Basing on document analysis and drawing insights from the author’s participation in the evaluation research project of the Pilot Project on Integration of Children with Special Needs in Ordinary Schools (1997-1999), this paper argues that preparing teachers for inclusive education is one of the urgent and prime tasks of teacher education in 21st century Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The first section points out that there is a gap between HKSAR school reality and the curriculum of teacher education. Increasingly placing mainland children and those with special educational needs in regular classroom offered by local pre-service teacher education institutions, and research findings show that the issue of integration/inclusion education has either been left out or not been given sufficient attention. The second section suggests that in order to bridge the gap we need to take a paradigm shift in current pre-service teacher education. Successful school integration implementation is subject to teachers’ understanding, attitude and knowledge of inclusive education. Otherwise, recruiting more schools in the integration project will only create more classroom frustrations and failure. The last section presents an inclusive curriculum proposal for teacher education in 21st century HKSAR.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

This article is based on a recently completed research project examining the school experiences of two student groups in Hong Kong: cross-border and newly arrived students from mainland China. The study represents a comparative case study of the school experiences of 18 students from six primary schools with a range of crossborder and mainland immigrant students. The overall objective of the empirical work was to examine the school experiences of the two student groups in Hong Kong from a student perspective. Specifically, the study aimed to find out: (a) their curriculum and social experiences in schools and their coping strategies in adapting to Hong Kong schooling; and (b) their perceptions of and sense of belonging within Hong Kong society. Research methods included student tracking and pre and post tracking indepth individual interviews. Implications for future educational policy of and provision for the two student groups will be offered.

The purpose of this study is to examine the current conditions of higher education services in three Asian markets and to explore effective market strategies and supportive government policies to further promote Hong Kong’s higher education in the region. It is evident from the findings that the visibility of Hong Kong’s higher education in these Asian markets was extremely low. The low visibility of Hong Kong’s higher education in the Asian region was due to a lack of concerted and coordinated effort between the Hong Kong government and higher education institutions in promoting their higher education. The study points to the need for more wide-ranging and coherent marketing strategies and government policies in order to attract the growing number of international students.
[Copyright © 2011, IGI Global.]

This paper explores how two student groups, namely cross-boundary (CBS) and newly arrived students (NAS) from mainland China are assimilated or integrated in the construction of identity in Hong Kong schools and society as a whole. Research methods include in-depth individual interviews with the target students and their parents, and the administration of a picture-sociometric and writing exercise to explore their views on cultural and national identity. The findings reveal that these students principally defined their identities with respect to the references: (1) their birthplace, (2) their place of residence, and (3) the answers given by their parents. Relatively, NAS are more certain about their Hong Kong identity than the CBS. In addition, Hong Kong schooling is found to be one of the key acculturative agents for cultural assimilation. Drawing on the findings of the qualitative study of the students’ school experiences and perceptions of their national identity, this paper discusses the differences and similarities of these two student groups in the process of identity construction.
[Copyright © 2010 The Korean Association for Multicultural Education.]

Celeste Yuen points out that with their ever increasing migrant populations, diversity is a pressing educational issue for Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. Teachers’ worldview and intercultural sensitivity link with school effectiveness. This paper presents nine case studies of student teachers with high, medium and low intercultural sensitivity from three teacher education institutions as measured by the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) questionnaire survey. An attempt is made to tease out the life factors that contribute to intercultural development, and implications for teacher education are discussed.

The formation of attitude towards gender roles begins at an early age and it is important for the education system to address the factors involved. Textbooks play an important role in local early childhood education settings. It is uncertain that the extent to which this issue has been addressed sufficiently. This paper discusses the depiction of gender roles in the thematic subject – Integrated Curriculum from Kindergartens 1 to 3. a questionnaire was distributed to 224 serving Kindergarten teachers attending the Certificate in Kindergarten Education Programme at the Hong Kong Institute of Education to determine the most commonly used publisher. A case study was employed to review the thematic textbooks published by the chosen publishers. Data collection methods included textbook content analysis and focused group teacher interviews. Implications and recommendations were made for kindergarten teachers, curriculum developers and teacher educators.