Teacher effectiveness has always been an active area of research in teacher education, aiming to improve the quality of both preservice and inservice teachers, subsequently promote the quality of teaching and learning. In this respect, various aspects of teacher development have been studied by researchers such as the stages of development, mentorship, practical knowledge, teacher efficacy, teachers thinking and belief (e.g. Calderhead & Robson, 1991; Kagan, 1992; Bullough and Baughman, 1993' Nespor, 1987; Clark & Peterson, 1986). As teacher educator for many years, the author attempted to conduct a survey study of a group of preservice student teachers to examine their focus of concerns in teaching and their perceived factors leading to successful teaching as part of the investigated areas of teacher development in a teacher education institute in Hong Kong, The Fuller (1969) model of concerns has been widely utilized in teacher education programmes to explain the stages of professional development of a teacher. In the model, Fuller (1969) theorized that teacher concerns could be classified into three distinct categories: elf concerns" which center around the individual concern for their own survival related to their teacher preparation program, including their student teacher experiences; ask concerns" which focus upon the duties that teachers must carry out within the school environment; and impact concerns" which are related to one ability to make a difference and be successful with his /her students and the teaching/learning process. Subsequently, the author wished to know whether the Hong Kong preservice teachers exhibited similar categories of concerns as put forward in Fuller model despite a different cultural context. Meanwhile, the author tried to explore the factors perceived by preservice student teachers leading to successful teaching and whether and how their focus of concerns and perceived important factors of successful teaching were related. It was hoped

Since the last two decades, there have been increasing interests and researches on epistemological beliefs, including the theoretical framework, dimensional structure, and the relations with metacognitive variables in learning. Many of the researches on epistemological beliefs were conducted in Western countries, mainly North America, with few studies in non-Western countries such as the Chinese culture (Chan & Elliott, 2004a). The varied number and nature of epistemological belief dimensions reported in literature suggest the cultural specificity of epistemological beliefs, and the need to conduct more epistemological beliefs research in different cultures to enable us a better understanding of the beliefs structure (Hofer & Pintrich, 1997). The identified relation between epistemological beliefs and reading comprehension (Schommer, 1994) highlight the relative importance of epistemological beliefs in students’ learning. As well, the relations between epistemological beliefs and other metacognitive variables, such as learning strategies, motivation, conceptions about learning and teaching, etc., definitely are significant in helping us understand student learning and these studies would shape the future direction of epistemological beliefs research. Studies of this nature in different cultural contexts would also provide valuable information for researchers and educators. In light with this, the present paper reports the author’s research in epistemological beliefs, and the relations with metacognitive variables in learning and teaching in the Hong Kong Chinese cultural context. The research includes the development of a validated epistemological beliefs scale with satisfactory psychometric properties, relational analyses of epistemological beliefs and learning approaches/strategies, and conceptions of teaching and learning. The information is expected to add new knowledge in this area and be of value to those interested in epistemological beliefs research.
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A questionnaire was administered to 231 teacher education students of a university in Hong Kong to examine their epistemological beliefs, conceptions of learning, and learning strategies. The three variables were measured respectively using the Epistemological Beliefs Scale (EBS) (Chan & Elliott, 2002), Conceptions of Learning Inventory (COLI) (Purdie & Hattie, 2002) and Revised Two Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) (Biggs, Kember, & Leung, 2001). Correlation and path analysis showed significant relations between epistemological beliefs and conceptions of learning and learning strategies. The results suggest the significant roles of epistemological beliefs in learning, through their impact on and relations with the conceptions of learning and strategies adopted by the students. Implications were drawn with suggested ways for further research on their relationships and other metacongitive variables in learning such as achievement or motivation goals. The research findings would provide significant and valuable knowledge in this area and enable a better understanding of the nature and process of learning.
[Copyright © 2007 De La Salle University, Philippines.]

This paper explores the importance of student teachers' epistemological beliefs in the process of learning to teach. It examines the problematic nature of the conceptual basis of the field and then reports on a series of studies undertaken in Hong Kong to develop a set of scales to map student teachers' epistemological beliefs. By exploring the assumptions and methods used by Schommer to measure such beliefs it is concluded that the basis of her empirical work may be questionable. Adopting her 63 questionnaire and the critique of Hofer and Pintrich the paper reports on studies attempting to map the epistemological beliefs of Hong Kong teacher education students. Conclusions about the assumptions underpinning the study of epistemological beliefs and cross cultural analysis of such beliefs are considered. Additionally, implications of the work for teacher education are considered.

Research in the area of student's learning approaches has been conducted by numerous educators since the late 1970's (e.g. Marton & Saljo, 1976; Ramsden & Entwistle, 1981; Biggs, 1985, 1987). Marton & Saljo (1976) have suggested two basic approaches to learning, viz. "surface" and "deep" approach. A surface approach describes the intention to reproduce information in compliance with externally imposed task demands while a deep approach involved an intention to understand. Biggs (1985, 1987, 1993) added a third one, the "achieving" approach. According to Biggs (1993), the achieving approach is based on the ego-enhancement aiming at the achievement of high grades. Similar to the surface approach, the focus is not task-centred but on the recognition gained from top performance. The strategy is to organize time, workplace, and syllabus coverage cost effectively, with much use of cue-seeking, systematic use of study skills, planning ahead, allocating time according to task importance. Biggs (1985, 1987) has developed two different versions of questionnaires in his survey study with Australian tertiary and high school students, viz. "Study Process Questionnaire" (SPQ) and "Learning Process Questionnaire" (LPQ) respectively. Many of these studies of learning approaches were conducted with university / college students in western countries to identify what kind of study approaches were adopted and to relate the chosen study approaches with other variables such as academic achievement. Judith's (1992) study of the learning processes in distance learning students concluded that deep motivation was a way to success, but to succeed in gaining credit and good grades, deep strategy, achieving motive and achieving strategy were also needed. This was in support of the meaning assigned by Biggs to achieving approach. Studies employing Biggs' instruments have also been replicated in various situations and contexts, (e.g. Biggs, 1992; Watkins & Hattie, 1981, 1985; Watkins & Ismail, 1994

This paper outlines the development of a scale for investigating Hong Kong student teachers epistemological beliefs and the application of that scale. The scale has its genesis in the work of Schommer (1989, 1990) in North America. She proposed five theoretical dimensions of epistemological beliefs viz Simple Knowledge, Certain Knowledge, Fixed Ability, Quick Learning and Omniscient Authority and developed a 63 item questionnaire to investigate these. In subsequent factor analysis she identified only four such dimensions- with omniscient authority not identified. The scale developed by the authors incorporated dimensions labelled as Authority/ expert Knowledge, Certainty Knowledge, Innate/Fixed Ability, and Learning Process/Effort. This scale was used to investigate relationships of these four epistemological dimensions with age, gender, electives studied and course type. There was a significant difference between the Chinese and English course students and this is discussed in terms of the possible effect of traditional Chinese/Confucian culture and the impact of western culture and philosophy on the Hong Kong Chinese students.

Two achievement goals and three perceived parenting styles were identified in a sample of Hong Kong teacher education students. Significant correlations exist within the parenting styles and the achievement goals. Parental authoritativeness was significantly and positively related to learning goal and parental authoritarianism was significantly and negatively related to performance goal. Analysis of paternal and maternal influence showed there was no significant relation between paternal parenting styles and goal orientations but maternal authoritativeness was significantly related to learning goal. Further investigation with a larger sample, more male students and paternal influence would help confirm the paternal versus maternal influence on students ’ goal orientations.

Research on Hong Kong pre-service teachers’ concerns and their perception about effective teaching is meager. Thus, this author tried to help fill the knowledge gap by conducting a survey that involved the use of an open-ended, semi-structured questionnaire administered to 106 student teachers. The key findings are, firstly, three types of concerns were identified: the "Self", "Task", and "Impact" concerns. Secondly, the "Self" concerns constitute the largest proportion of concerns identified by the 106 student teachers; in this category, the most important concerns as ranked by these pre-service teachers are class discipline, acceptance by pupils, and teachers’ mastery of subject knowledge and teaching skill. And thirdly, the concerns are also closely related to such factors as subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and teacher pupils’ relationship that the student teachers considered important for effective teaching. The principal conclusions are that teacher education programs in Hong Kong have room for improvement in catering for the needs of pre-service teachers, and that teacher educators need to help reduce pre-service teachers’ concerns so as to facilitate their professional development.
[Copyright © 2002 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]