AIMS: This study aims to describe the health-related quality of life of both in-service and pre-service teachers who engaged in the teacher education of the Hong Kong Early Childhood Education (HKECE) programme. The research questions are: (a) What is the health-related quality of life of ECE teachers in Hong Kong? (b) Are there differences between ECE teachers in Hong Kong and those in other South-East Asian Chinese communities? (c) What demographic factors are related to quality of life of ECE teachers? METHODS: The sample comprised 1,026 ECE teachers, including 834 in-service and 192 pre-service teachers of early childhood education. Participants completed the self-administered Chinese version of the Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) (SF-36) questionnaire. The HRQOL has been validated for use with the Chinese communities in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Taiwan. Mean values of the HRQOL main scale and subscales for this sample were compared against pervious similar samples in other Asian countries. Subgroups (according to age, housing-related socio-economic status, and experience of illness/diseases) were compared on the HRQOL main scale and subscales using the methods of MANOVA and ANOVA. RESULTS: The results suggest that the HKECE teachers were found to have not only poor self-rated health-related quality of life, but also low quality of life compared to four other Chinese samples in South East Asian communities that were reported in the literature. Analysis showed that in-service teachers had significantly poorer quality of life than pre-service teachers, and old teachers tended to have worse quality of life than their young colleagues. Significant differences were also found in socio-economic status and experience of illness/disease. CONCLUSIONS: Hong Kong healthcare and education policy makers should aware of the phenomenon that some ECE teachers are in a serious state of ill health, especially those in-service teachers who have families, having low socio-economic

This presentation focuses attention on structural and conceptual changes at the policy and classroom levels in assessment in the 334 education reform. In policy terms, new approaches to assessment were designed to be more formative, criterion-referenced, school-based, and learning-oriented, as compared to summative, norm-referenced, and evaluative public examination in the colonial period. These changes in assessment take place against the backdrop of major structural reform of the Hong Kong education system and the associated curriculum reform. This presentation will report on how new assessment policies have been taken up and implemented by the profession, and what progress has been made in achieving reform objectives.

Political trust provides the necessary legitimacy for political institutions and the actions they take on behalf of citizens. Political trust is especially important in democracies to sustain and build social cohesion but also to encourage citizens to work together for democratic principles. In this chapter we set out to investigate the role of schools and the contribution they can make to building political trust amongst young people. In addition, we want to focus on the use of multilevel modelling as an analytic technique that has the potential to tap results at different levels of education systems. The sample comprised 23,654 junior secondary students who had recently participated in the 2009 International Civics and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS2009). The students were selected from schools in five Asian societies, namely Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The schools were chosen through proportional probability sampling and students within schools came from a single intact class. The a mean age of students was 13.5 years at the time of testing within each society. Results show that schools can play a role in the development of political trust in the five societies we have studied. Within societies schools utilizing generally democratic processes and structures for student are more likely to build political trust than those that are not. Nevertheless, there is substantial difference between societies in the mechanisms through which school exerts influence on students’ political trust. Further, nuances are observed across societies in gender and parental roles. The findings reported in this chapter have provided important insights for future research in the political socialization of adolescents.

Reform initiative towards assessment for learning is a response to a number of developments both in the region and internationally. Teachers play a critical role in the success of its implementation. This study aimed to explore teachers’ attitudes towards the costs and benefits of using reports generated from Rasch measurement to support assessment for learning. The participants were 25 primary school teachers and 24 secondary school teachers. Focus-group interviews were used to collect data on their attitudes towards Rasch measurement. ‘Big ideas’ (Krueger, Analyzing & reporting focus group results. Focus group kit 6. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1998) were identified from the transcripts as a whole. They were then encoded with key phrases and sorted into categories. This study found that Hong Kong teachers in general welcomed Rasch measurement as a powerful alternative to traditional total score method for providing useful and detailed feedback to support and improve student learning, although some of them might be deterred by the contextual and technical problems.

Self-directed learning is an important element in the recent education reform in Asian-Pacific countries. This study explores differences and similarities in the self-directed learning of primary students in Hong Kong and Macau. Data from samples of 1,253 students from 10 Hong Kong schools and another 1,562 students from 10 Macau schools who were currently enrolled in primary-3 and primary-5 in the two locations were analyzed. Three-way comparisons (location, gender and year levels) on primary students’ perceptions of the usefulness of self-directed learning strategies were undertaken. The students’ deployment of self-directed learning strategies was also compared. Results were discussed in terms of implications to education reform in Hong Kong and Macau.
[Copyright © 2005 International Self-Directed Learning Symposium Group.]

Assessment has taken the centre stage in the Asia Pacific Region in the last two decades which has witnessed many education reform initiatives. Due to historical as well administrative, technical and statistical reasons in the past, examinations in the Region are generally construed as top-down with little input from the persons assessed and out of their control. That situation does little to enhance learning, which needs ownership by the assessed in order to realize the full potentials of assessment for and as learning. With norm reference as its trademark, the sole purpose of high stake examination is to select the best for the next levels of advancement, be it in education or career. Nevertheless, there is a strong trend within the Region and elsewhere striving to replace the unitary purpose of assessment with a new paradigm entitled the Self-directed Learning Oriented Assessment (SLOA), which holds that assessment should be learning oriented and self-directed. Within the SLOA paradigm, assessment not only has multiple roles in support of learning; it is an integral part of learning. Assessment is to collect evidence of performance and to match the results against preset criteria or standards. The objectives are to evaluate, to inform and to effect learning: assessment of, for and as learning. Modern advancement in assessment design, delivery, statistical models and reporting systems has enabled the assessed to be nearly fully in control of the process of assessment and to self-evaluate against objective criteria. The persons being assessed can, therefore, have full ownership of the assessment. SLOA is a perspective and an assessment design, delivery and reporting that implement the above scenario in assessment. Initial attempts to carry out SLOA in a number of schools in Hong Kong, Macao and Mainland China, albeit still in its initial stage, have amply demonstrated its validity, feasibility and benefits.
[Copyright © 2009 The Hong Kong Institute of Education]

Background: A number of methods to investigate growth have been reported in the literature, including hierarchical linear modelling (HLM), latent growth modelling (LGM), and multidimensional scaling applied to longitudinal profile analysis (LPAMS). Aims: This study aimed at modelling the mathematics growth of students over a span of 6 years from Grade 3 to Grade 9. Sample: The sample comprised secondary longitudinal data collected in three waves from n = 866 Hong Kong students when they were in Grade 3, Grade 6, and Grade 9. Method: Mathematics achievement was measured thrice on a vertical scale linked with anchor items. Linear and nonlinear latent growth models were used to assess students' growth. Gender differences were also examined. Results: A nonlinear latent growth curve with a decelerated rate had a good fit to the data. Initial achievement and growth rate were negatively correlated. No gender difference was found. Conclusion: Mathematics growth from Grade 6 to Grade 9 was slower than that from Grade 3 to Grade 6. Students with lower initial achievement improved at a faster rate than those who started at a higher level. Gender did not affect growth rate.
[Copyright © 2014 The British Psychological Society.]