Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer direct tests of the effectiveness of renaming vocational education and training (VET) in enhancing the image and popularity of the subject. Although many proponents of renaming argue that the word “vocational” is associated with lower levels of skills and knowledge and should therefore be supplemented by better recognised words, empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of this strategy is scant. Design/methodology/approach: This study exploits a rare policy change in Hong Kong, where VET was renamed as vocational and professional education and training (VPET) and conducted an original survey experiment of 1,004 parents in the city to test if the new name would improve respondents' perceptions of the subject. Findings: The findings reveal a complex picture regarding the effects of renaming. Although renaming does not seem to improve the overall popularity of vocational education, it may widen the support base for vocational education by diluting its class character. Specifically, while attitudes toward VET are significantly and negatively correlated with family income, no such association is found in regard to VPET. Originality/value: This paper offers the first direct and comprehensive test of the effectiveness of renaming vocational education – a popular policy suggestion in many countries. Its findings complicate conventional expectations and contribute to the study of educational preferences in advanced economies. Copyright © 2022 Emerald Publishing Limited.

Explorable areas concerning actual impacts of computer usage on various types of related activities after school on student learning, and relationship between time spent on those activities and student personality styles (in terms of social and intellectual selves and learning attitudes) have still been under-researched in local and international perspectives. This study aims to fill up these research gaps by studying 528 Secondary 1-3 (Grade 7-9) students, aged from 12 to 16, in a secondary school in Hong Kong in terms of a questionnaire to record their activities on using computers after school and to identify their personality styles in Hong Kong. By taking mid-term school examination results for granted, the study not only reveals correlation between examination marks and time using computers, but also depicts variation of their participating activities on using computers. Copyright © 2006 The authors. All rights reserved.

Liberal Studies has been established as a mandatory senior secondary school curriculum in Hong Kong since 2009. As one of university-entrance required subjects that aims at developing students informed understanding and decision-making, Liberal Studies requires teachers to adopt critical thinking training and multiple perspectives in teaching and learning. Since then, Liberal Studies teachers and their students inquire into controversial issues about Hong Kong, modern China and globalization. This innovative and inquiry school curriculum, however, has been criticized as one of the culprits of making Hong Kong’s youths active participants in unconventional civic participation. In recent years, the pressures from the pro-establishment camp of the legislature have argued for either changing it from mandatory to elective curriculum, lessening the examination requirements, or relegating it from graded to non-graded assessment status. All these, if carried out, will possibly make Liberal Studies exist in name only, not to mention already causing uncertainties and bewilderment among teachers and students. This paper shall review the development and debates surrounding this innovative and inquiry curriculum. It will possibly shed some lights on how an invisible climate of authoritarianism can exert impacts on a school curriculum. Copyright © 2020 Charles University.

The study investigates the development of virtual classroom in secondary schools in Hong Kong from in-service teacher perspectives and focuses on teachers' concerns towards the virtual classroom and their preferences on designing virtual classroom. Quantitative survey data came from 352 secondary school teachers and qualitative interview data was collected from 8 of the surveyed teachers. The results indicated that major concerns of most studied teachers were lower stages of typical non-user concerns profile, implying that virtual classroom was still at the infancy stage of development in some secondary schools of Hong Kong during the research period. A minority of teachers, who exhibited high competency in information literacy and were competent users of virtual classroom, had their concerns profiles shifted to higher stages of concern. An analysis of teachers' paradigm for the use of virtual classroom revealed that most teachers still stuck to the traditional teacher-centered pedagogy and employed mainly receptive and directive architecture in teaching without using virtual classroom in guided discovery and exploratory approaches. Strategic plan and staff development program for the success of implementation of virtual classroom are finally discussed in this paper. Copyright © 2005 The authors. All rights reserved.

This paper attempts to explore into teacher perception of using information technology (IT) in education by examining four major domains, namely, teacher perception of their computer training, computer facilities and assistance available, their confidence and comfortability in using computer in daily lessons, and their perception of their roles in using IT in classrooms. On one hand, a semi-structured survey revealed that there were positive impacts of teacher perception on the usage of computer in classrooms and highlighted teachers' preferences of adopting teachercentered approach in teaching with IT. On the other hand, a semi-structured interview reflected that the teaching staff members worked harmoniously and school administration was supportive. However, cross-subject or cross-curricular collaborative projects among teachers were rare. Finally, some recommendations are made to promote the use of IT in teaching concerning school-based collaborative culture, conceptual and strategic issues in e-leadership and inter-regional / intraregional resource bank for teaching and learning. Copyright © 2005 The authors. All rights reserved.

The paper reports on 740 Primary (Grade) 5 students' knowledge building and sharing of e-learning resources in a recent project work, involving inter-school learning community of 4 prestigious Catholic primary schools in Hong Kong. By using an interactive web-based learning platform called Knowledge Community (KC) and adopting learning community approach of advancing both individual and communal knowledge through knowledge building discourse (Collins & Bielaczyc, 1997), the project helped gather groups of students from four schools, forming 72 communities to generate thematic discussion on environmental protection over a period of 7 months. Empirical data showed that students exercised higher-order thinking skills through interdisciplinary project learning in the Bloom taxonomy of knowledge (7.77%), comprehension (30.68%), application (25.15%), analysis (9.08%), synthesis (3.52%) and evaluation (23.79%). As a whole, the project has exemplified an inter-school learning community model in East Asia, with stresses on e-leadership in school's collaborative learning cultures, parental involvement in student learning and students' scaffold supports in computer-mediated communication environment. Copyright © 2005 The authors. All rights reserved.

This edited book highlights the identities and practices of ethnically diverse families and schools in contexts where multicultural policies are not always a priority. In an era of globalization and ensuing population mobility, it places a focus on Asia-Pacific, a continent with diverse customs, populations, and languages, but grapples with what it might mean to be multicultural.The book features studies and frameworks that illustrate how minoritized communities engage with the diversity they live in and strategies in adjusting and adapting to their sociocultural environments, including practices that might support these efforts. This book represents initiatives and interdisciplinary scholarship from Japan, Hong Kong, mainland China, Australia, South Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan, which underscore the intersection of identities, cultural values, efforts, conflicts, and religions in making diversity work in their contexts. Collectively, these works make a unique contribution by invigorating debates on the flows and evolvement of cultural values and practices within and across families and institutions.This book will appeal to researchers, practitioners, and readers with interest in the current state of cultural diversity among minoritized families in Asia-Pacific and beyond. Copyright © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Jan Gube, Fang Gao and Miron Bhowmik; individual chapters, the contributors.

In the past two decades, despite their improved access to education, women remain underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). According to UNESCO (2017, pp. 18-20), between 2014 and 2016, the global average enrolment figures of female university students in the fields of “information and communication technologies” and “engineering, manufacturing and construction” constituted only 28% and 27% respectively. Similar situation can be found in Hong Kong. From 2011 to 2017, females have been the minorities in programmes of ‘sciences’ and ‘engineering and technology’, standing at around 35% to 39% and 29% to 33% respectively.Studies have identified various factors contributing to women’s under-representation in STEM. Barriers identified include the alignment of science culture and curriculum with masculinity (Archer, et al., 2016), the identity tensions for young girls when they do science (Faulkner, 2007; Gonsalves 2014), teachers’ bias (Carlone, 2003; Warrington and Younger, 2000), and lack of science capital (Francis, et al., 2017) This paper contributes to the current discussion by examining secondary school students’ narratives towards their STEM choice.We conducted eight focus group interviews (N=56), comprising female and male students who have chosen more or less STEM subjects in their Diploma of Secondary School Examination (DSE, which is a public examination leading to university admission). Our findings indicate that some prominent gendered beliefs prevail amongst Hong Kong students, including “boys are more sensible whereas girls are more sensitive”; “only boys are endowed with math sense – the natural ability to do math”; “girls only work hard but have no math sense”; and “girls that are good at math are exceptional or abnormal”. These gender stereotypical and male-dominated beliefs are particularly damaging to female students, as they undermine their self-efficacy and learner-identities. Copyright © 2020 International Conference