The general university requirements (GUR) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is an integral part of the new 4-year undergraduate curriculum. To evaluate GUR, a longitudinal case study involving 42 cases from different faculties/schools was conducted, with several interviews conducted with the informants over time. The present article is to report the findings of the second year evaluation. Three major observations on students' views about the effectiveness of GUR study were generated from the study, including 1) broadened horizons; 2) increased awareness of the connection between GUR study and all-round development and 3) urge of linking GUR components with one's profession. The longitudinal case study findings suggest that students generally had fruitful learning experiences in GUR study. This study helps to paint a more complete picture of students' views toward GUR and their personal development.
[Copyright of International Journal of Child and Adolescent Health is the property of Nova Science Publishers, Inc.]

課程研究範式一直備受學者關注。在這一問題上，一些學者建議應綜合運用量性課程研究範式和質性課程研究範式，以彌補單一課程研究範式的不足。本文旨在探討整合兩種課程研究範式的建議，同時提出整合時必須關注的事項。在探討這一建議之前，本文首先簡介不同的課程範式，並分析量性和質性研究範式的差異。本文對整合兩種課程研究範式的探討圍繞三方面展開：（1）質性和量性本質的綜合；（2）建構實在論的可行性；（3）研究內容的性質。筆者認為，整合兩種課程研究範式極具吸引力，但是卻難於處理基本哲理的差異。The paradigms of curriculum research have been the major concern of many researchers. Some researchers suggest the integration of quantitative and qualitative curriculum research paradigms for supplementing each other. This article aims at discussing the suggestion on their integration. First, the article gives a brief introduction of curriculum paradigms, and analyzes the differences between quantitative and qualitative research paradigms. Then, it will discuss the integration of the two research paradigms in three aspects: (a) integrating the essence of qualitative and quantitative research; (b) the feasibility of constructive realism; and (c) the nature of research content. The article concludes that it is an attractive attempt to integrate the two paradigms, but it is hard to deal with the differences between their basic philosophies. Copyright © 2012 香港中文大學 CUHK .

This study investigated the conceptualization of children's socioemotional competence among parents and teachers of preschool children in Hong Kong, China. Focus groups were conducted with 16 parents and 18 teachers from three preschools. Thematic content analysis revealed that, reflecting the cultural as well as contextual characteristics of Hong Kong, parents and teachers expected socioemotionally competent children to master skills in emotion understanding, emotion expressivity, emotion regulation, relationship building, conflict management, and inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. There was diversity within parents' and teachers' interpretations of the characteristics of emotionally regulated and socially skilled children. Findings highlighted the ecosystemic nature of societal ideas about children's developmental competence, demonstrated the utility of qualitative research in exploring these ideas in culturally sensitive manners, and called for the mobilization of parents and teachers as research-informed scaffolders of holistic development of children. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

This paper builds on Whitchurch's notion of the "blended professional" which aims to examine how mixed professional activity affects professional administrators and managers' identity disposition in universities in Hong Kong. In response to complex missions and demands of contemporary higher education globally, diverse projected-oriented professional managers have emerged in universities and are dedicated to a wide range of short- and long-term funded projects. Certainly, Hong Kong is no exception. The distinction between academic and non-academic staff has become less prominent for these managers who work across and between university functions. Yet, amongst discussions, Hong Kong--even in Asian Country--has received scant attention. By drawing empirical data from three professional managers currently working in a Hong Kong university' research and development centres, this qualitative paper investigates through Whitchurch's framework, how professional activities affect their identity disposition at their workplaces in Hong Kong context.
[Copyright of Educational Research and Reviews is the property of Academic Journals.]

The quality of a teacher plays one of the most important roles in the achievement of an education system. Teacher training is a multi-dimensional process which comprises the selection of teacher candidates, pre-service training, appointment, in-service training and teaching practices. Therefore, this study focuses on teacher training processes in Singapore, Shanghai-China, Hong Kong-China and Turkey and aims to discover the reasons for success in Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) by relating it with teacher training processes. Singapore, Shanghai-China, Hong Kong-China were chosen to study because their educational systems were ranked among the high-performing educational systems in 2016. This study was a qualitative research and document analysis method was used to collect data about the relevant countries' teacher training processes. The result of the study suggested some practical considerations for teacher training programs in low-performing education systems about the selection of teacher candidates, pre-service training, appointment, in-service training and teaching practices.
[Copyright of Journal of Curriculum and Teaching is the property of Sciedu Press]

While teacher educator identities have received increasing attention over the past decade, there is a lack of research on teacher educators' professional identities in the complex and shifting higher education contexts. Informed by the sociocultural linguistic perspective, this study investigates two language teacher educators' professional identities in Hong Kong universities. The findings show that the participants discursively constructed their identities, such as "accidental teacher educator," "teacher educator-researcher," "struggling researcher," "teacher of teachers," and "inactive researcher" in their professional work. By drawing on the three interrelated processes of identity formation (i.e. adequation/distinction, authentication/denaturalisation, and authorisation/illegitimation), the study adds to our knowledge of the complex and contested nature of teacher educator identity in relation to the ongoing restructuring and reform in higher education. The study concludes with some implications for teacher education and higher education.
[Copyright © 2015 Australian Teacher Education Association.]

Hong Kong has introduced new school evaluation and assessment policies since 1997 which need to be implemented by school leaders. This context creates the possibility that policy intentions are not understood, accepted, or implemented. Using discrepancy evaluation analysis, this study reports interviews from 23 Hong Kong school principals about their perceptions and experiences of new policies to do with school evaluation and assessment for learning. The discrepancies fell into five major categories: one size does not fit all; a matter of school survival; workload for teachers; time pressures on those who manage and teach; and learning environment at the schools. The school principals were not convinced that the intended outcomes of helping schools to improve learning were achieved, rather they believed the policies were being implemented to control and close schools unfairly.
[Copyright © 2010 Philippine Society for Educational Research and Evaluation.]

As expectation on academic success is high from parents in Asian societies (Chen & Stevenson, 1989; White, 1993), moving towards inclusive practices in schools received great challenges. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, this study attempts to study the affective and social outcomes of students in a mainstream primary school in Hong Kong. The sample was 410 elementary students across Grade 3 to Grade 6 level. At the first stage, the academic self concept, teacher-student relationship, social integration, and negative affect were studied by the Assessment Program for Affective and Social Outcomes(APASO) (EMB, 2001). The second stage was interview with school teachers. The sample was studied according to class allocation system with which streaming was used and respective curriculum policy was applied. The findings show that the SEN (N=14) showed no significant difference from the typically developing students. However, students who were allocated in the upper bottom class who were not SEN, as well as the low academic achievers studied in the normal classes, shown to have poorer social and affective outcomes. These students revealed anxiety and tension in their academic study. The 21 low academic achievers who studied a normal curriculum in a normal class setting were identified as trouble makers who created disciplinary problems. The study informs that curriculum tailoring and small class setting (<10) worked well on students with a disability. Recommendations were made on what the school can do to assist students in their school life on both the academic study and psychological well-being.