Education for sustainable Development (ESD) in Hong Kong schools is administered by the Environmental Campaign Committee (ECC) through its core education programs, mainly the Hong Kong Green School Awards (HKGSA) and Student Environmental Protection Ambassador Scheme (SEPAS). This is supported partly by the SAR Government Education and Development Bureau (EDB) which seeks the permeation of ESD through the formal curriculum but is seriously hindered by the curriculum structure. Research recently conducted by the authors reveals that there are still questions to be answered regarding the readiness and willingness of schools to engage with ESD. In China, on the other hand, ESD is being promoted mainly through its Green School Program administered by the State Ministry of Education (MOE) and sponsored by the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). This chapter provides an in-depth description and comparison of the history, development, and the theoretical framework of ESD for schools in Hong Kong and Mainland China.

This study investigates Hong Kong primary teachers’ perceptions of moral, civic and national education, which may have an impact on how they prepare students to become ‘good citizens’ through classroom instruction. Moral and Civic Education (MCE) has been an overall goal of Hong Kong’s education system since 2001, while Moral and National Education (MNE) was proposed as a new subject in an effort to introduce a patriotic agenda in 2011. Teachers play essential roles in nurturing students to become ‘good citizens’ because they are the key figures in implementing education and curriculum policies in schools. Therefore, gaining a greater understanding of teachers’ perceptions of MNE provides insights into the extent to which teachers are prepared to contribute to the patriotic agenda as part of a revamped civic education curriculum. While there are complex factors affecting teachers’ receptivity to curriculum change, an understanding of factors that influence teachers’ perceptions of patriotic education could be valuable for school stakeholders (such as policymakers, educators and researchers), not only in Hong Kong but in other places (such as the United States and the United Kingdom), when they consider what can be done to influence students’ attitudes towards citizenship. Utilizing pilot data, this study reports Hong Kong teachers’ attitudes towards patriotic education through the proposed new school subject of MNE. The findings indicate that ‘perceived others’ support’, ‘perceived concerns of MNE’ and ‘non-monetary cost-benefits’ were the significant predictors of teacher receptivity of MNE. The results suggest that when teachers had concerns about patriotic education, they were less likely to support its implementation, while if they had the support of others they were more likely to support implementation of MNE. More importantly, teachers who perceived that patriotic education can cultivate more well-rounded students were more likely to support the implementation

Hong Kong has introduced new school evaluation and assessment policies since 1997 which need to be implemented by school leaders. This context creates the possibility that policy intentions are not understood, accepted, or implemented. Using discrepancy evaluation analysis, this study reports interviews from 23 Hong Kong school principals about their perceptions and experiences of new policies to do with school evaluation and assessment for learning. The discrepancies fell into five major categories: one size does not fit all; a matter of school survival; workload for teachers; time pressures on those who manage and teach; and learning environment at the schools. The school principals were not convinced that the intended outcomes of helping schools to improve learning were achieved, rather they believed the policies were being implemented to control and close schools unfairly.
[Copyright © 2010 Philippine Society for Educational Research and Evaluation.]

The New Senior Secondary (NSS) curriculum has been implemented in Hong Kong since September, 2009. One major objective of this initiative is to help students acquire critical thinking, information technology and life-long learning skills through the Independent Enquiry Learning (IEL) approach. Geographical Information System (GIS) and Satellite Remote Sensing (RS) can be very effective tools for multiple subjects in the NSS curriculum, particularly in Geography and Liberal Studies. However, there exists a huge technical barrier for teachers to apply the technologies in the ordinary classrooms. Hence, this project, funded by the Quality Education Fund of the Hong Kong SAR Government, aims to support the teachers of Hong Kong using GIS and satellite remote sensing in their classrooms. The implementation approach is designed totally from a practitioner's perspective; hence, the fundamental brief of this project is to develop useful resources for teachers and the products shall be; 1.) Teachers and Students - Friendly; 2.) Encourage students to practice critical thinking and spatial thinking skills; 3.) Encourage students to apply knowledge / experience acquired through the learning activities to the other field of interests; 4.) Lowering the barrier of transforming teachers’ / students’ creativity to practical GIS / Remote Sensing projects and learning activities. Products of this project include a comprehensive resources pool of GIS Data and Remote Sensing Images; a teacher-friendly GIS and satellite image processing software; teachers’ training workshops and mostly important, school-based supports. This paper will highlight the first batch of achievements and products, evaluations, successful cases of classroom implementation as well as the feedback from the frontline teachers.
[Copyright © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Yasushi Asami.]

After about ten years' curriculum and teaching reforms in China and Hong Kong introduced to enhance student learning, what can we learn from the experience? This lecture will examine the directions and contexts of curriculum and teaching reforms in Hong Kong and China followed by discussion of their implementation. In conclusion, some propositions for sustainability of the success of curriculum and teaching reforms are advocated in the context of China and Hong Kong. Firstly, it is important to pay close attention to teachers' receptivity to, and their emotions towards curriculum and teaching reforms. Secondly, it is important to preserve the merits and essence of Chinese pedagogy and explore ways of assimilating it with those Western approaches to teaching and learning. Thirdly, it is essential to give more support to the professional development of principals and teachers, especially the promotion of professional learning communities in schools. Fourthly, it is essential to pay attention to teachers' workload by providing adequate resource support. Last but not least, in future curriculum and teaching reforms it is essential to explore ways of enhancing students' self-directed learning and socio-emotional learning.
[Copyright © 2011 The Hong Kong Institute of Education]

Outdoor education, a general term describing the use of resources (including both natural and artificial environments) outside the classroom, has long been considered a method to improve student learning (Knapp, 1996). It is a popular teaching and learning tool in environmental education due to its anticipated effectiveness in promoting students’ pro-environmental behaviour, knowledge and positive attitudes towards the environment (Rickinson et al., 2004).

Along with the increasing global emphasis on creativity, creative teaching has become an issue of concern for a large number of researchers. This study addresses this issue by exploring the belief of Hong Kong teachers on creative teaching. The research results obtained through qualitative approach show that the beliefs of Hong Kong teachers about creative teaching cover process and product dimensions. The informants can be grouped into five categories with reference to their various preferences. The evidence shows that a part of the beliefs of Hong Kong teachers is aligned with ideal theoretical framework advanced by scholars. The deficiency and problems in the belief of teachers in creative teaching are also discussed in this paper.
[Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.]