In July 2010, the State Council of the People's Republic of China published an Outline for National Educational Development with a strong conviction to transform China from an economic power into a country of "soft power" and "strength in human resources". In order to realize such a policy goal, the Chinese government has attempted to review its current education policies and systems to initiate reforms to promote innovation and creativity in education. One of the major reform directions is to foster more collaboration between educational institutions in Mainland China with overseas partners, including institutions from the Greater China region (Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau). Despite the noble policy goals set out by the Chinese government in asserting its soft power through the transformations to be introduced to its education systems and the proposal to engage in international collaborations, many citizens in the Mainland, especially the children of migrant (peasant) workers, are currently confronted with insufficient provision of education. This article critically examines issues confronting peasant worker children's education, with particular reference to the most recent policies and strategies adopted by the governments in Mainland China to deal with the growing educational demands from migrant workers' children. This article will also discuss policy implications for the Chinese government which has failed to deliver quality education to children of peasant workers when China is seeking to become a country strong in human resources.
[Copyright of Asia Pacific Journal of Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2011.594248]

Hong Kong's population has increased by around one million per decade from the end of World War II till the 1990s. A large proportion of this growth came from the mass influx of migrants from Mainland China, and the children born to them. During the 1960s and 1970s when Hong Kong's economy was booming rapidly, career advancement opportunities were abundant even for the less educated migrants and their children. But when the economic restructuring occurred in the 1980s and 1990s, trades such as manufacturing and construction sectors, where a large number of workers with migration background were employed, were hit most hardly. The problem of the intergenerational transmission of poverty and low social mobility has now become the focus in the agenda of poverty alleviation. This article aims to use a subsample of the 2006 By-Census dataset to explore whether children with migration background from Mainland China were generally disadvantaged in their educational attainment and income. The findings confirmed this hypothesis, indicating that the human capital investment strategy in Hong Kong is not sufficient to break down the barriers for children in disadvantaged social positions.
[Copyright of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2011.594419]

This study attempts to understand how students construct their knowledge in a new learning environment guided by constructivist learning principles as well as to find out whether such environment can produce a deeper learning outcome than one that is based on existing mode of classroom teaching.
A constructivist learning environment includes such crucial elements as intentional learning, active, authentic and cooperative learning. This involves using information technology to build up learning community as well as encourage learners to obtain information for knowledge construction.
A quasi-experimental design was employed. The experimental group comprised of 16 students taking a Social Policy Issues course via an online learning environment while the comparison group comprised of 18 students attending the same course in the existing classroom teaching. All students came from the same class studying in the final year of the BSW program of the University of Hong Kong. Background information indicated that the two groi.lps of students were largely, homogeneous.
The outcome indicates that students had a positive evaluation of the online learning environment. However, the learning outcome analyzed by the SOLO Taxonomy does not show any significant difference. The students with better performance are more active in logging on the online course and post more messages on the bulletin board.
Patterns of students' participation in the bulletin board discussion were analyzed Students were enthusiastic in the beginning and the more active students tended to remain so throughout the course. Quality of postings improved with time on each discussion topic. Quite a few students reported that they preferred reading others' postings than giving their opinions. Teachers' roles were investigated. Giving encouragement, asking short and thought provoking questions and summarizing students' discussion were considered important for students' learning.
The study suggests

This article reports research undertaken as part of the curriculum development of a Master of Social Work programme at the University of Hong Kong. It was decided to switch four out of five core subjects to a problem based method of teaching and learning. Two student self-assessment measures were used to track learning skills acquisition and professional knowledge acquisition. The Problem Based Skills Learning Inventory covered problem solving, interpersonal and group skills, self-directed learning skills, self-assessment and knowledge building. The Competence and Aptitude in Social Work Scale included knowledge, social awareness, communication skills, leadership and self-concept. Results indicated that for most students there were significant gains over the course of the academic year in most areas. Serendipitous findings throw light on the issue of students' response to pure and hybrid PBL methods and the acceptability of this more active approach to learning to Chinese students.
[Copyright of Social Work Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02615470701456533]

Social work training programmes in China have increased rapidly in the last decade. Their growth mirrors the increase in social problems that China faces as its economy develops and the disparities between rich and poor multiply. There is little recognition either by the government or citizens of the profession of social work and so no clear idea of what it might achieve. Thus the development of social work in China faces many difficulties among which is a dearth of professionally qualified social workers to teach, and to supervise fieldwork placements. This paper discusses a collaborative MSW programme between the University of Hong Kong and Fudan University in Shanghai. It analyses the growth in professional identity of nine students in the programme undertaking their first supervised fieldwork placement in Shanghai. They were asked to write 500-word statements before and after their placement about their understanding of the role of social workers and their sense of professional identity. An analysis of these statements forms the basis of this article. The article addresses the issue of whether the construction of a professional identity will rest with members of the embryonic profession or with government bureaucrats largely concerned with the maintenance of stability and the management of social change.
[Copyright of Social Work Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02615470601049883]

Web-based leaching opens new opportunities for international collaboration in offering courses to students. It also allows students to attend courses offered by instructors situated outside their own country. This paper presents the lessons learned from one such course offered by instructors located in Texas and Hong Kong to students residing in Shanghai studying in a collaborative Master of Social Service Management Programme (MSSM) between HKU and Fudan University. The course, titled 'Information and Communication Technology for Social Service Organizations,' was offered twice in the past two years using an Internet-based class chat room supported by a course website and other web based tools. While the offering was successful based on student evaluations, many problems and issues had to be addressed. The course background, learning outcomes, lessons learned, and future recommendations are presented. In addition, an analysis of the Shanghai student IT applications is provided to help understand the current state of human services IT in China.
[Copyright of Journal of Technology in Human Services is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J017v25n01_04]

The University of Hong Kong collaborated with the Fudan University in Shanghai to offer a Master of Social Service Management (MSSM) part-time degree for students in Shanghai. While most courses of the program were taught by instructors sent from Hong Kong and other overseas countries on weekends and holidays, the "Information and Communication Technology in Social Service Organizations" course was offered online and supplemented by several face-to-face sessions. Instructors in Texas and Hong Kong collaborated and offered the course to the students in Shanghai. Teaching and learning online was a completely new experience for the students. Technical, social, cultural, and linguistic issues arose throughout the four months during which the course was offered. This paper shares the teaching experience and reflection of the instructors as well as the learning outcome and evaluation of the students.
[Copyright of Journal of Technology in Human Services is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J017v23n01_08 ]