While existing research has well-recognized educational plan as an important predictor of students’ educational achievement, the alignment of educational plan and achievement should not be taken for granted. As plan-achievement misalignment is liable to negative psychological and social consequences, this study aims to examine the extent to which parents vis-à-vis teachers could guide students into plan-achievement alignment. Specifically, this study is set within two comparable cases of Taiwan and Hong Kong to explore whether the relative importance of parents’ and teachers’ guidance would differ according to the institutional contexts of education systems. Methodologically, society-specific (multinomial) logistic regression analyses are conducted based on the data of the Taiwan Education Panel Survey and the Hong Kong Survey on High School Students’ Aspirations for Higher Education and Employment. In Taiwan, we find students not only received more guidance from parents, but parents’ guidance was also more effective in helping them reach plan-achievement alignment. By contrast, teachers are found to have played a key role in these regards in Hong Kong. The findings provide support to our propositions that the relative importance of parents’ and teachers’ guidance may vary by the opportunity structures of post-secondary education and the level of school-based parental involvement. Copyright © 2021 National Institute of Education, Singapore.

This study explored the associations between secondary school students' sense of school belonging, their perceptions of school kindness, and character strength of kindness, and examined possible differences in these constructs across gender groups. The study, which included 1973 Hong Kong secondary school students, revealed that students' sense of school belonging was positively correlated with their perceptions of school kindness at the school and student levels (0.021 and 0.185, respectively). Furthermore, students' sense of school belonging was positively linked to character strength of kindness at the student level, although this relationship was found to be non-significant at the school level. At both levels of analysis, the positive relationships between students' perceptions of school kindness and character strength of kindness were significant. In addition, girls reported higher levels of character strength of kindness than boys. The findings of this study provide a better understanding of the relationships between sense of school belonging, school kindness, and character strength of kindness. Implications for research are also discussed. Copyright © 2020 Society for the Study of School Psychology.

In this study we used grounded theory framework to explore how preparation for studying abroad affects the academic success of East Asian undergraduate students in U.S. universities. Based on interviews with 12 participants from China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan, we found that knowledge of English language and American culture, which is closely involved with their preparation for study abroad and their undergraduate study in the United States, are two core categories affecting East Asian students' academic success. High levels of preparation for study abroad help East Asian students better adapt to American universities. At the same time, East Asian students spend more time on English proficiency tests than learning the culture both before and after they arrive to the United States, which can be detrimental. We suggest that U.S. universities provide more support for cultural adaptation such as learning communities to have active cultural exchanges within context. Copyright ©Nepalese Student Association at University of Louisiana at Monroe.

This study investigates the perceptions of teaching competency in multicultural classrooms held by 421 teachers at 16 schools in Hong Kong. The aims of the study are (a) to use confirmatory factor analysis to validate a culturally appropriate version of the Multicultural Teaching Competency Scale (MTCS), (b) to assess three types of multicultural-teaching competency, and (c) to provide recommendations for teacher-education institutes and policy makers on developing effective training in multicultural education. The results indicate that a tripartite model assessing skills, knowledge, and relationships, the core features of multicultural-teaching competency as assessed by the MTCS from a Hong Kong sample. The teachers all identified multicultural-teaching relationships as the most important component of multicultural-teaching competency. Future researchers should examine the concurrent validity of the MTCS and the cultural contexts of multicultural-teaching relationships. Recommendations are also made for incorporating the Confucian beliefs of fairness, justice, and equity into multicultural classroom. Copyright © 2020 Edith Cowan University. All rights reserved.

This study investigates the characteristics of the organizational environment perceived by 627 teachers in 64 Hong Kong secondary schools. From the cluster analysis, the perceived school organizational environments can be classified into four typical styles: commitment, control, disengagement, and headless. All of them have contrasting organizational characteristics. The findings are consistent with the studies conducted in Western societies.

WHILE RESEARCH HAS INDICATED that kindergarten teachers across cultures have consistently faced high work stress that may influence their wellbeing, little research has examined the relationships among kindergarten teachers' wellbeing, perceived school culture, and personality types. In the research, 371 in-service kindergarten teachers completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the School Culture Survey, the Job Satisfaction Survey, the General Health Questionnaire-12, and the Rosenberg Self- Esteem Inventory. Results indicated that teachers who perceived their school culture more positively tended to show higher levels of job satisfaction and self-esteem, but less mental health complaints. In addition, teachers of the extraverted, feeling, and judging types tended to perceive their school culture more positively, have higher levels of job satisfaction and self-esteem than those teachers of the introverted, thinking, and perceiving types. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to senior school managers and policy-makers in their effort to promote school development and teacher professional development.
[Copyright © Early Childhood Australia].

近年來，「師幼互動」的研究越來越受學者的關注，成為世界性的重要課題。幼稚園活動區隱藏著很多互動的機會及教育契機。那麼，幼稚園活動區中師幼互動的現狀究竟是如何呢？本文就香港兩所幼稚園活動區的深入個案研究，分析其3至4歲幼兒班中的師幼互動之特性。本研究以觀察及列表形式組合所觀察到的行為作為數據，再從微觀層面對活動區活動中師幼互動的行為特徵、過程及影響因素等進行探討。研究發現：在兩所幼稚園的幼兒班活動區裏，都出現了高頻率的幼師互動，但這些互動行為的都是以教師為主導；雖然兩班幼兒班中的互動內容略有不同，教師發起的互動多為指導活動，而幼兒發起的互動內容多為尋求關注和幫助。基於所收集到的活動情況，筆者對學前教育師幼互動的情況作了分析及討論。
[Copyright © 2011 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]