In the era of education reform in Hong Kong, in various government documents, different concepts and functions of assessment were introduced to the community (Education Commission, Sept, 2000; Curriculum Development Council, 2001). Assessment is proclaimed as an integral part of the education process. Formative assessment is stressed as a way to improve teaching and the learning of pupils. It takes place in the classrooms, and provides short term feedback to teachers so that learners' strengths and weaknesses in relation to their progression can be identified. Then teachers can use the feedback in planning what to do nest in order to enhance learning and to promote teaching effectiveness (Black, 1993). Thus, in the lessons, teachers can provide pupils with various learning activities in line with the inquiry approach, have more interaction with the pupils, and carry out different assessment tasks to evaluate individual pupils' knowledge and understanding, skills, as well as values and attitudes (Curriculum Development Council, 2002). The aim of this paper is to study the student teachers' implementation of formative assessment in local primary school classrooms. It is hoped that the present study will provide some insight for the practicing teachers when they plan to conduct formative assessment in General Studies lessons in order to enhance the learning of the pupils and promote the effectiveness of their own teaching. In response to the education reform, the researcher invited fifteen student teachers of the Postgraduate Diploma of Education (Full-time)(Primary) Programme to be co-researchers of the present study. They were to implement formative assessment in General Studies lessons during their teaching practice. They collected data and reflected on the implementation of formative assessment practice in their classroom teaching by writing weekly reflection reports, videotaping a lesson, interviewing their pupils and being interviewed by the researcher. When preparing

Since 2000, the Hong Kong Government has launched a series of education reform measures. Formative assessment is advocated as one of the measures to promote student learning and teaching effectiveness. The paper studied the implementation of formative assessment in General Studies classrooms by the student teachers during their teaching practice in local primary schools. The methodology included inviting the student teachers to be co-researchers, their writing weekly reflection reports, videotaping lessons, interview their students, and being interviewed by the researcher. Findings show that this educational measure cannot be implemented successfully by individual teacher. In order to implement authentic formative assessment, there should be educational change of the whole subject department, supported by the principal, school administration, parents and students.

This paper describes the outcome of a collaboration project, a science school-based curriculum development proje between the Hong Kong Institute of Education and five primary schools. The project was an attempt to address thre problems perceived by the teachers concerning primary science teaching including, lack of subject knowledge, lacki resources and feeling of insufficiency in facilitating pupils' learning. In addressing these problems, the project tea devised a number of strategies for the teaching of science based on a constructivist view of learning and supported teachers through a school-based curriculum development model. Strategies used include: designing a series of teachir packages to lessen the burden of teaching in terms of time and resources constraints; and organizing school-bas workshops to facilitate professional discussion and reflection on teaching practices. This paper describes the variourj phases of the school-based curriculum development project including the planning, implementation and evaluation of I project. The effectiveness of the project in terms of professional interaction and application of the teaching kit examined by analyzing the interview responses. The findings of the project provide evidence that there were improvements in the learning and teaching of science in primary classrooms. Finally, drawing on the findings, the paper introduces ways of improving the project and future directions of research.

Values education is important in the General Studies curriculum of Hong Kong. Emphasis has been placed on pupils' affective development including strengthening elements related to making good use of resources and environmental conservation. Teachers are presumed to be able to transform subject disciplinary knowledge into forms that are comprehensible to their pupils. In dealing with values-based topics in the General Studies curriculum, however, teachers often assume that their ways of seeing the content is the same as those of their pupils and tend to prescribe what pupils should or should not do without developing with them a clear rationale. In Learning Study, teacher professional learning is closely interwoven with pupil learning. It uses an action research methodology which is grounded in the Theory of Variation. This paper presents a Learning Study of six General Studies teachers who worked together to develop a series of research lessons on "Saving electricity" at Primary 3 level in Hong Kong. A particular focus will be placed on examining teachers' professional development through engaging in professional dialogue and working in cycles in their research lessons to improve teaching and learning in dealing with this value-based topic.

Bringing a coach or coaches into a school to provide support is not entirely a new idea in Hong Kong. In local schools there is increased emphasis on coaching – a process whereby teacher trainers provide instructional support, professional development opportunities, feedback, and materials to classroom teachers – as a means to improve instruction and strengthen the competence of teachers. This paper reports on a pilot study which involved two academic staff from the Hong Kong Institute of Education and teachers of English in a local primary school to work together to enable teacher professional development. The paper reports a sub-set of the findings of a study which aims at identifying a coaching model for English teachers' professional development, and at developing a school-based language teaching curriculum development framework pilot school using a school-based language teaching curriculum development framework piloted in earlier research projects by the investigators. Data were collected through pre-, while- and post-questionnaire surveys, focus groups interviews, and lesson observations. The findings echo earlier research that modeling instruction in individual classrooms, rather than just the provision of group-focused activities, is most likely to result in modifications in instructional practices. It is also argued that in addition to teachers' exposure to new teaching materials, continuous joint professional discourse between coaches and teachers about how to use the materials would also lead to changes in teachers' instructional goals and practices. Implications for incorporating the use of coaches into school improvement plans for optimum results will also be discussed.

Schön's notion of artistry of professional practice as defined in the notion of 'framing' offers a way to capture an essential process of the practitioner's learning in practice in professional development. In the process of interacting with the practical situation, the practitioner has to rely on his/her past experience and understanding to experimentally impose meaning on the situation in action (Furlong et al, 1988). This involves 'a constant proves of interpretation, action, reflection and adjustment' (ibid: 123) in action-learning cycles, which is important to teachers' development of expertise (Pang, 2005). Applying such a notion of teaching to understand the processes provided in the action-learning cycles inherent in the design of Learning Study carried out in Hong Kong, this paper aims to report on a Learning Study carried out in the context of English language teaching at primary level, in which four primary ELT teachers were involved in an Institute-school collaboration project. In the process of the Learning Study which consisted of 10 to 12 meetings, the teachers involved and the researcher contributed in a collaborative manner their experiences and understandings to the framing of the lesson in focus. While reporting on the stages of the Learning Study, and the effectiveness of learning of the topic in focus, the paper will focus particularly on how the teachers had benefited in such a process of collective framing in addressing the pedagogical problem in focus. Implications will be drawn on the use of Learning Study as a tool for expertise development in teaching.