The New Senior Secondary Education (NSSC) curriculum will launch in 2009 under the new 334 academic structure of secondary school education in Hong Kong. The NSSC is intended to eliminate the backwash effect of public examinations and for the re-planning of human capital for the future of Hong Kong (EDB, 2005a; SAR, 1997, 2000). On the other hand, education of Hong Kong has been criticized as elitist, and Hong Kong culture was described as “survival, affluence and deliverance” (Chan, 1993). Very often, a curriculum reform proposal may not be carried out as it is intended because of the predominant values of a society that resists the reform ideas. The NSSC policy portrays an interesting curriculum decision making process which allows school the flexibility in the subject selections and the allocation of study time on various study components in the curriculum framework. According to a recent report (EDB, 2005B), the visions and goals of the NSSC were well supported by different stakeholders; however, reservations were also expressed on the proposed details of implementation on many aspects. Taken this as an inquiry point, this study attempts to understand how teachers think about the NSSC, and to further explore the overriding values behind the views of teachers on the intended curriculum blueprint. Interview data of 14 senior school teachers were collected. The findings suggested that teachers’ receptiveness to NSS were driven by predominant values on achievement and success, elitist model of curriculum conceptions, concern of school prestige, and teachers’ self interest. An interesting them emerged from the ideas on education. When they were asked about questions on the implementation level, teachers tended to shift to a utilitarian perspective that deviates from their own mission but assimilates with the employers’ expectations and fulfills their self interest. Implications are drawn on the role of government on curriculum policy making and implementation to ensure

Liberal Studies will be a core subject in the new senior secondary curriculum to be implemented in 2009 in Hong Kong. The subject is very new to many pre-service and serving teachers who will be taking up teaching in this subject specialty. The present study is intended to be an exploratory one, with the aim of learning about how pre-service teachers majoring in Liberal Studies in a Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme offered by a local university make decisions when planning for lessons in the subject. The findings show that three factors played a key role in these teachers’ instructional decision making – disciplinary backgrounds, curriculum considerations, and considerations of how to represent knowledge for students. The findings will contribute to an understanding of the professional learning needs of Liberal Studies teachers.

世界上不少地方正在進行教育及課程改革，香港也被一輪又一輪的教育改革衝擊著。然而不少教育研究的結果卻告訴我們，絕少教育改革能真正對學生的學習有正面的影響；然而能夠產生明顯作用的，都是那些直接涉及學習內容的改革。「課堂學習研究」就是針對學習內容為出發點，建基於變易學習理論，透過行動研究的模式，集教師、教育研究員的智慧，試圖解決學生的學習困難，幫助每個學生學得更好。經過六年的探索、實踐及研究，已有超過一百間學校參與，並已進行了一百三十多個「課堂學習研究」。在這過程中，我們發現「課堂學習研究」不單能幫助學生學得更好，更是一個成就教師發展、校本課程發展及學校更新的有效工具。本文除闡述「課堂學習研究」在香港的發展外，更探討其對教師發展、校本課程發展及學校更新的影響，以及其未來發展所要面對的挑戰。

這項研究是以活動理論這一重要前提來設計的。2005年4月香港一所改革試點學校的一群小學教師運用該理論來發展課程領導。他們組建了3個課程開發團隊，並在一個實行扁平式領導的情境中，人為控制組員資質和領導階層，以保持內在的張力，目標是調查教師參與課程決策受上下級關係、角色和領導風格等人為因素影響的程度。在對數學和國文課程團隊的面談以及錄影帶診斷會作出分析後，我們發現兩個人為因素，也就是顧問風格和領導風格對教師參與課程決策具有不同的影響作用。

香港於回歸後，特區政府在課程方面推行多項改革措施，學者亦積極探討該些課程政策。近年，以軟、硬政策概念來分析這些新課程政策的性質，也引起一些關注。研究者嘗試從學校政策制訂者的角度，了解學校如何理解新課程，如何制訂應對措施。研究在三所小學進行。研究發現，學校政策制訂者對新課程的「軟」、「硬」性質有不同的理解；而且，他們為學校決定課程方向時，實取決於其對這些理解。

自2000年的課程改革以來，香港政府在課程方面採納了「軟」政策，取代了殖地時期以立法為根據的「硬」政策。在「軟」政策的實施當中，政府以實質可觀的資源，提供各種人力、物力讓學校採用，期望協助學校實施各種校本革新，達致整體的課程改革要求和效果。理論上，「軟」政策應該很受教師歡迎，最少，教師可以藉著「軟」政策下的資源改善教學的環境、提升課堂教學的質素和效果、並發展自己的專業能力；但實際上，教師對「軟」政策所提供的支援卻不樂觀，他們所理解的「軟」政策，與「硬」政策其實只是一線之差。本文就以「學會學習」課改為背景，並以三所小學作為個案，從教師的層面與角度探討課程的「軟」和「硬」政策。

課程改革的成敗與教師專業發展有密切的關係。香港特別行政區政府已深明這個道理。然而，要作出怎樣的教師專業發展才能促使課程發展更有成效，則是有待解決的問題。本文以小學課程主任的培訓為例，說明為其設計的專業發展，仍有不足之處。首先，本文從香港課程發展的特色和過去課程改革成效的經驗，說明課程改革與教師專業發展有密切的關係；其次，從四個研究的成果說明課程主任的培訓課程仍有其不足；最後，提出一止改善建議的方向。

隨著社會政治和經濟的急劇變遷，以及資訊科技的廣泛應用，兩岸四地華人社會的母語教育在過去變年不約而同地重新定位。新修訂的母語課程也逐步開始實施。通過在香港進行的一個各地母語能力指標的對比分析研究所得的數據，作者發現各地的母語課程對各學習階段的基本能力要求各有異同，顯示了各地的母語課程在歷史、社會和文化等不同的因素影響下作出的回應。

Over the last decade, educational reformers in Hong Kong have targeted teacher development and learning as a key area of need As part of this movement, different external change agencies began developing partnerships with school as attempts to enhance the quality of teacher professional development Such partnerships have operated for a number of years, but, to date, their efficacy has been largely unexplored This research, taking teachers' implementation of project learning as an example, aims to explore the impact of teacher-change agency partnerships on teacher learning The study is important in helping educators to better understand the difficulties teachers face when engaging in changes and also teachers' learning need This research also reveals the effects of teacher-change agency partnership and its impact on teacher learning This study can shed lights on ways of curriculum change and teacher development
The research posed four questions: (1) What difficulties do teachers face while carrying out project learning in school? (2) What kind of learning did teachers experience while involved in the teacher-change agency partnership? (3) Within the context of educational change, did teacher-change agency partnerships have an impact on teacher learning? (4) What do teacher-change agencies need to consider if partnership is to achieve positive results?
Five experienced primary school teachers were involved in the study In-depth interviews and non-participatory observation were used to collect data Based on thick description of five cases individually and a comprehensive comparison among them, the research revealed: (1) Teacher trainers need to take a multi-dimensional view to study the difficulties teachers encountered in implementing reform initiatives; (2) Teacher learning should take account of both "teacher" and "learning" The research highlighted that teacher professional development and personal growth are closely interrelated; (3) In different sectors