Despite a plethora of studies on how to teach critical thinking (CT) in different subject classrooms, there is limited research on how teachers foster their CT and learn to teach CT through pre-service teacher education. Such a gap gives impetus to the present study, which seeks to examine to what extent and how a group of student teachers are prepared to become CT-oriented teachers in a Hong Kong-based pre-service language teacher education programme. Adopting a qualitative research approach and informed by a tripartite conceptual framework (i.e. coverage, coherence, and applicability), the study explored student teachers’ perceptions and experiences via in-depth interviews and relevant documents, supplemented by data gathered from language teacher educators in the programme. The findings reveal a rich yet unbalanced coverage of CT instruction, the transferability of CT learning to its teaching, as well as the rhetoric-reality gap in developing CT-related pedagogy in the programme. In light of the findings, practical implications at classroom and curricula levels are drawn to facilitate the integration of CT into teacher education programmes. © 2023 Informa UK Limited.

The Government of India’s National Policy of Education 2020 stipulates that in the following five years all stand-alone teacher education colleges will be required to convert to multidisciplinary higher education institutions. This calls for a complete overhaul of the country’s vast, diverse, and age-old system of teacher preparation. Evidence-based policy implementation is thus the need of the hour. This chapter attempts to aid the process by presenting insights from a comparative education research on pre-service teacher education (PSTE) of secondary school teachers at stand-alone teacher education institutions (TEIs) in the Indian city of Mumbai and university-based teacher education in the Chinese city of Hong Kong. Documentary sources, field visits, and 57 interviews form the basis of the findings. The dimensions for comparison include academic freedom and autonomy; pathways to PSTE; linkages of teacher education providers; and role and working conditions of teacher educators. The chapter deduces the core differences in teacher education at stand-alone TEIs vis-à-vis that at a university and draws out implications of shutting down the former. It concludes by laying down a road map for the effective universitization of teacher education in India that will result in genuinely improving teacher quality. Copyright © 2021 Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Equipping with digital literacy and skills related to the latest digital technologies and integrating the new contents into the conventional curricula have been in high demand in recent years. Despite the potential educational benefits addressed by scholars, many pre-service teacher education programs in visual arts still have not established a revised curriculum which is designed to strategically integrate the new digital tools going beyond screen-based multimedia. This exploratory case study was conducted in a pre-service teacher program in visual arts in Hong Kong to measure the effect of 3D modeling software and digital fabrication technologies in developing creativity and problem-solving skills. The participants learned fundamental design theories, digital and physical crafting skills. Then, they were asked to create a functional design for daily life with a 3D prototype using digital technologies and hand-craft skills. The results of this study provide evidence for potential advantages in using 3D digital technologies both in virtual and physical dimensions. Despite the steep learning curve in learning 3D modeling software for the first few lessons, the participants’ level of motivation and engagement increased gradually. The participants’ response revealed that an understanding how things are made to work functionally helped them develop problem-solving skills and expanded the scope of creativity. The shortcomings such as going beyond technical tooling, equipping with sufficient devices and lack of resources for further application were addressed. Copyright © 2019 UCC March. All rights reserved.

This paper reports the effect of Learning Study module on developing the teaching competency of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong. Learning Study module is a research based teacher training course that aims to improve pre-service teachers’ lesson preparation skills and their teaching competency. The module is offered for all Year Two students in the Bachelor of Education programme of the Hong Kong Institute of Education. It comprises a series of lectures, consultation meetings and teaching practices that set the theoretical framework for conducting Learning Study. Activities are organized in such a way that pre-service teachers can practice argumentation, decision making and justification while investigating and solving pedagogical problems. This study aims to validate a theoretical model for exploring the critical successful factors of the Learning Study module for nurturing pre-service teacher’s reflective competency and lesson preparation skills through a quasi-experiment design. 341 preservice teachers took part in a questionnaire survey. A structural equation model was applied to explore the relationships. Lesson analysis, framework for conducting Learning Study, consultation on lesson design and teaching, lesson implementation and peer observation in the teaching practices are identified to be the critical successful factors for developing lesson preparation skills, teaching competency and reflective experiences of the pre-service teachers.

This study aims to explore the relationship between the supporting factors and learning outcomes of a teaching practicum model for an initial teacher education programme in Hong Kong. Identifying the predictive relationships of the supporting factors for pre-service teachers’ teaching practicum and their learning outcome could help promoting the quality of the programme. There were 229 pre-service teachers participated to a questionnaire survey of a quasi-experimental design. Confirmatory factor analysis and reliability test were used to confirm the constructed validity and reliability of the survey instrument. A Structural Equation Model was applied to explore the predictive relationship between the supporting factors and their learning outcomes. Results show that campus-based courses, school mentor support and pre-service teacher’s self-efficacy were identified to be the supporting factors for their learning outcomes which include instructional design, managing learning activities and assessment. Strengthening school partnerships, providing mentor training and enhancing the element of assessment for learning in campus based course are recommended to the teacher education programme.

This paper aims to examine how Lesson Study of an initial teacher education course develops the instructional design competency of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong. Lesson Study is a collaborative action research approach for developing teacher professional competency. This study assesses the effectiveness of the Lesson Study course conducted in a teacher education institute that based on a quasi-experimental design. There were 341 pre-service teachers participated to a questionnaire survey. Confirmatory factor analysis and reliability test were used to confirm the constructed validity and reliability of the survey instrument. Canonical correlation was applied to explore the relationship between the approaches of their learning process and their learning outcomes. Results show that action research tutorials and collaborative practice are predictors of their instructional design skills and teaching competency. This paper discusses the critical success factors and the potential for using Lesson Study as a model to help pre-service teachers develop their teaching competency.
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Liberal Studies will be a core subject in the new senior secondary curriculum to be implemented in 2009 in Hong Kong. The subject is very new to many pre-service and serving teachers who will be taking up teaching in this subject specialty. The present study is intended to be an exploratory one, with the aim of learning about how pre-service teachers majoring in Liberal Studies in a Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme offered by a local university make decisions when planning for lessons in the subject. The findings show that three factors played a key role in these teachers’ instructional decision making – disciplinary backgrounds, curriculum considerations, and considerations of how to represent knowledge for students. The findings will contribute to an understanding of the professional learning needs of Liberal Studies teachers.