At present, it is very difficult to retrieve relevant and comprehensive literature on the historical development of PE teacher education in Hong Kong. One of the problems might be due to the fact that in the past PE teacher education was offered by the college of education which was run by the government. Under civil regulations, PE lecturers were not encouraged to conduct any research or projects. In order to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the PE teacher education history, there is a need to develop enriched, empirical teaching resources to strengthen this area. The purpose of this project is to study the historical development of PE teacher education in Hong Kong since the 1930s, focusing on the areas of physical education teacher education and physical education development at school levels. To collect primary empirical data about programmes, pedagogy, curriculum changes, school-based curriculum development, and professional development of PE teachers, 19 retired and serving PE lecturers and 10 secondary and primary schools PE teachers were invited to participate in interviews. The results of this study will provide a comprehensive reference for teaching and learning purposes to be used in teaching PE history and other contexts.

Physical Education (PE) in primary schools in Hong Kong has not been satisfactorily run as it claims. Most PE lessons are found to be ineffective in meeting the desirable needs of the pupils nowadays. It seems that PE lessons have been conducted as 'organized recess' which are mostly 'recreational' rather than 'educational' oriented. Their goals are to keep the pupils 'busy', 'happy' and 'good' rather than 'skilled', 'fit' and 'satisfied' (Placek 1983). No wonder PE is the only cultural subject that has been excluded from the 'Secondary School Places Allocation System'. Has the PE curriculum been effectively implemented? Is it the responsibility of the PE teachers to make the lessons more meaningful to the pupils? How does the teachers' behavior during lessons affect the quality of PE in primary schools? The present study employed the descriptive-analytic methodology to comment or what primary school PE teachers did and how they spent their time during PE lessons. Thirteen PE teachers with an average teaching experience of seven years were involved in the study. One of the lessons from each teacher was studied, which was done through direct observation while video-taping was adopted fro cross referencing. Information concerning 'time' spent on management and instruction of the teachers, and left for pupils to practice their skill was collected by means of duration recording, whereas the actual teaching behaviors of the teachers were done through event recording. Pupils' activity level was monitored by means of the heart rate meters (Polar PE 3000). Correlation analysis was employed to examine the relationship between various context variables and the time spent on each areas of the teachers. Results showed that pupils were generally allotted relatively low percentage of time for skill practice. Teachers' managerial and instructional behaviors occupied nearly two thirds of the lesson time. Relatively high percentage of time was spent on travelling at the beginning and

Considerable evidence has been accumulated in Hong Kong that Learning Study, as a form of action research collaboratively conducted by school teachers and researchers from Higher Educational Institutes, provides a comprehensive platform for school-based teacher professional development. Learning Study is grounded in the Variation Theory developed by Ference Marton. It involves an active collaboration between teachers and academic staff from the Hong Kong Institute of Education. In conducting a Learning Study, teachers, through a rigorous process, first select the topic, then work with the HEI staff to identify the worthwhile object of learning with its critical aspects and collectively design the lesson, which incorporates the application of three forms of variation (V1, V2 and V3). The lesson is taught, video taped and then analysed in a post-lesson conference. A revised plan for teaching the same lesson is then taught by a different member of the research team in his/her class. This process is repeated until all the teachers have taught the lesson to their classes.The Learning Study case will be evaluated and then presented by the teachers to the wider community as part of the dissemination process. This symposium will first provide an overview of Learning Study theory and practice model, then illustrate its actual implementation with several Learning Study cases. The third part discusses how Learning Study builds up an effectively comprehensive platform for classroom teachers to analyze the students' learning achievement, reflect upon their own teaching, develop learning communities and benefit their entire professional development.

An ongoing project is investigating online learning-oriented assessment (Carless, 2003) on a two-year project to redesign seven teaching and learning modules at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Simultaneously the project team is developing key principles for online learning assessment. The project uses 'design experiments' (Brown, 1992; Collins, 1992), 'development research' (van de Akker, 1999) or 'use-inspired research' (Stokes, 1997) for the ongoing project. Use-inspired research "includes basic research that seeks to extend the frontiers of understanding but is also inspired by considerations of use" (Stokes, 1997, p. 74). Our focus has been to improve the use of learning-oriented assessment in eight separate modules (four completed and three in-progress) in teacher-education. Four teacher-educators from four different departments: Early Childhood Education, Information and Applied Technology, Creative Arts and the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Technology participated in the project. Throughout the project we have examined teachers' perceptions of assessment, teaching and learning and technology through video-interviews and concept mapping. In addition we have conducted video-focus groups with students within our classes to determine their perceptions about the new forms of assessment that we have trialled. Online learning technology has significantly changed the landscape of teaching, learning and assessment and allows new possibilities. Learning management systems like Blackboard have unique affordances in allowing collaboration between students. The use of group activities and student-centred approaches like project-based learning allow students to collaborate, debate, negotiate and crystallize their ideas whilst working within a socio-constructivist framework. The nature of the learning task is a predominant factor in the collaborative skills developed by the students. Project-based learning is defined as "an instructional technique in which meaningful

Conceptions of teaching are mental models which people hold concerning teaching. Various models have been proposed as frameworks to explore the conceptions of teaching held by teachers. The importance of this type of research is based on the assumption that teachers' behaviours are guided by their conceptions of teaching and therefore, would influence students learning. It is commonly viewed that pre-service teachers go through changes in their belief systems as they pass through the passage of teacher education. As teacher's belief system may affect their ultimate actions in the classroom, it would be of interest to identify the types of belief changes they make. Included in these models are specific thought representations related to the "action", "belief" and "intention" aspects of teaching (Pratt, 1992). Whereas many factors could influence a teachers process of professional socialization, this study sets out to present a profile of pre-service physical educators' conceptions of teaching and to examine whether gender and practicum experience contribute to differences in conceptions of teaching.

This paper analyses and reports on the action processes of a Hong Kong secondary school adopting a multidisciplinary, project approach. It is written from an observer's perspective exploring the initiation, the nature, the learning activities and the assessment tasks of the student projects, teacher development programmes as well as the technical aspects of implementation. The author has observed how practitioners problematised and reconstructed habitual practices in a cyclical mode where they 'plan-act-observe-reflect' on their daily professional experience and developed practical knowledge. The yearlong processes depict key elements of an action research (Kemmis, 1988; Elliot, 2003). It is found that teachers' tacit knowledge had a significant impact on early identification of problems and suggesting solutions to ensure the smooth running of the curriculum. The learning logs and verbal presentations provided evidences that students had a sense of achievement wherever there were independent learning and decision-making. Both teachers and students reported team spirit, student-teacher rapport, and reflected enhanced self-efficacy. This matches what Katz and Chard (2000) describe as the '(cultivation) of the life of the young child's mind', which means not only knowledge and skills, but also social, emotional, moral, aesthetic and spiritual sensibilities. This paper also illustrates other multifaceted benefits to the school. Conscious of the impact of action research and the contributions of teachers' tacit knowledge in professional practice, the author argues that it is time for university academics or experienced researchers to help teachers publicize the 'tacit' to enrich the knowledge base for teaching and learning.

Despite the fact that PMI is not the government policy, an increasing number of schools in Hong Kong have adopted different modes of using PMI in teaching Chinese Language since 1997. Such a trend has caused general concern because Putonghua (the standardized spoken form of Modern Chinese) is not the mother tongue of most teachers or students in the local community. The switch of medium in teaching the language subject may have profound impact on the cognitive development of students because most teachers and students will need to acquire another system of speech sounds and lexicon in handling the subject matter. Nevertheless, as the PMI trend prevails, language teachers are under "pressure" to adjust their teaching medium so as to meet the changing social expectation of equipping students with the standardized form of a world language. This paper reports the findings of a recent study of teachers' views of teaching Chinese through PMI in Hong Kong. Among the group of 20 serving teachers in a postgraduate course, some are proficient in Putonghua and some are not. Through a series of seminar presentation and discussion, these front line teachers revealed the current practices in different school contexts. Insights of these participants represent an "insider's" view of the issue and should inform the development of effective ways of reforming the teaching medium of Chinese in a complex social context.