Background: Teacher Participation in decision-making is one of the recommendations of school-based management and one of the key characteristics of an effective school. Although teacher participation in decision making is claimed to be correlated with their affective outcome, few researchers have been attempted to verify the predictive effectiveness of participation in different decision domains under a multi-dimensional participatory model on their affective outcomes. This study intends to identify an empirical participatory model ought to help school administrators involve teachers in appropriate decisions for improving teachers' affective outcomes, which result in quality decision-making.
Aims: To examine theoretically the causal relationship between teacher participation in decision-making and their affective outcome for developing a participatory decision model, and identify the decision domains that would assist school administrators to effectively involve teachers in decision-making under the school-based management policy.
Sample: Questionnaires were sent to 20 secondary schools in Hong Kong. A total of 335 teacher-completed questionnaires were collected from all the target schools.
Methods: Theoretical model and questionnaires were constructed by synthesizing theories from literatures, principal axis factor analysis and reliability test were used to validate the constructed validity and reliability of the questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was applied to validate the participatory model and estimate the correlation among the variables.
Results: The results showed that a multi-dimensional decision was identified by the structural equation modeling, the relationship among the variables of the model were also explored. The three dimensional decision model includes instructional, curriculum and managerial domains; and the variables of the affective outcome include job satisfaction, job commitment and perception of workload. All

Background: The literature suggests two main types of orientations influencing teachers' choice of assessment strategies--"Knowledge acquisition and retention (K orientation)" and "Understanding and Conceptual change (U orientation)" with the former more directly related to surface learning types of assessment strategies and the latter more to do with strategies which encourage deep learning.
Aims: The study aimed to investigate what kinds of strategies teachers used to assess their students and how teachers' self-reported assessment strategies reflected the orientations suggested in the current literature. In addition, it identified the governing forces that impacted on the orientations of the teachers in their assessment strategy selection.
Sample: Ninety-four Hong Kong teachers from nine primary schools and six secondary schools took part in semi-structured interviews which focused on the strategies they used for assessing their students.
Results: The teachers reported using many types of strategies including tests, exams, projects, etc. The results of the study showed that there were forces that drew teachers towards "Knowledge acquisition and retention" orientation while selecting assessment strategies for use.
Conclusion: More effort has to be made to encourage teachers to attain a better balance between assessment aimed at measuring knowledge and assessment aimed at learning and understanding.
背景: 文獻指出教師在選擇評估策略上有兩種主要取向 - 「知識的獲取與記憶」(知識取向) 及「理解與概念的轉變」(理解取向)。「知識取向」的評估策略偏向淺層次的學習；而「理解取向」的評估策略是鼓勵深層次的學習。
目的: 本研究的目的是瞭解教師選擇甚麼評估策略來評估學生，分析他們選取評估策略的取向，及找出主導他們對評估策略取向的因由。
取樣: 本研究訪問了九十四位來自九所小學及六所中學的香港教師。
結果: 本研究的結果顯示教師曾經使用不同種類的評估策略，包括測驗、考試及專題計劃等。當教師選擇評估策略的時候，有一些外在的力量使他們傾向於選擇「知識取向」。
結論: 有需要增強相關的做法，令教師擺脫這些限制，使「用評估量度知識」與「用評估學習和理解」之間取得平衡。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

教學實習是職前教師教育重要的一環，學員可以透過實習將學到的理論作具體實踐和驗證。本文就職前教師教育的教學實習，從不同的運作層面探討學院與實習學校間四個合作模式，並提出建立成功與持續性之院校合作關係的各項要素。文章的第二部份則集中探討香港情況，對香港教育學院與學校的合作模式作深入剖析，報告參與院校合作計劃的學員和學校教師之訪問內容。最後，本文歸納各類型合作模式和參與者的經驗分享，總結院校合作賦予的啟示，進而展望未來的合作路向。
The field experience is an important component in the initial teacher education programme and this is an opportunity for the student-teachers to contextualize and test out their learning. This paper sets out to examine the operational levels of institute-school partnerships in which the initial teacher education and schools are engaged as partners in the field experience. Having identified the levels of operation, the literature review describes four possible models of partnership and defines conditions for the success and maintenance of such relationship. The second part of the paper examines the local context by analyzing the various forms of partnerships that the Hong Kong Institute of Education has been engaged in. Moreover, interview data from the student-teachers and the school teachers who participated in the schemes of collaboration were reported. Drawing on the different modes of partnership and the experiences of the participants, the paper concludes with the implications and postulates the future direction of development.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

This study investigated Participatory Decision-Making (PDM) in Hong Kong self-managing secondary schools. It also examined teachers' job satisfaction, organizational commitment, role ambiguity and role conflict in relation to PDM. A questionnaire survey involving 959 teachers from 214 schools was conducted. Principal components analysis was used to study the underlying subscales of teachers' PDM and their affective work outcomes. Correlational analysis, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and multiple regression analysis were employed to examine the relationships between teachers' PDM and their affective work outcomes.
Two decision domains (managerial and teaching) emerged in Hong Kong secondary schools. Teachers were generally more involved in PDM in the teaching domain than the managerial domain. Teachers from School Management Initiative (SMI) schools had greater participation in managerial decisions than non-SMI schools, but there was no significant difference in PDM between SMI and non-SMI teachers in decisions related to teaching.
Non-SMI teachers were more decisionally deprived in both the managerial and teaching domains than were SMI teachers. However, both SMI and non-SMI teachers were more decisionally deprived in the managerial domain than the teaching domain. For both managerial and teaching domains, principals' support for PDM was a significant positive predictor for teachers' actual participation. Six subscales of job satisfaction emerged from the analysis: work itself, supervision, colleagues, indirect participation in PDM, workload and responsibility. There were two subscales for organizational commitment which include present and future commitment.
No significant difference between SMI and non-SMI teachers emerged for any job satisfaction subscales except responsibility. SMI teachers were less satisfied with their sense of responsibility for teaching than non-SMI teachers. SMI teachers may have diverted some of their time and

背景：香港政府自2000 年開始施實教師「語文能力要求」以及相應的「教師語文能力評估」。在這項政策之下，全港中小學的常額英文和普通話科教師必須在特定時限之前達到相關語文能力要求，否則將不獲准繼續任教英文或普通話科。政府的是項舉措在本港教育界引發了廣泛的爭論。
目的：本研究目的在於調查政府該項措施實施兩年之後，受影響的中學普通話科教師對政府此項舉措的一般意見和態度。
調查對象：本研究的調查對象為香港中學普通話科科主任教師。
調查方法：本研究採用直接問卷的方式進行。以郵寄方法向香港400 間中學的普通話科科主任進行問卷調查，成功收回問卷177 份。
調查結果：結果顯示，普通話科教師一般認為，政府的這項政策對於語文教師的專業發展有其必要；但是，由於政府強力推行是項政策，加重了教師的工作負擔，所以不受教師們的歡迎。
總結：如果想令到政府的這項政策得到語文教師的歡迎，政府必須有相應的措施有效地減輕受影響教師的工作壓力，因為是項政策的實施實際上加重了教師業已十分繁重工作量。
Background: Since 2000 Hong Kong government has pursued a new policy of Language Proficiency Requirement (LPR) and conducted Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers (LPAT). under witch all English/Putonghua teachers holding a permanent post in a public-sector schools or a local private primary/secondary day schools offering the full curriculum will not be allowed to teach English or Putonghua if he or she had not met the required language proficiency level by specific deadlines. This policy triggered off a heated debate from all sides of education circles in Hong Kong.
Aims: This study aims to collect the general opinions and attitudes of Putonghua teachers towards this new government’s policy two year after the policy had been put into practice.
Sample: Questionnaires were sent to 400 secondary schools and total of 177 questionnaires filled in by secondary school Putonghua subject chair teachers were collected.
Method: Questionnaire survey was conducted and the written responses received from the respondents were tabulated.
Results: This study found that the secondary school Putonghua teachers generally disliked the new policy of LPR which had been strongly carried out by the government, although the new policy was accepted as a necessary step for Putonghua teachers' professional development.
Conclusion: To make the new policy favorably received by language teachers, the government needs to do something substantially to lessen the burden of affected teachers, because

九七年版香港小學普通話科課程綱要頒行以來， 配應的教科書陸續面世。由於課程架構和理念的翻新， 教科書編者又嘗試從不同的角度體現綱要的精神， 各種教材的編排系統、內容重點等難免有不同程度的差異。要有效運用及發揮這些教材， 是新教師面臨的一大挑戰。透過一項新入職教師專業成長的研究，我們探討了一些新教師在教材運用方面遇上的困難和限制， 並歸納出他們有待增強的知識和技能。
Since the implementation of the current Putonghua curriculum in Hong Kong in 1997, corresponding teaching materials have been developed to meet the requirements of the curriculum. Because different textbook writers interpret the curriculum differently in terms of teaching objectives, teaching contents and teaching approaches, etc., teaching materials generated vary in focal points. To use these materials effectively in teaching becomes a big challenge, especially for beginning teachers. In a study on the professional growth of beginning Putonghua teachers, their problems in adopting commercial teaching materials are investigated, and the knowledge and skills with which they need to become competent language teachers are identified.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

The expectations of school administrators, teachers, parents and students on form teachers at secondary 1 to 3 levels, the feelings and opinions of form teachers, and their roles and duties in a local subsidized secondary school were studied intensively by interviews and questionnaires as a pilot. It was found that the roles of junior form teachers were important and their responsibilities were ever increasing. Duties of form teachers could be grouped into four areas: Daily Classroom Duties, Class Club Duties, Student Counselling and Communication with Parents. Students expected their form teachers to care for them and help them learn and grow. Parents appreciated the bridging role of form teachers. School administrators recognized the importance of effective form teachers to the good management of a school. Form teachers themselves wanted an effective and fair Form Teacher System and to spend more time on educational issues.
After the pilot, 1007 teachers from 85 schools were studied by referring to the questionnaire on the roles and duties of form teachers in junior forms. The data were then analyzed and some suggestions were proposed focusing on the problems found.
本研究透過詳細測試一所標準津貼中學的學校行政人員、初中班主任、資深老師、學生及家長進行訪問及問卷調查，研究他們對班主任角色及職責的看法，發現初中班主任之角色甚為重要及職責日益繁重。班主任的工作有四大範疇，包括處理日常班務、班會事宜、學生輔導及家長聯繫。訪問中也發現學生期望班主任能照顧他們的學習及幫助他們成長。家長感謝班主任能作溝通的橋樑。行政人員確認了高效能的班主任對學校的管理甚為重要。而班主任自己卻期望能較專注於教育性質的事務上並且在任教的學校裏有一個公平有效的班主任制度。
測試後，筆者進行一個較大型的研究，有85 所中學參與，共1007 位老師接受了問卷調查。資料收集後，經數據分析，筆者嘗試針對問題作出一些討論及建議。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

背景：近年學校實踐校本課程發展計畫，識字教學常是熱門的設計項目。本文作者為了配合這一種趨勢，在師資培訓課程中嘗試運用「輔導探究式教學法」指導職前學員掌握教小學生識字的方法。整個嘗試設以行動研究的形式來完成。
目的：是次行動研究的目的是探討該班學員在「輔導探究式教學法」的指導下的學習成效、他們對這種授課方法的情意反應，和「輔導探究式教學法」應用在師資培訓中要注意的問題。
研究對象：香港教育學院一年制的小學學位教師教育文憑課程的九名學員。
研究方法：本研究按「輔導探究式教學法」的理論安排整個教學過程，包括教學輸入、學員分組討論、分組導修課和報告課四個環節。在四個環節完成後，進行評估性測驗和問卷調查，以回答研究要探討的問題。
研究結果：學員通過「輔導探究式教學法」基本上能明白教識字的方法和原理，他們也普遍接受這種教學方法。從研究者觀察所得，該組學員的自學能力較弱，部分學員在學習上存在「拿來主義」的心態。
總結：用「輔導探究式教學法」指導該組學員認識怎樣教識字，就成效而言是可接受的。在施教的過程中，研究者體會到，學員的自學能力和態度對他們的學習成效有一定的影響。這兩方面如何改進，很值得同行三思。
Background: In the recent years, practicing the school-based curriculum development program is a norm; designing a useful Chinese Character Cognition ("CCC") approach becomes a very hot topic in the education arena. Following on this general direction, the author of this paper has conducted an action research study using the Guided Inquiring Method ("GIM") as the methodology against Chinese Character Cognition with a group of students from the Teacher Training Program, who prepare themselves to be the primary school teachers.
Goals / Aims: The objective of this study is threefold -- to investigate the effectiveness of applying GIM against the target study group, to observe the degree of their acceptance, and at the same time to reveal what should we pay attention to while using this method.
Target Study Group: A group of 9 students from the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Primary) program (one year full time) at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.
Method: The general design of the entire study is based upon the theory of the Guided Inquiring Method, plus injection of basic teaching knowledge, group discussion, group tutorial sessions, and in-depth discussions among the target group members. In order to accomplish the goal of this study, objective assessment and questionnaire were used to confirm the findings at the end stage of the study.
Results: There are two key findings in this study. (1) With using GIM, it

在學校裏，校長的領導固然重要，但是沒有高質素的中層管理人員的協助和配合，要達致優質學校教育的目標是有困難的。中層管理人員是學校的骨幹，亦是校長和教師的橋樑，他們在學校扮演著很重要的角色。近年，由於校本管理的落實和多項教育變革在學校推行，大大增加了中層管理人員的工作量和領導需求。本文透過對六十多名負責推行教育變革的學校中層管理人員，瞭解他們在其崗位上所面對的困難，並作出了分析及建議。
There is no doubt about the significance of principal leadership in schools. However, without the assistance and cooperation from the effective middle managers, it is difficult for principals to meet the targets for quality school education. School middle managers are the backbone of the schools and also the bridge between the principal and teachers. They play a crucial role in the school organization. Recently, the implementation of school-based management and many other school reforms in Hong Kong have increased the workload of middle managers. There is an increasing need of their leadership in schools. This study has collected data from about sixty middle managers who are responsible for implementing school reforms in the primary educational sector. Problems faced by the middle managers of Hong Kong primary schools in leadership are analyzed and discussed. Implications for future improvement are made.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

1920 年，香港政府為了解決日漸增多的學童就學問題，同時成立了官立女子漢文師範學堂和官立漢文男子師範學堂。這兩所學校與1914 年開設的官立實業專科學校漢文師資班和1926 年建立的官立大埔師範學校，共同為當時香港各區漢文學校培養、培訓合格的師資。自1920 年創立到1941 年停辦為止，女師前後一共畢業學生二十一屆二百零二人，為香港基礎教育（特別是女子教育）的發展起了一定的積極作用。由於至今尚未有人對這所早期師訓學校從任何角度進行研究，以致包括教育界的絕大多數港人對它幾乎毫無認識。本文通過搜尋各類零星的文獻資料，希翼盡量理清這所香港歷史上僅有的女子師範學校的發展線索，還其在香港師範教育史上的應有位置，並以此引發同好進一步研究女師及香港教育史的興趣。
The Vernacular Normal School for Women (VNSW) was established in September 1920 by the Hong Kong Government under the governorship of Sir Reginald Edward Stubbs (1919-1925) to solve the problem of shortage of qualified schoolteachers. Together with the Vernacular Normal School for Men (1926-1940) and the Vernacular Tai Po Normal School (1926-1941), the teacher training institutes supplied majority of the qualified pre-service Chinese teachers in Hong Kong during the ensuring two decades. This paper, using primary and secondary sources, discusses the background of establishment, staff and students, curriculum, and closure of the VNSW, as well as its contributions to the progress of Hong Kong's female education.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]