Research Findings: Early childhood educators’ own disposition has been suggested to contribute to their ability to promote physical literacy (PL) in young children. There is currently limited evidence of educators’ own PL, and studies have not explored how PL relates to teaching knowledge and behaviors in the early childhood education (ECE) context. This current study examined the relationships of teachers’ perceived PL with their self-efficacy and perceived professional competence in relation to promoting physical activities in ECE settings. A total of 338 early childhood educators from Hong Kong responded to an online survey that consisted of the Perceived Physical Literacy Inventory (PPLI), Chinese version of the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (C-TSE(R)), and Teachers’ Professional Competence (TPC) questionnaire. The findings revealed that educators’ perceived PL is moderately associated with self-efficacy and professional competence when conducting physical activities in ECE contexts. The PL attributes of self-expression and communication, and knowledge and understanding were significant predictors of educators’ self-efficacy in classroom management and teaching strategies, as well as their professional knowledge and attitudes. Practice or Policy: The findings suggest that ECE teachers’ training should consider aspects of their own PL to enable their self-efficacy and perceived competence for conducting physical activities in ECE settings and thereby promote the PL of young children. Copyright © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Adopting the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this sequential mixed-methods research investigates Hong Kong kindergarten teachers’ reported beliefs and practices regarding early visual arts education (EVAE). The qualitative part (Phase 1) is an interview study of 19 kindergarten teachers in two focus groups, aiming to develop a conceptual structure of teachers’ behavioural, normative and control beliefs. The quantitative part (Phase 2) is a survey study of 243 teachers from the randomly sampled 21 kindergartens regarding their EVAE beliefs and practices. Most teachers believe in child-centred teaching while practising teacher-directed instruction and support creativity while delivering closed-ended instruction. Four influential factors are identified to account for this gap: (1) practising child-centred pedagogies as a result of behavioural beliefs; (2) undervaluing visual arts as a result of normative beliefs; (3) instructing children directly as a result of normative beliefs; and (4) delivering subject knowledge in studio teaching as a result of control beliefs. These findings imply that Hong Kong kindergarten teachers struggle between two approaches and suffer from a lack of support from educational authorities and society. There is an urgent need to develop appropriate practices for visual arts education in Hong Kong kindergartens. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This study analysed the content of 30 in-service primary school music teachers’ lesson plans for mobile music creation during a 5-week professional development course from 2019 to 2022 in Hong Kong. During the course, the teachers were taught by the researcher on how to use the mobile application GarageBand in their instructional design for classroom music teaching. Various mobile learning pedagogies were discussed during the course to facilitate listening, performing and creating in music teaching and learning. As a learning outcome of this course, the teachers were asked to upload their lesson plans to the Knowledge Transfer website to exchange ideas for further discussion and professional sharing with other in-service teachers from their respective schools. The purpose of this study was to provide an analysis of their teaching plans based on previously published research on mobile learning and motivation. This study aimed to a) deepen the understanding of music lessons in mobile music creation, and b) analysing the lesson plans and suggesting how different teaching strategies and approaches can be used in classroom teaching. Based on the results of the study, a pedagogical model is proposed as a reference point for knowledge exchange in the research and practice of music education. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

This paper aims to evaluate the fieldwork placement of a higher diploma programme in early childhood education at the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE). In response to both academic and statutory requirements associated with education ordinances, students must take sufficient supervised fieldwork placement hours throughout the programme to learn to be a Qualified Kindergarten Teacher (QKT). In current institutional evaluative practices, the corresponding department evaluates fieldwork placement quality based on concerns about student and supervisor performance using questionnaires at the end of the semester. However, the evaluation might lose sight of unanticipated outcomes and its intrinsic value when it is too focused on the predetermined evaluation’s objectives. Guided by a responsive evaluation approach, this paper suggests a new form of evaluation concerning stakeholder perspectives on intrinsic value in the programme. Accordingly, it uses the practical tool RUFDATA to frame the evaluation practices under its key categories, namely, reason, use, focus, data, audience, timing and agency. By drawing empirical data from students who have just completed the programs’ fieldwork placement in spring 2017, this qualitative evaluation investigates how fieldwork supervision develops students’ professional identity to prepare them for entry into the childcare workforce in the last fieldwork placement in the programme. Copyright © 2018 Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice.

This paper reports the initial findings of a study about the learning process of 17 pre-service kindergarten teachers in a higher diploma programme at a vocational training institute in Hong Kong. The existing literature regards experiential learning as a reflective process that allows student teachers to make new meaning from learning experiences gained during their training. However, these reflective processes lack commonality, and the findings are rarely situated in the context of vocational education. In this regard, empirical data were gathered as evidence of how student teachers develop their ideas of competence in a vocational training programme based on the perspective of Kolb’s experiential learning model. This paper addresses the further implications for programme administrators, institutional fieldwork supervisors and researchers. Copyright © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The paper aims to research kindergarten student teachers' perceptions of reflective journal writing and its role in fieldwork placement within the context of Hong Kong. To respond to their professional growth, student teachers use reflective journal writing as an essential assignment in early childhood education because it gives them the opportunity to explore the understanding they have gained in a specific context of fieldwork placement practices. Nevertheless, the quality of reflection is heavily dependent on their perception of the practices and the learning context, because they can choose to remain at the surface level and avoid the reflection process. In this regard, instead of merely implementing reflective journal writing, it is urgent that teacher educators learn more about student teachers' understanding of their role. Thus, first, this paper briefly illustrates the role of reflective practices in developing kindergarten student teachers' professional growth. It then reviews the relevant literature on reflective journal writing and argues the importance of individual practitioners' perspectives of reflective practices. By drawing empirical data from five kindergarten student teachers currently studying in an institution in Hong Kong, this qualitative study assesses their perception of reflective journal writing in placement learning through photo-elicitation interviews. Copyright © 2020 by THE PACIFIC.

This study compared the structure and level of Chinese teachers' compensation in public or non-profit-making early childhood settings in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Singapore, and Taipei. Document analysis method was employed to compare the compensation structure, and two indicators were used to compare the pay level: (1) the Economist's Big Mac Index and (2) the house price-to-income ratio. The results indicated that: (1) Hong Kong employs a single-salary scheme, whereas the other cities use a mixture of competency-based plus performance-based compensation; (2) Taipei's compensation system features the most comprehensive structure, the highest hourly pay, and the shortest working hours, whereas Singapore's system features the lowest pay level and the longest working hours; and (3) Taipei's early childhood teachers have the strongest purchasing power in housing, whereas Singapore teachers have the weakest purchasing power in food and housing. Implications and suggestions are made to address the challenges facing the compensation of Chinese early childhood teachers. Copyright © 2014 Li; licensee Springer.

Decades of research in the West cannot determine whether the whole-day or half-day kindergarten program is more beneficial to children's development. In Hong Kong, despite strong public demand for the whole-day program, mixed research findings have led the government to support the half-day program only. As a supplement to a large-scale 2-year longitudinal study, this mixed methods study adopted Donabedian's (2003) approach to explore this complex social-educational issue with reference to Hong Kong-Chinese educators’ perceptions of the whole-day kindergarten program. The authors surveyed 180 kindergarten educators from 15 randomly sampled kindergartens and conducted interviews with 30 of these educators one year later. The results showed that the whole-day program allowed for structural, curricular, and pedagogical improvement, enhanced children's development, and eased families’ childcare concerns. The disadvantages, however, were reduced parent–child time and heavier tuition fees. The findings imply that no “best” program exists, only a better program “fit.” Program selection should reflect family preferences and needs while ensuring high-quality learning opportunities and active parental involvement. The whole-day program is recommended for families that lack a stimulating home environment and childcare resources; the half-day program might be a better fit for financially able families with adequate childcare resources. The authors argue that the supply and affordability of the free whole-day program should better match the needs of families. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Leading a school during the uncertainties of challenges, changes, and crises requires school principals to respond and react effectively, cohesively and proactively using resilience. Rather than using discrete contracts or dimensions to measure principal resilience, this paper tended to develop and validate a multidimensional instrument of principal resilience. Derived from the existing literature and three empirical studies, a 20-item Principal Resilience Inventory has been established by using a rational-theoretical approach of test construction with various samples of school principals from Hong Kong and Mainland China. The Principal Resilience Inventory encompasses five dimensions that capture the most salient resilience experience of school principals including physical, emotional, psychological, cognitive, and social resilience. Given a robust validation procedure, this instrument offers solid proof of the psychometric properties. It is expected that this validated measure can serve as a more robust means for gauging comprehensive investigations of principal resilience. Indeed, principal resilience is not just a buzzword, but an important quality that supports principals to infuse themselves into their professional lives in pursuit of the collective good. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

Cyberbullying has become a critical issue in many parts of the world. Children affected by bullying in cyberspace may also experience various other problems in their daily lives, such as emotional and behavioral issues. Despite the well-documented positive correlation between digital technology use and cyberbullying experiences in adolescents, a paucity of research has explored the association between digital technology use and cyberbullying, and the extent to which digital literacy (DL) and parental mediation moderate these relationships among primary school-aged children. This study addressed these research gaps. A total of 736 children (third grade, female = 52 percent) in Hong Kong, selected through stratified random sampling, reported on their digital technology use, parental mediation of technology use (i.e., active mediation and restriction), and cyberbullying experiences. A performance-based assessment measured children's DL. Results showed a positive association between children's digital technology use (both for leisure activities and for schoolwork) and cyberbullying experiences (both as perpetrator and victim). These positive associations were more pronounced among children with low levels of DL (only victims) as well as among children with highly restrictive parents (both perpetrators and victims). Implications for digital citizenship education and parental intervention are discussed. Copyright © 2022 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.