The fact that the number of sojourn programs organised to overseas and mainland China has grown rapidly in recent years in secondary schools in Hong Kong underlines the interest of schools in embracing the ideal of providing more learning opportunities for students under the growing impact of globalization. In this study, with its definition referring to short-term programs organised by Hong Kong secondary schools for students to reside temporarily in a foreign land for the purpose of learning, these popular programs have been playing a significant role in internationalisation of Hong Kong education through varied student interactions with peoples and cultures. This study particularly attempts to explore the nature of sojourn programs, how different stakeholders think about the importance and their impact on the process of internationalisation of Hong Kong secondary education. The study also explores how secondary schools in Hong Kong maintain a balance between destinations in China and overseas (such as Australia, UK and Canada) in an era of educational reforms.
This is a doctoral work in progress, a primitive research and data collected will be presented to reveal the significance of the study.
[Copyright of Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) at http://www.aare.edu.au]

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/ ]

作者指出，美術欣賞除了可在常規美術課中進行外，教師可以考慮編排課堂以外的欣賞活動，如展覽、演講、及參觀等。

作者認為要成功地籌辦中文學會的活動，首先要有堅定的心，不怕任何困難；要擁有一顆力求創新的心，多構思新鮮活潑的活動，讓本來傳統呆板的中文教學披上新的衣裳。（周麗英整理）

此文從課外活動的架構、開設、項目、性質、組織、成員及學生參與等方面來探討藉課外活動推動公民教育的情況，結論指出現況實未許樂觀。文章進一步提出今後可考慮的策略、措施及研究課題。

The author argues that it seemed more suitable to make the introduction in the form of a computer club before the introduction of a course in computer studies in secondary schools. The author further states that the language used in TRS-80 was BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) which was close to ordinary English, and that waiting for the money to be approved by the Education Department might take at least one year.

Secondary school students have been experiencing stress related to examination and academic performance in Hong Kong: the Special Administrative Region of the Chinese Mainland. The article reports a case study which applied the student empowerment model originated from western societies and the ‘Qing’ concept of Chinese philosophy to formulate a student Quality Student Leadership (QSL) programme in a secondary school. The programme aimed to reduce the stress of the students and at the same time improve their initiative, leadership, and also the relationship between the students and with the parents and teachers. The results showed that the programme was effective in achieving its objectives.
[Copyright of Pastoral Care in Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-0122.00215 ]