The field experience component in a teacher education programme serves both a gate-keeping function and a formative purpose that supports student teacher development. The authors were members of a research team which took care of the re-design of the assessment instrument for the field experience component of a teacher education programme, as well as conducting a pilot implementation test. The new assessment instrument, referred to as a Professional Development Progress Map, was developed with reference to the professional standards formulated by an official teacher education policy advisory body. This paper looks into the comments of the users, that is the supervisors and the student teachers (or participants, as in-service teachers were involved in the pilot implementation test) after the pilot implementation test. Findings suggest difficulties in using the Progress Map as a summative assessment instrument regarding the determination of grades and levels, making judgements based on observable performance and collection of evidence, and difficulty in assessing the domain 'Involvement in Education Community'. The discussion highlights the dilemma related to the use of professional standards as summative assessment instruments, and how users may be re-orientated to enhance the formative purpose. The paper concludes with suggestions on prudent use of the Progress Map.
[Copyright of Teacher Development is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13664530802259289]

Twenty-one in-service early childhood students participated in a teaching practicum in Australia as part of the final year of a Bachelor of Arts in Hong Kong. Students spent two weeks visiting a university and early childhood settings in Australia. The university based component of the program included workshops and discussions with lecturing staff located in both the Australian and Hong Kong universities. Students were asked to complete written statements about 'What is children's learning?' before and after their practicum experience. An inductive analysis of students' written statements and practicum evaluations revealed an increase in beliefs about children's learning as 'active understanding' over the two-week period. Implications for teacher education programs are discussed.
[Copyright of Australian Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology is the property of University of Newcastle, Faculty of Education.
Access via Directory of Open Access Journals: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/journal/ajedp/]

The field experience component in the four year Bachelor of Education programme (Primary) at The Hong Kong Institute of Education offers a number of opportunities for students to observe or teach in a school. The aim of this article is to analyse the learning of the studentVteachers and the supporting teachers during the field experience period in the second and the final years of the programme and to explain this learning using a sociocultural view of learning. StudentVteachers and their supporting teachers in their second year of study in 1999-2000 as well as those in their final year of study in 2001-02 were interviewed. The findings describe the professional development of the studentVteachers and the construction of knowledge in teaching. The article analyses the role of supporting teachers as social agents, and describes their use of mediational means, including teaching resources, and information about pupils abilities and habits, in facilitating the learning of the studentVteachers. The findings also compare the sharing of aims between the lecturers and the supporting teachers. Finally, the paper summarizes suggestions on how professional development of the student-teachers during the field experience may be analysed by adopting a sociocultural view of learning.
[Copyright of Teacher Development is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13664530500200259 ]

The idea of active learning was first introduced to kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong in 1981 when they received their in-service teacher education. In a two-year, school-based project, 60 teachers in five schools were asked to create collaborative videos about models of good practices after sharing "effective" teaching episodes with peer teachers who were experimenting with "desirable" learning activities in their classrooms. This study reports on the planning, implementation, classroom ethos and adult support displayed in the project deliverables (videos) so as to portray the kinds of emergent innovations that were being adopted. The findings of the study suggest that there was some significance to the use of collaborative reflection to activate teachers' creativity and sensitivity in giving children's learning first priority in their pedagogy. As well, it points toward using collaborative reflection as an element of teacher education.
[Copyright of Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10901020701634864]

This article reports findings from a qualitative interview study that examined the provision of integrated kindergarten education for children with disabilities from the perspectives of general education teachers implementing integrated kindergarten programs. Analysis of interviews with eight informants led to the identification of two broad generalizations: the interviewed teachers emphasized teaching academics to children without disabilities, but they focused on social development at the exclusion of academic instruction for children with disabilities; and, according to the teachers, instruction was academic and skill-oriented in the integrated kindergarten programs. Research procedures are described and data supporting the findings are presented. Ways to improve program quality are discussed in terms of three major components: the Hong Kong government should include early childhood education within the compulsory education system, and enforce the formally recommended approach of developmental appropriateness; teacher education institutions should prepare prospective teachers to work in school settings where program goals may be contradictory with the ideology of inclusion; and educational researchers should monitor program quality in integrated childcare centers by conducting further research.
[Copyright of Early Child Development and Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430600563430]

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been widely adopted in many university programs. Evaluations of PBL in medicine, dentistry, nursing and social work reveal positive outcomes from both tutors and learners. However, few evaluations have been published about using PBL in teacher education programs. This article reports how the 13 student-teachers in the Integrated Humanities Major Method course at the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong evaluated the use of three different modes of PBL delivery, namely: the classical PBL; an alternate pattern of PBL and teacher-led deductive workshops; and a modified PBL using problem-based scenario inductive inquiry workshops. The learning experiences of the student-teachers were captured via an open-ended questionnaire to discuss the feasibility and receptivity of endorsing full or partial use of PBL in the teacher education program. The outcome shows strong preference for the use of the modified PBL approach while the majority agreed the classical PBL style is the most challenging among the three modes.
[Copyright of Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13598660802375933 ]

Short-term international experiences (STIE) are becoming a regular, sometimes required, feature of pre-service language teacher education programmes. Often inappropriately termed 'immersion programmes', they aim to give teachers the opportunity to improve their language proficiency in the language they will teach, to develop their pedagogical knowledge and to engage with an international sociocultural environment with which they are not familiar. In this article we report on a study which investigated pre-service English second language teachers' perceptions of a six-week international experience in Auckland, New Zealand. The student teachers, who were enrolled in a postgraduate diploma in teaching at a Hong Kong university, participated in an academic programme as well as a series of social events and school visits. They were encouraged to reflect on their expectations and experiences and to write about these in a pre-programme questionnaire, reflective journals and a summative programme evaluation. The teachers' articulations reveal that their expectations and experiences interrelate in complex, sometimes unexpected, ways. The findings have important implications for the coordinators of the programme at the host institution and also for those further afield who are involved in planning and managing similar STIE programmes.
[Copyright of Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13598660500479904]