Dialogic teaching has been demonstrated to be conducive to the development of important competencies and skills such as creativity, communication skills and critical thinking skills. Yet, the literature confirms that teacher–student interactions in the classroom are predominantly monologic rather than dialogic across subjects, grades and countries. This article reports the results of a study that evaluates the effectiveness of a Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme in facilitating the development of dialogic and inquiry teaching in teachers in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for teachers to enable them to teach P4C to their students during Integrated Humanities and English lessons. P4C was found to help enhance the teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom in terms of their ability to engage in dialogic and inquiry teaching. The findings of this study suggest that P4C plays a significant role in promoting the professional development of teachers. © 2023 University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education.

Little research has been done to examine the development of thinking skills in the context of second language learning and teaching. This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy in Schools (PIS) programme in developing English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ thinking skills in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for two English teachers to enable them to teach PIS to their Secondary 4 ESL students during English lessons. The students were found to be capable of reasoning and arguing about philosophical problems arising from various stimuli prepared by their teachers according to the English curriculum. Also, PIS was found to play an important role in promoting the students’ critical and creative thinking. The findings of this study suggest that integrating philosophy into the English curriculum can promote critical and creative thinking in ESL students. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Dialogic teaching has been demonstrated to be conducive to the development of important competencies and skills such as creativity, communication skills and critical thinking skills. Yet, the literature confirms that teacher–student interactions in the classroom are predominantly monologic rather than dialogic across subjects, grades and countries. This article reports the results of a study that evaluates the effectiveness of a Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme in facilitating the development of dialogic and inquiry teaching in teachers in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for teachers to enable them to teach P4C to their students during Integrated Humanities and English lessons. P4C was found to help enhance the teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom in terms of their ability to engage in dialogic and inquiry teaching. The findings of this study suggest that P4C plays a significant role in promoting the professional development of teachers. Copyright © 2022 University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education.

Dialogic teaching has been demonstrated to be conducive to the development of such important competencies and skills as creativity, communication skills, and critical thinking skills. However, the literature confirms that teacher-student interactions in the classroom are predominantly monologic rather than dialogic across subjects, grades, and countries. This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme in facilitating the development of dialogic and inquiry teaching in teachers in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for teachers to enable them to teach P4C to their students during Integrated Humanities and English lessons. P4C was found to help increase the teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom in terms of their ability to engage in dialogic and inquiry teaching, to develop relevant curricular materials for such teaching, to reflect on their own teaching, to recognise their students’ capacity for constructing knowledge through dialogic inquiry, to transfer the teaching strategies learned in P4C to other non-P4C lessons, and to identify and analyse philosophical concepts in the school curriculum. The findings of this study suggest that P4C plays a significant role in promoting the professional development of teachers. Copyright © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Research reveals that although teachers in English as second language (ESL) classrooms are often good at teaching language forms and skills, many are less confident about the cognitive engagement required to develop critical thinking skills. However, little research has been done to examine the development of critical thinking in the context of second-language learning and teaching. In this article, I report the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a program called Philosophy in Schools (PIS) in developing students’ critical thinking and English proficiency in Hong Kong. In the study, I provided training and support for five teachers in two schools so that they could teach PIS to their secondary 3 and 4 ESL students during integrated humanities and English lessons respectively. I found that PIS played an important role in promoting the students’ critical thinking and enhanced the development of their English proficiency to a significant extent. Copyright © 2020 by Francis W. Parker School, Chicago. All rights reserved.

This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy in Schools (PIS) programme in developing students' thinking skills and English competence in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for three Integrated Humanities (IH) teachers to enable them to teach PIS to their Secondary 3 English as a Second Language (ESL) students. The students were found to be capable of reasoning and arguing in a competent way about philosophical problems arising from various stimuli prepared by their teachers according to the IH curriculum. PIS was also found to play a major role in promoting the students' critical and creative thinking and to enhance the development of their English language proficiency to a significant extent. The findings of this study suggest that integrating philosophy into the IH curriculum can promote critical thinking, creative thinking and English language proficiency in ESL students. Copyright © 2020 University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education.

This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy in Schools (PIS) program in developing English as a Second Language (ESL) students' thinking skills and English competence in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for two English teachers to enable them to teach PIS to their Secondary 4 ESL students during English lessons. The students were found to be capable of reasoning and arguing about philosophical problems arising from various stimuli prepared by their teachers according to the English curriculum. Also, PIS was found to play an important role in promoting the students' critical and creative thinking and enhance the development of their English language proficiency to a significant extent. The findings of this study suggest that integrating philosophy into the English curriculum can promote critical thinking, creative thinking, and English language proficiency in ESL students. Copyright © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This chapter reports the results of a study that evaluates the effectiveness of a Philosophy in Schools (PIS) programme in developing students’ thinking skills and English competence in Hong Kong. Sixty-two Secondary 3 English as a Second Language (ESL) students and their three Integrated Humanities (IH) teachers participated in this study. With training and support from the researcher, the participating teachers taught the participating students PIS in English during IH lessons. The students were found to be capable of reasoning and arguing in a competent way about philosophical problems arising from various stimuli prepared by their teachers according to the IH curriculum. It was also found that PIS played a major role in promoting the students’ critical and creative thinking, and helped the development of their English language proficiency to a significant extent. In addition, both the students and teachers were found to have a generally positive attitude towards doing philosophy in the classroom. The findings of this study suggest that integrating philosophy into the IH curriculum can promote critical thinking, creative thinking, and English language proficiency in ESL students. Copyright © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Chi-Ming Lam; individual chapters, the contributors.

Numerous studies have shown that the Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme can promote the development of critical thinking. Meanwhile, it is arguable that the emphasis of Confucianism on creating a hierarchical and harmonious society can easily lead to submission rather than opposition, producing a conformist rather than a critical mind. A question arises here as to whether Confucianism tends to denigrate criticism and thus hinder the development of critical thinking through P4C in Hong Kong. In this chapter, I first argue that Confucianism still has a profound influence on the Chinese in the modern world. I then examine the connection between Confucianism and criticism, focusing on how Confucianism is critical. Finally, I report the results of the first systematic study that assesses the effectiveness of P4C in promoting children’s critical thinking in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Chi-Ming Lam; individual chapters, the contributors.

Globalisation could be regarded as a human revolution that has been accelerated by the exponential development of information technology during the last century. It has brought about a growing concern over the exchange and internationalisation of education in various places. Hong Kong is an international city in the Asia-Pacific region and its Education Bureau (EDB) promotes the development of education internationalisation in many ways. This chapter looks at the phenomenon of internationalisation within education in Hong Kong in the following six aspects: higher education, the establishment of international schools, introduction of the International Baccalaureate, catering for the learning of non-Chinese-speaking children, the support provided to students learning English and the cultivation of an international perspective in students. It will also highlight new challenges that have been faced by the internationalisation of education in Hong Kong.
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