In most countries around the world, teachers for special education are prepared through pre-service and/or in-service programmes. In Hong Kong, the focus has been on in-service education. Currently there are no pre-service teacher preparation programmes that qualify their graduates as special education teachers. When teachers with basic education background are employed by special schools/classes, they will enroll in the in-service special education programme. This paper will present an overview of the developmental history of such a programme in Hong Kong. Since its introduction in the 1960s, the programme has undergone many changes. A critical analysis of its evolution, the changes made and their impact on the local special education scene will be discussed in light of the varying circumstances. Furthermore the paper will highlight the existing teacher preparation programme for special education as a result of the establishment of the Hong Kong Institute of Education in 1994 and the policy statement made by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 1997. Implications for future educational needs will also be emphasized.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

This editorial discusses the issues and experiences of beginning teachers. The experience of reality shock for beginning teachers can be profound, influencing feelings of belonging to the profession, capacity to teach effectively, and levels of teacher retention. This editorial of Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education (A-PJTE) brings together a themed collection of articles focussed on the experience of entering the field of teaching or teacher education for the first time. The range of emotional responses beginning teachers have in response to their early experiences in classrooms comes through clearly in this collection of papers, in particular the effect that access to appropriate support and mentoring for adjusting to life as a teacher has on the confidence of a beginning teacher. With research reported from Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia, the Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education provides insight into what it is like to be a beginning teacher, and reminds readers that learning to belong and contribute to a profession can be a difficult journey.
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/10.1080/1359866X.2014.969415

Influenced by Third World Liberation social movements in the United States and abroad, this article applies a serve-the-people concept to service-learning in education. Rooted in pedagogies more traditionally associated with ethnic studies and community organizing, and informed by sociocultural and critical frameworks in education, this article offers insights from school community spaces that serve K–12 youth from different urban working-class neighborhoods. Transformative opportunities for grassroots collaboration, learning, agency, and community reorganizing are explored with implications for students, teachers, teacher educators, and community workers concerned with social justice.
Copyright of Theory Into Practice is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2015.977659

This editorial provides an overview of the articles which are featured in this issue of Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice. This issue includes a number of contributions which deal, directly or indirectly, with teacher learning, and particularly with the development and role of teacher professional learning communities. It also addresses the issue of learning from teaching as teachers describe, analyze and reflect upon their teaching experiences in the classroom, including the connection between their behavior and beliefs and student learning. One of the ethnographic studies focuses on the development of a community of practice for sustainable professional development among 18 teachers of English as second language in Hong Kong. Another article discusses the complex role of special education teachers in Israel. All seven papers included in this issue, in a way or another, look at the complexities of teaching and learning. Overall, a number of overarching themes may be identified: the importance of analyzing teachers beliefs and practices; the key role of professional communities in enhancing teacher learning and change; the need for relevant professional development opportunities to support teacher learning and commitment to teaching; the pedagogies of teaching and their role in fostering teacher reflection and growth as well as student learning taking into account the diversity and guidance provided to them; and the link between the complexity of teaching and the dynamic of classrooms and school culture.
Copyright of Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2014.928118

How Chinese language proficiency can be enhanced is a key concern in the Hong Kong community. Education Commission Report No. 6 (1995) suggests that teacher education institutions should give more attention to language awareness and language skills in initial training programs. Before teacher educators work out an ideal program for initial training of Chinese language teachers, research findings in TESOL might have shed light on the direction of developing such a program. Freeman (1989) sees language teaching as 'a decision-making process based on four constituents: knowledge, skills, attitude, and awareness'. Almarza (1996), Bailey & Nunan (1996), Richardson (1996), Grossman (1990, 1991a), Barnes (1989) and Claxton (1985) etc. all observe that student teachers' beliefs and past experience show great impact on the effectiveness of their learning to teach. In the light of these past studies, this paper intends to investigate first year pre-service teachers' perceptions of teaching and learning Chinese in primary schooling. It is hoped that findings in this survey can serve as a reference for the development of Chinese language teacher education especially in the Hong Kong context.