pedagogically inclusive, it is also socially distinctive.
[Copyright © 2017 Emerald Publishing

Current educational development discourse is characterized by the Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG4) that aims to “ensure inclusive, equitable and quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all”. This paper explores the challenges of achieving SDG4 for Hong Kong in regard to ensuring equitable and quality educational opportunities for its ethnic minority young people, with a particular focus on equality in educational outcomes. The paper argues that school failure of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong is an educational outcome issue which poses significant challenges for Hong Kong to achieve SDG4. In addition to the Chinese language factor, there are many other interrelated factors at students’ individual, family, school and community level contributing to ethnic minority students’ school failure in Hong Kong. Unless all of them are addressed, it will be hard to achieve any marked success against school failure. Above all, an education policy is needed that recognizes and responds to cultural diversity to support Hong Kong’s ethnic minority students.
[Copyright © 2017 Australian Curriculum Studies Association.]

The literature on acculturation illustrates that a bulk of non-dominant ethnocultural minorities consider themselves bicultural, involving both dominant and ethnic cultures. Yet, little is known about how bicultural individuals perceive and construct dual cultures, and how their two cultural identities are played out in daily interactions. While these issues are under-researched, they are vital to policy and practice initiation towards ethnocultural minorities’ integration and upward mobility as well as for the receiving society’s social cohesion and economic competitiveness. To this end, this study used the concept of bicultural identity integration and tapped into the processes of biculturalism among 16 secondary school students coming from South and Southeast-Asian groups in Hong Kong. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to unearth the internal construct of bicultural identity and the trajectories of adapting to dual cultural influences across space. The participants’ accounts displayed a high level of cultural harmony yet low blendedness in choosing to separate affiliations into cultural domains. This internal complexity reflects the contradictory juxtaposing of ‘cultural diversity’ in the host society and its segregated schooling for minority student population.
[Copyright © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.]

Educational issues in relation to ethnicity and language education policies have been underexplored in Asian contexts. In particular, issues related to ethnic and linguistic minority students have not received much attention in the post-colonial context of Hong Kong. This paper highlights challenges and tensions faced by Nepali ethnic minority students in two Hong Kong schools arising from language policies adopted by the post-colonial government. Based on data arising from interviews with 28 secondary school Nepali students in 2013 and 2014, and an observation of two schools with a sizeable population of Nepali ethnic minority students over a period of more than two years, this paper investigates how students face the pressures of learning through the medium of either English or spoken Cantonese and written Chinese. Analysis of the data reveals that these students face inequities in schools due to neglect of attention to their overall educational development, discrimination in the institutional settings, and lack of opportunities to maintain their own heritage language and identity. Based on the findings, this paper proposes a multilingual education model for ethnic minority students, drawing on the models set out in Adamson and Feng (2014. "Models for Trilingual Education in the People's Republic of China." In Minority Languages and Multilingual Education, edited by D. Gorter, V. Zenotz, and J. Cenoz, 29–44. Dordrecht: Springer), which has potential to redress the balance.
[Copyright © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.]

It has recently been asserted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that “education is a basic right, one that is vital in restoring hope and dignity to people driven from their homes. It helps them to get back on their feet and build a better future” (A Basic Right for a Better Future, UNHCR, 2016, p.1). Asylum seekers, both here in Hong Kong and elsewhere, struggle to be self-sufficient, and it is education that can equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge. Education empowers refugees and is the key to better future that helps bring stability and hope. The study to be reported here asses explores refugee family responsibilities and the Hong Kong SAR Government’s responsibility for educational provision in relation to refugee children in Hong Kong. The preliminary findings indicate that refugee children in Hong Kong encounter many difficulties and problems (such as financial, psychological). Many of them, however, embrace their education opportunities and excel academically with support from teachers and schools. This study highlights issues which refugee children encounter and also provides a narrative in understanding the complicated and extraordinary childhoods of refugee children and youth in Hong Kong. While the study is set in the Hong Kong context, the findings are likely to be of interest of other countries which to improve educational provision for refugees.

This paper reports the findings of a public policy research supported by the University Grant Council on the relationships between the characteristics, school engagement and civic engagement of adolescents in Hong Kong. Data was collected from a sample of 3,024 students, aged 12 to 19, by employing the self-rated modified school engagement scale and the ICCS 2009 student questionnaires. Using local Hong Kong students as a reference, the other students included in the study were non-Chinese South Asians, cross-boundary students who live in Mainland China but who go to schools in Hong Kong, and newly arrived students from Mainland China. Family income and student groups were two predictor variables examined. About 38% of the sample were of low socioeconomic status, in that they reported their family monthly income as being less than 1500 USD. Hierarchical regression was employed to determine the relative influence of student characteristics and school and civic engagement variables. Findings revealed that there was a close connection between the self-assessment of school and civic engagement and there were differences in this regard among the immigrant and minority student groups. Recommendations for both schools and government agencies towards future policy development in facilitating pro-school and civic-oriented attitudes and behaviours of all students were suggested.

This paper explores teaching and learning experiences concerning young Pakistani Muslims in Hong Kong, who are found simultaneously immersed in two divergent systems of education - first, the conventional daytime schools where students are educated formally with general knowledge, and second, the madrasahs (Islamic learning institutes) where student recite Qur’an and receive religious teachings every day after school. Based on the ongoing ethnographic fieldwork (with methods including participant observation and interviews) in both local conventional schools and madrasahs in Hong Kong, this paper reveals that the three parties involved, namely the Chinese-speaking educators from conventional schools, the Qur’anic teachers from madrasahs (along with the students’ parents, who are often supporters of madrasah education), and the ethnic Muslim students, might have different understanding and expectations on education. This paper further argues that such difference could be a result of contrary worldviews and meanings of life to the two groups of educators, as well as limited communication between the two sides of educational institutes.

Hong Kong is an international city, with people of different races. In recent years, the number of people from South Asia, especially from Nepal, Pakistan, and India, is rising rapidly. Increasingly more of them are choosing to study in public schools, where learning the Chinese language is compulsory. However, the Chinese language is too difficult for them to learn, and their failure in the public examination usually presents an obstacle to further study in universities as well as to their career prospects in Hong Kong. Moreover, many non-Chinese-speaking (NCS) students have experienced racial discrimination in daily life in public transport, public places, and schools in Hong Kong. They find it difficult to make friends with the local people because they do not know Cantonese or use inaccurate pronunciations. Since 2006, the mission to provide formal education to NCS students was buttressed by ‘designated schools’ which were nominated by the Education Bureau (EDB) to admit more NCS students. However, recent complaints regarding the allocation of NCS children in multiethnic schools as a form of cultural segregation and discrimination has resulted in an increasing demand for spaces in mainstream schools where Chinese is the main medium of instruction. Hence, NCS students have to face more difficulties in learning and in managing interactions with local students. In this research, a case study of a multiethnic school was performed to examine the major challenges faced by the non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students when learning Chinese and how the school helped these students overcome their challenges. How the multiethnic school developed a suitable environment for promoting multicultural integration and harmony in the school was also studied. Through investigations of school documents, observation of lessons and activities, and discussion with teachers and students, the school was determined to have applied a suitable range of strategies to provide pleasurable and

Children are expected to read and write Chinese character before they reach their formal schooling in Hong Kong. The 4 to 6 years old children, *non-Chinese speaking (NCS) and native Chinese speaking children are given similar Chinese writing exercise in the preschools. Nevertheless NCS children are still affected by the differences between their mother language and Chinese. NCS children are more likely to encounter difficulties in writing and reading Chinese. According to the past research reports, the NCS students in Hong Kong who enter a mainstream primary school (Chinese medium instruction), their levels of literacy in Chinese tends to remain at a low level, and they are unable to keep up with local Chinese classmates. The aim of the study is to focus on how NCS children who are 5 to 6 years old learn Chinese characters in a realist classroom setting. The study will be conducted in three Chinese preschools in Hong Kong and investigate the teaching and learning of Chinese characters in five classroom settings using with a phenomenographic approach.