This chapter discusses guidance for pupils in their whole person development on individual as well as class bases, and describes the guidance roles and functions of class teachers in Hong Kong. On the individual level, it holds that the personal attributes and attitudes of the class teacher facilitate the development of a personal teacher-pupil relationship which will help the pupils enhance their self-esteem and serve as a basis for initial counselling. On the class level, the class teacher facilitates the collective growth and development of the whole class by establishing a positive class culture, showing care for maladjusted pupils, and planning and carrying out year-long whole person development programmes.

Whole person development is an important aspect in the contemporary education. It is one of the education objectives of the HKSAR as shown in Aims of Edcuation(1993) and Educaiton Blueprint (1999). Although its importance is recognized by most educators in Hong Kong, few integrated curriculum of Whole person development is provided in local school systems. Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIED) has attempted to provide Personal and Social Education (PSE) which is one of the integrative curriculum to achieve Whole person development to the student-teachers in the hope that they can implement PSE in local schools in future. To improve the teaching and learning and the curriculum development of PSE, a module evaluation was conducted at 1997 to collect feedback from students. 377 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. This paper reports the result of the evaluation and makes suggestion for the PSE curriculum development. The students' evaluation toward the module was good. They enjoyed the teaching and learning process. The module was systemic, relevant and practical. The reflection for the formation of full integrated curriculum of PSE in teacher education program and primary school are discussed. There is a need for the educators to develop and implement the concept of PSE in the local school context.

This study is an investigation in using action research and the VMS (Valuable-MuddiestSuggestion) method to improve the teaching and learning of a new General Education course for Early Childhood Education student-teachers. According to Kemmis and McTaggart (1992), to do action research is to plan, act, observe and reflect in continuous cycles with more careful, more systematic, and more rigorous way. Based on research evidence, self-assessment is asserted by some to be an essential skill for effective learning and lifelong learning, and this skill should be developed in university courses (Black & William, 1998; Boud, 1995; Cowan, 1998). VMS method is used to engender dual self-assessment of students and teachers in the course. Participants were undergraduate students enrolling in a Bachelor programme at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The VMS method is designed to record students’ responses in each lesson on their “valuable (V) learning experience in the lesson”, “the muddiest (M) point in the lesson” as well as “suggestions (S) for improvement”. Records of their valuable learning (V), their muddiest point (M), and their suggestions (S) can be assessed and analyzed by the students themselves and the teacher to explore the learning experience of the students as well as the content and pedagogy of the lesson. The results of the study is encouraging. The action research cycles with dual self-assessment give valuable hints and insights to the students for self-directed learning to clarify their muddiest point and to the teacher for self-assessment and reflection on content and pedagogy of teaching.

Gender issues are some of the core concerns of policy, practice and provision in relation to education. There is a popular notion that boys are naughty while girls are good mannered in primary schools. In many studies, boys were found to engage in more rough-and tumble play and physical fighting than do girls (Thorne, 2002). It seems that it is more difficult for teachers to deal with boys than with girls. However, in the emerging literature, within girls, there are different types of emotional and behavioral problems, such as aggression, which is not unusual that teachers may face with. Research with empirical data on how teachers help girls with emotional and behavioral problems is spare. In order to understand more how teachers in training deal with the gender and the nature of students' problem, this study investigates the responses of pre-service teachers in helping students in a guidance training programme, which is a part of a pre-service new B.Ed. module. The study aims to make some suggestions for effective preparation of the pre-service teachers to play their guidance role in Hong Kong primary schools. In an attempt to explore how pre-service teachers developed their capacity in helping students with different gender and nature of problems, two scenarios were used. Case 1 was a by in a helpless situation (with emotional difficulties) while case 2 was an angry girl with aggressive behavior (with emotional and behavioural difficulties). Qualitative research approach in form of case study was used. The sample, 16 student teachers with some seemed to be very aware of, others largely ignorant about the guidance role of teacher were selected for in-depth interviews to chart their development in the training programme. Their responses for handling of two different cases of pupils' problems in the interview schedule were analyzed. The results of the study show that student teachers had developed their abilities in handling pupils' problems in terms of attitude towards

In educational settings, action research can be used in a variety of areas such as (1) teaching methods; (2) learning strategies; (3) evaluative procedures; (4) attitudes and values; (5) continuing professional development of teachers and; (6) administration (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2000). Due to various reasons, there are few action research in schools and in higher education in Hong Kong (Li, Yu, Lam & Fok, 1999; Kember & Gow, 1992). Even in other place of the world, action research with empirical data is not much in teacher education (Ross & Bondy, 1996). This study is an investigation in using the KWL method to support teacher educators in conducting action research for enhancing learning of student-teachers as well as in continuing professional development of teacher educators in improving teaching skills, increasing powers of analysis, and heightening self-awareness of one's teaching. Participants comprised 32 student-teachers who were currently enrolled in a three year teacher certificate teacher education programme at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The KWL method can record "what they know (K) and what they want (W) before lesson" as well as "what they learn (L) after lesson". Records of their prior knowledge (K), their expectation (W), their learning (L) can be analyzed to explore the structure of their learning and its changes. All these information together with the data collected in the action research cycle (plan, act, observe and reflect) will give much hints and insights to the teacher educators to reflect on their own teaching.

This paper presents initial findings from a project which focuses on the changing masculinities of Chinese primary school men teachers in Hong Kong, which is a stage II of the a project on Contemporary Chinese primary women teachers' experiences of changing femininities. In this paper, four life stories of men teachers, representing two generations of teachers, will be presented. Bhabha's (1994) concept of a "hybrid" or "in-between" culture - such as when a predominantly Chinese society experiences western colonization and continuing changes in public spheres and Giroux's (1992) notion of "border crossing" will be used as the guiding framework for this study. The research uses qualitative interviews in constructing life histories of men teachers. The paper will present snapshots of these four men teachers in the ways they navigate and experience their changing masculinities both in the primary school workplace and at home in their lived experiences. The four stories show a lot of hybridities and border crossing, creating both tensions and integrations for these men teachers. Implications of this study to teacher education and gender equity education will be discussed. This study will raise fundamental issues for teacher education and professional development of teachers in contexts of cultural shift associated with globalisation. It will also have implications for pedagogy for teaching of personal, social, sex and civic education in schools in the various Chinese communities.

This paper reports the implementation of a project designed to involve in service teachers in peer support for the learning of the core values of personal and social education so as to raise self-esteem, to enhance co-operation, to promote rationality and empathy. Project participants were 27 in-service teachers attending an undergraduate program of the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Project evaluation reveals that the project succeeded in generating for the teacher participants emotional, academic, social, technical, and extended supports, and that the benefits of the project also spilled over to their relationships with their primary school pupils and daily lives. Research and practical implications are discussed.
[Copyright © 2003 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

This paper reports on the design and implementation of a project for developing self-directed learning in student teachers. The study involved 20 student teachers currently enrolled at The Hong Kong Institute of Education. The study contextualized self-directed learning in the Education Projects module. Each student teacher designed and implemented a small educational research project. The Know Want Learn (KWL) method, concept map and a reflection question were used to collect data on the change in the self-directed learning capacity of student teachers. Data analysis revealed that student teachers had differential growth in selfdirected learning competence. Further, both quantitative and qualitative changes were observed in student teachers’ conceptualizations of educational research. Nevertheless, capacity remained for further improvement in their capacity for self-directed learning.
[Copyright © 2005 International Self-Directed Learning Symposium Group.]