Mentoring has been seen as an ongoing effort to professionalize teaching in teacher education since the 1980s. It is commonly believed that collaborating mentors and student teachers can benefit through the dynamics of school- based mentoring. Reflectivity is said to be one mechanism by which changes occur both in the student teacher and the mentor. Ethnographic research methods incorporating direct observation and interviews were employed in studying mentoring practices in initial teacher education. The mentors are language teachers who acted as mentors for students of the Bachelor of Education programme at The University of Hong Kong. An analytical framework, developed from the literature, is used to interpret and illustrate the effects of mentoring practices on the mentors' development of expertise in teaching; in terms of reflection, practical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. Results indicate that student teachers' practices in learning to teach become an object about which mentors engage in reflection. Reflection through conversations plays a key role in experienced teachers' development of expertise in teaching. Such reflection requires three kinds of capacities: theorizing practical knowledge, pedagogical reasoning and collaborative inquiry.

The stress that negatively affects teachers has been found to influence the turnover rate in the teaching profession. Recent research has shown that mindfulness-based programmes effectively promote well-being while addressing psychological distress. In this study, the authors investigated the effects of a six-week mindfulness-based programme on pre-service teachers in Hong Kong (N = 70). The authors hypothesised that a six-week mindfulness-based programme would increase mindfulness and well-being while reducing stress and symptoms of depression. Both intervention and control groups were assessed at baseline and post-intervention. A univariate analysis revealed a significant increase in mindfulness and well-being. A regression analysis indicated that mindfulness was a significant predictor of well-being, stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Qualitative data reflected that the mindfulness programme was beneficial to and feasible for pre-service teachers. Such a programme could be implemented in teaching education to promote well-being and stress management while preventing burnout among teaching professionals.
[Copyright © 2015 Teacher Development.]

Background: Kindergarten education in Hong Kong serves children aged 32–68 months. However, there is no extant scale that measures kindergarten teachers’ perceived work environment, an important influence on their well-being. Aims: To develop a new instrument, the Teachers’ Perceived Work Environment (TPWE) scale, and to assess whether kindergarten teachers with higher TPWE ratings had higher scores for job satisfaction, self-esteem and mental health. Methods: A 25-item rating scale was developed and used with a sample of in-service kindergarten teachers. Their perceived work environment was represented by five factors (ergonomics, staffing, teaching space, work hours and social space). These teachers also completed three well-being inventories: the Job Satisfaction Survey, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory and the General Health Questionnaire-12. In a second stage, a new sample of in-service kindergarten teachers was used to cross-validate the findings from the earlier assessment. Results: In the first sample of 141 teachers and the second of 125, social space, staffing and work hours were associated with job satisfaction, while ergonomics was a significant negative predictor of mental health complaints. Conclusions: The TPWE exhibited satisfactory reliability and validity. Some factors were differentially associated with specific types of well-being. The results may inform future studies of the working conditions of kindergarten teachers.
[Copyright © 2015 The Author.]

The purpose of this paper was to examine the motives, the educational experiences, and the plan after graduation of a particular group of mainland Chinese students pursuing teacher education in Hong Kong by using a modified two-way push-and-pull model as our analytical framework. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods. Participants were 130 prospective student teachers from The Hong Kong Institute of Education, the largest teacher training provider in Hong Kong. The findings confirm a long-standing concern regarding the lack of an English environment and internationalization in universities in mainland China. In addition, the majority of the participants were satisfied with the overall quality of the teacher education programs in Hong Kong. Finally, our participants were a very special group of mainland Chinese students because, unlike those on other academic programs such as business or computing, the graduates from teacher education programs do not have much transferable academic capital. When they decide to pursue their teacher training degrees in Hong Kong, they have already made up their mind to stay in Hong Kong after graduation. Thus, we extend the threefold classifications of mainland Chinese students studying overseas, as defined by Dimmock and Leong, by adding a new category—labeled ‘settlers’—in their classification.
[Copyright © 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.]

A wealth of literature on gender identities undertaken by western research communities shows that gender scripts have real consequences for male and female teachers' identity constructions. Social expectations and stereotyped images of men and women teachers affect teachers' gender identities as well as their professional experiences and opportunities (Biklen, 1995; Casey, 1990; Coffey & Delamont, 2000; Smedley, 2007; Tamboukou, 2000; Wayne & Blye, 2006). There has been growing research efforts into research on Chinese women primary teachers (Chan, 2004; Luk-Fong, 2010). Little published work on Hong Kong Chinese men and women secondary teachers have been found. Understanding teachers' gender identity is important because the way gender dynamics has worked to shape teachers' gender identities in their school days may field results for the students they interact with. Sabbe and Aelterman (2007), in their comprehensive review on gender in teaching, rightly spell out that 'teaching is historically and culturally imbued with multiple discourses and subjectivities of gender' (p. 529). This chapter portrays gender identity construction, negotiation and renegotiation of two Hong Kong Chinese teachers, Shuijing and Baibin, who both have been involved in painstaking struggles with their gender identities but with varied learning backgrounds. Their narratives aim to illuminate understanding of: - How the gender identities of the Hong Kong Chinese male and female teachers were negotiated and renegotiated, their varied institutional experiences, and; - Crucial elements contributing to gender identity negotiations.

課室情境的研究資料能助教師評估課室的氣氛，發揮他們的教學潛能，改善或改變課室的氣氛，有助教師的專業發展。Fraser (1986) 提議老師可在各學科和各年級的課堂中反思課室的情境，了解課室的氣氛，以提高教學效能，達專業發展，這對常識科教師尤其重要。自一九九六年九月開始這一新課程已成為香港的小學的共同核心課程中的一科。教師除了設計「以兒童為中心」的學習活動以輔助兒童學習 (香港課程發展議會1994)，亦應不斷評估課室的氣氛，以改善自己的教學，提高教師的成就感 (Fraser, Barry J. & Walberg, Herbert L. 1991)、作終身教育的一環。本研究邀請在香港教育學院接受在職訓練的常識科教師和學生，利用課室情境量表反思他們的常識課課堂氣氛，藉所獲資料評估反思常識科的教與學，供其他常識科教師作不斷評估、專業發展之參考。

本文乃一份探討性的調查，旨在跟進陳培佳 (Chan, 1992) 之研究結果，以1999年度的新教師小組反思討論為素材，嘗試印證陳氏所介定之第一年的學教歷程，並進而描繪香港小學新教師在身一年所面對的衝擊及其等為應付衝擊而施行的對策。

世界上不少地方正在進行教育及課程改革，香港也被一輪又一輪的教育改革衝擊著。然而不少教育研究的結果卻告訴我們，絕少教育改革能真正對學生的學習有正面的影響；然而能夠產生明顯作用的，都是那些直接涉及學習內容的改革。「課堂學習研究」就是針對學習內容為出發點，建基於變易學習理論，透過行動研究的模式，集教師、教育研究員的智慧，試圖解決學生的學習困難，幫助每個學生學得更好。經過六年的探索、實踐及研究，已有超過一百間學校參與，並已進行了一百三十多個「課堂學習研究」。在這過程中，我們發現「課堂學習研究」不單能幫助學生學得更好，更是一個成就教師發展、校本課程發展及學校更新的有效工具。本文除闡述「課堂學習研究」在香港的發展外，更探討其對教師發展、校本課程發展及學校更新的影響，以及其未來發展所要面對的挑戰。

這項研究是以活動理論這一重要前提來設計的。2005年4月香港一所改革試點學校的一群小學教師運用該理論來發展課程領導。他們組建了3個課程開發團隊，並在一個實行扁平式領導的情境中，人為控制組員資質和領導階層，以保持內在的張力，目標是調查教師參與課程決策受上下級關係、角色和領導風格等人為因素影響的程度。在對數學和國文課程團隊的面談以及錄影帶診斷會作出分析後，我們發現兩個人為因素，也就是顧問風格和領導風格對教師參與課程決策具有不同的影響作用。