The objectives of this study were to examine (i) behavioral differences in popularand unpopular children; (ii) the ability of kindergarten teachers to identify children with peer interaction difficulties; and (iii) strategies teachers use to guide appropriate social behaviour in the kindergarten classroom. Forty-eight 4-5 year-olds completed sociometric interview. Eight children including two Popular, two Rejected, two Average and two Controversial were observed during free play. Popular children had good social skills; they were able to initiate and maintain peer contact, communicated clearly and were co-operative. On the other hand, Rejected children were more physically and verbally aggressive with peers and showed low levels of co-operative behaviour. Teachers had some difficulties to identify the social status of children in their class, suggesting that they placed more emphasis on academic development than social development. They did not typically interact with children during free play. However, they occasionally tried to enhance the cognitive complexity of children's play. The implication of these findings for teacher-training are discussed.
本文旨在探究i)幼稚園內受歡迎與被拒絕的兒童之行為差異; ii)幼稚園老師對於辨別兒童與兒童之間難於彼此互動的能力; 及iii)老師在課室引導兒童適當社交行為的策略。 48 位四至五歲的兒童獲邀完成了面談, 而其中8 位兒童被選為觀察對象: 包括了2 位受歡迎的兒童、2 位被拒絕的兒童、 2 位表現平均的兒童和2 位表現較爭議性的兒童。受歡迎的兒童有良好的社交技巧, 他/她們能展開和維持與同伴的接觸、具清楚的溝通能力和表現合作的行為。相反地, 被拒絕的兒童愛用言語和身體攻擊同伴,並有不合作的行為表現。教師對於辨別兒童在課室內之社會地位表示有些困難, 因教師們較著重兒童學術發展多於社交發展。兒童在自由活動的時段內, 教師沒有與兒童互動,但她們也偶然地嘗試提升兒童遊戲的複雜認知能力。有關教師培訓會從結果中顯示出來。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

Curriculum orientations are beliefs about what a school curriculum should achieve and how teaching, learning and assessment should occur. Five major orientations to design science curricula were identified. They are academic, cognitive processes, society-centred, humanistic, and technological. This article reports the results of a survey on the primary science curriculum orientations of 437 pre-service student-teachers studying 2 primary education programmes. A 41-item questionnaire was developed to measure their beliefs about these five curriculum orientations. Statistical results show that the instrument is reliable and the student-teachers strongly believed in the cognitive-processes orientation, but they generally did not reject the other four orientations. The effects of science background knowledge, teaching practice experiences and the nature of science modules studied were tested. Implications of these findings are discussed.
課程取向是指有關學校課程的目標、教學方法與評估的信念。本文界定了五種有關科學課程的主要取向，它們是學術取向、認知過程取向、社會中心取向、人文取向和科技取向。本文報告一個對小學科學課程取向的調查研究，調查的對像是分別修讀兩個教育課程的437 位職前師訓學員，調查工具是一份有41 項問題的問卷，統計結果顯示工具的信度頗高，而學員最認同認知過程取向，不過他/她們亦不排斥其他四種取向。同時亦測試了有關學員的科學知識背景、教學實習的經驗和曾修讀科學單元的性質等因素可能產生的影響。從以上研究結果所得出的啟示都會在本文作出討論。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

隨著中小學學位數目供應漸趨穩定，政府在上世紀九十年代提出推行教育質素保證程序。本文回顧了教育質素保證的發展經過，由分科視學到目前的學校發展與問責架構。內文亦從前線教育人員的角度討論質素保證程序的影響和提出一些發展期望。
Following the stable supply of the places for school education, Hong Kong government proposed quality assurance for the education system in the 1990s of the last century. This paper reviews the process of implementing the quality assurance procedures, from subject inspection to the school development and accountability framework. Discussion on the influence of quality assurance and expectation on future development is given, from the point of view of a frontline teacher.
[Copyright of Hong Kong Teachers' Centre Journal is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Centre at http://www.edb.org.hk/hktc]

This article presents the finding of an interim evaluation survey commissioned by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong on the effectiveness of the curriculum reform initiated in 2001. Drawing upon change theories for analysis of the study, the article examines the perceptions of both principals and teachers on the effectiveness of short-term curriculum development in schools from 2001 to 2006 through self-administered questionnaire survey as well as focus group interviews. The quantitative survey shows that evaluations from principals were more positive than those of frontline teachers in many aspects of the reform. Data collected from focus group interviews help explain the discrepancy in attitudes of these two stakeholder groups towards the reform. Insufficient knowledge, lack of support and consensus, and top-down initiation of the reform are the reasons accounting for the different responses to the reform. Strengthening professional development programs and developing a culture of collegiality and collaboration are the strategies recommended to improve the implementation of the curriculum reform in the medium-term phase (2007-2011).
[Copyright of Teacher Development is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13664530903335558]