The importance of social interaction in a community of practice for promoting effective teacher learning is well established (Johnson & Golombek, ; Lave & Wenger, ). Research outlines the challenges language teachers experience in transitioning between teacher education programmes and the classroom, particularly regarding the theory-practice nexus, and emphasizes the professional community's key role in providing mentoring and support. In this regard, language teachers' experiences in transitioning from theoretically oriented language education master's programmes to the language classroom are underresearched. This study reports data gathered from 21 mainland Chinese participants transitioning from master's programmes in three locations (Hong Kong, Scotland, and China) to language classrooms in China. In line with other research on teacher education programmes, this study's findings suggest interesting common experiences among these new teachers regardless of the context where their studies took place, including a sense of isolation, a "sink-or-swim" phenomenon leading to the abandonment of theoretically grounded pedagogical beliefs in exchange for adherence to "safe" practice, confusion regarding the relationship between learning on university programmes and the practice of teaching, and weak self-efficacy as transitioning teachers face internal and external pressures. Implications and consequences are discussed in the context of the theory-practice nexus.
[Copyright of Tesol Quarterly is the property of Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.]

This article explores how the past mobilities of academics affect their current research output (and its multidisciplinarity). Five types of mobility are used simultaneously in the analysis. Field mobility and transnational educational mobility are associated with academics' educational path, whereas transnational job mobility, intra-sectoral job mobility and inter-sectoral job mobility refer to their career path. The analysis is based on a representative sample of academics based in Hong Kong and Macau. Results show that intra-sectoral job mobility (up to a threshold) and transnational job mobility positively affect research output and its multidisciplinarity, whereas inter-sectoral job mobility, field mobility and transnational educational mobility exert slight or no effect. Nested analyses of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and non-STEM academics as well as experienced and junior academics offer further insight into the roles of these mobilities. Impacts of mobile experience were stronger among junior than senior academics, and in STEM fields than non-STEM fields. The article discusses these findings along with the significance of considering mobilities rather than mobility when analysing academic trajectories and the determinants of academic research production.
[Copyright of Higher Education Quarterly is the property of Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12161 ]

This paper introduces a framework for providing beginning teachers with induction and mentoring support. The policy being put into practice in Hong Kong is adopted as a vehicle for facilitating beginning teachers' first year teaching and learning in a school specific context so as to ensure their smooth transition to classroom teachers and that they can develop 'threshold' competencies upon completion of a one year induction period.
[Copyright © International Association of Computer Science and Information Technology]

Education systems around the world need to recruit highly motivated individuals to become teachers and prepare professionally competent teacher education graduates to take up these broadened and deepened roles and responsibilities with a deep and lasting engagement to the profession. This article reports on a mixed-methods study that examines types of teaching motivation in relation to various facets of professional competence and planned engagement in future teaching. One hundred and thirty-two student teachers of a postgraduate diploma in education programme participated in the quantitative survey of whom seven were interviewed. The quantitative data analysis shows the positive association between 'intrinsic-altruistic motivation constellation' and selected facets of professional competence, with 'intrinsic-multifaceted and stimulating job nature' as the most distinctive type of teaching motivation. To complement the quantitative findings, the qualitative data analysis reveals two professional orientations of the 'intrinsic-altruistic motivation constellation', namely (1) student-centred orientation and (2) subject-centred orientation. In addition, three types of professional development aspirations are identified: 'classroom engaged careerists', 'highly engaged persisters' and 'pessimists'. The study provides insights into the design of appropriate ITE practices to support professional learning in the light of student teachers' motivations. It also suggests the importance of matching career opportunities and beginning teachers' professional development aspirations and supporting 'pessimists' in the face of the stringent job market.
[Copyright of Journal of Education for Teaching is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2015.1010875]

Debate over educational reform in many countries has addressed the question of how to attract and retain teachers. As part of a multiple case study that includes eight beginning English language teachers in Hong Kong, this article offers an in-depth analysis of the experiences of two participants, Christine and Samuel, during their initial year of full time teaching in Hong Kong schools. The data, collected during an entire academic year, suggests that Christine used her experiences of becoming a teacher to justify and reaffirm her determination to pursue a career within English language teaching. In contrast, Samuel's preliminary year of full-time teaching culminated in his decision to leave the teaching profession. A contribution of this study is to explore these very different experiences and outcomes using a framework of teacher identity construction. From this perspective, findings suggest that the participants' engagement in the practices and activities of teaching, their relations with colleagues, and their positioning within different discourses of teaching and learning by their schools as well as by the wider educational environment, shaped their decisions about whether to continue to pursue a teaching career. Implications for attracting and retaining teachers, as well as for future research, are discussed.
[Copyright of Australian Educational Researcher is the property of Australian Association for Research in Education. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13384-012-0067-7]

This article discusses the results of a qualitative study that aimed to explore how one group of preservice English language teachers in Hong Kong constructed their identities as teachers. Using in-depth interviews to gain a rich understanding of participants' teacher identity formation in practice and discourse, the paper examines the perspectives of six preservice teachers about teaching and teachers at the completion of their undergraduate teacher education program. In contrast to the theorization of teacher identity construction, the results suggest that the participants often held rigid views about teaching and how they saw themselves, and others, as teachers. The paper argues that this rigidity may lead to antagonistic relations between these preservice teachers and their more experienced colleagues as the participants move into teaching and explores the implications for challenging this rigidity within the context of teacher education programs. Implications for future research are also considered.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2011.602207]