In this mixed methods study, the authors explored differences and similarities in beliefs about death and dying as well as end-of-life care preferences among social work students in Hong Kong and the United States. A convenience sample of 176 social work students from Hong Kong and 58 from the United States was recruited to complete a quantitative questionnaire with three open-ended questions. Findings revealed differences as well as similarities in beliefs about death and dying and that a larger proportion of Hong Kong students as compared to U.S. students preferred curative rather than palliative care. Implications for social work education and hospice practice in both countries include the need for social work student and practitioner self-awareness in order to prepare for culturally competent practice and policies that are relevant across cultures.
[Copyright of Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15524256.2010.529021 ]

With a growing awareness of the importance of early childhood education, the governments of Hong Kong and England have both increased investment through providing fee assistance to parents for buying services and providing funding to providers for offering 'free' places, respectively. Alongside the increased funding of early childhood education, a heightened interest in the quality of early years settings has arisen. This paper aims to develop a framework for comparative studies by addressing the similarities and differences in quality improvement of both systems. Three key issues are discussed: relevance of the quality criteria for assessment, interpretations of the quality improvement mechanism and its use in guiding practice, and the influence of contextual factors in terms of stakeholders' views of the quality process. It is argued that these key issues are fundamental to a framework for understanding different sociocultural contexts and dynamics in shaping the quality improvement of early childhood education.
[Copyright of International Journal of Early Years Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09669760.2010.524058]

Past research has tended to ignore the emergence or existence of 'middle zone' varieties such as topolects or regiolects. In addition, attitudinal dynamics have received little attention, including their contribution towards the re-evaluation of the status of language varieties. Regarding the status of Cantonese, linguistic, political and cultural considerations are contradictory; the speakers themselves are widely held to believe that it is a dialect, but no objective surveys have ever been undertaken. This study reports on a comparative study of attitudes towards the status of Hong Kong Cantonese held by three groups of Chinese: 53 Hong Kong Cantonese speakers; 18 Mainland Chinese Cantonese speakers; and 72 Mainland Chinese Putonghua speakers. Bell's Sociolinguistic Typology was used as the framework for an open-ended questionnaire, supplemented by a Magnitude Continuum (an unmarked language-dialect scale). The varied perspectives held by each group can be traced to their different political and linguistic situations, which touch issues of identity. Results confirm that Cantonese would more accurately be classified as an emerging mid-zone variety. This has implications for short-term language planning, especially in the education system, and the long-term autonomy and survival of Cantonese.
[Copyright of Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2010.509507]

Concerning the issue of taking up new roles for principals in School-based Management (SBM) in Hong Kong, I used a comparative approach in document analysis in the study. Countries chosen for comparison were Australia (Victoria), England & Wales, Singapore, and Hong Kong. They were comparable because they have similar configuration of education systems and they had SBM. Based on the discussion of G. M. Crow about the role conception that determines the enactment of a social role this dissertation adopted his framework for understanding role change. Here it argued that before taking up a new role there is a new context for the role occupant for his (her) new perception of the role he (she) has to consider assuming. Thus new contexts of different countries created by the implementation of SBM at the school level are compared through the framework of role conception content as which is under the influences of the interaction of policy elements of SBM, the profession of principalship, and the organizational factors.
From the comparison the new context of SBM in Hong Kong secondary schools for veteran principals could be projected for it is similar to other places although she has her uniqueness. Based on the comparison the four-facet of principalship (strategic leadership, organizational leadership, instructional leadership, and the culture ethics and law leadership) advocated by the policy in Hong Kong for role change was evaluated. It was concluded that it would not be optimistic about taking up these dimensions of new role for the veteran principals due to the new context created by SBM, except the organizational leadership, which might be enhanced. Any success of the new four-facet role taking is circumstantial, not directly related to the implementation of SBM.

Science is no longer taught as a separate primary subject in Hong Kong after the implementation of General Studies (GS), which integrated three disciplines, viz., Primary Science, Social Studies and Health Education. Science achievements of 333 fourth-grade pupils were compared with results of past Hong Kong pupils participating in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The findings revealed that the GS Curriculum did not produce better or worse overall results of pupils' science knowledge than the previous Primary Science Curriculum in Hong Kong.
現行香港的小學常識科課程把科學科、社會科及健康教育科綜合起來。常識科推行後，在香港的小學課程中再沒有獨立的科學科科目。本文將333 位小四學生的科學成績和『第三屆國際數學與科學研究』(TIMSS)的結果作比較，發現以常識科模式學習科學，學生的科學成績與從前以獨立科學科學習科學之整體成績相若
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]