This chapter aims to briefly review the recent developments in early childhood education in Chinese societies such as the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. Varying greatly in political and economic contexts, these societies share some common patterns and face similar challenges in their development. First, this chapter analyzes the shifting landscape in Chinese economies and societies with a focus on the changes in education systems and policies and the associated impact. Second, it evaluates all the efforts that these societies have made to promote the accessibility, affordability, and accountability of early childhood education in the past decades. Third, it critically reflects on the early childhood curriculum reforms and pedagogical changes in these societies. Last, this chapter summarizes the challenges in defining culturally appropriate early childhood education in a globalized world as well as the lessons that we could learn from these Chinese societies.

In recent years, the practice of using a second/foreign language to teach non-language content subjects (e.g. science) has become increasingly popular, especially in English-as-foreign-language (EFL) contexts. Such a practice can be categorised as 'Content and Language Integrated Learning' (CLIL). However, EFL learners may encounter difficulties in accessing content knowledge through English, especially with regard to the subject-specific academic literacy. Hence, content subject teachers may need to provide more scaffolding to help EFL learners in CLIL bridge the gap between everyday language and academic literacy. A genre-based approach, which emphasises contextualised language learning and use, serves as a useful framework to integrate content and language teaching in CLIL. This chapter shares an example of how university language specialists collaborated with science teachers in one secondary school in Hong Kong, where CLIL is practised. Drawing insights from the genre-based approach, the university-school collaborative team designed and tried out a set of materials to help grade 8 students write a piece of sequential explanation text. Lesson observations revealed how teachers integrated language scaffolding into their science lessons, and students' sample work and teachers' reflection showed that the materials were useful for helping the students develop science literacy. These findings yield significant implications for literacy development in science education and language across the curriculum in CLIL.

In this paper the notion of critical practice in English language education (ELE) is explored through examples from the critical work of educators and researchers in Hong Kong. The paper then concludes with a discussion of both the challenges and possibilities of engaging in critical practice in ELE in Hong Kong and possibly in other East Asian contexts, where similar cultures of teaching and learning predominate.

In this chapter, the journey of a school administrator in initiating a curriculum reform to cater to the diverse special learning needs of students in a working class school in Hong Kong is presented. Poon, a senior teacher for 9 years before being appointed the administrator in charge of academic changes in 2006, provides an insider’s account. Lin, a university professor and Poon’s mentor, provides additional theoretical analyses to conceptualize the importance of the school changes presented for other contexts. Before 2006, HKRSS was a traditional secondary school in Hong Kong where teachers taught a standardized curriculum in isolation from each other, with little understanding of students’ individual learning needs. Today, teachers engage in a process of collaboration and a collective discovery of the importance of differentiated instruction and assessment for all students. Constant sharing and collaboration among teachers regarding curriculum adaptations, pedagogical innovations as well as task and assessment differentiation have formed the new school culture. This new philosophy is the result of a comprehensive restructuring of curriculum, learning materials, instructional practices and assessment methods. This chapter provides an account of this difficult journey, the ups and downs experienced, and the lessons learned in the process.

Changing times and postmodern perspectives have changed the traditional beliefs about child development knowledge, early childhood learning and curriculum and their relationships. Despite ongoing exchanges about how best to respond to the critique of the developmental knowledge base, few descriptions of how particular educators have reconceptualized their curriculum exist. Employing postmodern views of knowledge, learning, and curriculum, this chapter describes a new narrative curriculum developed by the authors to enact a postmodern early years learning in a typical Chinese context: Story Approach to Integrated Learning (SAIL). It first reflects on the existing early childhood curricula in Hong Kong and the associated problems and challenges. Second, it reviews the literature about the reconceptualization of early years learning and curriculum to seek possible solutions to Hong Kong problems. Third, a brief introduction of SAIL is presented and an example is given to illustrate how SAIL can put postmodernism curriculum into practice. Last, this chapter concludes with a discussion of some of the challenges and future directions relating to the shift from developmental to postmodern practices in the development of early childhood curriculum.

本研究旨在深入瞭解個案幼稚園並深入分析其幼兒生命教育課程的特色， 明白其具體的教學情境脈絡， 及其家長參與的方式和成效，藉此瞭解家長參與到校本幼兒生命教育課程的意義所在。 目的在於探討以下問題： 課程的設計理念是如何發展而來的？其具體實施歷程是如何進行的？課程的成效如何？ 以及對各方面的意義及其影響為何？本研究使用混合研究方法，以質性個案研究為主，量化分析為輔， 透過文本分析、實地觀察、問卷分析、訪談記錄等方法，蒐集撰寫論文所需的資料， 對象包含個案幼稚園的幼兒、家長、老師和行政人員，從多角度探究個案幼稚園讓家長參與到校本幼兒生命教育課程的具體實施過程、 成效及其意義所在。綜合研究發現，本研究獲得以下結論： (一)課程的實施歷程是一個互動感染的過程； (二)課程的成效顯著； (三)課程的舉辦對不同持分者均產生影響：讓幼兒有更多機會從日常生活中學習到生命教育議題；讓家長明白不要把所有重心放在子女身上，應該先要懂得愛自己，才有足夠能力愛子女；讓老師得到成長的機會，擴闊人生智慧和視野；可以讓幼稚園與家庭及幼兒連繫在一起，共同達到生命培育的目標。綜合上述研究結果，研究者分別對幼稚園、老師、家長及未來的研究方向提出了相關建議。All rights reserved.

Reading is a multidimensional process that has evolved through history to adapt to accommodate environmental changes. Today, reading continues to evolve to meet the demands of globalization. The study examined the complex connection between curriculum, teachers, and students. To explore and research the relationship between stakeholders in the English reading curriculum, primarily policymakers, teachers, and students. The author selected English reading education for Hong Kong secondary students as a case study. Current and prior literature suggests that English reading to English Second Language Learners (ESL) focuses on the general perceptions and motivations of ESL learning and teaching. However, minimal research focuses on Chinese learners' self-perception of ESL reading, teachers’ beliefs and practices, curriculum interpretation, implementation, and intent. Therefore, examining, understanding, and identifying the relationship between Curriculum Intentions and Classroom Realities is essential.The objective of the study was threefold (1) to find the relations between learning and teaching and the perceptions of students, (2) to identify teachers' interpretations of the English reading curriculum and how their beliefs and classroom practices could affect the implementation of curriculum, and (3) the alignment of ESL reading lessons prescribed by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong policymakers and the teachers’ implementation in class.There were 250 junior form students participants and 24 English teachers. Questionnaires, semi-formal interviews, lesson observations, and focus group discussions were employed for data collection.The results highlighted four themes around the area of (i) teachers' efficacy of curriculum interpretation, (ii) challenges affecting beliefs and classroom practice for the implementation of curriculum, (iii) students' understanding of the intent of curriculum, and (iv) the misalignments of curriculum intentions and classroom realities. The points

融合是世界特殊教育的共同發展方向。為確保內地融合小學視障學生接受有質量的教學，本研究以分析美國和中國香港、澳門、臺灣地區融合教育政策及課程經驗為基礎，研製問卷，調查瞭解當前內地融合小學視障學生融合課程發展存在的問題，參考美國視障學生擴展核心課程和內地盲校特殊課程內容，提出內地融合小學視障學生融合課程發展建議，包括課程的針對性、 8 大領域的課程基本內容、課程實施方式以及課程政策建議。All rights reserved.