The purpose of this study was to investigate whether participating in a uniformed group such as Boy Scouts, which can be seen as a meso-ecosystem, is likely to be beneficial for adolescents' psychosocial competence. The psychosocial competence of a representative sample of Hong Kong Chinese adolescents who were members of uniformed groups (N = 559) was compared with that of a corresponding sample of adolescents who were not members of uniformed groups (N = 834). Measures of psychosocial competence included social skills, helping attitudes, and leadership. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine how well participation in uniformed groups predicted the 3 measures of psychosocial competence concurrently. Results indicated that participation in uniformed groups was associated with higher levels of social skills, helping attitudes, and leadership. Results are discussed in relation to benefits of uniformed group participation.
[Copyright of Journal of Genetic Psychology is the property of Psychology Press . Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/ ]

In most EFL settings, reading is seen as related to language subjects only. Students rarely read for pleasure; they think that reading is part of the textbook-related activity. With the implementation of an extensive reading scheme and school-based assessment, students in Hong Kong begin to see reading a little differently. This paper investigates the effectiveness of a new whole-school approach reading scheme in a Chinese school in Hong Kong. Students read at least 15 minutes every school day in either Chinese or English. Results of the questionnaires and the interviews, conducted for teachers and students, indicate that teachers and students see the role of reading differently. It concludes that junior level students who have less public examination pressure enjoy reading better than the senior students. The paper informs educators in non-Asian countries as well; they will know why students from Asia are reluctant to read. The implication is that when reading has not been formed as a habit, holding up a book will be considered just part of school work.
[Copyright of Asian EFL Journal is the property of Nanzan University.
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The present study is an analysis of curriculum-related papers in primary education published by the education departments of New South Wales, Australia, and Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. The aim is to unravel and contrast the ideological positions adopted by the two communities in their approaches to first language education so that common-sense beliefs and practices may be challenged. Analysis shows that the Australian school discourse system exhibits characteristics of progressivism, utilitarianism and reconstructionism whereas the Chinese system in Hong Kong displays combined elements of European classical humanism and Confucianism. It appears that the Australian system prefers flexibility, free choice, individual autonomy, student-centredness, and exploratory spirit, whereas the latter inclines towards uniformity, orderliness, harmony, language-centredness and discipline. The Australian emphasis in language education is social, functional and communicative, while the Chinese focus is on formal correctness and integration of language, morality and aesthetics. These different ideological inclinations are suggestive of similar orientations at the societal level and affect the discourse practices at the situational level of the classroom.
[Copyright of Language and Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500780208666832]

Like many other countries, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has invested heavily in the computer facilities of schools. It is expected that by using ICT, the quality of education will be enhanced through a paradigm shift in school pedagogical practices. However, some educational innovations resulted in disappointing outcomes and some of them did make the progress expected and failed to sustain their development. This research addresses such problems by presenting a model that provides guidance on how to facilitate effective and sustainable Innovative Pedagogical Practices Using Technology (IPPUT). The model was derived from an in-depth case study of one innovative primary school in Hong Kong. The research first investigated what an innovative classroom might look like, then by using the "Layer-Two" Model Instrument (Typology of ICT Uptake) (Newhouse, Trinidad, & Clarkson, 2002) and other Matrix Construction Techniques (Miles & Huberman, 1984), various conditions and constraints on the development of IPPUT were identified, subsumed and grouped into two "issue trees." It is particularly useful for the school leaders to formulate optimum strategies for implementing IPPUT by comparing their school's realistic situations with those factors in the two "issue trees". Finally, the whole-school system model was presented suggesting that given favourable conditions including visionary school leadership, whole-hearted collaboration and participation of all school stakeholders, with a systematic managerial methodology, it is possible to have true ICT integration and sustainable pedagogically-sound environments for students' learning.
[Copyright of International Electronic Journal for Leadership in Learning is the property of International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education.
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