Young children learn a great deal as they move about, explore, experience and interact with the world. Movement is seen as contributing to the total development of young children in preschools. It is an integral part in early childhood curriculum. The aims of this paper are threefold. It firstly examines the constraints of developing early childhood physical education (ECPE) curriculum in Hong Kong. Secondly, it advances a new curriculum approach in ECPE for enhancing whole-child development in early childhood settings in Hong Kong. The key elements of this approach are Creativity, Integration, Fundamental Movement Skills, and Movement Education Concepts. Thirdly, it investigates the effectiveness of the effectiveness of the new approach as implemented in a Hong Kong preschool. The findings of the study have supported that the approach as implemented in a Hong Kong preschool. The findings of the study have supported that the approach is appropriate for ECPE curriculum reform in Hong Kong.
[Copyright © 2008 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

Music movement activities have the potential to encourage young children to experience, explore, discover, and interact with the world, their peers and adults in creative ways. However, previous research has shown that some early childhood teachers in Hong Kong have difficulty in fostering children's creativity (Wong & Chu, 2001). This paper reports a study that further explored the understandings and practices of six teachers, and it draws these findings and professional literature to recommend practical strategies that foster creativity through music and movement activities.
[Copyright © 2002 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

According to the Olympic Charter, "Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining into a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles". Sport is viewed as a mini society where participants experience the success and failure; the joys and tears; and the ups and downs of life. For children, the overall aims of education for the 21st Century in Hong Kong should be "To enable every person to attain all-round development in the domains of ethics, intellect, physique, social skills and aesthetics according to his/her own attributes..." (Education Commission, September 2000, p.30). In the early childhood curriculum, physical education is integral in fostering young children's total development. Early childhood educators always provide an educationally appropriate program to enhance young children's whole person development. This paper serves two purposes. First, it demonstrates how Olympic sports are highly related to Civic Education for young children. Secondly, it suggests educationally sound strategies for early childhood educators to develop a preschool physical education curriculum with emphasis on the development of young Hong Kong children's civic capacities.

Practicum is the crucial component in teacher education with the ultimate aim for student teachers (STs) and in-service teachers (ITs) attempting to apply the learned knowledge , theories and techniques into the real and vivid teaching situation effectively and reflectively. In practice, apart from teaching practice, practicum may consist of : peer observation, school visit and journal writing etc. so as to strengthen STs and ITs's professional understanding and competence. In Hong Kong, practicum is a compulsory module in all teacher preparation courses including pre- service and in-service in the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). As a two-credit point module, practicum in the One-year Mixed Mode In-service Qualified Kindergarten Teacher Education Conversion Course (QKT-Con) in the Department of Early Childhood Studies, HKIEd comprises of Peer Observation (PO) (2 times), School Visit (SV) (2 times), Directed Studies (DS) (6 sessions of 18 hours), Teaching Supervision (TS) (2 times) and Journal Writing (JW) (1 piece weekly). Normally, one experienced supervision tutor is responsible to look after about 30 students in one academic year. The primary aim of this paper is to investigate " how useful " is the practicum with regard to the above-mentioned 5 elements in the QKT-Con Course in the HKIEd. Thirty in-serviced teachers, being supervised by the present researcher, were invited to fill in a self-devised questionnaire in the last period of the Directed Studies of the practicum. Afterwards, the questionnaires were analyzed by the method of content analysis. The results of the study, on the whole, were very positive except the journal writing. There were 23.4 teachers (78 %) viewed the practicum as very useful & useful. Besides, it showed that 26 teachers (86.7 %) opined the PO and SV as very useful & useful. Also, 25 teachers (83.3 %) opted the DS and TS as very useful and useful. On the contrary, 8 teachers (26.6 %) expressed that the JW was not very useful &