For data collection, the researcher was attached to three Hong Kong secondary schools with average academic and extra-curricular activity performances for three months each during the past two years. Having got familiarized with the teachers and students through joining various formal and informal school activities, in the last month of his attachment, the researcher invited each teacher to be interviewed on the topic of extra-curricular activities and to be tape-recorded. In the end, 122 teachers agreed to be the participants in the interviews. The interview was conducted in a semi-structured way, in which the teacher first recounted and commented on his/her experience and impression of extra-curricular activities. The researcher then asked for clarifications and further exploration of his/her own conception, with the help of some "situation cards". In the whole interview process, the researcher adopted a "non judgmental" attitude towards the definition of "extra-curricular activities", only asking the interviewee questions on the clarity and consistency of his/her conception. Each interview lasted for about an hour. After the interviews, the recordings were converted into written scripts. Based on the interview process and scripts, the researcher sorted out various main themes and key words and proceeded with data analysis. After three stages of back-and-forth collation and with the number of cases reduced to forty, finally seven conceptions of extra-curricular activities have been constructed: Accountability, Attachment, Mould, Experience, Personal growth, Liberation, and Balance. The researcher has depicted the specific horizon, concepts and the relationship among concepts, and also compared and contrasted the distinctive features of each conception.
There are multifarious extra-curricular activities in Hong Kong secondary schools. Nearly every teacher participates in the activities. Different teachers infuse extra-curricular activities with diverse meanings

The call for professionalism in kindergarten education has been an important educational issue over the past several decades in Hong Kong. Official expectations have been published to guide the services of kindergarten education and to supervise teachers' pedagogical practice. Kindergarten education services that are child centred and play based, and that practise integrated learning to nourish children's holistic and balanced development are advocated. However, Quality Assurance Inspection reports have shown that kindergarten teaching and learning is still teacher directed. Young children are passive recipients of knowledge. The services run counter to the progressive motives of the 2000 Education Reform in nurturing young children to be active and self-motivated life-long learners. Driven by the interest to study the practice-expectation gap, the present study sought to observe kindergarten teachers' classroom practice, investigate their pedagogical decision making, and reveal the complexities underpinning their pedagogical roles which, to an extent, emerged from the practice-expectation gap.
The present study, framed by in a qualitative research design, employed on-site observations and teacher interviews, together with official document analysis and training curriculum document analysis. The wealth of data and information collected revealed that a practice-expectation gap does exist.
The data analysis suggests that the teacher informants' pedagogical decision making and practice were shaped by a number of intervening forces. These forces can be categorised into (a) the personal variables of the teacher informants in terms of their personal beliefs and values towards kindergarten education, (b) the contextual variables of school management structure and administrative arrangements within which the teacher informants delivered their teaching and fostered the children's learning, (c) the societal variables of parental expectations of the kindergarten education

Background: During the era of education reform, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has launched a series of measures to enhance the learning of the students and the effectiveness of teaching. In the Curriculum Development Council document, Learning to Learn--the Way Forward in Curriculum, the policy of school-based curriculum is advocated. The aim is to allow "schools to have more autonomy in choosing some contents more relevant to their students so long as they are in line with the curriculum aims, strands, principles of learning/teaching, with justifiable modifications that suit their students most", This paper reports a case study of a local primary school in implementing the school-based curriculum in General Studies (GS) from 2003 to 2006.
Aims: To study why the school initiated such educational change, the strategies teachers employed and difficulties they encountered. Recommendations are made for teachers and administrators who want to initiate educational change in schools.
Sample: The head teacher, the subject panel, level coordinators and subject teachers were interviewed. Parents and students were also invited to fill in questionnaires by the end of the school year.
Method: Qualitative research method such as in depth interview and quantitative research method such as filling in questionnaires were employed.
Results: Most of the teachers claimed that it is the school administration who initiated the adoption of the school-based curriculum policy. Though they tried their best to deal with various difficulties, worked hard, prepared lessons jointly, and claimed that students showed more interest in lessons, some did not have the ownership of the school-based curriculum development.
Conclusion: The implementation and institutionalization of any educational change requires more than willing individual teachers, e.g. the subject panel or level coordinators. Rather, there needs to be a deep re-conceptualisation of the

Curriculum policy in Hong Kong is moving towards school-based curriculum development. This is reflected by the introduction of the School-based Curriculum Project Scheme by the Education Department in 1988. The aim of the Scheme is to encourage teachers to produce curriculum projects which meet the learning needs of pupils and schools. However, the Education Department selected and reproduced some of the school-based curriculum project materials for dissemination to all Hong Kong schools. This paper is a report of the study which analyses the collection and use of the disseminated projects by schools and the perceptions of the school teachers towards these projects.
香港的課程政策正邁向校本課程發展的趨勢。這是從教育署在一九八八年開始推行「以學校為本位的課程設計計劃」反映出來的。此計劃的主旨是鼓勵教師因應學生及學校的需要去設計課程教材。雖然如此，教育署卻選取及複製某些校本課程教材，並把這些教材分發到全港各學校。這份研究報告分析學校搜集和運用這些課程教材的情況，以及教師對這些教材的看法。
[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/]

課程改革是教育改革的要項，而成長課則是學校輔導中全方位輔導系統的重點。本文探討課程改革與學校輔導在香港教育革中的位置，以及它們與教育改革的關係。文章首先討論教育改革和輔導的基本精神，然後討論課程改革與成長課的關係及互相重疊之處，並建議一個融合以上系統的理念架構。最後，本文提出在跨越界限（border crossing）時，教育工作者和輔導人員要留意的地方。
One of the important aspects of education reform is curriculum reform, in which the personal growth curriculum is a vital part of the comprehensive guidance system. This article first discusses the role of curriculum reform and school guidance within the overall framework of education reform in Hong Kong. The discussion then focuses on the relationship and overlaps between curriculum reform and personal growth curriculum, and recommends a conceptual framework that incorporates the above systems. The article concludes with some essential points that educators and counseling professionals should take note of when crossing borders.
[Copyright of Asian Journal of Counselling is the property of The Hong Kong Professional Counselling Association at http://www.hkpca.org.hk/]