Background: Abundant research has been undertaken on the importance of teachers’ feedback to the school achievement of students. However, focus has rarely been placed on the differences between the perception on feedback of students and teachers. Being a part of the study which was sponsored by a General Research Grant awarded by Research Grants Council of UGC, Hong Kong (Project Number 844011), we attempted to find out the differences between students’ and teachers’ perception on feedback. Aims and Keywords: The study aimed to find out the differences between Hong Kong primary school students and teachers in their views to feedback. Sample: Four thousand five hundred and seven students between primary 3 and primary 5, 132 teachers from 26 Hong Kong primary schools were sampled in the study. Method: A 42-item instrument with 4-Likert point response scale was constructed by the research team to collect the responses from Hong Kong students and teachers of their perception on 6 dimensions in feedback. Multidimensional Rasch analysis was conducted on the collected data with CONQUEST 2.0. Results: The results showed that: (1) item-fit was between 0.5 and 1.5 for all items except one; (2) Rasch person reliabilities in the 6 dimensions ranged from 0.72 to 0.86 and item reliabilities was 1.00; (3) the effect size of the respondents’ status (teacher or student) in the 6 dimensions ranged from 0.32 to 0.64. Conclusions: In this study, there are moderate differences between the students and teachers in the perception on the source of feedback, the effectiveness of feedback and the function of feedback. On the other hand, there are little differences among the two types of respondents in the perception on the goodness of feedback, the focus/target of feedback and the expectation of feedback.

School participation rates in Hong Kong are acknowledged to be high but not always for the city’s ethnic minority students. Case study was used to portray the ‘out of school’ phenomenon for ethnic minority students at a secondary school in Hong Kong through the experiences of one such ethnic minority student. Morshed, a Pakistani student, participated with the researchers in an unstructured in-depth interview. In addition, interviews were also conducted with the principal, two teachers, and one support staff from the school. The study showed the complex interaction of school contexts and personal life issues that influenced Morshed’s dropping out of school. Implications are drawn for providing better school support that can facilitate more positive schooling experiences for Hong Kong’s ethnic minority students.
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Introduction: Despite the increasingly widespread popularity of electronic devices, there are limited comprehensive studies on the effects of usage and exposure to multiple electronic devices over extended periods of time. Therefore, this study explored the cumulative musculoskeletal implications of exposure to various electronic devices among university students. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was administered in the university in Hong Kong and students provided information about the frequency and duration of electronic devices use, including computers, mobile phones and game consoles, and reported on any musculoskeletal pain or discomfort that may relate to electronic devices usage in the immediate 12 months prior to the survey date. Results: A total of 503 university students (59% males and 41% females) aged 18-25 years completed the questionnaire. The results showed that 251 (49.9%) respondents reported upper limb musculoskeletal symptoms, particularly in the neck and shoulder regions. Among these, 155 (61.8%) indicated that their discomfort was related to electronic device usage. Statistically significant differences in exposure to electronic devices and musculoskeletal outcomes between genders were found (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The use of electronic devices and habitual postures were associated with musculoskeletal problems among university students in Hong Kong. This phenomenon highlights the urgent need for ergonomics education and recommendations to increase students' awareness of musculoskeletal wellbeing.

The enactment of the revised School Places Allocation Systems at the compulsory stage in 2004 had the aim of desegregating Hong Kong's non-Chinese linguistic minority (NCLM) students by including them into ethnic Chinese-dominated mainstream primary and secondary schools. Because of the presumed cause-consequence relationship between desegregated school participation and academic achievement, in specific second language Chinese (CSL) acquisition, the challenges that such students face in participating in mainstream education and learning Chinese, no doubt, deserve to be examined. This qualitative study conducted in-depth interviews with 18 secondary students of South Asian/Southeast Asian minority backgrounds enrolled in mainstream schools. Drawing on both cultural and institutional paradigms of explanation for educational achievement, we argue that the reasons inhibiting the minority students' academic involvement are not simply their linguistic challenges but also the institutional constraints in the mainstream education system unique to this population. This study calls for a shift in school desegregation arrangement from one focusing narrowly on physical desegregation to a more comprehensive set of policies that embrace the institutional factors including teacher expectation, resource availability, and bilingual support, crucial to reduce racial differences in achievement.

In many settings a perplexing scenario is unfolding in which school systems claim to move towards whole-person development while students and parents run in the opposite direction of narrowly defined academic achievement enhanced by private supplementary tutoring. Such tutoring is widely called shadow education because much of its content mimics that of regular schooling. It has long been clearly visible in Asia, and is now increasingly visible elsewhere. This study focuses on school teachers' perceptions of shadow education in the context of a flourishing sector that parallels and to some extent contradicts progressive education reforms. Drawing on 47 in-depth interviews with teachers from 12 secondary schools in Hong Kong, the research found ambivalent views towards private tutoring. This ambivalence reflected intrinsic contradictions between the educational ideals of whole-person development and the function of schooling in social stratification. Such tensions are likely to become increasingly evident elsewhere as commercialised forms of private supplementary tutoring expand.

An introduction is presented which discusses various articles within the issue on topics including countries participating in large-scale assessments in education on education policy, Programme for International Student Assessment in Hong Kong, and development of regulatory interventions.

This article draws insight from a narrative inquiry to examine the complexities of educating immigrant students with disabilities in which language, culture, and disability collide. Issues related to language-in-education policy, teacher preparation, and the proportion and identification of culturally and linguistically diverse students were primarily reviewed within multicultural and multilingual education conceptual frameworks in English speaking countries between English speaking teachers and non-English speaking students. Little is known about potentially more complicated situations such as those in which teachers and students have a shared ethnicity and dialects with different levels of proficiency. This article thus attempts to illustrate and map the complexity based on the insight from a narrative inquiry situated in an inclusive school setting of Hong Kong. Multiple sources of data were included for a thorough understanding of and analyses on the place, temporality, and sociality within the narrative inquiry framework. Data were drawn from interviews, classroom observations, teacher diaries, school data, and student input. Analyses indicated that shared ethnicity and languages could complicate rather than simplify the teaching and learning contexts. The lived experiences of the special educator demonstrated and contextualised the complex issues of educating CLD children with ADHD of shared ethnicity in multilingual environments. Findings of this inquiry added an important dimension to immigrant and multicultural special education studies and concluded that current inquiry paradigm should be expanded to include shared ethnicity and different proficiency in shared dialects/languages.

The present study is the first empirical research in Hong Kong to evaluate a peer career counselling programme consisting of a 3.5-day training and a school-based service project. Using a quasi-experimental design, the evaluation was based on the Career Readiness Scales ratings at three waves of data collection. Results showed that the programme was effective in enhancing peer counsellors' career readiness. The effect came mainly from the training and less from the service project.

This chapter examines eduplay, an educational form of play with Chinese characteristics, as a means of promoting social competence and play-based counselling in early childhood. Although the policies of the Hong Kong government increasingly require a play-based curriculum, many teachers and parents believe that play will detract from academics. However, the term "eduplay" was first introduced in Rao's article (2009), a form of play-based education with "Chinese characteristics" which captures the beliefs of teachers and parents about what should happen and occurs in Chinese early childhood settings (Rao & Li, 2009). Eduplay is a method of learning by playing, an approach that may be more acceptable to teachers and parents in Hong Kong. Results from an experimental study of preschools are presented, showing that eduplay was successful in reducing two problem behaviours, namely clinging and demanding attention. These results have implications for incorporating meaningful play into a play-based curriculum.
[Copyright © 2016 Taylor and Francis.]

School Counselling in a Chinese Context discusses research in school counselling in the Chinese context of Hong Kong schools and various educational settings, and provides a contextualized understanding of counselling issues. This book highlights key contextual conditions for counselling in Hong Kong – a Chinese society. The sub themes addressed in the book include school practices and teacher perspectives on guidance, counselling, behaviour support and school discipline; whole-school guidance program for identity construction; school counselling for ethnic minority students; contextual influence of the use of play therapy; school counselling for students with minority sexual orientation; Chinese cultural influence on counselling, etc. The book also develops new theoretical orientations to understanding various issues of counselling as arisen in the Chinese society of Hong Kong and helps school practitioners to develop culturally responsive approaches to school counselling for personal growth, spiritual and emotional education. The themes addressed in the book include: School practices and teacher perspectives on guidance, counselling, behavior support and school discipline .School counselling for ethnic minority students .Contextual and cultural influence of the use of play therapy .School counselling for students with minority sexual orientation .Chinese culture influence on parental participation in counselling School Counselling in a Chinese Context will be of interest to postgraduates and researchers in the field of Counselling, school psychology, child development and Chinese studies.
[Copyright © 2016 Taylor and Francis.]