As part of a major study that investigated the quality of school education in Hong Kong, this study assessed the quality of schooling in Band 5 secondary schools. If the quality of school education is to be enhanced, students' views of the quality of school life and their reactions to school should be examined. With reference to the Australian model and subscales of quality of school life, a sample of 2460 students from three selected Band 5 secondary schools was surveyed. Principal component analysis was used to analyze the data to explore the multidimensionality of quality of school life and the existence of subscales. The research contributes to provide insights to understand Band 5 schools and hints to assure the quality of education. Findings show that sense of achievement was not evident in the students' views of quality of school life and sense of opportunity had no effects on students' general satisfaction and negative affects. To promote the quality of education in schools which have admitted a great proportion of Band 5 students, enhancing teacher-students relations, strengthening social integration, and improving adventurous experience in the classroom are the effective strategies.
在制定提升學校教育質素政策和措施時，我們必須考慮學生對學校生活質素的觀感和他們對學校的反應。這篇文章報告香港「第五組」學校的學生對學校生活質素的觀感和反應。來自三所第五組學校的2460名學生參加了是項研究，回答了一份有關學校生活質素的問卷。經由統計學之因子分析法和直線回歸法分析資料後，證明學生對學校生活質素的概念是多層次和多度向的。研究結果顯示，第五組學校的學生在學校生活上缺乏成功感，對學業前途並不存有希望。如要提升第五組學校學生的學校生活質素，學校應增強師生關係，促進社群融合和改善學生在課堂上的經歷。
[Copyright of Asian Journal of Counselling is the property of The Hong Kong Professional Counselling Association at http://www.hkpca.org.hk/]

This study examined the metacognitive developmental patterns of Hong Kong school students. Students rated their own metacognitive competencies by responding to an inventory of six motivational- and cognitive-metacognitive subscales. Results showed that students' metacognitive competencies decreased with age—from primary 4 (age 9) to secondary 5 (age 17)—with a sharp decline noticeable at the primary/secondary school transition. Age had a more powerful effect than gender on students' perception of their metacognitive competencies. This decreasing pattern of Hong Kong students' metacognitive competencies is contrary to the developmental trends found in Western countries. However, the comparatively high academic performance of Hong Kong students also suggests some different recommendations about student learning.
[Copyright of Educational Studies is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03055690600948281]