The beliefs teachers have about assessment influence classroom practices and reflect cultural and societal differences. This paper reports the development of a new self-report inventory to examine beliefs teachers in Hong Kong and southern China contexts have about the nature and purpose of assessment. A statistically equivalent model for Hong Kong and southern China teachers had three factors (i.e., improvement, accountability, and irrelevance). The Chinese teachers very strongly associated accountability with improvement (r = .80). This is consistent with the Chinese tradition and policy of using examinations to drive teaching quality and student learning and as a force for merit based decisions. Small differences between the two groups of teachers are consistent with assessment policy differences in the two jurisdictions.
[Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.]

This article addresses the issue of preparing teachers as curriculum leaders to support the wide-ranging curriculum reforms that characterize societies in the Asian Pacific region. It draws on social cognitive theory and, in particular, on what has come to be called teachers’ sense of efficacy. The study sought to extend that research in a Chinese context.
[Copyright © 2006 Rowman & Littlefield Education.]

Hong Kong has an assessment for learning policy and a cultural context that emphasizes examinations. In addition to associating student grading with improvement, important improvement-oriented conceptions have been identified among Hong Kong teachers and which were not fully instantiated in Brown’s Teachers’ Conceptions of Assessment (TCoA) inventory. An expanded Chinese-TCoA inventory was administered to 601 teachers (85% primary school) in Chinese. The intended 10 factor structure had poor fit to the data. Exploratory factor analysis (MLE, oblimin rotation) identified 7 factors. Confirmatory factor analysis of 7 inter-correlated factors, with 28 items, had acceptable fit (χ2=1061.87; df=329; χ2/df =3.23, p=.07; gamma hat = .92; RMSEA=.061; SRMR=.056). The strongest inter-correlation (r=.74) was between assessment is for school quality & control and assessment is for teacher quality & control. Correlations >.60 were seen between assessment is examinations and assessment is for student personal development and teacher quality & control and between assessment is for school quality & control and assessment is for student personal development. Factor inter-correlations among these 4 factors and the remaining three (assessment is irrelevant, assessment has error, assessment improves learning) were less than .60. Teachers gave mean scores over moderately agree to Improve Learning and Error, weak agreement was given to Personal Development, School Quality & Control, and Examinations. Disagreement was given to Irrelevance and Teacher Quality & Control. We conclude that, in keeping with the highly selective system, Hong Kong primary school teachers predominantly conceived of assessment as examinations for improved learning, rather than as a means of personal development and reject it as a means of teacher quality assurance.

The key to successful of assessment reform depends on how teachers understand the concept and practices of assessment. Brown s (2003 & 2004) studies provided initiation for educators in this area. Different versions of Brown s questionnaire on teachers conceptions of assessment (TCoA-III) used both in Hong Kong and China rendered new insights and information into the wide range of conceptions and practices of assessment among Chinese practitioners (Brown, et al., 2006 and Li & Hui, 2007). These results showed that there might be fundamental difference in conceptions and practices of assessment between practitioners in a Chinese context and those in the West. Using interviews to tap into the minds of the local teachers, this study sets off to investigate the missing conception of assessment among Hong Kong teachers. Qualitative interviews were conducted among local practitioners of different backgrounds and subject specialists. The study is able to validate traditional, unwritten as well as unique conceptions of assessment held within Chinese teachers. Preliminary results show that there are cultural-specific as well as context-based differences. The former is illustrated by examples such as assessment as a way of promoting industriousness among students and assessment as differentiating brilliance in studying. The latter is supported by examples of using assessment to predict and boost the results of Territory-wide System Assessment which indicates individual school s standards in key learning areas for the purposes of school improvement. The results are helpful in revealing the possible cultural factors and their influences that contributes to the dissimilarities found in the conceptions and practices in assessment. It also provides insights of why these conceptions govern the ways in which assessment is practised in local schools. This missing link broadens our understanding about and allows us to better measure teachers conceptions and practices of assessment.

This research investigated the attitudes of Chinese students toward inclusive education, by dividing the research into two studies with different subgroups included. Study 1 invited 340 secondary students and 129 secondary teachers from 9 mainstream secondary schools in Hong Kong to participate. The Chinese version of the 16-item Attitudes toward Inclusive Education Scale originally developed by Wilczenski⁶⁹ was applied. The results were analyzed at item and variable levels. Hong Kong students had significantly more positive attitudes toward inclusive education than their teachers. However, both groups did not show positive attitudes towards inclusive education. Based on the results of study 1, study 2 tried to cross validate these findings by inviting 135 teachers and 260 students in Macau to participate. As well, study 2 extended the horizon of comparison by inviting 260 parents to participate. They were either the mothers or fathers of the 260 students who participated in study 2. The same scale was applied in study 2 and the results showed that neither the Macau students nor the teachers were particularly positive toward inclusive education. The Macau parents had the more positive attitudes toward inclusive education than the Macau students and teachers. The results from the two studies in Hong Kong and Macau were compared and discussed.
[Copyright © 2015 World Research Journals.]

Hong Kong is moving towards a knowledge-based economy. To nurture a population to continuously support and drive its development to achieve a world-class success, Hong Kong's education system has been reformed tremendously since 1997 with a balanced focus of academic and practical learning. Generic form of learning outcomes are critical outcomes for students to demonstrate high flexibility and adaptability in respond to the future ever-changing challenges. Using instruments that measure "cultural literacy" (Hui, 2012) and "student engagement" (Hui & Cheung, forthcoming), this study sets out the agenda to assess the development of generic learning outcomes of Hong Kong senior secondary school students, the extent to which they are well equipped with the skills to prepare themselves for a knowledge-based economy. Results of a survey study of 1,715 students inferred not up-to-standard performance and which questioned the design of the New Senior Secondary (NSS) school curriculum, the core subject of Liberal Studies and the Applied Learning courses in particular. Regression model further suggested generic learning outcomes could be explained largely by how schools plan and facilitate students‟ learning inside and outside the classroom. It is the primary role of NSS schools to provide students with meaningful and useful learning experiences to achieve the curriculum goal of fostering generic learning. This paper will contribute to the discussion of how to support more NSS school reform in Hong Kong.