This thesis explores the relationship between preschools and children's gender socialization in Hong Kong and Japan, focusing on three major enquiries: Firstly, I examine to what extent preschools influence the gender behavior of children; secondly, I am intrigued by how children's gender roles and behaviors are modeled by preschool organization, interaction between teachers and children as well as play among children themselves; my discussion is mainly based on Delamont's (1990) and Thome's (1993) two different approaches to the important role of school in gender socialization; lastly, I have investigated whether there are any similarities and differences in the gender socialization process in Hong Kong and Japan. The data come from ethnographic observations in four kindergartens (two in Hong Kong and two in Japan) and in-depth interviews conducted with 55 parents (24 from Hong Kong and 31 from Japan) and 28 teachers (12 in Hong Kong and 16 in Japan).
My argument is that kindergarten is a significant amplifier of gender socialization. Gender construction in the kindergartens observed was an ongoing, active and creative process that took place chiefly through interaction in group life, whereby children communicate and interact, challenge each other, and create new gender interpretations every day. Regarding the study of children's gender socialization in kindergartens, I found that Delamont neglected to note that teachers not only created gender separation but also were able to reduce children's gender differences, and I also partially agreed with her argument about the huge influence of school organization and of teachers' strategies and interaction on children's gender behavior. While my findings supported Thome's emphasis on the active creation of gender by children, I also want to highlight the fact that socialization is a mutual and interactive relationship. My data substantiated my argument that gender is also highly related to other factors such as age, friendship

Girls out-performed boys in reading at the age of 15 in all 43 countries included in a credible study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and UNESCO. Male underachievement generally alarms educators. In Hong Kong, proficiency in English language more or less assures a better future, higher academic path and job security. Is there any sex difference in English language achievement in secondary three? If so, what are the factors and causes in the learning process responsible for this difference?
The present study aims at exploring the sex differences in English learning achievement, and in the learning process parameters in secondary 3. Gardner's socio-educational model serves as the theoretical model for multi-causal path analysis. The English learning achievement is related to motivation and then to learning orientations. According to local researches about English learning, Instrumental Orientation is added to Gardner's model for multi-group comparison.
Female students are found to have much higher English achievement and most of the learning process parameters, including Formal Motivation Intensity, opinion on MOI (medium of instruction) in English lessons, attitude of interest, attitude of essential, attitude towards bilingualism, motivation for learning English, Instrumental Orientation and Communicative Orientation.
In the causal relations between English achievement and learning process parameters, female and male students show significant differences. The causal path from Motivation to S3 English Achievement is 0.43 (t-value = 34.52) in females and 0.37 (t-value = 28.65) in males. It means when controlling Motivation, females can have higher achievement in S3 English. The causal path from Instrumental Orientation to Motivation is 0.67 (t-value=31.80) in females and 0.79 (t-value=29.33) in males. The causal path from Communicative Orientation to Motivation is 0.40 (t-value=20.32) in females and 0.27 (t-value=10.72)

This thesis investigated the process of gender construction in kindergartens by considering the unique roles of different socialization agents. Participants were 40 4-year-old Hong Kong Chinese children (21 girls and 19 boys) enrolled in four local kindergartens and their four female teachers. Over a period of ten months, 105 visits to these kindergartens were made and 235 hours of systematic observations focusing on social interactions among the target children, their teachers and their peers were analyzed. Participants were also interviewed, in individual sessions, to discern their personal theories about gender. Transcripts of observation and interview data were subject to systematic content analysis and the lens of gender was used to frame interpretations of these data. Descriptive codes, generated iteratively, were clustered, categorized, integrated, recoded, and re-categorized and led to the identification of three major themes. These were "Gendered Preschool Routines", "Perpetuation of Gender Stereotypes" and "Self-Censuring". Teachers were responsible for preschool routines, and both teachers and children upheld gender stereotypes while children monitored their own behavior when they feared they would be chastised by their peers for behavior which may be considered gender inappropriate.
Transcripts of observation and interview data were subject to systematic content analysis and the lens of gender was used to frame interpretations of these data. Descriptive codes, generated iteratively, were clustered, categorized, integrated, recoded, and re-categorized and led to the identification of three major themes. These were "Gendered Preschool Routines", "Perpetuation of Gender Stereotypes" and "Self-Censuring". Teachers were responsible for preschool routines, and both teachers and children upheld gender stereotypes while children monitored their own behavior when they feared they would be chastised by their peers for behavior which may be considered gender inappropriate

本文報告了新近發展的跨文化（中國人）個性測量表－青少年版（CPAI-A）對香港中學生人格特徵的性別差異評估結果。CPAI-A是在CPAI-2（成人版）基礎上發展而來的。研究發現性別是影響香港中學生人格特質的關鍵因素，並且性別差異在不同年齡組之間存在明顯的延續性和發展性趨勢。結合對已有研究的比較分析，文章從發展角度討論了人格特質的性別差異特性在青少年不同年齡組之間的情形。文章還基於CPAI-2中國人常模的數據，比較分析了青少年與成人之間人格特徵性別差異的特點。文章最後認為性別差異特徵是體現人格特質在青少年期的不同年齡階段，以及從青少年到成人階段的發展性與穩定性的重要內容。
Gender difference has been studied extensively in the field of personality. Many studies have demonstrated significant gender difference in personality traits (e.g., self-esteem, extraversion) among people from different age groups and cultural contexts. Although the stabilities and changes of personality structure from adolescence to adulthood have also been investigated, few studies have explored gender difference in personality traits from a developmental perspective.
This paper compared gender difference in the Cross-cultural (Chinese) Personality Assessment Inventory – Adolescent Version (CPAI-A) among three age groups of secondary school students in Hong Kong. The CPAI-A was based on the adult version of the CPAI-2 which was developed using a combined emic-etic approach. The participants were 2,506 (1135 males, 1371 females) Hong Kong secondary school students aged 12 to 18 (M = 15.25, SD = 1.72) drawn from a representative sample of secondary schools. The participants were divided into three age groups which corresponded to the phases of the secondary school system in Hong Kong: 12–14 years, 15–16 years, and 17–18 years. We used MANOVA to examine the overall group differences, followed by further univariate analysis to examine the specific gender difference in personality traits among three age groups.
The results indicated that gender was a key factor that contributed to group difference in personality traits among secondary school students in Hong Kong. Three typical developmental features of gender difference in personality traits were found: (1) There were consistent gender differences in some general and clinical personality traits across the three groups.

Survey study by means of a questionnaire on achievement goal orientations was conducted with four hundred and seventy-three pre-service student teachers of the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Two contrasting goals were identified, namely: learning goals and performance goals. Psychometric properties of the questionnaire gave support to its applicability in the local context. Statistical analyses indicated there was no significant difference in achievement goal orientations with courses and electives but sex. Female students were found to be more performance goal oriented than male students. Explanation of the differences in achievement goal orientations within sex group was sought in terms of socio-cultural factors. Implications were drawn for teacher educators to consider in the future planning and development of teacher education programmes.
[Copyright of Hong Kong Teachers' Centre Journal is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Centre at http://www.edb.org.hk/hktc]

Teaching is a female-dominated career in both Western and Eastern societies. While low salary and social status have been suggested by previous research as the main reasons, these cannot explain the phenomenon in Hong Kong where teachers enjoy high social status and salary. My Master of Psychology research will include samples of Hong Kong and Australian senior high school students, to contrast their gender stereotypes as measured by Bem's Sex-Role Inventory (Bem, 1981), and how these, along with their gender and gender role orientations, affect their views of what characterises a good primary and secondary teacher, likelihood to consider teaching as a career, self-efficacy, and interests in teaching.
The theoretical framework integrates Lent et al.'s Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; 1994) and research on gender stereotyping. SCCT posits that self-efficacies predict individuals' interests and intentions to persist in a given domain, which has not yet been applied to the context of teaching career choice. Research on gender stereotyping predicts that gender and conformity to gender role norms significantly shape individuals' learning experiences, which, in turn, affects self-efficacy (Toker et al., 2007). Recent research in the Chinese context has found that males and females exhibit fewer and weaker traditional gendered stereotypes (Zhang, Norvilitis, & Jin, 2001).We may reasonably infer shifting conceptions of gender stereotypes, including those associated with teachers, across cultures or time.
In the present paper, I report on the pilot study results from 120 senior high school survey participants in Hong Kong. Factor analyses and measures of Cronbach's measure of internal consistency will first explore the structure of gender stereotyped characteristics. Multiple regression analysis will examine the contributions of student gender, gender stereotypes, self-efficacy, and interest in teaching, towards intentions to teach. These findings will have

Ethical decisions are contextualized in the dialectic of a multidimensional system, including situation, setting, culture, and generation. There may be further gaps between the ethical considerations of professionals and folk values. The experience of promoting equal opportunities in Hong Kong illustrates some of these challenges. Whereas the rule of law under a Western legal system advocates human rights, the traditional emphasis on harmony and preference for balancing in conflict resolution underlie the gaps in the interpretation of these ideals. The case of the Hong Kong secondary school places allocation system highlights the conflicting perspectives of law, gender stereotypes, psychological knowledge, as well as ethical principles of justice and fairness in promoting equal opportunities in educational assessment and placement. The cultural perspective highlighted in this case illustrates the complex contexts of ethical decisions.
[Copyright of Ethics & Behavior is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10508421003799024]