The philosophy and practice of lifelong learning has a long history in China, being traceable to Confucius's idea (circa 500 BC) of 'education for all'. However, very little research has been done on the development of the Confucian idea of lifelong learning in ancient China, or on its influence on current practices of lifelong learning within the wave of educational globalisation. This paper contains three parts that explore these topics. The first describes how Chinese people perceive and practise lifelong learning in the Confucian tradition. Apart from an updated review of Confucian ideas and practices, the development of Confucian tradition in selected dynasties is also examined. The second analyses characteristics of Confucian heritage learning cultures and their strong impact on present-day Chinese learners, including: pursuit of lifelong learning, teacher authority, collaborative learning, and the function of effort in successful study. The final part discusses negotiation and integration of Chinese and Western learning cultures in a globalising world.
[Copyright of International Journal of Lifelong Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02601370802051561]

The reciprocal relationship between mathematics achievement and self-concept is examined in this study to expand the existing knowledge to a cross-cultural setting. Based on analyses of educational data two years before and after Hong Kong's sovereignty switch in 1997, this investigation shows a weak reciprocal relationship among the eighth-grade students across gender categories. With the introduction of a new policy to promote Chinese instruction, changes in the perceived importance of English have been assessed by education stakeholders, and the results are used to indicate a latent factor of "English push" behind the learning process. In the context of cross-cultural transition, gender differences have been found in path coefficients toward mathematics achievement and self-concept. Limited by the four-year research period, one may speculate whether it would take longer to demonstrate a large effect size in the reciprocal relationship.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410500390863]

This paper looks at the developmental needs of teachers in relation to facilitating the personal and social development of students. It goes on to describe a module, 'Personal and Social Education', offered to all pre-service teachers in the Hong Kong Institute of Education which aims at equipping trainee teachers to carry out the guidance role of a teacher in the context of Hong Kong, particularly in the role of a class teacher. It concludes with the results of a survey seeking the views of these trainees on the module they had undertaken.
[Copyright of Pastoral Care in Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-0122.00160]

Secondary school students have been experiencing stress related to examination and academic performance in Hong Kong: the Special Administrative Region of the Chinese Mainland. The article reports a case study which applied the student empowerment model originated from western societies and the ‘Qing’ concept of Chinese philosophy to formulate a student Quality Student Leadership (QSL) programme in a secondary school. The programme aimed to reduce the stress of the students and at the same time improve their initiative, leadership, and also the relationship between the students and with the parents and teachers. The results showed that the programme was effective in achieving its objectives.
[Copyright of Pastoral Care in Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-0122.00215 ]

Standard Written Chinese is expected to be scripted or recorded in Putonghua expressions, the national lingua franca in China. However, due to the influence of mother tongue, Hong Kong students often unconsciously employ Cantonese dialect expressions in their writing. This paper introduces CPWrite, an implemented Web-based CALL package to help tackle this problem. The important functions of the software are to test and improve students' ability in Cantonese dialect recognition and Putonghua translation, at both lexical and grammatical levels. The underlying strategies employed by CPWrite can be applicable to converting authentic language to standardized formats.
[Copyright of Computer Assisted Language Learning is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1076/call.16.4.367.23413]

The present study represents our continuing effort to validate a 'spurning scale' for teachers, based on a model on spurned helpers' reactions. Three approaches were used to examine the validity of the scale: the spurning scores of teachers working with more achieving students vs the scores of teachers teaching less achieving students. The relationships between the spurning scores and job satisfaction and turnover scores; and the relationships between the spurning scores and scores indicative of stress arising from interactions with one's students and supervisor. Serving teachers in Hong Kong responded to a questionnaire that contained the variables of interest. The results provided further evidence for the validity of the scale.
[Copyright of Educational Research is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/001318800363854]

Over 300 Foreign (non Hong Kong) universities deliver undergraduate degree programs in Hong Kong either on campus in that city or via distance education (or both). Although this topic has been studied from a variety of perspectives, the issue of why Hong Kong students might switch from one locally provided foreign university program to another has not been researched despite evidence of it being common. The current research found that students switched to another university if it offered a wider range of course delivery modes, if they could fast track their degree and if they were failing at the existing university. Increasingly, to be successful in competitive markets such as Hong Kong, foreign universities need to deliver their programs in a wide variety of modes, provide high levels of administrative and academic support, and ensure that they assist their students as much as possible. If they do not, students are likely to move to another provider. These findings have complex and far-reaching delivery ramifications for foreign universities wishing to survive in competitive markets such as Hong Kong--and elsewhere--where there is a high degree of competition amongst universities and a stressed economic situation which could force students to adopt quite ruthless consumer behaviour in regards to their university provider.
[Copyright of Journal of Marketing for Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J050v15n01_02]

This paper reports on a case study in which an e-mail system was used as a tool to foster collaboration among a group of students enrolled in an educational management course offered by the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK). It focuses on a set of interview data and, in analysing the interview data, it takes into account the sociocultural perspective on learning in relation to the use of computer-mediated communication in education. The aim of this study is to draw out implications for improved practices in managing online discussion groups in contexts such as the OUHK.
[Copyright of Open Learning is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02680510120050343]