The use of students' second language as the medium of instruction in schools is quite common in former colonies of Western countries. Schools in Hong Kong have had this kind of experience for more than 150 years. In this study, three factors, namely economic, political, and educational, are found to affect the choice of medium of instruction in schools. In particular, the economic factor is found to be the dominant one for most of the time, while the educational factor has the smallest influence. Due to the change of the above three factors and their interactions over time, there were more Chinese-medium secondary schools in the first 100 years (1842-1949) and then more English-medium secondary schools during the transitional period 1950-97. However, the political factor suddenly becomes dominant after the change of sovereignty--there is an abrupt drop in English-medium secondary schools after government intervention in 1998. Educators should be more vocal and involved in politics in order to push the Government to make decisions that are educationally right.
[Copyright of Language and Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500780408666891]

The paper reports a study for determining a suitable process for converting traditional surface science courses into case-based learning ones in two universities in Hong Kong. In this preparative study, a set of baseline data was collected on the current level of students' conceptual understanding and also students' perceptions about the traditional courses. The student data (from 38 students) came from examination results, the Study Process Questionnaire, a course-end survey and a focus group meeting; teachers also kept reflective journals. This set of baseline data revealed factors that both support and inhibit case-based learning. On the one hand, students demonstrate a motivation to be able to solve practical problems in this field; on the other hand, they show an unwillingness to take up a personal responsibility for learning. This finding strengthens our resolve to take into account students' expectations and beliefs in the implementation of case-based teaching and learning.
[Copyright of International Journal of Science Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500690500068618]

Student teachers' learning in the field experience is seen as being at the heart of their professional training in initial teacher education. This paper reports a qualitative case study of preservice student teachers' learning experiences in school placements in Hong Kong. A multi-case study was conducted in a concurrent teacher education programme for secondary school teachers, with the examination of seven student teachers' professional learning journeys over two years. Methods of data collection included interview, field observation, document analysis and audio-recording of supervisory conferences. Progressive focusing characterized the research process. Student teachers' professional learning is conceptualized as learning how to frame teaching situations. By exploring pre-training influences, the teacher education programme and the student teaching context, the paper seeks to examine the dynamics and complexity of learning how to frame teaching situations. It develops an integrated framework for understanding student teachers' professional learning as the dynamic interaction of the teaching self, knowledge construction in the teaching repertoire and the framing process. This framework can be used as an analytical tool for understanding the dynamics and complexities of student teachers' professional learning and exploring the contribution of coursework and fieldwork to such learning in initial teacher education. The findings of the study reveal that the strength of the teaching self, the richness of the teaching repertoire and the appropriate mix of challenge and support in the student teaching context are important variables that constitute student teachers' productive learning experiences. Implications for practices in initial teacher education are discussed.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02671520410001695425]

In the process of examining the recent and, especially, post-Handover, contributions that the Hong Kong Education Commission (EC) has made to policy concerning Continuing Education (CE) in the Special Administrative Region, the authors of this article were drawn into discussion of three underlying issues. These include the issue of conceptual clarity with regard to 'continuing education' and the operational implications of the local adoption of the fashionable worldwide mantra of 'lifelong learning'. They necessarily become involved in the need to distinguish between policy rhetoric, often employed in the form of Confucian-like exhortation, and practical applications of specific recommendations. They consider the extent to which the new polices have been implemented. While their analysis of policy process is, in an important sense, Hong Kong specific, it raises questions of international interest and concern, and this is probably most clearly manifested in the case study they offer of different arguments and proposals about the funding of CE.
[Copyright of Studies in Continuing Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0158037032000131529]

This paper reports the development of performance indicators for measuring primary and secondary students' affective and social outcomes of schooling. Psychometric properties as well as norms for the selected performance indicators for Hong Kong students were developed. The performance indicator system developed in this study has been subsequently used for school self‐evaluation and continuous self‐improvement in Hong Kong.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410500344266]