This study explores the influence of digital portfolio on reflective practice of prospective teachers (PTs) with the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework (TPACK). A total of 36 PTs studying in a teacher education course (one-year full-time) at a tertiary education institute in Hong Kong took part in the study. Blended learning approach was adopted to facilitate the completion of digital portfolio with various applications of Web services as a pedagogical tool. At the end of the course, the PTs completed the same questionnaire again as a post-test. Results showed that engaging PTs in digital portfolio integrated with different levels of Web services can increase their degree of readiness and maturation in different dimensions under the TPACK framework. The findings shed light on the development of teacher readiness for their entering of teaching profession in terms of technical, pedagogical and content knowledge individually and holistically, and further cultivated a higher degree of sustainability in reflective practice for the prospective teachers.
[Copyright © 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.]

Regular schools in Hong Kong are concerned about the growing enrolments of students with special educational needs (SEN) and how these students could be included in school guidance. Based upon the author’s nine-year personal experience of conducting courses on school guidance in the context of inclusive education at a key training institution in Hong Kong and research findings of a case study into teacher’s constructs of the inclusivity of school guidance (Hue ,2010) , three dimensions of teacher professional training for the inclusivity of school guidance are identified: developing inclusive counselling practices; developing inclusive strategies of behaviour management ; and dealing with the impacts of wider systems. This chapter gives insights into the professional needs of guidance teach-ers from regular schools and the promotion of the inclusivity of school guidance through teacher education.

The principle of educating students with special educational needs in the least restrictive settings renders a rapid growth of the population of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in ordinary schools in the last decade. This change has caused a concern to teachers in ordinary schools. To equip teachers in ordinary schools with the knowledge and skills in dealing with special edu-cational needs, different tiers of professional development programs have been developed. The problem is that these programs are mainly short-term and direct top-down transmission in nature. The lack of opportunity to try out the newly acquired knowledge and skills in real environments cannot give sufficient confi-dence to teachers to work with students with ASD independently. This chapter discusses the effectiveness of a current professional development (PD) program for teachers of students with ASD in Hong Kong SAR. A collaborative mode of PD is recommended that can assist teachers to gain hands-on experience in a field-based training program.

本文以英語一個有關代詞的課堂學習為研究個案闡述香港小學英語教學的情況，借此探討如何利用課堂學習研究這種校本研修新模式以擴展英語教師對英語教學的觀念，並分析這種模式對英語教師專業發展的影響。

This study aims to explore the relationships between the extent and perceived quality of teachers' experience of training in behaviour management (BM), and their awareness of the nature and extent of behavioural problems among school students, and their confidence in their own competence to deal with such problems. Teachers (n=183) from Hong Kong primary schools were surveyed. The results showed that gender, age and whether teachers have received training had no significant influence on teachers' awareness, conception and confidence regarding BM. A negative correlation was found between teachers' levels of satisfaction in relation to their training experiences and their perceptions of the level of problematic behaviours among students, and the impact of students' problematic behaviour on their teaching. A positive correlation was found between teachers' levels of satisfaction in relation to their training experiences and their confidence in their own competence to deal with students' problematic behaviour.

The relative contributions of higher education and schools, and hence the conceptual and practical aspects of ITE, to student teachers’ professional learning have been an issue of concern in teacher education. This article reports a mixed-methods study showing the relationship between student teachers’ engagement with the practical and conceptual aspects of a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) Programme in Hong Kong and different facets of their perceived professional competence. One hundred and thirty-two student teachers participated in the quantitative survey of whom seven were interviewed. The findings reveal that experiences associated with learning the pragmatic facets of professional practice were more valued by student teachers compared to learning the conceptual aspects of ITE. Yet, in terms of relationship with professional competence, student teachers’ engagement with the practical aspects of ITE was related to competence in classroom teaching, whereas their engagement with the conceptual aspects contributed to their mastery of professional knowledge, competence in classroom teaching and competence in interacting with stakeholders. The study illuminates the distinctive contributions of schools and higher education in ITE. While acknowledging the important role of schools in providing a setting for practical work, this study affirms the distinctive contribution of higher education in equipping student teachers with practical and conceptual tools in the preparation of professionally competent teachers.
[Copyright © 2015 Taylor & Francis.]

Teachers play an important role in delivering health education to empower students with skills for healthy living to prevent non-communicable diseases. One of the common non-communicable diseases is hypertension that its development is highly associated with unhealthy lifestyle. A survey was administered to assess 130 pre-service teachers and 54 in-service teachers who were taking the health education course to prepare them for teaching the content of healthy living in Hong Kong. The assessment included their knowledge level of hypertension, attitudes towards lifestyle modification education to students, perception of knowledgeable to give health education. It was found that the knowledge level related to hypertension was generally below average among the teachers. Although they considered that lifestyle modification was an effective way to enhance students’ well-being, both pre-service and in-service teachers were reluctant to take responsibility for lifestyle modification education to their students. Lack of skill training was perceived as a problem. Teachers’ perception on health education should not be limited to the provision of simple information and advice. There is a need to improve teachers’ health literacy on some common non-communicable diseases.
[Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.]

In Hong Kong, there is an acute need to provide newly appointed principals with opportunities for continuous professional development so that they could face the impact of reforms and globalization on school development. The Education Bureau has commissioned the tertiary institutions to provide structured professional development courses to cater for the needs of aspiring, newly appointed and serving principals for leadership development. This paper aims to report on an exploratory qualitative study regarding the perception of 32 newly appointed principals from secondary schools on (a) their role as a new principal and (b) their needs and expectations on the school leadership development programme so that contents of existing development programmes could be improved to meet their needs. Findings demonstrated that the newly appointed principals expected to be equipped with the administrative skills of human resources management such as empowering middle leaders and handing underperforming staff; the practical technique of financial management; the skills of dealing with legal matters regarding school management and the capacities of curriculum and instructional leadership. In addition, they attributed networking with peers and working with mentors as invaluable experience and support for their early years’ principalship.
[Copyright © 2015 The Author(s).]

This study attempted to identify effects of trust between principal leadership and teacher professional learning in Hong Kong primary schools. To verify the potential mediating effects of trust as a component of school capacity, survey data with a sample of 970 teachers from 32 local primary schools was used. Two questionnaires were combined to investigate principal leadership and school capacity in the schools. Baron and Kenny’s four-step causal process for mediation analysis was employed to have a preliminary inquiry. To compensate weaknesses of the orthodox regression based approach, significance of the mediating effects of trust were tested using the Sobel’s test and bootstrapping method. Next, the seven core sets of principal leadership practices were used as multiple predictors, and mediating effects of trust between them and teacher professional learning were also examined. The findings affirmed the role of faculty trust as a mediator between principal leadership and teacher professional learning in Hong Kong primary schools.
[Copyright © 2015 The Author(s).]

Reflective practice is an essential component of pre-service teacher training programs. It facilitates the linking of theory and practice and empowers trainees to seek reasons behind their practices and their beliefs. These help novices to evolve as they witness their own teaching philosophies emerging. This research took place over 18 months and comprised 3 case studies of eight weeks with 3rd year ESOL trainees on their first intensive block practice in Hong Kong state schools. The research suggests that an online environment is an effective one in supporting and developing reflective practice during these periods. This was facilitated by asking trainees to apply an online model to scaffold reflections. These reflections were then posted and discussed by all case study members. They were also explored further using online moderator asynchronous Socratic dialogue to prompt further reflection. Findings demonstrate that a deep level of reflection is attainable in this context, albeit relatively rare, using the online medium.
[Copyright © 2012 SciRes.]