Gratitude is usually conceptualised psychologically and approached through interventions largely detached from pedagogy and the wider context of school. However, its roles in learning and socialisation differ across cultures, and may impact teachers’ perceptions and practices. We interviewed teachers in Hong Kong. International school teachers emphasised the importance of gratitude in developing interpersonal relationships and saw performative acts of gratitude as lacking genuineness. Local (public) school teachers valued explicit gratitude, which they saw as essential for maintaining social harmony. These differences suggest that gratitude serves different functions in the two school systems. We discuss implications for gratitude education. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd.

Establishing international branch campuses (IBCs) has become one of the key strategies to facilitate the internationalisation of higher education. Researching IBC-related issues (e.g. student experiences, teaching practices, policy and governance) has also become a popular topic in international higher education. However, few studies have explored students’ identity formation in the IBC context. This qualitative study explores mainland Chinese students’ identity formation process in Hong Kong institutions’ intra-country branch campuses within the Greater Bay Area in mainland China. Drawing upon the notions of situated identity and global-national-local imbrications, this study unveils an intricate and nuanced process of identity development among students influenced by the interplay of global, national, and local factors in such an intra-country IBC context. The findings offer new insights into students’ identity formation in cross-border education. It also enhances understanding of the sustainable development of IBCs and strategies for internationalising higher education in the Greater Bay Area. Copyright © 2024 British Association for International and Comparative Education.

Teaching young Hongkongers a sense of ‘Chineseness’, especially in a cultural sense, was embedded in the city’s colonial history. Yet moulding the young generation to be patriotic citizens of the People’s Republic of China was a new objective for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government after 1 July 1997. This study analyses civic and citizenship curriculum guidelines issued in Hong Kong from 1997 to 2022 to explore how a new construct of national identity was pedagogized in the post-handover context. The research findings of this study suggest that the pedagogical discourse of national identity in the curriculum guidelines has tended to prioritize an ethno-cultural sense of Chineseness as an external entity and orient Hong Kong students as passive recipients for this new identity after the handover. The article concludes by considering the implications of these findings for the teaching of national identity in Hong Kong’s new political context after the implementation of the National Security Law in 2020. Copyright © 2024 Intellect Ltd Article. English language.

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered learning and teaching approaches in higher education. Research concerning COVID-19 revealed inconsistent results on student engagement, which is a robust predictor of academic performance in higher education. This exploratory study examines the relationship between grit and student engagement in the pandemic through the mediating role of negotiable fate. Although previous research demonstrated that grit could positively predict student engagement, there have been inconsistent findings between the two sub-factors of grit: consistency of interest (grit-CI) and perseverance of effort (grit-PE). Besides, there is a lack of theoretical explanation of the mechanism between grit and engagement. The adaptation of negotiable fate seeks to provide one of the pathways of how grit would be associated with student engagement. To examine these hypotheses, the present study recruited 339 undergraduate students from two universities in Hong Kong to participate in an online survey. The results showed that grit, grit-PE, and negotiable fate positively correlate with student engagement, but the path of grit-CI did not reveal any significant results. After accounting for the mediating effect of negotiable fate, grit-PE still positively correlates with student engagement, suggesting a partial mediation model. This study provides empirical evidence that grit positively predicts student engagement with the mediation of negotiable fate. However, only grit-PE was positively associated with other variables, while grit-CI did not reveal any significant predictions. The present study (1) extends the understanding of the mechanism between grit and student engagement and (2) explores the mediating role of negotiable fate in this relationship in the higher education context. Theoretical and practical implications of this mediation model among grit, negotiable fate, and student engagement were discussed. Copyright © 2023 SAGE Publications.

Colleges around the world have adopted emergency online learning to continue with teaching and learning activities during COVID-19. Existing research has indicated that this teaching mode is perceived negatively by many college students. The difficulty students encounter in emergency online learning can adversely affect their mental health and academic performance. To shed further light on how emergency online learning may have impeded college students' academic functioning and adjustment, this study examined the association between online learning stress and academic coping and the mediating roles of academic self-efficacy and academic hope. It was conducted in early 2021, a year after the outbreak of the pandemic. Ninety-nine Chinese college students in Hong Kong were recruited and they completed an online questionnaire for this study. Results showed that online learning stress was negatively associated with approach academic coping and social support seeking, and the associations were mediated by academic hope. On the other hand, online learning stress was positively associated with avoidance academic coping, which was not mediated by academic hope. The mediation effects of academic self-efficacy were all non-significant. In sum, college students used more passive and maladaptive coping to handle academic problems when they experienced more online learning stress, and this was partly explained by lower levels of academic hope. Copyright © 2023 Taylor & Francis.

There is evidence showing that the triarchic model of grit and its dimensions (i.e., "perseverance of effort," "consistency of interests," and "adaptability to situations") predict engagement and well-being outcomes in high school and undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. However, there has been limited research on how this model of grit relates to engagement and optimal psychological outcomes in primary school students. This research investigates the association of grit's dimensions with academic engagement in math and science as well as well-being outcomes (i.e., positive emotions, negative emotions, and flourishing) in primary school students. Participants were primary school students (M[subscript age] = 10.42; SD[subscript age] = 1.26) from Hong Kong (n = 279) and Macau (n = 124). Results showed that "perseverance of effort" positively predicted cognitive and behavioral engagement in math as well as positive emotions even after controlling for demographic covariates (i.e., age, gender, setting, and year level), conscientiousness, and achievement goal orientations. "Adaptability to situations" positively predicted cognitive and social engagement in math and flourishing. "Consistency of interests" negatively predicted both cognitive engagement in science and negative emotions. Indeed, this study indicates that "perseverance" and "adaptability" may facilitate children's positive academic and psychological functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Copyright © 2023 SAGE Publications.

This article analyses the study-abroad identity of Central Asian undergraduate students in a Hong Kong university. It draws on the narrative data to explore the intercultural tensions and challenges they faced in the higher education context, as well as the impact of their study-abroad experiences on their identity-making when integrating into the receiving society. Drawing on Herzfeld’s (2005) concept of cultural intimacy, this article explains the students’ limited participation in local Hong Kong communities and their strong connection to the small, diasporic Central Asian network. It also reveals the co-existence of post-Soviet national identities and a cohesive Central Asian identity in the participants’ identity-making processes. Copyright © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Despite the mounting evidence supporting the effectiveness of short-term study abroad programs (such as Service-Learning programs) on university students’ development, few studies have been conducted to explore the impact of short-term study in China programs on young people from Hong Kong. This study employed a qualitative design method to examine the impact of three types of short-term study programs in China—summer school, cultural tour, and service-learning—on Hong Kong university students’ development and to explore both the facilitators of, and the barriers to, the impact of the programs. A total of 42 students from 17 short-term study in China programs were interviewed individually. Results showed that all three types of short-term study in China programs were perceived by participants as having a positive impact on their intercultural competence as well as their perceptions of, and attitudes toward, the Nation and Chinese people. Participants of service-learning programs also demonstrated enhanced global citizenship. However, these programs did not have any significant impact on their perceived identities as Hong Kong or Chinese citizens. Individual and program factors that facilitated or impeded the student’s gains from the programs were identified. These findings provide pioneer evidence for the positive impacts of short-term study in China programs on Hong Kong local university students and for the improvement of the current programs as well as the development of new programs in the future. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

Students’ beliefs of whether intelligence is innate (fixed mindset) or changeable (growth mindset) vastly influence their learning behavior and willingness to persist in face of academic setbacks. Much research effort has been devoted to examining growth mindset interventions in Western countries, but relatively little is known about the impact of mindset interventions on students in the Chinese cultural context where beliefs regarding effort have already been an ingrained part of one’s cultural heritage. The present study examined the effectiveness of a growth mindset intervention on changing students’ mindsets, and also grit, and behavioural tendency as secondary constructs. A sample of community college students (n = 49) in Hong Kong participated in the study where they were randomly assigned to control or experimental group. Intervention materials used in the experimental group involved a text that introduces the concept of growth mindset, followed by writing tasks to deepen understanding. Instruments measuring mindset, grit and behavioral tendency for remedial actions were used before and after the intervention to track changes. Furthermore, students’ self-perception of academic failure and their actual academic performance were used as covariates in the analysis. Repeated measure MANCOVA (2 groups × 2 time points) for growth and fixed mindset, when self-perception of academic failure was controlled, showed significant interaction effect; in particular, the significant interaction effect on mindset was attributed to a greater degree of decrease of growth mindset in control group when compared to their experimental counterparts; whereas no other significant interaction effects was found in other dependent measures even when covariates were controlled. Results yielded both theoretical and educational implications on the design of ‘growth mindset interventions for specific group of students in the Chinese cultural context. Many practitioners may dismiss the effectiveness