The DG has prepared a questionnaire to collect data of teachers' practise in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Korea. The results, together with the literature search in theory and practice in mathematics education was prepared into a booklet of 90 pages for discussion during the ICME-12. There were two sessions of discussion during the ICME-12 and the following is a report of work and discussion of the DG during the ICME-12.

Attention to details is one of the most important specific features of a mathematical way to thinking. When evaluating mathematical questions it is important to teach students to pay attention globally and locally, consider conditions, properties and relationships, since all of these aspects are as important to develop as mathematical techniques. To develop such skills in their students school teachers should have those skills themselves. In this study, we investigate the ability of school mathematics teachers to pay attention to details and use their mathematical knowledge. We are confident that the vast majority of teachers have excellent knowledge of mathematical techniques. Hence the question is whether this kind of knowledge might structure their attention in such a way that the emphasis on procedures deviates their attention from the essential details. Two groups of teachers from New Zealand and Hong Kong were given a mini-test containing seven simple mathematics questions. All questions in the test were provocative in the sense that they looked like routine questions but in fact they had some catch. The results from the test were startling – the vast majority of the teachers did not notice any catch and gave incorrect answers to most questions in the test. After the test the teachers were given a short questionnaire to reflect on their performance on the test. The teachers’ responses to the questionnaire are presented and analysed in the paper using theories on attention. Implementations of the results of the study in assessment and professional development are discussed.

Teacher education is currently on the reform agenda where it needs to be, given the current status and working conditions of teachers in Hong Kong. Rationale of the design of teacher education program is under heated debate among players in education. One of the SIG (study interest group) in HKIEd in curriculum development and implementation would like to share their findings concerning issues that confront teachers and teacher educators. This symposium aims to discuss teacher education from several angles. It will discuss teacher education from the educational leader's perspectives; compare perception of training needs for primary school teachers between school practitioners and educators; and explore program development strategy for teacher education. Results from quantitative and qualitative surveys will be used as a base for the discussion. Perspectives of the players in education on impression, expectation, quality, strengths and weakness of teacher education are described. Suggestions for reform and proposed models for teacher education program are offered. Findings discussed in the symposium may be helpful in the preparation of future teacher education program.

This paper aims to study the perception of primary curriculum implemented in Hong Kong through the views of school practitioners and how the gaps were closed through school practice. Parts of the data in this paper were collected through interviews with principals and teachers on their the views of achieving the aims of the Hong Kong primary education curriculum. Their practice and effort in achieving the aims in education is recorded and analyzed. They were asked to pinpoint professional areas which they thought teachers may have difficulties and hence a barrier for the improvement of quality education and achieving the educational aims. These include opinions on subject content and pedagogical knowledge for the primary school subject in Chinese and mathematics and in turns reflect the contents needed in teacher education program. The paper provides insight for future teacher education program development and primary schools to distinguish practice that could be used by them.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Government (HKSAR) has been encouraging the teaching professionals at all levels to apply Information Technology (IT) in education. The general public usually connects IT in education with computer-assisted instruction (CAI), computer-assisted learning (CAL), and information search in the internet. In fact, IT can bring in other advantages such as developing a continuous and dynamic approach to educational testing. At present, the common practice of paper-and-pencil testing (P&P) is that all examinees are arranged to receive the same set of test questions at the same time-slot. One of the major shortcomings of this arrangement is that competent examinees may waste time to answer simple questions while low ability examinees may face challenging questions that could destroy their confidence in the subject. This practice is actually against a very basic educational principle: catering for individual needs. With the availability of powerful personal computers and the advancement of psychometric measurement, tailoring tests to individual's ability becomes much easily realized. A system that delivers tailor-made tests for individuals using computer with certain item selection program is called Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT). As CAT has many advantages over the traditional P&P, it is becoming prevalent in many advanced countries. However, CAT also has shortcomings. For example, it cannot measure certain kinds of mathematics abilities. This paper will describe the general background and the current development of CAT and particularly will discuss in more details the potentials and limits of using CAT for Mathematics assessment.

Curriculum change in Hong Kong usually involved subject revision rather than curriculum framework consideration. Subject revision may improve the learning of the subject knowledge and enable a more effective teaching or assessment. However, such changes do not touch on the element of students' behaviour and attitude. Civic education in Hong Kong is implemented through subject contents of Arts and Crafts, Music and others, but the main burden of civic education is still on the subject General Studies. It is obvious that civic education at the moment is not effectively implemented in the primary schools, otherwise it cannot explain the increasing deviated behavioural problems among primary and secondary students. Reports on problems faced by school counselors suggest that it is time to rethink the curriculum structure of the primary school in Hong Kong at least for the betterment in civic education. The present civic education in Hong Kong primary schools is usually implemented by a) extra- curriculum activities, b) issues in the studies of general studies like drug education and sex education, c) seminar conducted by schools, d) assembly during school hours, and e) visits outside school hours. However, many of these involvements are passive and a more active learning process for the students in terms of their attitude is desired. As there are many constraints in the primary education, for example, bi- sessional mode is one, the inclusion of Drama in education is one feasible possibility as it enables students to participate actively in the learning process. The mode of operation of Theatre in Lducation in Hong Kong is mostly drama delivery to school plus one follow up discussion or drama workshop and games conducted by tutors employed by the subsided theatres. The workshops offered are usually performance linked, that is, related to a product like annual Parents' Night. Though there are certain encouraging effects for the students in terms of the building of their personality