This paper examines teachers’ (un)thoughtful actions in the dynamic and contingent classroom moments through classroom anecdotes obtained from the author’s most recent research project in Hong Kong context. It raises the research question of how we should cultivate teacher’s pedagogical thoughfulness. Experiential stories of unexpected/contingent classroom moments have been obtained through teacher/student interviews and writing exercises, and then interpreted using the hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry. From these descriptions, reflections on quality teaching, meaningful learning, embodied knowing and pedagogical thoughtfulness are generated, with a special discussion on the quality teaching requirements and its implications for pre and in-service teacher preparation programs.

The Learning Study module developed in one of the teacher training institutes in Hong Kong, the HKIED, is an attempt to enable student teachers to improve their lesson preparation skills through engaging in action research in the form of Learning Study. This 30 hour taught module, introduced in 2006 to all Bed Year Two students (about 400 in total), is designed to integrate with the practicum component of the programme to allow students to learn the related theoretical framework and then work in subject groups to conduct Learning Study projects in schools during their School Attachment. This paper will examine the implementation of the module after its first year of operation, with a focus on the difficulties encountered and the resolutions that have been sought. The paper will also evaluate, through questionnaires and interviews, the impact of the module on developing students’ understanding and skills in doing Learning Study and their collaborative group planning skills. Finally, the potential for using Learning Study as a model for collaborative practice in initial teacher education will be discussed.

The Hong Kong Institute of Education, the major teacher education institute in Hong Kong, is launching a personal tutorial system project in an attempt to providing student teachers with advice on personal and professional development in the process of whole teacher education. This paper aims to examine the student teachers' perceptions of the project and its effectiveness. A questionnaire will be administered to the whole sample involved in the project, followed by an interview of a selected sample. It is hoped that the results will have some implications to the 'Whole-Teacher Development'.

This paper is based on research conducted at the Hong Kong Institute of Education with student teachers. The paper outlines the implementation of portfolio assessment by some lecturers of the Curriculum and Instruction Department. The portfolio, which incorporates critical self-assessment, is discussed and presented as an alternative form of assessment. This form of assessment provides student teachers with the opportunity to demonstrate their progress in learning and metacognitive skills. This research was conducted using qualitative methodology to study the processes involved in portfolio assessment and the values which underlie the new assessment methods. Teaching sessions were observed, interviews of students and their lecturers were conducted, and documentary evidence (such as the teaching portfolios and students self-assessments) were examined. The findings include an analysis of the implementation of the process of portfolio assessment, the supports and constraints which impacted on the implementation, and the student learning outcomes. The research was funded by the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

While much of the current teacher training in Hong Kong adopts a knowledge transmission mode, a means allowing more active participation by story telling is introduced in our study. It aims to explore alternatives to the field of local teacher education. Our focus is on promoting learning and professional development among in-service teachers. This paper documents how we enhance the awareness of teachers’ experiential knowledge through story telling, and our reflections on the achievements and limitations in the study. The experience and implications drawn from this study helps us further develop a useful program for in-service teachers.

In Hong Kong, schools use either English and/or Chinese as Mol; the Chinese may be Cantonese and/or Putonghua. Teacher educators need to consider how best to prepare teachers to operate in this context. This paper describes one approach to meeting the challenge through the formulation of an internal language policy.

It is well recognized that primary school teaching in Hong Kong is a feminized, viz. female-dominant, occupation, yet the reasons and processes contributing to such a development have not received much academic attention. Similarly, as most people seem to know what a primary teacher is and does, the meanings of the category “primary teacher” have been taken as self-evident and is seldom subject to closer scrutiny. This paper attempts to fill these gaps by re-examining the historical development of primary school teaching via a gendering perspective. It will trace the historical changes of the teaching profession from the early colonial times to the recent context of educational restructuring, and illustrates how it has changed from “men’s work” to “women’s work” in responses to various colonial, economic, political and social factors. Moreover, the historical account attempts to also argue that the meanings of “primary teacher” are not fixed but gendered, i.e. we witness not only changes of number between male and female teachers but constant redefinitions of the role, status, and nature of women and primary school teachers. For instance, “women’s nature” has been associated with variable and malleable meanings and so does the “nature” of the occupation, which tends to promote and privilege a particular form of masculinity or/and femininity when circumstances required. At the end of the paper, some implications of a gendering historical perspective will be mentioned.

It was a classroom research study with two main purposes. First, to describe, using the information gathered during observation, some of the richness and variety of what goes on in a kindergarten classroom. Second, to search for patterns from among these events and the complex interactions of theory, practice and beliefs in order to help explain why certain teachers do one thing while others do something else. This will enable kindergarten teachers to reflect on their own practice in a way which up to now has not been possible, since there was little attention given in Hong Kong to the systematic study of teaching by observing teacher behaviour in the classroom. The research would help identify some hidden aspects of classroom culture or beliefs that affects teachers’ professional development. No claim is made that either of these in any way typical of kindergarten teaching as a whole. However, it casts light on approaches which some teachers have found appropriate in the circumstances. Moreover, it should allow those how train student teachers to bridge the gap between theory with practice by offering the means of illuminating theory with precise and detailed information about life and perception inside the kindergarten classroom.

The field experience component in the four-year Bachelor of Education programme (Primary) at The Hong Kong Institute of Education offers a number of opportunities for students to observe or teach in a school. The aim of this paper is to analyse the learning of the student teachers and the supporting teachers during the field experience period in the second and the final years of the programme and to explain this using a socio-cultural view of learning. Student teachers and their supporting teachers in their second year of study in 1999-2000 as well as those in their final year of study in 2001-2002 were interviewed. The findings illustrate how supporting teachers and the lecturers can act as agents and describes their use of mediational means including teaching resources, and information about pupils’ abilities and habits, in facilitating the learning of the student teachers. The findings also compare the sharing of intent between the lecturers and the supporting teachers. The professional development of the student teachers and the supporting teachers is then analysed with a plane of participatory appropriation which is characterized by its dynamic nature and changes among the participants. Finally, the paper summarizes suggestions on how professional development of the student teachers during the field experience may be analysed by adopting a socio-cultural view of learning. Drawing on the analysis, the paper concludes with implications on ways to facilitate the learning of the student teachers during the field experience period.

Mentoring dates back to Greek mythology with reference to the sharing of wisdom of knowledge and experience. In Hong Kong, mentorship has been a hallmark of the professional development of the teacher-librarians. Following a literature review on mentoring in librarianship, this paper provides an overview highlighting the mentorship development among teacher-librarians in Hong Kong. A discussion on how mentorship shaped the preparation of teacher-librarians leads to an analysis of four issues: (1) a formalized mentoring framework; (2) a systematical approach to observe and assess the impact; (3) training to enhance the competency of teacher-librarians; and (4) re-thinking the commitment to evidence-based practice. While there are complex issues facing the teacher-librarian profession, the author invites the teacher-training institutes to explore their role and participation in facilitating the advancement of teacher-librarianship in Hong Kong which is a pivotal component to nurture information-literate learners for the purpose of knowledge building.