This paper reports research that evaluated the efficacy of training for education assistants and its impact upon changing practices in a group of private international schools in Hong Kong, China. Two cohorts of education assistants received training through an education institute. The focus was on supporting and fostering inclusive practices in schools. The expectations and perceptions of the education assistants regarding the training was recorded through survey and focus group interviews and discussed alongside international literature in the area of classroom support and inclusive schooling. The paper concludes that the provision of training was successful in meeting education assistants' expectations and in increasing personal confidence and raising self-esteem, but that they face many challenges if their learning is to be applied. The research further reveals that education assistants within Hong Kong schools lack clarity in their role and a narrow understanding of how they may be most appropriately utilised within schools has led to a limiting of their deployment. Implications for training providers and the teaching profession are discussed.
[Copyright of International Journal of Inclusive Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13603110802504895]

Practicing teachers often engage in continuous professional learning with certain career considerations. Based on achievement goal theory, this study explored the effects of career goals on teacher's learning using a sample of practicing teachers in Hong Kong. Two forms of career goals were assessed using a questionnaire. Professional learning goals orient teachers to learn for improving professional competence by acquiring professional knowledge and understanding, and extrinsic career goals focus teachers on learning for tangible benefits such as career promotion and higher professional qualification. Results derived from regression analyses confirmed that professional learning goals were the most significant goals in predicting adaptive use of learning strategies, regulatory strategies, and positive attitudes towards learning. Extrinsic career goals predicted the use of surface strategies. This study also found that self-efficacy mediated the effects of different goals on learning. Cluster analyses provided additional findings confirming the importance of professional learning goals in teachers' goal profiles.
[Copyright of Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13540601003754806]

This article examines how Hong Kong secondary school teachers define caring and the strategies they adopt for behaviour management. The influence of Taoism, emerging as a theme from the data, was prominent, as its principles were incorporated into the teachers' knowledge of caring. The findings illuminate the influence of Taoism in local schools. Implications for the promotion of culturally responsive programmes of caring are drawn.
[Copyright of British Educational Research Journal is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01411920903018158]

Previous research has rarely examined teachers' perceptions of school culture (perceived school culture) and well-being in Hong Kong's non-profit-making (NPM) and profit-making (PM) kindergartens. Thus, the purpose of this study was twofold: first, it examined the relationships between Hong Kong kindergarten teachers' perceived school culture and well-being. Second, it compared NPM and PM kindergartens in terms of teachers' perceived school culture, job satisfaction and mental health complaints. Kindergarten teachers were invited to complete a set of questionnaires including a School Culture Survey, Job Satisfaction Survey and General Health Questionnaire. Results showed that teachers' perceived school culture correlated positively with their job satisfaction but negatively with mental health complaints. Interestingly, teachers in NPM kindergartens had higher job satisfaction and fewer mental health complaints than those working in PM kindergartens. The implications of promoting kindergartens' school culture and teachers' well-being are discussed.
[Copyright of Early Child Development and Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430701769019]

The study sought to investigate Hong Kong secondary school vice-principals' job facets leading to overall job satisfaction, and to differentiate the satisfaction of vice-principals of different career orientations and gender groups. The findings indicated that there are four main facets of satisfaction, in rank order of influence on overall satisfaction, 'professional commitment', 'level of personal challenge', 'sense of efficacy' and 'sense of synchrony'. The study also found that vice-principals who aspired to the principalship exhibited a higher degree of professional commitment, a stronger sense of efficacy, and experienced lower levels of stress associated with personal challenge than vice-principals who did not aspire to a principalship.
[Copyright of British Educational Research Journal is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01411920903018026]

This study investigates the transition from kindergarten to primary school through the experiences of the teachers, parents and children involved. Emphasis is given to the transitional activities participated in by the stakeholders and the effectiveness of these activities. These experiences of children's transition to school will inform further research into the design of effective transition programmes in the local context. The means of investigation in this study include questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and observations. The results show that the teachers and parents generally believed that the children performed quite well academically, although the primary school teachers reported that they were average in discipline. The findings from both the questionnaires and the interviews show that most of the respondents agreed that strong connections between kindergarten, primary school and parents could facilitate a smoother transition to school. However, in reality, both kindergarten and primary school teachers showed ignorance of each other's teaching practices and curriculum.
[Copyright of Early Child Development and Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430802586130]