Teachers from three secondary schools together with the authors initiated a project to develop teaching strategies and resources to implement a new Hong Kong Junior Secondary Science Curriculum (JSSC) introduced in 2000. The teachers met regularly to share their experiences of the teaching designs and classroom practice. Through working together, teachers became mentors and learners of the other teachers. Data were collected from records of teacher meetings, lesson observations, teacher interviews and student interviews to evaluate the effectiveness of the project. Findings of this study revealed that teaching approaches of these teachers changed significantly, particularly towards more student-centred modes of learning. Active student participation encouraged the teachers to explore and try out innovative ways of learning and teaching of science. The positive feedbacks from students stimulated the teachers to reflect their role as facilitators and curriculum decision-makers rather than passive transmitters of the curriculum. To be successful in making changes in the teaching culture, findings indicated that the teachers shared the common goal of delivering quality science education. The change had also to be taken place in a context in which high quality teaching resources developed by the teachers had an impact on pupils' learning. The change was not only on the pedagogical content knowledge applied in classes. It was also a change in the belief in science education. However without the characteristics of a competent teacher such as good science background and good presentation skills, such changes would not be able to succeed.

The Learning Centre (LC) Scheme is a collaborative project between the Education Manpower Bureau, a primary school, a secondary school, and the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) for facilitating the implementation of the recent education reform in various key learning areas. As a pilot stage of the LC Scheme, the primary LC works on the subject of General Studies and the secondary LC focuses on the subject of Junior Secondary Science. Both LCs achieve the aim of facilitating professional development in their respective key learning areas through a series of face-to-face teacher education workshops, school-based support service and the web-based Teacher Learning Community. The LC teachers need to take up the role of cascading good practices in curriculum and pedagogical changes through carrying out test-bed trial teaching in their own classes, facilitating other teachers' professional development in workshops and providing outreach school-based support. In carrying out these responsibilities, the LCs work with the HKIEd consultant Team which provides mentoring and consultancy services, and evaluates the project. The project is structured into three phases, to wit (I) preparation in leadership or teacher development understanding, (II) the implementation stage (including teacher professional development workshops, web-based development opportunities and school-based support) and (III) the evaluation stage. Using structured interviews, we identified the professional development that the LC teachers experienced in the first year of the project. The paper concludes with recommendations for future development of the LC Scheme in terms of ways and conditions to support LC teachers in realizing this meaningful mission.

Home economics has been a school subject in Hong Kong for over fifty years. It stayed mainly as a female subject until 1999 when a survey on Equal Opportunity in Education was carried out by the Hong Kong Equal Opportunities Commission. The report of that survey revealed that boys were generally deprived of the opportunity in learning home economics in the curriculum. Schools were alert to the situation and home economics has subsequently been offered to both boys and girls in a co-educational environment in most schools in recent years. However, the participation of boys in home economics has caused some concerns in the field. Teachers are particularly anxious of their interaction with boys in a once female-dominated learning environment. Despite they understand that gender bias can be a serious detriment to learning, many are aware that they lack the ability to foster a more equitable teacher-student interaction in the classroom in order to meet the learning needs of both genders. Studies which looked at teacher interactions with boys and girls in different subject areas are abundant, such as Mathematics and Science. However, published studies on interaction in home economics classes are rare particularly in Hong Kong context. This may due to the fact that its history in co-educational learning environment is still short in Hong Kong. This study is a pioneer work which aims to find out whether home economics in Hong Kong co-educational classes supports patriarchal patterns of domination by males as researched in many studies. It also examines whether classroom processes in home economics lessons sustain or break down barriers between the sexes. It is hoped that useful strategies can be generated from this study to help all students participate equally in the classrooms in general, and within home economics lessons in particular.

The Gary Plan of "work-study-play" was the brainchild of William Wirt (1874-1938) and praised for its progressive features by educators such as John Dewey (1859-1952). Introduced in 1907 to the schools of Gary, Indiana USA by Superintendent of Schools Wirt, the plan reorganized the school day and included curriculum features that fostered hands-on activities relating to occupations and daily life. It was also an articulated structure and program, offered from primary through secondary grades. The increased notoriety of the plan's social and financial benefits led the new mayor of New York City to invite Wirt as a consultant to transform their overstretched schools. What followed were several acrimonious years of position papers, posturing and propaganda by many political actors regarding school change. Nearly 100 years later, Hong Kong is also going through major changes in schools. Policy initiatives orchestrated by the new government have influenced the medium of instruction used in schools and classified subjects under Key Learning Areas for all students to study. Recently, the government has proposed to reduce secondary school years from a 3+4 system to one that is 3+3, as well as a new compulsory upper secondary subject called Liberal Studies. Similar to New York City, Hong Kong has its own political actors. Lessons can be learned from New York City's initiative regarding the potential for successful school change in Hong Kong.

This is a narrative inquiry of the personal and professional experience of three teachers of civic education in post 1997 Hong Kong. This study aims to explore their perceptions of promoting identity education in schools in the context of Hong Kong's reunion with mainland China and how their perceptions have been shaped by their own personal experience of the issue of identity. It is found from the study that while the teachers themselves are still puzzled by their own Chinese identity, their attitudes towards helping students to identify with the People's Republic of China (PRC) look ambiguous, reserved and even resistant in respect to identifying with the Beijing regime. This study has helped illuminate the current situation of identity education in Hong Kong.

The findings of this study reveal those attributes that are considered important for teacher success as perceived by some of the teachers who received the Outstanding Teachers' Award in Hong Kong in the years 1998 to 2002. The teachers chosen had different backgrounds, with respect to their type of school, age, and category of experience. In describing the perceptions of the concept of success, the award winners reveal their understanding of the nature of teachers as professionals and their conception of professionalism. The findings shed light on the different perspectives that were held by teachers, namely moral, technical and critical. Relatively speaking, the study shows that greater importance has been attached to the moral perspective. This study can enhance policy makers' understanding of teachers' perceptions of concepts of success. More comprehensive information on teacher success will be provided if the views of other stakeholders, including students, parents, principals and supervisors are all taken into consideration.

On July 1 1997, the People's Republic of China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, in anticipation of change in the conditions of citizenship, there was a debate between a western conception of citizenship focusing on democratic citizenship evolved as a legacy of British rule and Mainland Chinese conception focusing on national identification with the motherland. This study, conducted in the qualitative paradigm and applying the Grounded Theory Method, explores the conceptions of citizenship of two groups of student teachers, one in Hong Kong and another in South China in the first three years of the reunion (1997-2000). A conceptual model for understanding conceptions of citizenship was derived. Its implication for citizenship education was discussed.