Self-regulation is arguably one of the most crucial predictors of school readiness, academic achievement, and lifelong well-being. While educators in the prior-to-school years have a pivotal role to play in stimulating growth in early self-regulation, less is known about their knowledge and practices in this area. This interview study was conducted with 71 kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong. Content analysis and descriptive statistics were employed to analyze the transcripts. We found that participants: (1) had a limited and superficial understanding of the notion of self-regulation; (2) estimated that approximately one quarter of their students displayed self-regulation problems; (3) had difficulties articulating what constitutes indicators for self-regulation problems in young children; and (4) lacked intervention strategies to strengthen children’s self-regulation, specifically preventive strategies. Educational policymakers, researchers, curriculum designers, teacher educators and school leaders are urged to better prepare early childhood practitioners in this area. Limitations and future research lines are discussed. Copyright © 2024 National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators.

In multicultural education, empathy has been regarded as an essential teacher disposition that enables teachers to better understand culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students through perspective-taking. However, less is known about the mechanism that underlies how empathy fosters teachers’ competence in supporting CLD students, i.e., their multicultural teaching competence. This study fills the research gap by investigating multicultural beliefs as a potential mediator between teacher empathy (operationalized via perspective-taking) and multicultural teaching competence (as indicated by knowledge, skills, and relationship-building abilities). A total of 445 Chinese preschool and kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong (188 pre-service and 257 in-service teachers) completed a self-report questionnaire assessing teacher empathy, multicultural beliefs, and multicultural teaching competence. Mediation analyses revealed that teacher empathy was related to higher support for multicultural beliefs, which in turn predicted better multicultural skills, knowledge, and relationship-building abilities. The multi-group analysis further indicated equivalent mediation paths for both pre-and in-service teachers. Extending past research underscoring empathy as an essential teacher disposition for multicultural teaching competence, the present study showed that the crucial role of empathy in transforming teachers’ belief in favor of multiculturalism helps foster teachers’ multicultural teaching competence. A practical implication of the present study calls for including perspective-taking and critical examination of teacher beliefs as key elements in teacher education programs that are aimed at facilitating early childhood teachers’ multicultural teaching competence. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.

Multicultural awareness is crucial for teachers to promote equity in culturally diverse classrooms (Cherng & Davis, 2019). Positive attitude towards diversity predicts stronger cultural sensitivity in teaching (Abacioglu et al., 2020). In Hong Kong where it lacks any policy towards multiculturalism, despite the growing number of non-Chinese multicultural learners, empirical support as to how pre-service teachers develop multicultural awareness and beliefs remains scant. This study analysed preservice teachers' perception of multicultural classrooms qualitatively to elucidate their multicultural awareness. It addressed two questions: 1) how do pre-service teachers understand cultural diversity in classrooms?; and 2) How do they perceive teachers' roles in responding to culturally diverse learners' needs? Nine ethnic Chinese pre-service teachers who joined an informal multicultural education programme in a Hong Kong teacher education university were interviewed. The data were transcribed, and coded with NVivo 12 based on the above questions. The analysis showed that preservice teachers demonstrated awareness of cultural differences in Hong Kong schools, suggesting that the intercultural contact and experiences the programme facilitated were effective. Cultural cliques among students, they believed, can promote quality of learning through co-ethnic peer interaction. Yet, they anticipated the need to go "out of their comfort zone" to teach in English, a language they regard as essential in meeting the learning needs of ethnic minority students more fully, especially those who were less proficient in Chinese language. Implications for research and teacher education for enhancing multicultural awareness in Hong Kong schools will be discussed. Copyright © 2023 World Education Research Association.

This paper reports the preliminary findings of an ongoing project to understand and compare the teaching practices and their contexts of teachers regarded by principals of some outstanding schools and the accomplished teachers who were awarded The Chief Executive's Award for Teaching Excellence (CEATE) by the Education Bureau in Hong Kong (Education Bureau, 2023) for their exemplary teaching practices. Most education systems, including Hong Kong and the USA, rely on principals to identify effective teachers, evidence of principals' subjective performance evaluations of teachers was reliable for identifying teachers who generated the most significant and most negligible achievement gains in students than those in the midrange (Jacob & Lefgren, 2008). Fifty-eight teachers from thirteen primary, secondary and special school sectors were recruited for lesson observations and interviews. The overall teaching quality between the two groups of teachers in systematic classroom observations was similar, suggesting that CEATE teachers did not necessarily perform significantly better in teaching. Interviews revealed that CEATE awards reflected incidental collaborations of teachers that were hard to replicate by other individual teachers or subject departments. Teacher learning networks also played a significant role where a mentor could support junior teachers. Distributed leadership promote collective capacities through organizational culture rather than enacting school policies and initiatives. These results contributed to establishing a new theoretical model that extends Gu and Day's (2007) teacher resilience theory to explain the professional growth of teachers and leaders as a function of context and organizational capacity in addition to resilience for achieving teaching quality sustainability. Copyright © 2023 World Education Research Association.

Internationally, there is a growing concern regarding insufficient preparation of the teachers in mainstream kindergartens to teach for ethnically diverse children. As teacher educators, we are concerned about how to facilitate kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong to improve their teaching. In this study, we adopt the research approach of phenomenography to investigate the research question of: What are the qualitatively different ways teachers experience teaching for ethnically diverse children? We conducted individual semi-structured interviews with 26 in-service kindergarten teachers. Four ways of experiencing were identified. Teaching for ethnically diverse children can be experienced as: adjusting instruction (A), expanding modes of expression (B), exploring new possibilities (C), and embracing inclusion (D). We recommend teacher educators to discuss our results with teachers in professional development programmes, making them aware of alternatives and appropriate more advanced ways of experiencing. Moreover, our results also reveal the benefits ethnically diverse children bring to all children. Copyright © 2023 HKERA-APERA.

Student-centered pedagogy (SCP) is highly considered for its potential to facilitate cognitive learning in Computational Thinking (CT) education. However, there is a noticeable gap in understanding its influence on students' cognitive development from a multilevel perspective. This study delves into cognitive learning theories and aims to bridge the existing gap by introducing a three-level conceptual model to illustrate how the influence of SCP on students' cognitive CT abilities is mediated through the cognitive learning processes. This multilevel approach simultaneously explores SCP within the intricate school environment where factors at the school, teacher, and student levels are closely intertwined. Data was collected from 82 programming teachers and their 2433 students across 43 Hong Kong primary schools. Using multilevel modeling, results indicate that the adoption of SCP is significantly anchored by school support on teacher professional development (TPD), which in turn enhances students’ cognitive learning (i.e., active, interactive, constructive, and reflective learning) in class, further contributing to their enhanced cognitive CT abilities. The findings underscore the nuances of SCP adoption in school scenarios, advocating for strategic approaches to maximize student achievements in CT education. Recommendations for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This study aimed to establish sex- and age-specific reference values for motor performance (MP) in Hong Kong preschoolers aged 3–5 years old and examine the relationship between MP and BMI status. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 5579 preschoolers in Hong Kong. Three MP tests were administered, and height and weight information were collected. GAMLSS was used to compute the normative values of the motor tests. Boys outperformed girls in activities requiring muscle strength and power, while girls outperformed boys in activities requiring balance and coordination. The MP scores increased with age for both overarm beanbag throw and standing long jump for both sexes, while the one-leg balance scores showed larger differences between P50 and P95 in older preschoolers. Children with excessive weight performed worse in standing long jump and one-leg balance compared to their healthy weight peers. This study provides valuable information on the MP of preschoolers in Hong Kong, including sex- and age-specific reference values and the association between BMI status and MP scores. These findings can serve as a reference for future studies and clinical practice and highlight the importance of promoting motor skill development in preschoolers, particularly those who are overweight or obese. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

The present study examined the association between pre-service teachers’ mindfulness and critical thinking dispositions, as indexed by engagement, cognitive maturity, and innovativeness in critical thinking. A total of 72 Chinese pre-service teachers were recruited from Hong Kong to complete an online questionnaire cross-sectionally. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that mindfulness was differentially associated with critical thinking dispositions. As important dimensions of mindfulness, mindful presence was positively associated with engagement in critical thinking, whereas mindful acceptance was positively associated with cognitive maturity in the regression models. However, neither mindful presence nor mindful acceptance was related to innovativeness in critical thinking. As a covariate, gender was not related to dimensions of mindfulness and critical thinking dispositions. The present findings inform the literature on the relation between pre-service teachers’ mindfulness and critical thinking dispositions, particularly in the Chinese context. As a major implication, policymakers should be made aware of the importance of strengthening pre-service teachers’ mindfulness, such that they could have a greater disposition to teach critically as they enter the workforce. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).