A student’s ‘meaning in life’ and his/her connectedness to school, friends and family are believed to be factors that influence the development of life skills. Teachers could be aware of these factors in their endeavours to foster ‘whole-person development’ in their students. In this small-scale study, twelve secondary school teachers participated in three focus groups and reported their perceptions of students’ meaning in life, connectedness and life skills. In general, they believed that having a definite goal means students have found preliminarily the meaning in life and the source of motivation. The teachers also observed that high achievers tend to set goals for future achievement, whereas the goals and aspirations of low achievers are much more short-term. Teachers suggested that development of students’ connectedness and life skills can be facilitated by the opportunity to converse with teachers, and the creation of a caring culture in schools that makes students feel valued. Conversely, parental expectations and strong academic orientation of the school may restrict students’ personal goal-setting. The findings have practical implications for teachers, counselling professionals and other support staff in schools because specific guidance activities can be devised to strengthen students’ connectedness, meaning in life, and life skills. Copyright © 2020 NAPCE.

This article highlights findings from a case study research investigating factors that foster the academic achievement of community college students in Hong Kong. Data was collected from in-depth interviews with six community college students in a middle-sized, self-funded community college. The findings illustrate nuanced facets of teacher care that are conducive to students’ academic and personal development, including (i) teachers as important transmitters of knowledge; (ii) teachers as care-givers; (iii) pedagogical care; (iv) teachers as advice-givers, and (v) teachers as role models. The research has practical implications for practices within community colleges and teacher training in the sub-degree sector. Copyright © 2019 NAPCE

This study was conducted in a Hong Kong secondary school and investigated teachers' views of a nontraditional reporting system referred to as "the narrative student report." The report facilitates delivery of descriptive feedback to students to encourage their development as self-regulated learners. A single location case-study was used with ethnographic components (long-term observation in natural setting, interviews, discussion). Information was collected mainly from observations and individual interviews with 15 teachers. The school is an "inviting school" that has adopted the Invitational Education model as a way of energizing students to realize their full potential. The findings here confirmed data from a previous study that examined students' views of the same system. The students identified four crucial influences that affect the success of the system. To this list, teachers here have added three more influences — teachers' shared beliefs, various learning opportunities, and teachers' professional development. The findings are interpreted from the perspective of invitational education. Copyright © 2013 The Hong Kong Professional Counselling Association.

This qualitative study, conducted in Hong Kong between September 2009 and August 2011, explored the contextual factors that may influence the effectiveness of a well-established but atypical reporting system utilized in an inviting secondary school. An inviting school is intentionally adopting policies and practices that are compatible with the Invitational Theory (Purkey & Novak, 1996). In this investigation, information gleaned from fieldwork observations was compared to factors that had emerged from a previous study (Chung & Yuen, 2012), which used interviews with students. The findings confirmed the factors from this previous study, namely the importance of constructive comments and teacher-student relationships, as well as revealed additional influential factors—teachers' beliefs, professional development and communication strategies. These factors appeared to connect strongly with the basic beliefs of invitational education. The findings enrich invitational theory in relation to the value of reporting systems as a major adjunct to the curriculum. Inviting schools may preoccupy the advantages to transform their existing reporting system into an individual Education Program for more diverse needs in msainstream schools. The study also revealed difficulties of a contextual nature that the school was encountering while implementing the reporting system. 這次質性研究於零九年九月至一一年八月在香港一所啟發潛能中學裡進行，探討該校一個建立已久卻又非傳統的成績報告系統，嘗試找出什麼情境因素會影響著這樣一個系統有效地推行。一所啟發潛能學校是刻意推行一些與啟發潛能理論相配合的政策與實踐 (Purkey & Novak, 1996)。在這次研究中，實地視察所蒐集的資料與之前透過與學生面談而浮現的因素作比較 (Chung & Yuen, 2012)。這次發現確定了之前研究所指出的因素，這包括建設性評估、師生關係的重要性，並且發現一些新的因素，包括教師的信念、專業發展，以及溝通策略。這些因素明顯跟啟發潛能理論中的基礎信念有很多強的關鍵。這些發現豐富了啟發潛能理在有關成績報告系統的範疇上的意義，這是與課程有重要關連的部份。啟發潛能學校可能具備優勢把現有的成績報告系統轉化為「個別化學習計劃」以照顧主流學校中的多元需要。這次研究亦揭示墦推行這種成績報告系統時，學校在真實情境中面對著的不同困難。
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This small-scale exploratory study investigated Hong Kong primary teachers’ perceptions of bullying in school, and the difficulties they meet when implementing interventions to prevent or reduce bullying. Five primary school teachers from government-aided schools, private schools,and Direct Subsidy Scheme schools in Hong Kong were interviewed. The findings suggest that they are aware of various approaches to controlling bullying, and some use a mixed approach. A few of them use proactive approaches on the basis that ‘prevention is always better than an attempted cure’. Others tend to use reactive approaches that only respond to incidents of bullying when they occur. Most teachers mentioned that whole-school interventions had been implemented in their place of work,yet these interventions were different among different schools. The difficulties teachers had in tackling bullying effectively included time constraints, lack of expertise in behavioural management, the need of providing family education, difficulty in arranging a schedule for whole-school intervention, and problems in developing a specific intervention for individual cases. The findings reinforce a view that different parties need to put more effort in helping teachers develop effective bullying interventions. 這小型探索性研究目的是探討香港小學教師對校園欺凌的看法與其介入事件時所面對的困難。研究訪問了五位來自政府津貼學校、私立學校和直接資助學校的小學教師。結果指出,他們意識到處理欺凌事件的不同方法,部分教師會同時採取多種方法去處理。就大方向而言,有部分教師相信「預防勝於治療」,他們會採取積極的行動去管制校園欺凌;其他教師會「以不變應萬變」,以較為保守的態度應對。多數教師表示其任教的小學有實行全校性的干預措施,但由於學校的校情不盡相同,所以實行方法也有差別。此外,時間限制、缺乏行為管理專業知識、家長配合、學校支援,及欺凌事件的獨特性,都是教師在有效處理校園欺凌問題所面對的重重難關。總括而言,研究結果肯定了教師在介入欺凌事件方面,需要其他持分者更多的協助。
[Copyright of Hong Kong Journal of Special Education is the property of Special Education Society of Hong Kong Ltd.. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
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A 35-item instrument, the School-Related Worries Questionnaire (SRWQ), was developed to assess school-related issues of concern among Chinese adolescents. The questionnaire was completed by 562 Chinese secondary-school students in Hong Kong. The SRWQ was found to have good internal consistency (alpha =.89). A principal components factor analysis with varimax solutions yielded seven meaningful factors, namely: 1. Examinations; 2. Studies; 3. English as a second language; 4. Friends; 5. Teacher-Student Relationships; 6. Learning Environment; 7. Homework. Potential uses of the SRWQ are briefly discussed. 剛制訂了一項調查名為「與學校相關的憂慮問卷」(SRWQ)，當中列有 35 條專案，目的在於評估中國青少年所關注與學校相關的事情。共 562 名香港的中學生完成了這項問卷調查。調查結果顯示有很好的內部一致性(系數 = .89)。主要成分因數分析產生了七項有意義的因數，即︰1. 考試；2. 學習；3. 以英語作為第二語言；4. 朋友； 5. 老師與學生的相互關係； 6. 學習環境； 7. 家課。現概述問卷的可能用法。
[Copyright of Hong Kong Special Education Forum is the property of Special Education Society of Hong Kong Ltd.. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
https://sites.google.com/a/seshk.org.hk/seshk-org-hk/c_publication]

This paper discussed class discipline and management of children with severely mentally handicap. The authors argued that effective teachers could manage children's learning and create a responsive environment for maximizing the potentials of children. A case study in Hong Kong special school setting was presented to illustrate the possible instructional strategies involved: including individual educational plan, behavioral modification, social acceptance, and structured learning environment.
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The authors provide an overview of past and present trends in career guidance, career education, and vocational training in Hong Kong. Particular attention is given to evaluating career education policies and how these have evolved and affected practices in secondary schools over the past few decades. Topics also covered within the paper include students who drop out, mentor systems, teacher training, vocational training vs. university education, and parent involvement. Two representative case studies are used to illustrate successful programmes. The future development of career education and vocational training in Hong Kong is anticipated, and implications for school-based career counselling practices are considered.
[Copyright of International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling is the property of Springer New York LLC. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10447-018-9361-z]

Gifted students usually require much less time spent in practising and revising basic skills; instead, they benefit greatly from opportunities to work through the curriculum at a faster pace (acceleration). Teachers currently working with mixed-ability classes do not always find it easy to differentiate their teaching approach in this way, so there is a need to facilitate in-service professional development to provide teachers with practical strategies for implementing effective differentiation for gifted learners. In response, a project for primary school teachers was organized by a university in Hong Kong. The purposes of the project were (a) to "enhance the confidence of teachers" in planning and delivering differentiated lessons in specific key learning areas (KLAs) with particular reference to gifted students; (b) to "empower teachers with knowledge and strategies" necessary for designing and implementing a differentiated curriculum in KLA domains and (c) to establish a "professional development practice" that connects local academics with schools and teachers. The project was implemented by inviting curriculum leaders, panel chairpersons and subject teachers from primary schools to attend a 3-hour lecture and a 6-hour workshop in which differentiation practices were explored. The project was later evaluated based on feedback from participants and university consultants. Overall, the feedback was positive, but suggestions are provided here for enhancing future projects of a similar nature.
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