Recent literature has revealed that middle leaders play an important role in school reforms. School middle leaders are the backbone of the school organization. Without their assistance, it is difficult for principals to face the challenges of the reforms and run their schools efficiently and effectively. The implementation of school-based management in Hong Kong, however, has increased the workload of middle leaders. They need to lead groups of teachers to achieve tasks assigned by principals or decided by school-based councils. There is an increasing need of their leadership in schools. A great demand for providing leadership training for middle leaders has emerged. Since 2002, a group of scholars and principals have initiated and tried out different leadership training projects for primary school middle leaders in Hong Kong. Over 500 middle leaders from about 200 primary schools have been trained. The projects can be categorized into mainly three modes of training, namely, short-term mode, long-term mode and mixed mode. Each mode has its strengths and limitations. The short-term mode (five days) delivered theories and skills in management and leadership through talks and workshops. The long-term mode (12 months) had four stages: preparation, collaborative action learning, try-out and debriefing stages. The mixed mode carried key elements of the short-term mode and the long-term mode. This article reports the initiation and implementation of these projects. The structural and conceptual frameworks of the modes will be highlighted. A comparison of the three modes in terms of aims, contents, learning modes, lengths of time, resources will be provided. Results of the evaluation of the projects will be analyzed. The effectiveness of the three modes of middle leader training will be discussed and suggestions will be made.

Student teachers are concerned with discipline as in-service teachers do. The study aims to explore their knowledge of classroom discipline. The study is qualitative, descriptive and narrative in nature. The research method of unstructured interviews was employed to capture their professional knowledge of classroom discipline. Ten student teachers from Hong Kong were involved. Throughout the two-month period of their teaching practicum in Hong Kong secondary schools, three interviews for each participant were conducted. The study illuminates the classroom experience of student teachers and reveals that they found difficult to transfer concepts and skills mastered during their training to the classroom. Further, with the exploration of the convictions and meanings that have arisen from their experience, the initial findings enhance our understanding of their needs regarding classroom discipline. The implications to the professional development, future studies into discipline, and the promotion of positive classroom discipline strategies will be given.