Since the mid-1990s in Hong Kong there has been a slow but obvious shift from expecting students with disabilities to be educated in segregated special schools to providing more opportunities for them to be educated alongside their mainstream peers. Pre-service teacher training institutions have begun to offer modules of study in order to assist mainstream teachers in coping with greater diversity in their classes. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the adequacy of an inclusive education module on the attitude change of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong. A convenience sample of over 200 pre-service secondary teachers in a B.Ed. (Honours) Programme at one university participated in the study. Data were obtained through a three-part questionnaire to find out whether there were any substantial changes in their attitudes, concerns and confidence for inclusion before and after taking a module of study on inclusive education. Findings and implications are drawn in light of preparing teachers to cater for diversity in the schools in Hong Kong.
[Copyright of Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13598660701268585]

In Hong Kong and Canada, indeed globally, slogans about learning to learn and teaching for 21st-century knowledge and skills are common. However, there are few examples of how teacher education courses or programs are responding to these new demands. In this paper, we propose a framework for designing teacher education premised on the theoretical perspective of knowledge building. We describe two courses, a pre-service teacher education in course Hong Kong teachers and a joint graduate course for Hong Kong and Canadian teachers. In both cases, participants engaged in knowledge-building discourse mediated by a computer-supported learning environment. We present the design and illustrate how the teachers were able to work as collaborative inquirers and knowledge creators in a knowledge-building community. Implications of knowledge building for teacher development as related to socio-cultural contexts are discussed.
[Copyright of Teaching Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10476210500527907]

In a survey of student teachers and supervisors at two Hong Kong universities a number of areas that are difficult to discuss in supervisory conferences were identified. Broadly speaking, these difficult areas were characterised by being concerned with 'personal aspects'. Subsequently, a sample of these student teachers and supervisors were interviewed in depth to ascertain their views on how such difficult areas should be tackled. In this paper we analyse the perceptions of both parties with respect to a selection of these difficult topics including presence, enthusiasm, commitment and general attitude, and consider the extent to which these perceptions differ or coincide. Finally, we discuss the implications for the supervisory process and attempt to identify the most important features for successfully dealing with such issues.
[Copyright of Journal of Education for Teaching is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02607470120067909]

This article reports findings from a qualitative interview study that examined the provision of integrated kindergarten education for children with disabilities from the perspectives of general education teachers implementing integrated kindergarten programs. Analysis of interviews with eight informants led to the identification of two broad generalizations: the interviewed teachers emphasized teaching academics to children without disabilities, but they focused on social development at the exclusion of academic instruction for children with disabilities; and, according to the teachers, instruction was academic and skill-oriented in the integrated kindergarten programs. Research procedures are described and data supporting the findings are presented. Ways to improve program quality are discussed in terms of three major components: the Hong Kong government should include early childhood education within the compulsory education system, and enforce the formally recommended approach of developmental appropriateness; teacher education institutions should prepare prospective teachers to work in school settings where program goals may be contradictory with the ideology of inclusion; and educational researchers should monitor program quality in integrated childcare centers by conducting further research.
[Copyright of Early Child Development and Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430600563430]

Teacher stress, self-efficacy, social support, and psychological distress were assessed in a sample of 83 Chinese prospective teachers in Hong Kong. These teachers reported significantly higher levels of symptoms in somatic problems, followed by anxiety and dysphoria. In exploring the role of personal and social resources in the stress-symptom process, neither self-efficacy nor social support mediated the impact of teacher stress on psychological distress. In contrast, social support moderated the influence of stress on distress in addition to the main effects of stress. While there were subtle differences when specific symptoms were considered, the high-stress/low-support group was most vulnerable. Self-efficacy and social support as protective factors for teacher stress management are discussed.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0144341022000023635]

Short-term international experiences (STIE) are becoming a regular, sometimes required, feature of pre-service language teacher education programmes. Often inappropriately termed 'immersion programmes', they aim to give teachers the opportunity to improve their language proficiency in the language they will teach, to develop their pedagogical knowledge and to engage with an international sociocultural environment with which they are not familiar. In this article we report on a study which investigated pre-service English second language teachers' perceptions of a six-week international experience in Auckland, New Zealand. The student teachers, who were enrolled in a postgraduate diploma in teaching at a Hong Kong university, participated in an academic programme as well as a series of social events and school visits. They were encouraged to reflect on their expectations and experiences and to write about these in a pre-programme questionnaire, reflective journals and a summative programme evaluation. The teachers' articulations reveal that their expectations and experiences interrelate in complex, sometimes unexpected, ways. The findings have important implications for the coordinators of the programme at the host institution and also for those further afield who are involved in planning and managing similar STIE programmes.
[Copyright of Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13598660500479904]

This paper reports a study of the impact of an initial teacher education programme on the development of a conceptual change model of instruction in prospective biology teachers. Analysis of the performance in teaching practice indicates that the subjects achieved significant improvement in the various skills related to this instruction model. However, mastery of these skills was not evident, especially in the response to pupils' alternative conceptions, the presentation of chalkboard layout, the use of high order questions to probe understanding and facilitate concept development, and the conduct of interactive learning activities. This can be related to the subjects' lack of teaching experience and inadequate subject knowledge, the passive learning attitude of pupils, constraints in time and resources, and the non-supportive conditions in schools.
[Copyright of International Journal of Science Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500690010016067]

Mentoring may be seen as a process that helps student teachers become professional teachers. In this context, a variety of significant roles played by mentors have been identified in the literature. This paper reports on mentors' perceptions of the most important roles selected from a given list, as revealed through questionnaire and interview data. This analysis forms part of a large-scale evaluative project of a school-university partnership scheme initiated by the University of Hong Kong. The findings indicate overwhelming attention given to the role of 'provider of feedback', which stresses the provision of pragmatic advice given to student teachers according to their personal strengths and weaknesses. However, for those mentors whose perception of the most important role had changed over time, the direction of change was towards roles such as 'counselor', 'equal partner' and 'critical friend', which emphasize a more relational aspect of working together with student teachers to achieve professional development.
[Copyright of Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13598660500286267]