The association between physical activity in achieving mental health benefits and subjective well-being is consistently identified by empirical research. The causation of a positive self-concept created by physical exercise is empirically supported by Sonstroem and Morgan’s (1988) exercise and self-esteem model (EXSEM). However, various drawbacks of maintaining high self-esteem have been identified; thus, the concept of self-compassion was conjectured to be a form of “true self-esteem.” Hence, the current study aimed to investigate the relationship between physical activity and self-compassion by examining the exercise and self-esteem model revised with self-compassion (EXSEM-SC). This study recruited secondary school students from Hong Kong using convenience sampling. The structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, including path analysis and multiple indicators, multiple causes (MIMIC) modeling, were used to reveal the results of the study. The results (n = 1097) indicated that the relationship between physical activity and self-compassion could be demonstrated by the EXSEM-SC, with a satisfactory goodness-of-fit index in the SEMs. The SEM also demonstrated the direct paths from physical activity to self-compassion and mental well-being, indicating the significant effect of physical activity on self-compassion. Copyright © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made online and distance learning the new normal at all levels of education. Music as a school subject that relies heavily on multimodal sensory and auditory-motor interactions has been dramatically affected. Music teachers may not be coping mentally or psychologically with these drastic changes. This study examined the psychological impact of COVID-19 on music teachers’ (N = 120) mental health and well-being through a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews (n = 10). The Fear of Coronavirus-19 Scale, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale and a shortened version of the Chinese Teacher Stress Questionnaire were used to measure Hong Kong music teachers’ experiences of psychological pressure and problem behaviours linked to the outbreak of the infectious disease. The findings revealed that music teachers are experiencing stress, fear, and anxiety in response to the pandemic. They are concerned about the effectiveness of online music teaching, parental expectations, students’ adaptability to online learning, technological integration and maintaining transformative teaching professionalism. Copyright © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This study examined kindergarten teachers’ behavioural intentions to implement play-based learning and its relationship to two types of facilitating factors: organisational (i.e., instructional leadership and trust in colleagues) and individual (i.e., teacher self-efficacy). Structural equation modelling examining the direct and mediating effects was conducted on data collected from 542 Hong Kong kindergarten teachers. The results showed that principal instructional leadership was positively associated with teachers’ intentions to implement play-based learning directly and indirectly through trust in colleagues and teacher self-efficacy. Teachers with higher efficacious beliefs showed more active intentions to implement play-based learning. These findings highlight the importance of creating conducive organisational conditions and enhancing teacher self-efficacy for the implementation of play-based learning in kindergartens. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.

In Hong Kong, the revitalization of vocational education and training (VET) was best marked by the advocacy of vocational and professional education and training (VPET) starting from 2015. VPET hence is a key element in the vocationalization of secondary curriculum, which provide students with a diversified post-secondary articulation and to enhance the school-to-work transition for better employability in the future. In 2018, the Education Bureau (EDB) also launched the Vocational English Programme (VEP) Grant (EDB, 2018) at the senior secondary level to support English learning of students who might opt for a VPET development pathway, in addition to the NSS English language curriculum. Under this background, there are two main research focuses in this paper. Firstly, this paper will explore the relationship between VEP and the NSS English language curriculum and discuss the potential impact to students. Secondly, this paper will also survey other related available initiatives similar to VEP, such as the Workplace English Campaign (WEC) under the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR), to better illustrate the landscape of vocationalization of English learning in Hong Kong throughout the years. In the current body of literature, more attention has been dedicated to the use of English and the specialized genre in the professional settings from the English for specific purposes (ESP) perspective, with relatively less focus on a vocational context. Therefore, we consider it is essential to fulfill this gap considering the continuous development of VPET. This paper will report findings from interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders (e.g. teachers and students) to generate a more holistic understanding to the research focuses. We hope that the conclusion and suggestion in this paper could provide inspirations to map out the future development directions of English learning in the (pre-)vocational context. Copyright © 2019 Inaugural Conference

This presentation applies interdisciplinary critical approaches to teaching and teacher education with the aim of disrupting schooling inequities found in Hong Kong, and other regions of East, Southeast, and Central Asia. Transgressing typical demarcations between practitioners and scholars, this presentation brings together a diverse panel of EdUHK students, teachers, and teacher educators in primary and secondary classroom settings who are teaching English and Chinese varieties. The background of the teachers involved is a recently-developed program in Hong Kong that helps develop diverse undergraduates, often the first in their family to attend university, to be more transformative teachers and researchers in their everyday practices. The program is The Project for Critical Research, Pedagogy & Praxis (PCRP), which is an 'educational pipeline' that begins with training early undergraduates in critical teaching and research skills, and then branches off into preservice/in-service teaching, postgraduate studies, and collaborative research projects (Chang, 2017). This pipeline project utilizes feminist, critical, and sociocultural theories of learning, pedagogy, and community engagement (Chang, 2013; Gutierrez, 2008; Lau, 2013; Luke, 2018), in an effort to challenge the large disconnects that many EdUHK students have been reporting. These disconnects include just trying to individually matriculate through the university institution, and trying to practice holistic and constructivist pedagogies in Hong Kong and other schooling contexts they experienced in South Korea, mainland China, Thailand, and Kazakhstan. This presentation examines challenges for the PCRP educators as they tried to disrupt common curricula and discourse around cultural deficit, 'teaching to the test,' and banking models of education within their schools, which often included essentialising notions of 'Confucian Heritage Culture' that marginalized students from both Chinese and non-Chinese backgrounds

This paper presents a Learning Study case on the topic of weight in the subject of Mathematics in a Hong Kong school of students with mild intellectual disabilities. The research team, composed of teachers from four Special Education schools, academic staff from a University and officials from the Education Bureau. The three parties worked as a learning community to design and implement a research lesson on the concept of weight.In Special Education Schools, the most common tool for teaching the topic of weight is a set of balance scale to compare the weight of two different objects. Through the demonstration of comparing two different objects, the lower side of the balance scale indicates the heavier weight. The findings of the pre-lesson student interviews show that the students only memorized the visual image of the lower or higher level of the balance scale without understanding what makes the difference in the height level of the balance scale. After identifying the learning difficulties of the students, the teachers realized that the conceptual understanding of weight is far more important than utterance of the observable phenomenon of the balance scale.The lesson adopted a communicative approach using the Variation Theory as a pedagogical tool and integrating the STEM elements in designing the learning activities to help students discern the critical features of the object of learning, as well as explore the concept of weight comprehensively through observation and inquiry. Students were encouraged to use their innate ability to estimate the weight of some objects in their daily life even without a balance scale in hand.This Learning Study case reports the implementation process with the support of video clips of student interviews and the research lesson. It is hoped that this presentation will open up the discussion about teaching the topic of weight in the field of special education. Copyright © 2018 WALS.

In the era of information explosion, it is surprising to find that most of our students have not learned to self-regulate their own studies well. It might be explained by the common use of spoon-feeding teaching method since the beginning of public schooling in Asian countries. The individual differences in intelligence or diligence of students may not have been taken into careful consideration in mass class teaching. Students seem to be expected to overcome their personal limitations in order to benefit from the school curriculum. In recent studies, it is found that students’ failure to learn may be caused by insufficient ability to manage their own learning due to the lack of learning motivation, effective learning habits and skills. Self-regulated learning is widely perceived as a crucial element of successful, independent and life-long learning. Therefore, equipping students with self-regulated learning skills and empowering them to become self-regulated learners have become the major concerns of educators.The professional development programme entitled “Integrating Self-directed Learning in Classroom Pedagogy” has been offered to in-service teachers by the Education University of Hong Kong since 2017. It is a five-week block-release programme for practicing teachers. During those five weeks, the participants are encouraged to put theory into practice. They are divided into several learning circles according to their subject disciplines. Each learning circle is asked to develop effective ways of integrating self-regulated elements in their lesson design and implement the research lesson in their own schools.This paper reports an interdisciplinary lesson study of the professional development programme mentioned. Five teachers teaching the subjects of Business, Accounting and Financial Studies (BAFS), Liberal Studies, History and General Studies in primary and secondary schools were grouped together as a learning circle to plan a lesson on empowering their students