Civic education is considered as a way to nurture good citizens who work to develop the polity. However, in real politics, education often mirrors instead of shaping the political development. Reviewing civic education of Hong Kong from a historical development perspective, this article explains that civic education has for long been used a tool of governance by the political regimes. This was true not only during the days of colonial rule but is also that after the reversion of sovereignty in 1997. Manipulating civic education as a tool of governance can have far-reaching consequence. In the case of Hong Kong’s civic education, the problems due to neglect, deliberate suppression, and twisting around in different historical phases created the problem for the future. Hong Kong’s civic education is now stuck in a quagmire, and preparing young people to face the sociopolitical challenges becomes increasingly difficult. Finally, this article makes suggestions for reforming civic education in Hong Kong. To conduct this study, a mixed methodology was adopted which comprised both literature review and qualitative interviews with civic education teachers and teachers of the subject Liberal Studies. Selective discourses of the teachers are reported to inform the understanding of the discussion.
[Copyright © 2016 The Author(s).]

The survey compared the scores of 159 (118 females) randomly selected Brunei and Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region) student teachers on the New General Self-efficacy Scale (NGSS); Self-efficacy in Implementing Inclusive Practices Scale (SIIPS); Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns about Inclusive Education Scale (SACIES); and Inclusive Classroom Setting Scale (ICSS). The scales were reliable and valid for use with participants in both countries. Females scored significantly higher on NGSS than male counterparts. In addition, Brunei participants scored significantly higher on NGSS and SACIES than Hong Kong peers. Furthermore, the samples' scores differed significantly on NGSS and SACIES by participants' educational level with A-Level trainees scoring highest. Moreover, the majority of the participants generally scored high on all the scales. However, Two-Way ANOVA revealed only one independent variable (ICSS) with a significant main effect on SIIPS, the dependent variable. Also only one lower-order interaction variable (gender and educational level) had a significant joint effect on the dependent variable, SIIPS. Overall, the results indicate a need to increase self-efficacy in males and Hong Kong students. Extra attention and interventions ought to be directed to SACIES and ICSS variables. Mixed-methods research was recommended to gain more comprehensive insights.
[Copyright of Asian Social Science is the property of Canadian Center of Science and Education. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
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Globally, vocational and lifelong education reform now places greater stress on employability skills rather than only simple technical skills. This study undertakes a thorough review of the vocational education curriculum offered at one institution in Hong Kong so as to explore personal development opportunities that support the development of skills useful to both employability and broader personal development. Data was collected from multiple sources, including documents, questionnaires and interviews: a range of rich sources from different perspectives that explore the truth of students' personal development opportunities. The study findings indicate that personal development opportunities at the pilot institution are ineffective and a review of existing personal development training is recommended. More innovative new learning strategies should be introduced in and out of class activities to facilitate personal development for students. This study offers a practical guide regarding personal development for educators, and formulates an active learning model to support people development.<
[Copyright of International Education Studies is the property of Canadian Center of Science and Education.
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This article contains an analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data about the perception of both parents and school personnel on parents' participation at different levels of school activities. Findings indicated that most of the school personnel demonstrated unwelcome attitudes towards parent involvement and parents themselves did not like to become school managers either. Both of them expressed the intention of separate responsibilities in school management. It is recommended that schools should develop a school-based strategy to promote home-school cooperation. Besides, there is a need to establish parent schools to educate parents in their rights and responsibilities in participating in school education.
[Copyright of School Effectiveness and School Improvement is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1076/sesi.10.4.551.3488]

Employing an ethnographic study approach, the author examined the second-language lecture comprehension of 30 first-year Teaching-English-as a-Second-Language (TESL) Chinese students in Hong Kong.