Many schools and NGOs in Hong Kong are deeply concerned with the welfare of ethnic minority students. This paper examines the experience of teachers working in schools where Chinese and non-Chinese students are accommodated. Quantitative and qualitative data respectively collected from a survey and an interview study will be reported. The survey involving 282 teachers from 10 schools explored their perceptions of teaching efficacy. The findings showed that teachers felt more confident in teaching non-Chinese than teaching Chinese students. This finding was illuminated by an interview study into teachers’ view of the cross-experience of students. 25 teachers from four schools were involved. It showed that teachers constructed the behaviour and needs of Chinese and non-Chinese students and their parents differently, in terms of social behaviour, cultural practices, gender identities, languages, and educational aspiration, and that the school, home and community were disconnected. This paper argues that to implement the ethos of equality and social justices, it is not only necessary for the school and government to develop culturally responsive approaches to teaching, but equally important to develop a connected schooling ecology where ethnic minority students and parents can be consistently supported in classroom, in school, at home and in community.

Early childhood education in Hong Kong has developed rapidly in the recent years in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, in the past three decades, the social status of early childhood education and early childhood educators were low comparing with other educational sections. The recent growth in early childhood education in Hong Kong has raised the early childhood teachers’ teacher identity. Teacher identity is an explicit view of self as teacher (Franzak, 2002) and is continually being informed, formed and reformed over time (Cooper and Olson, 1996). It evolves over career stages (Huberman, 1993) and is shaped by different forces: background, school experience, school, reform, and political contexts (Datnow et al., 2000; Sachs, 2000). In this study, my intention is to discuss how these social phenomenon and educational policies enhance three early childhood teachers’ professional identity over three decades.

By conducting in-depth interviews with new teachers who are about to become full-time teachers and then reinterviewing them two years later, the author of this article presents how beginning teachers think and feel about teaching and describes the challenges they face as beginning teachers in the context of Hong Kong. The stories of the teachers, as revealed by the interviews, suggest that changing educational ideals, school leaders' management style, and workload issues are some of the important challenges faced by beginning teachers. A short review of work on effective school research and school leadership suggests how school leaders can create an environment that is conducive to teachers' professional development.
[Copyright © University of Chicago Press].

This article describes the results of a qualitative multiple case study investigation of the experiences of preservice teachers during a teaching practicum in Hong Kong. The study uses in-depth interviews with pairs of student teachers and their school-based supporting teachers to understand how the former positioned themselves as particular types of teachers through mutual interactions with other communities of teachers during a teaching practicum. Three case studies explore the ways in which the pairs of student teachers not only supported each other within the context of a teaching team, but also jointly deployed strategies to establish and defend the values of teaching and learning that were afforded a premium by their community of preservice teachers. The results underscore the importance of investigating relations between different communities, such as student teachers, school-based teachers and school authorities if the learning goals of the teaching practicum are to be attained. Implications for how relations that foster the professional development of all teachers within and across different communities during a teaching practicum might be achieved and sustained are discussed and implications for future research considered.
[Copyright © Routledge].

A global trend towards formulation of curriculum has emerged over the past decade. The concepts of project approach have aroused growing attention, and many literatures have indicated its benefits to children. It is believed that to achieve these potential benefits of project learning, teachers needed to formulate a curriculum that follows the interests of children, to design appropriate activities, to build a good relationship with children and help them in the process of learning. The study revealed that teachers were positive towards the impact of project learning on children's experience but fell back to a traditional way of implementing curriculum.
[Copyright © Routledge].

This study explored the views of 296 serving physical education (PE) teachers concerning the interface of secondary and primary school PE in Hong Kong. Attached to the interpretive research perspective, questionnaire and follow-up telephone interviews were adopted for soliciting their views on the importance, measures taken and suggestions for improvement. The findings indicated that over 91% of serving PE teachers acknowledged the importance of interface for facilitating pupils' learning. Similar articulations with the functions and content of school PE that facilitated the interface were found. Although 21% of them claimed that they had taken some measures for enhancing curricular interface, most of them were not systematic and well-planned. Thus, most PE teachers looked forward to a standardized curriculum stipulated by the Education Bureau as to ensure the effectiveness of the interface. The study suggests reinforcing teachers' awareness of the interface of PE; considering the inclusion of PE in the internal school assessment for the Secondary School Places Allocation System and strengthening the interface from system, school and classroom levels. Consequently, it would enhance the learning and teaching in physical education.
[Copyright © Hong Kong Baptist University].

The purpose of this study was to examine how regular primary school PE teachers planning their inclusive physical education in Hong Kong. The questionnaires (IPESDQ) and cover letters with instructions for completing the questionnaire were delivered to 115 physical educators. A follow-up was made to contact nonrespondents two weeks and the final return rate of the survey was at 72.2% (n=83). Results showed most teachers (49.4%) used the curriculum guidance draft by themselves; only 10.4 % of teachers used individualized education plan (IEP), the most common teaching object (74.0%) was for understanding and enjoying exercise and sports; basketball, track and field, football, game, rope skipping, volleyball, badminton, and gymnastics were popularly used for teaching; Direct instruction strategy was popularly used by 72.7% of teachers and only 7.8% of teachers used inquiry teaching for inclusive physical education; Most teachers used sport skills (94.8%), attitude (92.2%) as evaluation contents. Perspectives for developing inclusive physical education service delivery were provided at last.
[Copyright © Hong Kong Baptist University].

Reform initiative towards assessment for learning is a response to a number of developments both in the region and internationally. Teachers play a critical role in the success of its implementation. This study aimed to explore teachers’ attitudes towards the costs and benefits of using reports generated from Rasch measurement to support assessment for learning. The participants were 25 primary school teachers and 24 secondary school teachers. Focus-group interviews were used to collect data on their attitudes towards Rasch measurement. ‘Big ideas’ (Krueger, Analyzing & reporting focus group results. Focus group kit 6. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1998) were identified from the transcripts as a whole. They were then encoded with key phrases and sorted into categories. This study found that Hong Kong teachers in general welcomed Rasch measurement as a powerful alternative to traditional total score method for providing useful and detailed feedback to support and improve student learning, although some of them might be deterred by the contextual and technical problems.