Background: Teaching Games for Understanding has been promoted as an innovative curriculum model in the past decade in Hong Kong. It focuses on developing pupils' tactical awareness and decision making capability through integrating the cognitive and contextual dimensions of learning in physical education.
Aims: This article reports a qualitative study of occupational socialization experiences of preservice physical education teachers on Teaching Games for Understanding.
Sample and methods: Data of 4 final year pre-service physical education teachers with an orientation towards teaching were collected through interviews and writing of reflective journals. Occupational socialisation suggested by Lawson (1983) and the interpretive inquiry perspective were adopted as theoretical frameworks for generating meanings.
Results and recommendations: All participants perceived Teaching Games for Understanding positively as a viable instruction contributing to pupils' cognitive development and providing fun. They regarded it as pedagogical knowledge and mapped well with the current education reform in Hong Kong. Although they encountered a number of conceptual and instructional difficulties for implementing the model, they were determined to adopt the model in their future teaching. The findings generate insights on how pre-service PE teachers can be helped and facilitated in their occupational socialization processes.
背景：近十年，領會教學法被介定為體育創新課程模式，此模式是透過體育之智慧及情景化學習以發展學生之戰術意識及決定能力。
目的：本文章旨在報告一項質的研究，探討體育畢業師訓生的領會教學法職化經歷。
取樣及方法：本研究應用Lawson (1983)之職化理念和傳譯角度作為理論依據，利用訪談及反思報告以搜集資料，探討四位具教學取向體育畢業師訓生之領會教學法學習經歷。
結果及建議：所有參加者均認為領會教學法是可行的體育教學模式，它能促進學生智慧發展及趣味學習，他們視這種教學模式為教學步驟及能配合近期之教育改革。研究結果對如何協助體育師訓生之領會教學法職化過程帶來啟示。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

Background: Cantonese-English mixed code is ubiquitous in Hong Kong society, and yet using mixed code is widely perceived as improper. This paper presents evidence of mixed code being socially constructed as bad language behavior. In the education domain, an EDB guideline bans mixed code in the classroom. Teachers are encouraged to stick to Cantonese or English, depending on the school-based medium of instruction policy (i.e. EMI vs. CMI schools).
Aims or focus of discussion: This paper analyzes the major reasons why mixed code is so difficult to avoid, both inside and outside the classroom. One important factor is the 'medium-of-learning effect'. Empirical evidence will be presented to demonstrate students' cognitive dependence on English terminologies as a direct result of English medium education. The paper draws implications for classroom code-switching, which is pedagogically a valuable linguistic resource.
Arguments / comments / suggestions: The EDB guideline banning mixed code in the classroom is too rigid. Code-switching has great potential for helping the bilingual teacher to achieve context-specific teaching and learning goals like clarifying difficult concepts and reinforcing students' bilingual lexicon (e.g. melamine/三聚氰胺, financial tsunami/金融海嘯). For EMI teachers, switching to Cantonese helps maintain class discipline, build rapport and reduce social distance with students. The assumption or claim that mixed code leads to declining English or even Chinese standards is not informed by sound empirical evidence.
Conclusion: Educated Chinese Hongkongers find it difficult to resist using some English in their informal interactions with others in Cantonese, resulting in mixed code. Instead of banning mixed code indiscriminately, a more proactive and productive approach will be to conduct empirical research with a view to (a) better understanding the circumstances under which classroom code-switching is necessary, (b) identifying pedagogically

Background: The literature suggests two main types of orientations influencing teachers' choice of assessment strategies--"Knowledge acquisition and retention (K orientation)" and "Understanding and Conceptual change (U orientation)" with the former more directly related to surface learning types of assessment strategies and the latter more to do with strategies which encourage deep learning.
Aims: The study aimed to investigate what kinds of strategies teachers used to assess their students and how teachers' self-reported assessment strategies reflected the orientations suggested in the current literature. In addition, it identified the governing forces that impacted on the orientations of the teachers in their assessment strategy selection.
Sample: Ninety-four Hong Kong teachers from nine primary schools and six secondary schools took part in semi-structured interviews which focused on the strategies they used for assessing their students.
Results: The teachers reported using many types of strategies including tests, exams, projects, etc. The results of the study showed that there were forces that drew teachers towards "Knowledge acquisition and retention" orientation while selecting assessment strategies for use.
Conclusion: More effort has to be made to encourage teachers to attain a better balance between assessment aimed at measuring knowledge and assessment aimed at learning and understanding.
背景: 文獻指出教師在選擇評估策略上有兩種主要取向 - 「知識的獲取與記憶」(知識取向) 及「理解與概念的轉變」(理解取向)。「知識取向」的評估策略偏向淺層次的學習；而「理解取向」的評估策略是鼓勵深層次的學習。
目的: 本研究的目的是瞭解教師選擇甚麼評估策略來評估學生，分析他們選取評估策略的取向，及找出主導他們對評估策略取向的因由。
取樣: 本研究訪問了九十四位來自九所小學及六所中學的香港教師。
結果: 本研究的結果顯示教師曾經使用不同種類的評估策略，包括測驗、考試及專題計劃等。當教師選擇評估策略的時候，有一些外在的力量使他們傾向於選擇「知識取向」。
結論: 有需要增強相關的做法，令教師擺脫這些限制，使「用評估量度知識」與「用評估學習和理解」之間取得平衡。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

Science is no longer taught as a separate primary subject in Hong Kong after the implementation of General Studies (GS), which integrated three disciplines, viz., Primary Science, Social Studies and Health Education. Science achievements of 333 fourth-grade pupils were compared with results of past Hong Kong pupils participating in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The findings revealed that the GS Curriculum did not produce better or worse overall results of pupils' science knowledge than the previous Primary Science Curriculum in Hong Kong.
現行香港的小學常識科課程把科學科、社會科及健康教育科綜合起來。常識科推行後，在香港的小學課程中再沒有獨立的科學科科目。本文將333 位小四學生的科學成績和『第三屆國際數學與科學研究』(TIMSS)的結果作比較，發現以常識科模式學習科學，學生的科學成績與從前以獨立科學科學習科學之整體成績相若
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

Severe and Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) caused great crisis to Hong Kong between March and May 2003. Schools were suspended since 31 March. Classes resumed at different time for different levels mandated by central authority, senior secondary earliest and junior primary and kindergarten last. There were controversies over various operational issues in connection to school activities during this period, such as, whether teachers should be on duty in school or to avoid face-to-face contacts? Should schools with known suspected cases be named and made public? It was coincident that student teachers were in schools having their internship. Critical incidents raised query on the theory-in-use behind partnership between university and schools on teachers training. Various scenarios observed during this crisis period offer a window of opportunity to understand the complexity of decision-making in school administration in the light of the family of Complexity Theories.
二○○三年三月至五月期間，香港經歷嚴重的非典型肺炎危機。學校自三月三十日起停課。隨後由中央指令分級分期復課、高中先行、初小及幼稚園最後。這期間，學校各樣運作該如何進行、眾說紛紜。老師應否回校當值？學校如有懷疑疫症個案、應否通告公眾週知？疫症期間正值準老師駐校實習、大學與學校協作的活用理論實情又如何？危情境況開闢了一道視窗，供窺看錯綜體理論在學校行政決策上的應用。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

This study investigated Participatory Decision-Making (PDM) in Hong Kong self-managing secondary schools. It also examined teachers' job satisfaction, organizational commitment, role ambiguity and role conflict in relation to PDM. A questionnaire survey involving 959 teachers from 214 schools was conducted. Principal components analysis was used to study the underlying subscales of teachers' PDM and their affective work outcomes. Correlational analysis, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and multiple regression analysis were employed to examine the relationships between teachers' PDM and their affective work outcomes.
Two decision domains (managerial and teaching) emerged in Hong Kong secondary schools. Teachers were generally more involved in PDM in the teaching domain than the managerial domain. Teachers from School Management Initiative (SMI) schools had greater participation in managerial decisions than non-SMI schools, but there was no significant difference in PDM between SMI and non-SMI teachers in decisions related to teaching.
Non-SMI teachers were more decisionally deprived in both the managerial and teaching domains than were SMI teachers. However, both SMI and non-SMI teachers were more decisionally deprived in the managerial domain than the teaching domain. For both managerial and teaching domains, principals' support for PDM was a significant positive predictor for teachers' actual participation. Six subscales of job satisfaction emerged from the analysis: work itself, supervision, colleagues, indirect participation in PDM, workload and responsibility. There were two subscales for organizational commitment which include present and future commitment.
No significant difference between SMI and non-SMI teachers emerged for any job satisfaction subscales except responsibility. SMI teachers were less satisfied with their sense of responsibility for teaching than non-SMI teachers. SMI teachers may have diverted some of their time and

Curriculum innovation has been regarded as an essential strategy for educational reform throughout the era of educational change. Because of the changing nature of the knowledge age, students need to develop ways of dealing with complex issues and problems that require different kinds of skills and knowledge that they have ever learned. Given the advancement of information and communications technologies (ICT), a number of models of learning communities have been advocated in recent years. Realizing the impact of this new learning culture, six primary schools in Hong Kong participated in a curriculum innovation project, in which students were engaged in building learning communities and constructing knowledge through Knowledge Forum, a computer mediated communication platform. This paper reports the results of data analysis based on interviews of principals, teachers, and students to explore how the innovation initiated a change in learning culture as well as the leadership issues arising from the project implementation.
近年的教育改革當中，課程革新已成為推動改革的重要策略。由於工作和社會本質的改變，人們需要發展不同種類的知識去解決複雜的問題，所需的知識可能是他們未曾接觸過的。隨著資訊及通訊科技的發展，近年提倡了不少學習社群的學術模型建議。六所香港的小學在體會到這種新的學習文化的影響，參加一項課程革新計劃，其中學生利用知識論壇(一種電腦仲介傳播的工具)從事知識建構和建立學習社群。這研究報告根據校長、教師和學生的訪談分析，探索課程革新如何推動學習文化的改變以及推行當中的領導問題。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

The expectations of school administrators, teachers, parents and students on form teachers at secondary 1 to 3 levels, the feelings and opinions of form teachers, and their roles and duties in a local subsidized secondary school were studied intensively by interviews and questionnaires as a pilot. It was found that the roles of junior form teachers were important and their responsibilities were ever increasing. Duties of form teachers could be grouped into four areas: Daily Classroom Duties, Class Club Duties, Student Counselling and Communication with Parents. Students expected their form teachers to care for them and help them learn and grow. Parents appreciated the bridging role of form teachers. School administrators recognized the importance of effective form teachers to the good management of a school. Form teachers themselves wanted an effective and fair Form Teacher System and to spend more time on educational issues.
After the pilot, 1007 teachers from 85 schools were studied by referring to the questionnaire on the roles and duties of form teachers in junior forms. The data were then analyzed and some suggestions were proposed focusing on the problems found.
本研究透過詳細測試一所標準津貼中學的學校行政人員、初中班主任、資深老師、學生及家長進行訪問及問卷調查，研究他們對班主任角色及職責的看法，發現初中班主任之角色甚為重要及職責日益繁重。班主任的工作有四大範疇，包括處理日常班務、班會事宜、學生輔導及家長聯繫。訪問中也發現學生期望班主任能照顧他們的學習及幫助他們成長。家長感謝班主任能作溝通的橋樑。行政人員確認了高效能的班主任對學校的管理甚為重要。而班主任自己卻期望能較專注於教育性質的事務上並且在任教的學校裏有一個公平有效的班主任制度。
測試後，筆者進行一個較大型的研究，有85 所中學參與，共1007 位老師接受了問卷調查。資料收集後，經數據分析，筆者嘗試針對問題作出一些討論及建議。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

The disciplinary problem of students is an obstacle to effective schooling in Hong Kong. Many schools strive for formulating effective discipline strategies for solving this problem. Some Christian schools have worked out and are practicing some strategies, which are characterized by love and acceptance. They eventually succeed in transforming some misbehaving students into mature ones. The results are heartening. The aim of this article is exploring how these strategies are effective in solving the disciplinary problem of students and motivating more sharing and exchange in the successful experiences.
香港的學校正面對學生紀律難題的困擾。為要破解這難題，不少學校都力求制訂有效能的紀律策略。有些基督教學校制訂並實行一些以愛和接納為特徵的策略，最終成功轉化一些行為偏差的學生，成果叫人鼓舞。本文重點在於探討這些策略如何有效破解學生紀律難題，以激發更多成功經驗的分享和交流。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

Hong Kong adopted the principles of School-based Management (SBM) as a basis for initiating its project of "School Management Initiative" (SMI) in 1991, and imposed the SBM scheme in all primary and secondary schools in 2000. An essential feature of the scheme is the requirement of all schools to produce an Annual School Plan to guide its activities during the year so as to ensure more systematic planning and evaluation of programs of activities in schools and to report their performance. The author has been invited to provide related consultancy services in many primary and secondary schools since 1998. A postal survey was carried out in late 2001/2002 to identify a number of issues related to the implementation of annual school plans in Hong Kong primary and secondary schools. A total of 1,251 questionnaires filled in by teachers were collected from 36 primary and 27 secondary schools. This paper presents some of the difficulties encountered by school teachers in their writing up and implementation of annual school plans as identified through the author's consultancy work and the written responses in the questionnaires, and describes some useful techniques introduced to schools that were being practised and found to be useful. It was found that it usually takes one planning cycle (one year) of experience together with proper staff training and guidance before school teachers really get the confidence of implementing school planning.
一九九一年，香港按「校本管理」原則推行「學校管理計劃」。「校本管理」概念更於二○○○年在各中小學全面執行。「校本管理」精髓在於要求所有學校制定周年計劃書，以釐定學校在該學年所舉辦的活動，確保校內各項活動及計劃的策劃及評估工作均能有條不紊地進行，並就其表現作出匯報。
作者自一九九八年起獲邀出任多間中小學之校本管理計劃顧問。並於二○○一年底至二○○二年間，以郵寄方式向香港各中小學教師進行問卷調查，以探討推行學校周年計劃所引起的一些問題，最後成功收回三十六間小學及二十七間中學教師所交回共1,251 份問卷。作者從顧問工作及問卷調查所收取的書面回應中發現，教師在草擬周年計劃書及推行有關計劃時均遇上困難，本文找出其中一些例子並加以論述，同時亦提出一些在學校行之有效的有用技巧。調查發現大部份學校需要一年的策劃週期汲取經驗，再加上教師接受適當的訓練及指導後，方能滿有信心地切實推行學校計劃。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association