In a Hong Kong study, the author examined the effect on undergraduate business students of university business school instructors' exhibiting a transformational leadership style in the classroom. Transformational leadership is one of the central concepts in management, and research has indicated that a positive association exists between this style of leadership and desirable leadership outcomes. The author examined this relation in a university classroom context, and the results indicated that transformational classroom leadership was significantly and positively associated with desirable classroom leadership outcomes such as extra effort.
[Copyright of Journal of Education for Business is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.84.1.2-6 ]

Discipline is a crucial aspect of teachers' and students' classroom lives. Hong Kong secondary teachers, as elsewhere, are concerned with students' misbehaviour. This article examines teachers' constructs of classroom discipline and strategies adopted for behaviour management. Qualitative data were collected by interviews and classroom observation. Sixty teachers were involved. Eighteen classrooms were observed. The influence of the three schools of classic Chinese philosophy, Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism, emerged as a main theme from the data. It was prominent as their key principles were incorporated into the teachers' personal system of classroom discipline. The findings illuminate the influence of Chinese culture in Hong Kong classrooms. Implications for the promotion of culturally responsive classrooms and the development of educational policies on pastoral care are drawn.
[Copyright of Pastoral Care in Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0122.2007.00406.x]

A review and analysis of the research literature on teachers' classroom use of approval/praise and disapproval/reprimand is provided in an attempt to determine the extent to which teachers typically employ praise in their classroom teaching. There is a considerable degree of agreement across the studies reviewed, carried out in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and St Helena, regarding the ways in which teachers typically deploy approval and disapproval, with some interesting variations. There is little evidence to suggest that teachers, universally, systematically deploy contingent praise as positive reinforcement in spite of the considerable literature testifying to its effectiveness. In particular, praise for appropriate classroom social behaviour is only rarely observed.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/713663753 ]

Structural equation models linking cognitive and affective factors, approach to learning, and perceptions of the actual and preferred mathematics classroom environments were tested in a longitudinal study involving 356 secondary school students in Hong Kong. Models of acceptable fit that clarified the effects of classroom environment on how students learn and the outcomes they achieve were obtained. Numerous significant paths from prior learning experience to environmental variables were identified; the most salient path from classroom environment to learning outcomes was that between an enjoyable classroom environment and cognitive achievement. An enjoyable classroom environment mediated the causal relationship between a deep approach and high-level achievement. However, classroom environment did not seem to influence changes in approach to learning.
[Copyright of Journal of Educational Research is the property of Routledge . Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220679809597550]