High-quality caregiver-child relationships are critical to healthy development, including the acquisition of language and literacy skills. However, their potential benefits to early mathematical development and its underlying mechanisms have been minimally explored. In view that language and literacy development play prominent roles in mathematical development, this study investigated whether very young children's relationship quality with parents and teachers were linked with their mathematical ability through language and literacy abilities. One hundred and thirty two-year-olds from pre-nursery classes in Hong Kong were tested on their early academic abilities. Furthermore, their parents and teachers evaluated on questionnaires the quality of their relationships with the children. Results of path analyses indicated that after controlling for children's age, parent-child closeness was associated with children's mathematical ability via language ability. Teacher-child closeness had a direct link to children's mathematical ability, as well as indirect links through language and literacy abilities. Parent-child conflict and teacher-child conflict had neither direct nor indirect relations with children's mathematical ability. These results suggest that mathematical development is interwoven with language and literacy development beginning in the early years. Also, parents and teachers should be reminded the importance of building close and affectionate relationships with very young children when nurturing the foundation for academic development. Copyright © 2023 Springer.

Purpose: This research is an interview-based study that captures the academics' perspectives toward the planning and design of an interdisciplinary General Education Curriculum for undergraduate students in the Chinese context, using the Common Core Curriculum at the University of Hong Kong as a case study. Design/Approach/Methods: A total of 28 academics with various levels of academic ranking, disciplinary context, proven teaching excellence, and research productivities were individually invited for and consented to a semi-structured and face-to-face interview. Findings: This article suggests four fundamental and interrelated dimensions for consideration when structuring an interdisciplinary General Education Curriculum, namely, how to design, what is worth learning, how to learn and teach, and how to know students have learned. It is suggested that the ideal curriculum should remain coherent and coordinated, broad and balanced, as well as open and flexible, ensuring the capture of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, with the facilitation of active, authentic, and contextualized pedagogies and assessments. Originality/Value: This article has the potential of providing insight for policymakers and educators around the world to better structure an interdisciplinary General Education Curriculum by creating an overall springboard for future discussion. They can also integrate these evidence-based elements and strategies into their everyday practices. Copyright © 2023 SAGE Publications.

The onset of COVID required many libraries to re-imagine how they conducted their services. It also identified needs and gaps in the delivery of these services to the community. In response to changes such as extended lockdowns and the resultant economic difficulties and the wider need for digital literacy skills, Hong Kong SKH Ming Hua Theological College Library (MH College) established an international collaboration to develop and deliver online tours/ talks as a library skills program with librarians, faculty, students, and professionals in Hong Kong, Japan and Australia. The overall aims of this initiative were to provide an online library skills program for education, leisure and to make the value of librarians and libraries visible to stakeholders during the pandemic to ensure the upkeep of library resources, budgeting and staffing. Through partnerships with key stakeholders and the use of a variety of innovative IT tools, real-time online activities were conducted in three languages (English, Chinese and Japanese) to an internationally distributed audience. This paper will outline the background and organisation of the program, its design and discuss the lessons learned and implications for practice of the strategies used in the program. Copyright © 2023 Taylor & Francis.

We examine teacher induction programs through a systematic review of existing international literature from 2012 to 2022. Three of the most comprehensive online databases for educational research (Education Research Complete, ERIC EBSCO, ScienceDirect) were considered for the search, which resulted in eight documents being retrieved and considered in the analysis. We also review teacher induction programs in six jurisdictions (Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Singapore, South Korea) with consistently high-performing students on the PISA reading, mathematics, and science assessments over the past decade, summarize teacher induction best practices identified in prior international comparison studies, and compare these results with induction programs in jurisdictions with low-performing students on these same assessments. Finally, we summarize our results, discuss limitations in our findings, and identify ideas for further and future research. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier.

Teachers play a critical role in facilitating the career and life planning of secondary school students. This paper describes the development of the Career-Related Teacher Support Scale (Hong Kong Secondary Students Form). Based on data obtained from 493 students in Hong Kong, five types of career-related teacher support were identified with the most important form of support being teachers' knowledge about the world of work and study path requirements. A correlation model yielded the best fit to the data. No variance in response pattern appeared across genders, and the new scale was found to have good validity and reliability. Copyright © 2023 Springer.

This paper explores how mobility is experienced differentially in international education, through a comparison of two ostensibly very distinct student groups. Both groups have non-UK citizenship and have studied, or are studying, for a British higher education degree – one in the UK, the other in Hong Kong. Through a dual focus on the materialities and mobilities within international higher education, we consider the extent to which physical mobility across borders is a defining feature of the experiences and outcomes of those engaging in international education. We argue that combining perspectives of mobilities and materialities challenges simplistic dichotomies of im/mobility amongst students and unsettles the boundaries between onshore and offshore international education. Our paper provides a more granular and nuanced understanding of the relationship between im/mobility, international higher education and social reproduction. Copyright © 2023 Taylor & Francis.

This comparative study investigated the associations between instructional practices and students' reading performance among 10 top performing regions that participated in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018. A nationally representative sample consisting of 80,016 15-year-old students from 5 Asian regions (B-S-J-Z [China], Singapore, Macao, Hong Kong, and Korea) and 5 Western regions (Estonia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, and Poland) were included. A secondary analysis of PISA survey and assessment data was conducted. T test and ANOVA analyses revealed systematic differences in instructional practices of the 10 regions. B-S-J-Z (China) had significantly higher levels of teacher support, teacher-directed instruction, and teacher stimulation than the other sample regions. Asian regions tended to have higher levels of teacher support, teacher-directed instruction, teacher feedback, adaptive instruction, and teacher enthusiasm compared with Western regions, although variations were also found within Asian regions or within Western regions. Hierarchical linear regression (HLR) analyses indicated that reading performance was positively predicted by teacher support, adaptive instruction, teacher stimulation, and teacher enthusiasm, but negatively predicted by teacher-directed instruction and teacher feedback. This study sheds light on the effective instructional practices for optimizing students' reading performance across different cultural contexts. Copyright © 2023 Springer Nature.

After the government of Hong Kong branded Hong Kong as "Asia's World City," there has been more interest in addressing the needs of multicultural education in the city. This is also the intent of this study, which discusses the impact of a sports program that involves a South Asian sport called kabaddi on intercultural competence. The program was conducted in a multicultural setting in secondary schools and social communities with participants of different ethnic backgrounds. These participants included students, school teachers and kabaddi coaches. Four schools were purposefully selected, and the data collection methods comprised interviews and participant observation. The findings of the study revealed that the program which adopted the approach of teaching games for understanding (TGfU) could enhance the intercultural competence of both Chinese and South Asian students. The students gained new knowledge about heritage/minority cultures, learned to appreciate them, and developed bonding and bridging social capital. The implications of this study validate the feasibility and merit of integrating intercultural education into physical education. However, it is important to identify the ethnic composition and relations of the participants and devise a suitable pedagogy and curriculum when implementing the program for optimal results. Copyright © 2023 Taylor & Francis.

Due to the varied social inequities, the pandemic has prompted unprecedented attention to the social divides in learning gains via online/blended learning. It has been identified that approximately 27,000 Chinese cross-border students live on the Mainland but attend Hong Kong schools every day. The pandemic has restricted the passage of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong border, and these students suffer greatly as they may still be forced to attend online lessons at home for over two years, even if schools return to face-to-face teaching. This study is a 2-year longitudinal case study with a purposeful sampling of a primary school that has over 70% of Chinese cross-border students. A mixed-methods approach was adopted to examine students' online learning experiences via teachers' interviews. Regarding their learning challenges, 35 students were invited to complete a 5-point Online Self-regulated Learning Questionnaire (OSLQ) and an open-ended opinion survey, which was then triangulated with teachers' feedback. First, this study has identified three major challenges that cross-border students suffer the most in online learning: self-regulation strategies, technical challenges, and social interaction. Second, several teaching strategies have been found to offer additional support (e.g., after-school classes and learning centers in Shenzhen) for cross-border students to sustain their online learning and alleviate their learning challenges. Based on these findings, this study contributes to documenting the learning challenges for cross-border students during the pandemic, which provides insights for other schools to facilitate cross-border education and develop appropriate online learning strategies for cross-border students. Copyright © 2023 International Forum of Educational Technology & Society.

Purpose: Libraries worldwide, including Hong Kong, increasingly use social media tools to introduce and promote their services and resources to users. Instagram, in particular, is used to target younger users. This study investigates the effectiveness of Instagram in promoting library services and university students' perceptions of the value of Instagram as a learning support tool. Design/methodology/approach: A major academic library in Hong Kong was chosen for this study. Library users' habits, perceptions, preferences, and views on Instagram's effectiveness as a learning support tool were compared in two age groups. The data were collected using a survey based on the 5E Instructional Model. Findings: Despite the significantly higher frequency of Instagram use by younger students, the results showed that Instagram was probably an ineffective promotion platform for either age group because of low user engagement, relatively neutral perception of Instagram as a learning support tool, and notably low user acceptance of Instagram as a promotional tool. Originality/value: Studies of student perspectives on various social media tools have increased; however, few have explored the use of Instagram, especially in Hong Kong or Asia. This study provides researchers and librarians with practical insights into current Instagram users' engagement, perceptions, and preferences and their view of its effectiveness as a learning support tool. The study also provides suggestions for improving the current situation. Copyright © 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited.