The teaching practice is a crucial part of the teacher education program. During the field experience program, student-teachers put the theory learnt into practice, and acquire teaching experience in actual school settings. The quality of learning acquired largely depends on the quality of support provided by the Institute and the schools before and during the practice period. Dispoto's study stated that student-teachers experienced conflict and stress during their field experience. The strain to learn to teach may result in feelings of incompetence and lack of confidence, and may affect the attitude, behaviour and performance of the student-teachers. Besides support from the Institute, student-teachers also receive support from teachers (mentors) in the schools where they perform their practice. With reference to the expectations for mentors concluded by Grimmentt and Ratzlaff, mentors need some pre-requisite knowledge and skills, e.g. observation skills, up-dated knowledge on education theories, ability to undertake critical analysis of one's and other people' lesson in order to involving student-teachers in planing and evaluating learning experience, conferring and evaluating their development through regular observation and feedback. Since the establishment of the Hong Kong Institute of Education in 1994, a new form of teaching practice has been introduced in the 2-year full time primary teacher education program, namely the Co-operating Teacher Scheme (CTS). Co- operating teachers from schools are assigned to student-teachers and perform the functions of the mentors. In a local study student-teachers were found to have lowered the perception of their competence after the teaching practice. Our previous researches revealed that the co-operating teachers (CTs) would like to have more updated knowledge of education theories, teaching strategies, observation and communication skills so as to enhance the learning of the student-teachers. In order to improve the quality

Learning to teach is seen as a continuous process. Graduation from the initial teacher education programme is thus the first stage on which further professional developments are based. Studies have shown that shifts in teacher concerns are an indication of professional maturity. Therefore, investigations into teacher concerns provide a substantial basis for planning and implementing teacher education programmes. The present study aims to portray the professional development of Hong Kong pre-service primary teachers at the exit point of the pre-service teacher education programme. Measurements of teacher concerns of the student-teachers at the point they graduated from the programme were made. Follow-up interviews were conducted to find out the influencing factors that affect the perception of the student-teachers. The paper concludes by drawing on the implications of the findings on the design of the initial and further teacher education programmes.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

The findings of this study reveal those attributes that are considered important for teacher success as perceived by some of the teachers who received the Outstanding Teachers' Award in Hong Kong in the years 1998 to 2002. The teachers chosen had different backgrounds, with respect to their type of school, age, and category of experience. In describing the perceptions of the concept of success, the award winners reveal their understanding of the nature of teachers as professionals and their conception of professionalism. The findings shed light on the different perspectives that were held by teachers, namely moral, technical and critical. Relatively speaking, the study shows that greater importance has been attached to the moral perspective. This study can enhance policy makers' understanding of teachers' perceptions of concepts of success. More comprehensive information on teacher success will be provided if the views of other stakeholders, including students, parents, principals and supervisors are all taken into consideration.

This paper describes the outcome of a collaboration project, a science school-based curriculum development proje between the Hong Kong Institute of Education and five primary schools. The project was an attempt to address thre problems perceived by the teachers concerning primary science teaching including, lack of subject knowledge, lacki resources and feeling of insufficiency in facilitating pupils' learning. In addressing these problems, the project tea devised a number of strategies for the teaching of science based on a constructivist view of learning and supported teachers through a school-based curriculum development model. Strategies used include: designing a series of teachir packages to lessen the burden of teaching in terms of time and resources constraints; and organizing school-bas workshops to facilitate professional discussion and reflection on teaching practices. This paper describes the variourj phases of the school-based curriculum development project including the planning, implementation and evaluation of I project. The effectiveness of the project in terms of professional interaction and application of the teaching kit examined by analyzing the interview responses. The findings of the project provide evidence that there were improvements in the learning and teaching of science in primary classrooms. Finally, drawing on the findings, the paper introduces ways of improving the project and future directions of research.

This paper reports the processes and ways in which a dedicated website has been developed by a group of seven colleagues at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) Science Department to support their student-teachers' development of teaching competence during various kinds of field experience activities such as practicum, teaching practice and school visits etc. From the outcome of our project, a comprehensive web-based system was created with the following specially selected features to help our student-teachers develop confidence and skills for the effective teaching of various science topics in schools: A data bank of 20 sets of video clips on exemplary parts of students' teaching performance in schools or microteaching at HKIEd as identified and selected by their supervisors. A collection of virtual reality resources which include a typical classroom or laboratory environment with a 3D/panoramic view etc. A website called Field Experience Support on Science (FESS) being developed at http://www.ied.edu.hk/fess/ which provides a platform for the management of the aforementioned 2 types of resources in the WWW plus various synchronous or 2 asynchronous communication channels as well as sharing of lesson plans, schemes of work and other teaching resources etc.

In view of the recent movement for increasing the schools' involvement in the school experience, the Hong Kong Institute of Education has introduced a new form of school experience in its 4-year full-time Bachelor of education programme. The schools take up a more active and supportive role, which aim to facilitate the development of the student-teachers. During these periods, the schools, the peers and the lecturers have significant influence on the learning experience of the student-teachers. In the programme, the field experience in year 1 includes a one-week attachment period to the kindergarten and a two-week attachment to the primary school. The aim of this paper is to describe the learning experience of the student-teachers during the early stages of the programme. Twenty student-teachers who were randomly sampled from the year 1 cohort were interviewed at the end of their first year of study in the programme. The interview questions were focused to find out the learning experience of the student-teachers in the field experience; the interactions between the student-teachers with their peers; the support that they perceived from the school and the lecturers; their perception about being a primary teacher in school. The findings of the study were interpreted with a sociocultural view of learning which defines learning to teach as influenced by the interactions between the participants of the system including those between student-teachers themselves, those between the student-teachers and the lecturers and those between the school (the teachers, pupils and administrators) and the student-teachers. Implications on teacher education are drawn from the experience and support from the school context to the student-teachers in learning to teach is recommended.

The relative contributions of higher education and schools, and hence the conceptual and practical aspects of ITE, to student teachers’ professional learning have been an issue of concern in teacher education. This article reports a mixed-methods study showing the relationship between student teachers’ engagement with the practical and conceptual aspects of a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) Programme in Hong Kong and different facets of their perceived professional competence. One hundred and thirty-two student teachers participated in the quantitative survey of whom seven were interviewed. The findings reveal that experiences associated with learning the pragmatic facets of professional practice were more valued by student teachers compared to learning the conceptual aspects of ITE. Yet, in terms of relationship with professional competence, student teachers’ engagement with the practical aspects of ITE was related to competence in classroom teaching, whereas their engagement with the conceptual aspects contributed to their mastery of professional knowledge, competence in classroom teaching and competence in interacting with stakeholders. The study illuminates the distinctive contributions of schools and higher education in ITE. While acknowledging the important role of schools in providing a setting for practical work, this study affirms the distinctive contribution of higher education in equipping student teachers with practical and conceptual tools in the preparation of professionally competent teachers.
[Copyright © 2015 Taylor & Francis.]

Professional development for teachers (PDT) is the primary objective of the Schools Around the World (SAW) Program, which is a multinational endeavor initiated by the Council for Basic Education in the United States. The project offers teachers of science and mathematics from around the world an opportunity to share their students’ work by uploading them to the project’s website. Teachers can then examine and reflect on their own teaching practices by viewing the student work database. Apart from individual reflection, SAW also provides a platform for an exchange of professional experiences among teachers from the nine participating countries around the world with a view to improving student achievement. The SAW project makes use of information technology (IT) to construct a model of online PDT. A number of initiatives are included, namely the establishment of the student work database, online seminars and forums, and the Shared Reflection System (SHARES). This chapter describes the principles underpinning these initiatives from a PDT perspective, outlines the content of such initiatives, and offers practical hints for teacher educators who offer online PDT projects. Having introduced the SAW model from a professional and a technical perspective, the chapter goes on to provide a summary of the experiences of the participating teachers in the United States and Hong Kong. Their reflections suggest that their perceptions of the effectiveness of the Web-based communication tools and online resources will be very much affected by their existing workload and the support given by their schools or the government. Drawing on the SAW experience, the authors provide suggestions that may facilitate the use of technology in PDT.
[Copyright © 2004 Information Age.]