This paper examines the early childhood context of Hong Kong (HK) which is characterised by an entirely privatised system. The level of knowledge a child possesses in early childhood can be a determining factor in their admission into desirable kindergartens or primary schools. Given HK’s privatised early childhood education system, the quality of a child’s learning is directly tied to the education services their parents provide independently or can afford financially. The study reported in this paper adopts a narrative inquiry approach to an under-researched area of early childhood education, namely the voices of parents within home learning environments and how the lengths they go to provide their children with a quality education.
[Copyright of Education 3-13 is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2017.1310272]

Research Findings: The objective of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of Incredible Years Basic Parent Training (IYPT Basic) in a community clinic setting in Hong Kong. IYPT Basic is a Western program developed to promote children’s academic, social, and emotional regulation skills and to reduce conduct problems among typically developing children. The program has not been tested in non-Western cultures, where the challenges for parents of children with developmental disabilities can be different. The IYPT Basic was adapted slightly to accommodate cultural characteristics in Hong Kong. Parents of 52 preschoolers with developmental disabilities were randomly assigned to either the IYPT Basic or a waitlist control. Parent and child dyads were assessed before and after the 12-week intervention/waitlist period via self-reports and spouse/kin reports and videotape coding by observers blind to the intervention/waitlist status. Significant intervention benefits included (a) increase in positive and reciprocal parent -child interaction, (b) reduction in parental stress, and (c) decrease in oppositional behavior among the children. The parents’ attendance, satisfaction, and homework compliance was high. Practice or Policy: IYPT Basic, when implemented with cultural sensitivity, can be effective for —and well received by—Chinese parents of preschoolers with developmental disabilities in a community setting.
[Copyright of Early Education & Development is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2018.1461987]

The Self-Report Family Inventory (SFI) is a 36-item scale developed by Beavers, Hampson, and Hulgus (1990) to assess competent and dysfunctional family functioning. While the SFI is widely tested in the areas of counselling psychology and clinical psychology, considerably less effort has been allocated to examine its psychometrics in educational settings. By using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) based on previous research, this study aimed to validate the Chinese version of SFI (C-SFI, Shek, 1998) with a sample of Hong Kong secondary students with special educational needs (SEN). The key purpose was to provide a useful tool to assess family functioning of this vulnerable population of students to inform practice improvement to cater for their needs. Consistent with Shek’s studies in typically developed students, the results of EFA showed a two-factor pattern. CFA results provided further evidence showing the best model fit indices were for the two-factor solution (i.e., family health and family pathology) compared with other competing models. This study also developed a short form (8 items instead of 36) of the C-SFI, which would be regarded as a parsimonious screening tool for researchers and practitioners to test family functioning of SEN students.家庭自我報告量表 (SFI) 是由 Beavers, Hamson, 及 Hulgus 在 1990 年編製的評估家庭功能狀況的量表。雖然該量表被廣泛應用於輔導心理學和臨床心理學，然而在教育領域的應用卻鮮有報導。本研究在已有研究的基礎上，通過探索性因素分析和驗證性因素分析評估中文版 SFI (C-SFI, Shek, 1998) 在香港有特殊學習需要中學生群體中的信度和效度。研究的主要目的是為有特殊教育需要學生這一弱勢群體提供一個有用的家庭功能評估工具。並在了解他們家庭功能的基礎上，為改進幫扶這一特殊需要群體的實踐提供指導作用。探索性因素分析結果生成兩個因素，這與已有的在香港普通學生中的研究結果一致。驗證性因素分析進一步提供了兩因素模型相關的擬合指數。本研究在原中文問卷的基礎上(36 條題項)，發展了一個簡化版 SF-C-SFI(8 條題項)。簡化版的兩因素與原版對應的兩因素之間的相關係數較高，達到 r=.92 以及 r=.94。 本研究初步為研究者和實踐者提供一個簡化版的篩查工具，用以評估殘疾學生的家庭功能。 Copyright © 2017 The Special Education Society of Hong Kong Ltd.

Valid feedback is essential for the administrators, educators, parents and, of course, for children to be able to steer their development in a sustainable way. Key influential theorists such as Montessori, Piaget, Vygotsky, and others all used observations extensively to understand how children learn and use knowledge about children's learning to improve pedagogies and children's lives. However, most adults including teachers in the ECEC settings have not always observed children and tracked their growth. Based on the research and professional development programs conducted in Finland, Taiwan and Hong Kong with more than 100,000 observations, we found some relationships between young children's involvement, adaptation and agency in early childhood settings through systematic observations. We will introduce observation strategies with video clips and demonstrate our latest mobile application for observation for practitioners to contribute to a big data pool aimed to enhance the teaching quality in ECEC settings. Copyright © 2018 EARLI.

The changes in maternal involvement during the transition to primary school and the bidirectional relations between maternal involvement and school adjustment were explored in this study using a two-wave longitudinal design with a 8-month interval. The participants were children (mean age: 5 years 10.39 months at Time 1 and 6 years 4.98 months at Time 2), mothers, and kindergarten and primary school teachers from 324 and 247 Hong Kong middle- and upper-middle-class families at Time 1 and Time 2, respectively. Approximately three months before the children finished kindergarten (Time 1), and 3 months after they entered primary school (Time 2), mothers and teachers reported on the mothers' involvement and teachers rated the children's school adjustment. Data related to children's school adjustment were also collected in a child assessment session. Results revealed that mothers' involvement in language and cognitive activities during kindergarten predicted better school adjustment after the school transition. Mothers were also more involved at their children's primary schools when their children demonstrated lower cognitive skills in kindergarten. The findings highlight the importance of examining both home-based and school-based involvement over time during the transition to primary school and the bidirectional relations between maternal involvement and children's school adjustment. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A two-wave longitudinal study on 470 parent–child dyads examined the impact of family mealtime environment, parenting style and family functioning on preschoolers' (three to six years old) learning. Measures included parent report on parenting style, family functioning, family meal frequency, mealtime television, feeding practice, teacher/parent report of academic competence and individual assessment of preschoolers' preschool concepts. Family mealtime environment variables were associated with pre-schoolers' learning, in addition to parenting style and family functioning, after controlling for family income and wave 1 preschoolers' learning. The results highlighted the importance of family mealtime environment on preschoolers' learning.
[Copyright © 2017 Department of Social Work, National University of Singapore, Singapore.]

This study aimed to investigate parents' understanding of, support for and concerns about e-learning and proposed a school–parent partnership distributing responsibilities to parents and schools based on the results of the study. A total of 61 parents from 21 schools in an e-learning pilot scheme in Hong Kong responded to a questionnaire survey and focus group interviews. Results indicated that there was a high correlation between parental understanding and support for e-learning although parents demonstrated only a basic level of understanding. Four types of parental support and six major areas of parental concern were identified. These results shed light on the school–parent partnership whereby parents should implement a proactive e-learning policy at home to monitor, support and inspire e-learning. Schools should formulate a holistic policy to address parents' concerns responsively and proactively to gain support. Schools can enhance parents' pedagogical understanding of e-learning and address parental concerns through school–parent communication and peer support among parents.
[Copyright © 2017 Association for Information Technology in Teacher Education.]

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.]