Self-concept is one of the most widely researched psychological constructs in such related disciplines as educational psychology, developmental psychology, and social psychology. The significance of self -concept lies in the facts that it has been shown to be closely related to other psychological constructs such as academic achievement (for reviews, see Hattie, 1992; Marsh, Byrne & Shavelson, 1992), neurosis and maladjustment (Rogers, 1981), self-schema (Cross & Markus, 1994), mood and self-evaluation (for reviews, see Brown & Mankowski, 1993), which are of great concerns among educators and psychologists. In Hong Kong, few studies has been done to assess the self-concept of pre-service full-time student teachers. The purpose of this paper is to report findings from one of the newly developed instrument based on the Shavelson, Hubner, and Stanton (1976) multidimensional, hierarchical model, the Personal and Academic self-concept Inventory (PASCI: Fleming & Whalen, 1990), and to compare findings of this study with previous findings as reported by Fleming and Whalen (1990), and Watkins, Regmi and Alfon (1990). The subjects were 227 either first year or second year full-time students enrolling in four similar teacher training programmes at the Institute of Education in Hong Kong. 63 male and 163 female (1 gender unknown) were included in the sample, with a mean age of 21 years . The instrument was a three-section, self-report questionnaire. Section A was an invitation letter explaining the purpose of the study and ensuring confidentiality. Section B was the Chinese version of PASCI. PASCI is an expanded version of Fleming and Courtney's (1984) Self-Rating Scale (SRS) which in turn evolved from the Feelings of Inadequacy Scale (Janis & Field, 1959). Its subscales are designed to measure global, social, physical, and academic components of self-concept grounded on Shavelson's (1976) model. Section C was used to collect respondents' demographic information including sex

In the last two years, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has been actively promoting the use of IT in schools. Virtually every school in the region is now well aware of the implications of these government initiatives and has embarked on the path toward integration of new learning technologies in the classroom. While many teachers may already be well down the track toward use of IT in teaching and learning, the impetus of government initiatives has meant that, all teachers now need to have clearer notions and directions about how to make the transition. Teachers need a strong foundation on which to build their skills toward modifying their teaching strategies to realize the potential of emerging technologies in enhancing student learning outcomes. Teachers themselves need to be willing to change. In the Hong Kong context it would appear that several things would have to occur before schools are able to mount any meaningful use of IT and where teachers are then able to integrate use of IT in their daily teaching and learning activities. It is with this focus that this paper will address some of the broad issues related to change in schools associated with the use of IT and attempt to provide some suggestions based on research findings and worldwide experience.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

In response to public concerns over the declining language (English) and (Chinese) standards of students and teachers, and the demands to raise the quality of language teaching, the Education Commission, in 1995, published its sixth report (ECR6) in which it proposed, among other things, a system in which all teachers in Hong Kong would need to acquire benchmark qualifications in order to enter or continue in the profession. The proposal received very mixed feelings from different sections of the community. This paper will look into the socio-political context in which the policy was proposed, alongside the factors which are linked to general policy analysis concepts like human capital theory, social reproduction theory and equality opportunity theory. The paper will end on a discussion on how this policy proposal can achieve what it set out for itself.

自從九九年香港教育統籌委員會推動香港教育制度的檢討，教師在教育改革與發展的角色日益受到香港教育界的重視，面對不斷變遷的社會環境，教師必須不斷更新教學的專業知識，才能以最有效的方式，為學生提供最適切的幫助。正如教育署 (1999) 在文件中指出：教師是教育改革的關鍵人物，因為所有教育改革最後都要依靠教師才能得以實現。無論建議再理想，措施再完善，資源再充分，怎樣好的教育改革方案總要教師施行落實。甚至制度不好，資源不足，只要有好的教師，有時也能扭轉乾坤，達到良好的教育效果 (頁4) 。一個社會發展的興衰關鍵在於教育，而要做好人才的培養則依靠學校教育的質素，而學校教育質素的高低又取決於教師素質，故此教師素質的問題對教育發展與改革是十分重要的。事實上中國教育學會會長顧明遠教授也曾指出：提高教育質量的關鍵是在於提高教師的素質。 根據上述的思考，特首董建華先生在二零零一年的施政報告提出要強化師資，一方面是讓教師有足夠的空間，去平衡工作、休息、學習和家庭生活；另一方面，要提供資源鼓勵教師進修，並明確提出特區政府將研究如何普遍加強在職教師的專業發展，為新入職教師提供額外支援，並且加強教師彼此協作和交流，以提升整體教師的專業水平。但上述方針是不能有效促進本況的教師專業的發展呢？如何有效評估有關政策的適切性，看來有必要回顧過去二十年本港教師專業政策的轉變，從中探討其得失與啟示。

Teaching assistants (TAs) play an influential role in primary and secondary schools. But there is an absence in literature about the TA’s efficacy, and to date no instrument is available for measuring TA’s efficacy. The present study aims to develop and validate a scale (Teaching Assistant Efficacy Scale, TAES) for measuring TA’s efficacy on identified capabilities. A total of 531 teaching assistants from Hong Kong schools participated in the survey. The multidimensional Rasch model was used to analyse the data. The results revealed that a 5-dimension structure of TA’s efficacy was supported. The final 30-item version of TAES assesses TA’s efficacy on learning support, teaching support, behaviour management, cooperation, and administrative support. The Rasch reliabilities for all five dimensions were around 0.90. The 6-category response structure worked well for the scale. Further research was recommended to validate and test the robustness of the TAES both in Hong Kong and elsewhere.

Research on Hong Kong pre-service teachers’ concerns and their perception about effective teaching is meager. Thus, this author tried to help fill the knowledge gap by conducting a survey that involved the use of an open-ended, semi-structured questionnaire administered to 106 student teachers. The key findings are, firstly, three types of concerns were identified: the "Self", "Task", and "Impact" concerns. Secondly, the "Self" concerns constitute the largest proportion of concerns identified by the 106 student teachers; in this category, the most important concerns as ranked by these pre-service teachers are class discipline, acceptance by pupils, and teachers’ mastery of subject knowledge and teaching skill. And thirdly, the concerns are also closely related to such factors as subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and teacher pupils’ relationship that the student teachers considered important for effective teaching. The principal conclusions are that teacher education programs in Hong Kong have room for improvement in catering for the needs of pre-service teachers, and that teacher educators need to help reduce pre-service teachers’ concerns so as to facilitate their professional development.
[Copyright © 2002 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]