This paper attempts to describe recent development of home-school relations in Hong Kong. It is stressed in the Education Commission Report No. 7 that school authority should be in partners with parents to manage the schools. However, findings of the Study on Home-School Cooperation (ED, 1994) demonstrate that there are a lot of barriers in promoting parental involvement in schools. Thus, this paper also serves to introduce a school-based strategy for promoting home-school cooperation. Through examining and analysing the degree of parental involvement at each level in a school, suitable strategies will be developed to strengthen means of facilitating teachers to involve parents in the schooling process of the students.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

Gender issues are some of the core concerns of policy, practice and provision in relation to education. There is a popular notion that boys are naughty while girls are good mannered in primary schools. In many studies, boys were found to engage in more rough-and tumble play and physical fighting than do girls (Thorne, 2002). It seems that it is more difficult for teachers to deal with boys than with girls. However, in the emerging literature, within girls, there are different types of emotional and behavioral problems, such as aggression, which is not unusual that teachers may face with. Research with empirical data on how teachers help girls with emotional and behavioral problems is spare. In order to understand more how teachers in training deal with the gender and the nature of students' problem, this study investigates the responses of pre-service teachers in helping students in a guidance training programme, which is a part of a pre-service new B.Ed. module. The study aims to make some suggestions for effective preparation of the pre-service teachers to play their guidance role in Hong Kong primary schools. In an attempt to explore how pre-service teachers developed their capacity in helping students with different gender and nature of problems, two scenarios were used. Case 1 was a by in a helpless situation (with emotional difficulties) while case 2 was an angry girl with aggressive behavior (with emotional and behavioural difficulties). Qualitative research approach in form of case study was used. The sample, 16 student teachers with some seemed to be very aware of, others largely ignorant about the guidance role of teacher were selected for in-depth interviews to chart their development in the training programme. Their responses for handling of two different cases of pupils' problems in the interview schedule were analyzed. The results of the study show that student teachers had developed their abilities in handling pupils' problems in terms of attitude towards

Teachers' beliefs in human values significantly affect their interaction with students in effective classroom learning.! Whether a teacher has taken a humanistic approach or behavioral approach in the classroom is a curious question especially in a culturally mixed Hong Kong society. In response to this question, the researcher attempted to find out what the teachers believed in human values and how they practiced their beliefs in the classroom. As part of the major research,! this paper aimed to elaborate on the teachers' beliefs and practice during teacher pupil interaction and whether their] beliefs and practice were affected by the East and West educational philosophy. Education values and beliefs in whole child development underpin the aims of education in the 21st century. Literature! showed that a teacher's belief in humanistic approach in bringing out the holistic development of a child plays an important role in fulfilling the education ideology. The study of a group of 35 in-service primary school teachers in Hong Kong was launched in 1999/2000 regarding their teacher-pupil interaction. The research methods mainly included in-depth interviews, questionnaires and classroom observations. The research findings revealed that the participant teachers] practiced both humanistic and behavioral approaches, and the cultural perspective on humanistic or behavioral approach] was not prominent. Although a considerable number of them believed in the affective approach, they had technical] difficulties in the implementation owing to the constraint of time and resources. The research outcome implied that further] teacher development in affective education is essential to facilitate student learning in the current educational change.

This paper presents initial findings from a project which focuses on the changing masculinities of Chinese primary school men teachers in Hong Kong, which is a stage II of the a project on Contemporary Chinese primary women teachers' experiences of changing femininities. In this paper, four life stories of men teachers, representing two generations of teachers, will be presented. Bhabha's (1994) concept of a "hybrid" or "in-between" culture - such as when a predominantly Chinese society experiences western colonization and continuing changes in public spheres and Giroux's (1992) notion of "border crossing" will be used as the guiding framework for this study. The research uses qualitative interviews in constructing life histories of men teachers. The paper will present snapshots of these four men teachers in the ways they navigate and experience their changing masculinities both in the primary school workplace and at home in their lived experiences. The four stories show a lot of hybridities and border crossing, creating both tensions and integrations for these men teachers. Implications of this study to teacher education and gender equity education will be discussed. This study will raise fundamental issues for teacher education and professional development of teachers in contexts of cultural shift associated with globalisation. It will also have implications for pedagogy for teaching of personal, social, sex and civic education in schools in the various Chinese communities.

Contrary to the belief that education would empower women to attain a higher degree of equality with men in the society, recent researches in the West tend to indicate that in schools male students are actually favored in the classroom. Sadker & Sadker (1985) found that in all grades and classes of primary schools in the District of Columbia boys dominated the classroom communication with the tacit approval of their teachers. Morgan & Dunn (1988) suggested that boys were more 'visible' in the classroom and were granted more academic leeway. Such bias is taken as one of the factors which contribute to the nurturing of gender characters that dovetail the roles of the two genders in the society. The present study was undertaken to reveal whether newcomers to the teaching profession in Hong Kong will be gender-biased in handling their classes and if so, how and also why. It is hoped that result of the interview will cast light on whether the curriculum of teacher education course should be restructured to enhance the gender-fairness of the student teachers who would soon become the pillar of the teaching profession.

Education is a caring enterprise. As human beings we want to care and to be cared for. Caring is important in itself (Nodding, 2000, p7). When we discuss teaching and teacher-learner relationship, it is important to see that teachers not only have to create caring relations in which they are the carer, but that they have a responsibility to help their students develop the capacity to care (Nodding,1992, p.18). Teaching is a caring profession, children are likely to achieve more of they are valued and cared for. In school, children create discipline problems that can be solved by a caring teacher. In a caring classroom, children learn more and response to group more. The overview of the Generic Teacher Competencies Framework of the Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications (2003) pointed out that pastoral care for Students as one of key dimensions in the Student Development Domain. In light of the recommendations of the report, this small-scale research examined the views of caring on student teachers at the Hong Kong Institute of Education through questionnaire survey. Major findings indicate that about 90% of student-teachers considered the following characteristics are essential for caring teachers: keen understanding of child development, having good communication skills, guiding children in social problem solving, fond of school children, and enjoy participation of activities with children. Moreover, within the twenty-four response items in the questionnaire on caring teachers, the following five are rated as more important than others in the teaching process: respect every pupil, care about needs and safety of pupils, teach pupils to be responsible for their own behavior, earn the trust of pupils, and develop a good teacher-pupil relationship. In addition, a case-study was used to ascertain the notion of caring of a student-teacher before, during and after her teaching practice. In her narratives and in-depth reflection, the student-teacher showed