New teachers enter schools with already established beliefs about principals.This paper reports on the nature and primary influences on what a group of Hong Kong pre-service teacher participants believe about principals. The nature of beliefs reflect underlying personal constructs that relate to interpersonal communication and management. Influences include past school principals, school leaders and parents. Beliefs were attained using a modified personal construct interview and analyses of participant stories. Findings highlight a close association between the leadership/management style of the principal whom participants would like to beand mothers, and the interpersonal behaviour of fathers and the principal whom participants would not like to be. The authors argue that reforms are needed in the course design of teacher education, teacher induction and programmes of professional development for principals. These reforms must address the influence personal history has on an individual's thinking about teaching, interpersonal communication and leadership - a reform process that begins with teacher educators and principals reframing their beliefs and associated practices.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0013188011040931]

During 2001-2002 the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong undertook a large-scale evaluation of the school-university partnership scheme. As part of this study, all mentors were asked how, if at all, the mentoring process had enhanced their own professional development. An open-response questionnaire was administered with a selection of follow-up interviews. About 70% of the mentors claimed that they had benefited professionally from mentoring. Here we analyse mentors' responses and from them propose four constructs that we suggest lead to professional development, namely: learning through self-reflection, learning from student teachers, learning through mutual collaboration, and learning from university tutors. Of these, the first appears to be the most significant.
[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/10.1080/02607470500043532]

The paper reports a study that aims to compare Hong Kong student teachers' perceptions of the aims and objectives of their teacher education courses with the aims and objectives stated in the official course prescriptions. The results suggest that the two do not align because the students view education as a product and fail to recognize the importance of the overall education process.

The author describes in this paper the initial and inservice education of Hong Kong teachers, and explores how teacher education can be improved in the changing era. The author points out that, according to the Basic Law, Hong Kong will not dispose of the existing educational system, but will build and continue on it after returning to China in 1997. Issues on traditional focus on initial education and on developing teachers' capabilities in implementing the centrally developed curricula are discussed.

This paper shares with readers the findings of a study that was set in the context of a school curriculum initiative on task-based instruction. The study examined 1) the understanding and decision-making of teachers teaching English as a second language about language learning and classroom task preparation, 2) the difference in task interpretation among elementary and secondary teachers, and 3) the factors influencing interpretations. A total of 114 secondary and primary teachers of English attending an in-service teacher education program on the new curriculum were surveyed and interviewed. Findings indicate that the teachers had a tacit understanding of how to develop and adapt a task description for classroom instructional use.