The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) claims that behaviour can be predicted by behavioural intention and perceived behavioural control, while behavioural intention is a function of attitude towards the behaviour, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control. This study aims at providing explanation and prediction of teachers' inclusive education intentions and behaviour under TPB. The main components of TPB were implemented in a survey of 841 teachers from Hong Kong schools in the context of inclusive education. The structural equation modelling results show that TPB fitted the data well (X2/df = 2.84; RMSEA = 0.054; GFI = 0.92; CFI = 0.92; and TLI = 0.91). Identified attributes, including teachers' attitude towards inclusive education, feeling social pressure from important others to carry out inclusive education, and confidence on professional training for involved staff, were found to exert significant predictive power on teachers' intention to implement inclusive education. This intention, together with the confidence on professional training for involved staff, predicts their actual inclusive practice. Teachers' perception of social pressure and adequacy of professional training greatly contribute to predict their intention and behaviour towards inclusive education, respectively. TPB appears to be a sound theoretical framework for understanding teachers' inclusive practice. The results have strong implications for teacher empowerment and professional training in inclusive education.
[Copyright of International Journal of Inclusive Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2012.757811]

As teacher educators, preparing student-teachers who are able to address diverse student needs is our main concern. It has been suggested in the literature that teachers who are adaptive to students' needs are those who possess adequate pedagogical content knowledge or pedagogical understanding. However, it is not uncommon for teacher educators to find student-teachers with diverse pedagogical understandings even at the point of graduation from the teacher education programme. This paper aims to explain and analyse the development of pedagogical understanding among student-teachers in an initial teacher education programme. The findings are drawn from a study conducted at the Hong Kong Institute of Education where in-depth interviews were carried out during the four-year programme. The findings from the three selected cases provide an explanation for why some individual student-teachers show continuous development, whereas others remain confused in their pedagogical understanding throughout the teacher education programme. While acknowledging individual differences in pedagogical understanding, we attempt to explain such differences by investigating the relationship between different dimensions of the student-teachers' learning such as the integration of pedagogical understanding with the teaching contexts, integration of feedback from lecturers and supporting teachers, and their focus of concern. The findings reveal that the three cases demonstrate different levels of pedagogical understanding and possess varying 'senses of agency'. Of the three cases, the first one, Peggy has the strongest sense of agency. Despite influences related to classroom management, diverse learning ability among pupils, and the teaching methods which pupils were accustomed to previously, she actively introduced rhythmic movements into her lessons, developed pupils' ability to learn gradually and achieved an impact on pupils' learning which was also recognized by her supporting teacher. The

The research reported here investigated pre-service English language teachers' perceptions of newly arrived immigrant children from Mainland China in Hong Kong. Seventeen participants, who had at least 10 weeks of experience working with these immigrant children during teaching practicum, participated in focus group discussions and shared their perceptions. The data analysis revealed that the participants widely perceived these children as deficit and consider them a serious professional challenge. Further examination of the data helped reveal media, life and teaching practicum experiences with immigrant children as crucial sources that contributed to the formation of these perceptions. The findings call for teacher education programmes to involve pre-service teachers in critical engagement with the mass media and their own experiences so that they can address the deficit model applied by teachers to immigrant children.
[Copyright of Journal of Education for Teaching is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2013.869966]

This paper presents an evaluation study of an innovative and theory-based initial teacher education course entitled Learning Study, the aim of which is to develop the instructional design and teaching competency of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong. The Learning Study course is offered to all second year students as part of the Bachelor of Education programme of the biggest teacher education institute in Hong Kong. The course comprises a series of theory-based tutorials, supportive consultation meetings, and a research lesson practicum. To assess the effectiveness of the course, a framework of representation, decomposition, and approximation of practices was adopted to describe and analyse the teaching of practice. A total of 341 pre-service teachers participated in a quasi-experimental design questionnaire survey. A structural equation model was applied to explore the relationship between the activities of their learning process and their learning outcomes. Theory-based tutorials, consultative support, and research practicums are confirmed to be the predictors of learning outcomes which include instructional design skills, teaching competency, and clinical experience. This paper proposes Learning Study as a model to help pre-service teachers develop their instructional design skills and teaching competency.
[Copyright of Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2013.869546]

This paper explores the self-appraisal of teacher commitment and their associated emotional experiences in the first 10 years of teaching among three generations of Hong Kong teachers. Findings affirm previous view that high commitment level of teachers is characterised with psychological attachment to the commitment objects. However the relationship between increased teacher commitment level, time investment in work and psychological attachment to teaching is found uncertain in the changing contexts, leading to the authors' conceptualisation of satisfied and dissatisfied commitment among teachers staying in the profession. Implications from the new understanding of teacher commitment are discussed.
[Copyright of Australian Journal of Teacher Education is the property of School of Education, Edith Cowan University. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2011v36n7.6]

This inquiry aimed to examine the benefits of having international field experience for a group of Hong Kong postgraduate student teachers who joined a six-week immersion program in New Zealand. Through participants' reflections, interviews and program evaluations, the present investigation found that the overseas field experience not only enriched their cultural understanding, pedagogical knowledge and skills, but also enhanced their language awareness, classroom language and recognition of different English varieties.
[Copyright of Australian Journal of Teacher Education is the property of School of Education, Edith Cowan University. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2011v36n10.4]

In this article the author discusses some of the approaches that she takes in challenging student teachers to understand education in global context, rather than in a decontextualised or instrumental way. These approaches draw on the author's experience of being an educator from the 'global South' (the Caribbean) now working in the 'global North' (Australia). As the first black teacher that most Australian student teachers have encountered in their entire education, the author finds that she can offer them provocative educational narratives and questions stemming from a lifetime career in education, studying and working in various roles in schools, colleges, universities and ministries of education in Jamaica, Grenada, Hong Kong, the UK, the USA and Australia. The author sets out to disrupt the preconceptions of her students as a starting point in a collective journey of thinking differently about education.
[Copyright of Compare: A Journal of Comparative Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher’s website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2011.581513]

Debate over educational reform in many countries has addressed the question of how to attract and retain teachers. As part of a multiple case study that includes eight beginning English language teachers in Hong Kong, this article offers an in-depth analysis of the experiences of two participants, Christine and Samuel, during their initial year of full time teaching in Hong Kong schools. The data, collected during an entire academic year, suggests that Christine used her experiences of becoming a teacher to justify and reaffirm her determination to pursue a career within English language teaching. In contrast, Samuel's preliminary year of full-time teaching culminated in his decision to leave the teaching profession. A contribution of this study is to explore these very different experiences and outcomes using a framework of teacher identity construction. From this perspective, findings suggest that the participants' engagement in the practices and activities of teaching, their relations with colleagues, and their positioning within different discourses of teaching and learning by their schools as well as by the wider educational environment, shaped their decisions about whether to continue to pursue a teaching career. Implications for attracting and retaining teachers, as well as for future research, are discussed.
[Copyright of Australian Educational Researcher is the property of Australian Association for Research in Education. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13384-012-0067-7]