Teachers are frontline actors in actualising educational innovations. In some contexts, teachers' professional agency is undervalued. This study investigated teachers' agency and its related workplace affordances in Hong Kong, which features a centralised-decentralisation education governance system, and a hierarchical work culture. The study was based on 21 semi-structured interviews with teachers, and employed a deductive thematic analysis. Agency enactment was categorised into 1) pedagogical agency within classrooms, and 2) relational agency in the professional community. The factors contributing to workplace affordances were grouped as pertaining to 1) the collegial community, 2) school leadership, 3) access to resources, and 4) availability of time, space, and job stability. Agency-supportive leadership and a favourable collegial environment significantly facilitated teachers' agentic actions. Teachers did not explicitly resist but implemented emotionally meaningless order in a 'work-to-rule' manner. The study contributes to professional agency research as applied to a particular political, regional, and socio-cultural context. Copyright ©2024 Routledge .

分析深圳、香港和臺北三地公辦（非牟利）幼兒園教師的工資待遇發現：（1）香港幼兒園教師的工資架構比較單一，沒有津貼、獎金或福利；臺北幼兒園教師的工資架構最為全面、合理、人性化；深圳介於二者之間。（2）深圳和臺北均採用崗位績效工資制，而香港是名義上的能力工資制。（3）臺北幼兒園教師的工資水準是三地中最高的。在扣除每月房租後，香港幼兒園教師的工資實際購買力最低。針對香港幼兒園教師工資待遇最低的問題，研究者建議香港特區政府進一步完善幼兒園教師的工資架構，考慮採用崗位績效工資制，發放住房、交通、教育等津貼。 Copyright © 2013 浙江教育報刊總社.

As the caregivers and educators of young children, kindergarten teachers often have to make spontaneous decisions and deal with challenging situations on a daily basis. The well-being of kindergarten teachers is of interest to parents, teacher trainers, and policymakers, as whether kindergarten teachers do well physically, psychologically, and occupationally has important implications for young children—the future pillars of society. Therefore, it is important to examine factors that may contribute to our understanding of the well-being of kindergarten teachers. This cross-sectional study examined whether mindfulness was linked to Chinese kindergarten teachers’ physical, psychological, and occupational well-being and tested self-compassion as a mediator. Online questionnaire data were collected from 336 kindergarten teachers working in Hong Kong, China (mean age = 31.6 years; 86% of them were women). Kindergarten teachers rated their physical well-being (indicated by physical health and voice disorder symptoms), psychological well-being (indicated by life satisfaction and depressive symptoms), and occupational well-being (indicated by job satisfaction and turnover intentions) as well as their mindfulness and self-compassion. Structural equational modeling revealed that mindfulness was associated with all three aspects of well-being and self-compassion mediated such associations. Theoretically, findings highlighted the multidimensional nature of kindergarten teachers’ well-being and the roles of intrapersonal factors—such as mindfulness and self-compassion—in understanding it. Practically, findings pointed to the potential utility of supporting kindergarten teachers’ well-being by targeting their mindfulness and self-compassion. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

Early childhood educators' (ECEs) well-being is important for many outcomes. Drawing on the job demands-resources model, many variable-centered studies have found that job demands, job resources, and personal resources are linked to ECEs' well-being. Yet, little is known about the heterogeneity of these demands and resources and their implications for well-being, especially considering school-level effects and the adoption of a holistic view of well-being. This study used multilevel latent profile analysis to examine these issues. Participants included 1198 Chinese ECEs from 50 kindergartens who reported their job demands (i.e., quantitative, cognitive, and emotional demands), job resources (i.e., influence at work, quality of leadership, support from supervisors and colleagues, and sense of community at work), and personal resources (i.e., self-control and resilience). At the teacher-level, four profiles emerged: (a) at risk, (b) undemanded, (c) safeguarded, and (d) vulnerable learners. ECEs with lower salaries, higher educational levels, and larger class sizes were more likely assigned to the at-risk profile. Teachers in the at-risk and the safeguarded profiles reported the worst and the best well-being, respectively. Demands (in particular quantitative and emotional demands) appeared more critical than resources in distinguishing well-being. At the school-level, two profiles emerged: (a) high demand climate and (b) mixed climate. Kindergartens in Hong Kong were more likely assigned to the high demand climate profile and kindergartens with a high demand climate showed poorer school average well-being. This study reveals the complex configuration of job demands, job resources, and personal resources in ECEs and its implications for well-being at both teacher- and school-levels. The findings also inform strategies to enhance ECEs' well-being. Copyright © 2024 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those

We examine teacher induction programs through a systematic review of existing international literature from 2012 to 2022. Three of the most comprehensive online databases for educational research (Education Research Complete, ERIC EBSCO, ScienceDirect) were considered for the search, which resulted in eight documents being retrieved and considered in the analysis. We also review teacher induction programs in six jurisdictions (Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Singapore, South Korea) with consistently high-performing students on the PISA reading, mathematics, and science assessments over the past decade, summarize teacher induction best practices identified in prior international comparison studies, and compare these results with induction programs in jurisdictions with low-performing students on these same assessments. Finally, we summarize our results, discuss limitations in our findings, and identify ideas for further and future research. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier.

While teaching assistants (TAs) have experienced various employment challenges, little research has been done to examine factors affecting their well-being. Based on an extended Control-Value model in studying teachers’ emotions and well-being, the present study examined the relationship between primary school TAs’ Control-Value variables in the context of formative feedback practice (abbreviated as TFBCV), their emotional well-being, and other well-being indicators. 305 TAs from 184 primary schools in Hong Kong participated in this survey study. Usually, there is at least one TA to support students with special educational needs in each mainstream school in Hong Kong. This sample represents 39% of primary schools in Hong Kong given that each school has one TA to join this study and these participating schools. The results supported our hypotheses that TFBCV has significant direct effects on both a combined positive emotion and the two discrete positive emotions (Joy and Love). TFBCV also has a significant indirect effect on job satisfaction via positive emotions. Interestingly, job stress was nearly uncorrelated with TFBCV and positive emotions. We discuss implications for extending teacher well-being research to include the ‘missing’ but essential piece of TAs in the current literature. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

Early childhood educators’ (ECEs) well-being has attracted worldwide attention given its importance to many individual, organizational, and child outcomes. ECEs’ well-being is a multidimensional construct that encompasses a number of elements. These elements are interrelated and represent a complex psychological network. Scant research has examined the features of this network and whether the network would be upheld for ECEs across career stages. This study uses a network analysis to identify pervasive and robust features of well-being in ECEs from diverse career developmental phases. Participants were 1,188 ECEs (1,008 females, M age = 32.19 years) recruited from four cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. They reported mental (i.e., subjective well-being and psychological well-being), occupational (i.e., job stress, job satisfaction, job burnout, and work engagement), and physical (i.e., physical health and role functioning of health) well-being. The results showed that emotional exhaustion was the most central element in the network whilst some other eudaimonic elements from the occupational aspect (e.g., vigor, dedication, and depersonalization) also occupied relatively important places. Further invariance analyses suggested that the above network was largely equivalent across ECEs at the novice, advanced beginner, and competent career stages. Theoretically, this study informs which elements are playing the fundamental role in the holistic well-being network among Chinese ECEs. Practically, the findings also provide implications for prevention and intervention strategies and career counselling to enhance Chinese ECEs’ different aspects of well-being. Copyright © 2023 The International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS) and Springer Nature B.V.

Turnover intention of kindergarten teachers is a concerning issue. This issue is particularly salient for novice teachers who, although employed, are still actively exploring their career choices. Scant research has examined what factors during the pre-service period can predict newly appointed kindergarten teachers’ turnover intention and the underlying mechanisms. To fill these gaps, we examined a possible, yet understudied, idea that kindergarten teachers’ employability during the pre-service period would shape their work adjustment after being employed (i.e., how well newcomers adjust to the job demands, work group, and organizational culture), and poor work adjustment would further elicit turnover intention. We tested this idea with a longitudinal, school-to-work transition study among 117 novice kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong. Participants reported their employability at the last semester of a pre-service teacher training program (T1). One to two months after the fall semester began, participants employed as in-service teachers reported their adjustment at work (T2). Then, they reported turnover intention at the beginning of the spring semester (T3). The results showed that T1 employability positively predicted T2 task and group adjustment but not organizational adjustment. More importantly, the indirect effect of T2 group adjustment was significant in the link between T1 employability and T3 turnover intention, but the indirect effects of task and organizational adjustment were insignificant. These findings illuminate the group adjustment mechanism behind the association between novice kindergarten teachers’ employability during the pre-service period and later turnover intention at work, contributing to the socialization process and professional development for novice teachers in the kindergarten context. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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.

Teachers’ well-being and self-efficacy are two important factors linked to quality education. Recent research examining their bidirectionality has revealed inconsistent findings, while those examining the relationships among pre-service and in-service teachers are scarce. This study investigates the reciprocal relationships between teachers’ well-being and self-efficacy in a sample of Hong Kong early childhood education teachers. Participants were 155 pre-service (n = 77) and in-service (n = 78) teachers (Mage = 23.97, SD = 4.46, female = 92.9%). Participants reported their teachers’ well-being (PERMA model including positive emotion, engagement, relationship, meaning, and accomplishment) and teachers’ self-efficacy at two-time points. The results from the cross-lagged panel model revealed that teachers’ self-efficacy at baseline significantly predicted all aspects of prospective well-being except for engagement. In contrast, none of the teachers’ well-being components significantly predicted later teachers’ self-efficacy, except for accomplishment. The associations between teachers’ self-efficacy and well-being were invariant across pre-service and in-service teachers. The results underscored the importance of teachers’ self-efficacy in facilitating teachers’ well-being. The findings also highlight the utility of intervention efforts targeting teachers’ self-efficacy and well-being, especially in promoting teachers’ accomplishment, at an early stage of their careers. Copyright © 2023 De La Salle University.