This paper reports the results of a study concerning the expectations for the transition from kindergarten to primary school amongst teachers, parents and children in Hong Kong. It probes the expectations that teachers and parents have about children's competence in five specific areas of child development thought to be essential for a smooth such transition, as well as children's competence in these different developmental areas and their performance upon the transition to primary school. The study's data were obtained through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations, and its results will serve as a reference for evaluation of existing transitional practices and the design of effective transition programmes in the local context. Children's voices and their observed performance during the transition period indicate that they have varied expectations of the transition. Parents, in contrast, have high expectations for their children's academic ability and self-discipline. Both primary school teachers and the parents of kindergartners rank pre-academic skills as the most important developmental area, whereas kindergarten teachers rank them as the least important. Most of the adult respondents in this study agree that a stronger connection amongst kindergartens, primary schools and parents would facilitate a smoother transition to primary school.
[Copyright of Early Child Development and Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2011.569543]

This research identifies a range of issues and factors which impact on the formation of initial expectations developed by local university students wishing to study for a foreign degree program in Hong Kong. Key factors were foreign university Internet sites, exhibitions, agents and associations, brochures and friends. This is one of the first times this kind of research has been undertaken relating to the delivery of foreign programs within the home country, as previous research has tended to focus on study abroad, where the student travels to the foreign country to undertake a degree program. The research also considers how expectations change over time, as students undertake their study for a foreign degree program in Hong Kong, and develops the concept of continuous formation of expectations whereby students mould change, rebuild and continually revisit their expectations of the university program as they undertake a wide range of subjects. This part of the research is quite new and indicates the volatile and changeable nature of the educational service encounter. Both parts of the research are of value not just in regard to the location of the data collection but potentially further afield as an indicator of formative factors regarding expectations and in regard to the concept of continuous formation of expectations.
[Copyright of Journal of Marketing for Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J050v14n01_01]