Effective teaching practice requires that teachers know their students not as ‘faceless average learners’, but as individuals. The most individual of learner characteristics is personality, and yet language education research has made little progress in understanding the role of personality. As the field of language learning motivation seeks to develop frameworks for motivational teaching practice, a richer understanding of learners’ individuality is crucial in shaping practices that respond to learners’ needs. The present study examines the role of learners’ personality and teachers’ practice in shaping motivation and self-efficacy in language learning. Drawing on data gathered from 277 learners of English in Hong Kong, aged 11–14 years, and 24 lesson observations, across 10 classes, the study applies hierarchical multiple regression analysis to reveal a significant role of personality and teachers’ motivational practice in predicting language learning motivation and self-efficacy. Results reveal that while personality variables demonstrated large effect sizes for motivational orientations, teacher practice variables evidenced large effect sizes for language learning self-efficacy. Implications are discussed for theorization of language learning motivation and for teaching practice, with a particular emphasis on language teacher education. © The Author(s) 2020.

School-based programs are recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote mental health for young people. However the effectiveness of such programs varies, and there are multi-level challenges to embedding mental health education in schools. Further, critical scholarship has focused on the ways in which such programs can contribute to neoliberal goals, rather than empowering students meaningfully. Our research used focus group interviews to capture the perspectives and experiences of teachers and children participating in a school-based program in Hong Kong. We applied Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic practices to analyze the interview data, in particular the concepts of boundaries and framing. We identified rigid boundaries between classrooms, the wider school, and home. Boundaries between academic and wider learning, and between school leaders and teachers, hindered cultural change towards mental wellbeing in schools. The program in this study reduced boundaries between students, and between students and teachers. This enhanced students’ communication, and bonding with peers and teachers. School culture about mental health education was found to have weak framing, with students having more influence on the learning process in this program than they currently do in other subjects. We argue that understanding boundaries and framing underpins development of better pedagogic practices in mental health education. When rooted in careful analysis of power relationships with school cultures, mental health promotion is not necessarily aligned with dominant values in society that privilege academic success over wellbeing. School-based programs can provide co-learning spaces for teachers and students, that encourage learning about mental health. © 2023 Informa UK Limited.

Over the recent decades, the topic of spirituality and health has attracted increasing research interest. Teaching has been recognized as a multi-faceted demanding profession. Particularly, spiritual well-being plays a vital role in cultivating quality of life; yet there is limited research investigating the impacts of spiritual well-being on teachers' quality of life. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between teachers' spiritual well-being and subjective quality of life in the Hong Kong context. Based on previous research, there is no universal standard to determine an "average" degree of spiritual well-being. Therefore, individual spiritual well-being can be better reflected through both the "ideals" and the "lived experience." In this cross-sectional study, the sample consisted of 671 teachers from 22 primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. Participants were asked about their ideals of spiritual well-being as measured by Life Orientation Measure and their lived experiences of spiritual well-being as measured by Spiritual Health Measure. The results of structural equation modeling suggested a difference between Life Orientation and Spiritual Health in the pattern of predicting psychological and social aspects of quality of life. This study further explored the associations between spiritual well-being and subjective quality of life by investigating the effects of discrepancies between Life Orientation and Spiritual Health in three domains, namely personal and communal, environmental, and transcendental. The results of the path analysis suggested that the discrepancies in the three domains significantly predicted the psychological and the social aspects of quality of life among teachers. Copyright © 2023 The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Humility as a virtue has been receiving increasing scholarly attention in the fields of philosophy and psychology (particularly positive psychology). While humility is regarded as important for knowledge production, acquisition, and transmission, philosophical and psychological inquiries indicate that the concept of humility can significantly differ across social arenas and cultural traditions. However, despite its clear educational importance, humility as a moral concept is seldom explored empirically in relation to teaching and learning. This study seeks to extend our cross-cultural understanding of humility and its association with teaching and learning practices in schools. Based on semi-structured interviews with teachers in local and international secondary schools in Hong Kong, we comparatively explore how teachers understand the concept of humility and how their understandings shape their teaching practices in classrooms. This comparative approach can provide a deeper understanding of the differences and similarities between different teachers’ understandings of humility as an important moral concept. Furthermore, this study will shed light on how educators’ moral concepts are associated with their pedagogical practices. This will provide an alternative lens to reflect on and improve teaching and learning practices, and teacher-student relations in schools. Copyright © 2021 The Education University of Hong Kong.

 Since the mid 1990s, teacher burnout has become a crucial phenomenon in the Hong Kong education system, as increasing numbers of Hong Kong teachers have been reported as stressed, exhausted, and depersonalized in their teaching. In the Hong Kong community, including the academic circle, many people have applied the psychological theory of burnout to study the psychological causes of teacher burnout. However, this article argues that teacher burnout has become a social issue and is not a purely psychological phenomenon. Thus, it is important for us to identify the structural causes rather than the psychological causes of teacher burnout, to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of teacher burnout, and to develop better solutions. This article therefore theoretically analyzes how teacher burnout can be caused by certain structural forces, including structural education reforms, the administrative structure of schools, and the occupational and career structure of teaching, from the perspective of the sociological theory of work alienation. The article also gives recommendations for further studies based on the theoretical analysis. Copyright © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Objectives: Research in recent years has shown that mindfulness-based interventions can enhance teachers’ mental and physical health. However, the existing studies were predominantly conducted in Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies. As a randomized controlled trial in a non-WEIRD society, the present study examined the effectiveness and mechanisms of mindfulness training for Hong Kong teachers in difficult times. Methods: Teachers from primary and secondary schools (n = 186) were randomly assigned to mindfulness training (eight-week .b Foundations) or waitlist control condition. They completed online self-report surveys on measures of well-being, emotion management, and mindfulness in teaching at baseline, post-intervention, and two-month follow-up. Results: The intervention group reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction, positive affect, general health, along with significantly lower levels of insomnia, stress, and negative affect than the control group at post-test and two-month follow-up. The effect sizes were medium to large (ηp2 = 0.06 to 0.14). More importantly, teachers’ baseline well-being had a significant moderating effect on the intervention effectiveness. Those with a lower baseline in well-being benefitted more than their counterparts with a higher baseline. In addition, teachers’ emotion management was found to be the mediator through which mindfulness training enhanced teachers’ well-being. Such improvement in well-being also predicted higher levels of mindfulness in teaching. Conclusions: This study provides evidence on the efficacy of mindfulness training for teachers beyond WEIRD societies. It suggests the universality and practicality of mindfulness training in enhancing teachers’ well-being and reducing their distress in difficult times. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Past studies identified isolated factors influencing teachers' formative assessment practices (FAP) but did not show a comprehensive model of it. Hence, this study systematically creates and tests a theoretical model of FAP by determining whether personal or contextual factors are linked to teachers' FAP. We collected longitudinal data from 296 Hong Kong primary and secondary teachers through two waves of the survey. The results of a multivariate outcome, multilevel analysis showed that personal (teacher rank, years of teaching experience, and self-efficacy) and contextual factors (school support, total number of teachers in a school, and teaching grade) significantly impact teachers’ FAP. Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

新世紀以來，中國內地和香港都啟動了大規模的課程改革，對教師發展和教師教育提出了新的要求。基於對教師發展與教師教育之間關係的分析，文章指出了二者未來的發展方向，即發展中小學—大學夥伴協作關係，建立教師教育發展網絡，促進多元化的教師發展和教師教育，以及深化教師與教師教育工作者的實踐探究與反思。 The large-scale curriculum reform in the new century puts forward new requirements on teacher development and teacher education in Mainland China and Hong Kong SAR. Based on the analysis of the relationships between teacher development and teacher education, this paper suggests four directions for their future development: developing school-university partnerships; establishing the networks of teacher education and teacher development, facilitating diversified approaches to teacher development and teacher education; and improving the practical inquiry and reflection of teachers and teacher educators. Copyright © 2009 西北師範大學.

This study argues that teachers are disempowered and demoralised moral agents. Specifically, it uses a qualitative study of Hong Kong teachers to show that teachers' agency in the pursuit of the moral goal of education is socially disempowered. The study shows that although teachers are committed to the moral goal of education, the obstacles to attaining this goal result in demoralisation. The difficulties consist of technical disempowerment (deprivation of power over one's labour) and cognitive disempowerment (deprivation of power to identify the instructional value of teachers' work), which are induced by managerialist educational reforms and school administration.
[Copyright of British Journal of Educational Studies is the property of Routledge.]

Teachers are considered important role models for the behavior of children during early childhood. The purposes of this study are to: (a) compare activity levels of preschool children in a structured physical education (PE) class taught by an active or less active teacher; (b) examine the interaction effect of gender, school size, and teacher activity levels on the activity levels of children. The participants were 248 preschool children (134 boys, 114 girls; mean age = 5.5 years) and teachers from 12 preschools in Hong Kong. Regular classroom teachers conducted a 30-min structured PE class, and the participants' physical activity (PA) levels were measured using pedometers. The recorded step counts of teachers were employed to classify whether children were in the classes taught by active or less active teachers. Factorial analysis of variance was used to examine differences in the pedometer-determined activity regarding gender and school size between the different types of classes. The results indicated that preschool children had higher PA levels in PE classes taught by more active teachers than in those taught by less active teachers (1712 versus 951 steps). Future studies could explore other teacher-related factors that might facilitate appropriate strategies to engage preschoolers in higher PA during PE classes. Copyright © 2019 The Author(s).