Introduction: This study aimed to develop the Healthy Eating Report Card for Pre-school Children in Hong Kong for evaluating the prevalence of healthy eating behaviours and favourable family home food environments (FHFEs) among pre-school children in Hong Kong. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 538 parent-child dyads from eight kindergartens in Hong Kong were recruited. Parents or guardians completed a questionnaire comprising Report Card items. The Report Card included two indicators of Children’s Eating Behaviours (ie, Children’s Dietary Patterns and Children’s Mealtime Behaviours) and three indicators of FHFEs (ie, Parental Food Choices and Preparation, Avoidance of Unhealthy Foods, and Family Mealtime Environments). Each indicator and its specific items were assigned a letter grade representing the percentage of participants achieving the predefined benchmarks. The grades were defined as A (≥80%, Excellent); B (60%-79%, Good); C (40%-59%, Fair); D (20%-39%, Poor); and F (<20%, Very poor). Plus (+) and minus (-) signs were used to indicate the upper or lower 5% of each grade. Results: Overall, Children’s Eating Behaviours were classified as Fair (average grade of ‘C’), whereas FHFEs were classified as Good (average grade of ‘B’). The sub-grades ranged from ‘C’ to ‘A-’, as follows: Children’s Dietary Patterns, ‘C+’; Children’s Mealtime Behaviours, ‘C’; Parental Food Choices and Preparation, ‘C+’; Avoidance of Unhealthy Foods, ‘B’; and Family Mealtime Environments, ‘A-’. Conclusion: The findings highlight areas for improvement in healthy eating among children. The Healthy Eating Report Card could offer novel insights into intervention tools that promote healthy eating. Copyright © 2024 Hong Kong Academy of Medicine.

Objective: This study examined the views of secondary school students on sexuality and sexual health education in Hong Kong, China. Methods: A total of 818 secondary school students (mean age = 15.3 years, SD = 1.6) participated in this study by completing a questionnaire consisted of items on sociodemographic characteristics, sexual attitudes, and other measuring scales. Results: Students were slightly permissive in sexual attitudes and supported sexual health education. However, students who were male, highly liberal in sexual attitudes, and low in religiosity and spirituality were less supportive. Conclusions: Educators may need to address these deterring factors of sexual health education before teaching specific sexual health topics. Copyright © 2024 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Private tutoring, or shadow education, is one of the unintended outcomes of high-stakes testing worldwide. This study investigated the role of private tutoring in a context of high-stakes testing through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. This year-long in-depth study with 18 Grade-12 learners in private tutoring in Hong Kong shows that learning is skewed towards acquiring examination skills, and mainstream education can be devalued. Conceptualised with Freire’s Pedagogy of the oppressed, the findings reveal that learners are oppressed in the washback of high-stakes testing, and shadow education exploits such negative washback to run a business which reinforces contextual oppression. The findings provide implications for educational change in contexts where education systems increasingly rely on accountability and selection through high-stakes testing. Copyright © 2024 AERA.

The purpose of this pilot study was to test the reliability of a game-based assessment tool to assess the four dimensions of career adaptability (i.e., Curiosity, Control, Confidence, Concern, hereafter called “4C”) among students with special educational needs (SEN). The 4C tool is a board game developed in relation to the short form of the career adaptability scale (CAAS) for SEN adolescents. Unlike self-reported CAAS without specifying career-related scenarios, the board game provides researchers and practitioners with an assessment platform to evaluate SEN students’ 4Cs in multiple employment-related scenarios. Participants in this pilot study were 44 secondary school leavers with SEN. They were studying in a training course organized by Youth Academy for SEN. They were assessed through the board game assessment tool before and after the training in the year. Statistical analyses included spearman’s rho coefficient and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). It was noted that the 4Cs assessed by the board-game are 1) positively correlated with each other (correlation coefficients ranged from .42 to .63, p<.05), 2) with good inter-rater reliability, rs= .688(92), p<.01, 95% CI [.565, .797], and 3) with moderate test-retest reliability, ICC = 0.66, p<.001, 95% CI [.433, .805]. These findings supported the reliability of this game-based assessment tool for assessing the 4Cs of SEN youths. Aside from self-reported data, this game-based assessment tool can provide supplementary information on the 4Cs of school leavers with SEN from other assessors (e.g., teachers and practitioners) across career-related scenarios. The presentation will further discuss limitations and further direction of research. Copyright © 2023 The Education University of Hong Kong.

To create a socially just teaching method in higher education (HE), we used Fraser’s social justice framework to create a new pedagogical method called student voice for social justice (SVSJ). SVSJ emphasizes student voice and empowerment by developing a co-constructed learning space where students can influence the procedure and content of the class. Applying a participatory action research (PAR) methodology, we explore the skill development of students engaged in SVSJ. Students highlighted five primary learning outcomes (self-learning, critical thinking, knowledge generation, cognitive development, and expression of voice) in the interviews as well as challenges in implementing the model. By employing SVSJ, students’ recognition and representation of their identity groups are enhanced, and the knowledge held by them is redistributed to peers and the lecturer through active participation. In addition, they are equipped with skills that can empower them in their education and future life. Copyright © 2024 The Education University of Hong Kong. All Rights Reserved.

Against the background of expanding parental choices and declining global birth rates, schools are experiencing rising competition regarding student enrolment. Schools have responded by strategically presenting information about their students’ academic achievement and whole-person development orientation in the hope of attracting parents’ interest. However, few studies have investigated the impact of these factors on student enrollment, particularly in the context of diverse school types and educational orientations. Accordingly, this study utilized data from 327 secondary schools in Hong Kong to examine the effects of academic achievement orientation and whole-person development orientation on student intake. Using hierarchical regression analysis, we found a positive association between high whole-person development orientation and student intake in aided schools with a strong academic development orientation. The result implies parents are increasingly concerned about their children’s academic achievement and whole-person development at school. The study contributes to a broader understanding of the factors influencing parental choice in high-performing education systems, providing valuable insights for policymakers and educators seeking to improve educational offerings, enhance school transparency, and be better aligned with parental expectations. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

Social capital accrued via cross-racial/ethnic networks plays an important role in the adjustment, persistence and success for minority groups of university students. Yet, few studies offered insight into how intercultural social capital impacts learning and socialising experiences among minority students in non-Western contexts. Drawing on interviews with minority university students in Hong Kong, this study canvassed their intercultural networking, its influences and institutional factors that conditioned its accessibility. Findings showed that participants garnered a full array of social capital in ethnic minority cliques, whereas their connections with institutional agents were more inclined to pastoral care rather than academic advising and mentor services. This study unearthed a campus environment wherein a monolithic Chinese/Cantonese culture and de facto racial/ethnic-segregation contributed to their restricted academic/social engagements with other counterparts and added to the manifestations of marginalisation in the literature that has been preoccupied with racial lines around the Black-White binary in Western contexts. Copyright © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

With a focus on the neglected ‘L2 learning experience’ component in Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS), this study investigated secondary students’ L2 motivation in the context of online English private tutoring (EPT). Through narrative inquiry, students narrated their EPT experience online and reflected on it in comparison with that in the face-to-face environment. Through an initial questionnaire, in-depth interviews and follow-up conversations with 12 senior secondary students in Hong Kong, the study revealed the participants’ generally negative L2 learning experience in online EPT. This negativity stemmed from constant distractions and poor concentration, limited interaction with the tutor and peers and insufficient learning support in the online environment. These experiences disengaged and demotivated the students in the language learning process. The findings contribute to our understanding of the L2 learning experience component in L2MSS and the impact of L2 contexts on students’ L2 motivation. The study indicates that, for our participants, there are some irreplaceable elements in face-to-face tutoring (e.g. physical proximity, facial expressions), lack of which affected students’ engagement and motivation. This highlights the importance of researchers and practitioners in language education taking into account learners’ situated contexts and immediate learning environment when conducting relevant studies on L2 motivation. Copyright © 2024 Association for Language Learning.

During COVID-19, universities are reconfiguring learning environments and increasing flexibility in course offerings. Teachers have found synchronous hybrid teaching challenging with many students preferring online to in-person classroom attendance. Understanding students’ decision-making as to where, when and how they choose to learn will be critical in informing the design of learning spaces and courses. This survey-based study of 369 undergraduates across disciplines explored the relationships between students’ backgrounds and psychological factors (self-efficacy for online learning, conceptions of learning, perceptions of previous online course experiences) and student choices of learning spaces for synchronous online learning. While pre-pandemic studies in Western contexts identified non-traditional student characteristics as major factors associated with students’ choices of learning spaces (i.e., learning online at home), this Hong Kong study found significant associations between undergraduates’ choices, their origin and the disciplines. Logistic regression indicated those who preferred stimulating education and cooperative learning or perceived their previous online course experiences as having clearer goals had greater odds of attending classes synchronously online on campus from locations different from the scheduled teaching spaces. Qualitative analysis suggests personality, self-regulation and the university’s social and organisational structures as factors to consider in future studies of student choices of learning spaces. Implications for practice or policy: * Higher education providers may need to diversify course designs to cater to undergraduates’ different hybrid learning preferences and expectations in the post-pandemic return to campus. * The first step for online course teachers is to help their students to build a higher level of self-efficacy for online learning. * Course teachers can motivate students to take courses online by clarifying their