Short-term international experiences (STIE) are becoming a regular, sometimes required, feature of pre-service language teacher education programmes. Often inappropriately termed 'immersion programmes', they aim to give teachers the opportunity to improve their language proficiency in the language they will teach, to develop their pedagogical knowledge and to engage with an international sociocultural environment with which they are not familiar. In this article we report on a study which investigated pre-service English second language teachers' perceptions of a six-week international experience in Auckland, New Zealand. The student teachers, who were enrolled in a postgraduate diploma in teaching at a Hong Kong university, participated in an academic programme as well as a series of social events and school visits. They were encouraged to reflect on their expectations and experiences and to write about these in a pre-programme questionnaire, reflective journals and a summative programme evaluation. The teachers' articulations reveal that their expectations and experiences interrelate in complex, sometimes unexpected, ways. The findings have important implications for the coordinators of the programme at the host institution and also for those further afield who are involved in planning and managing similar STIE programmes.
[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/10.1080/13598660500479904]

This paper reports a study of the impact of an initial teacher education programme on the development of a conceptual change model of instruction in prospective biology teachers. Analysis of the performance in teaching practice indicates that the subjects achieved significant improvement in the various skills related to this instruction model. However, mastery of these skills was not evident, especially in the response to pupils' alternative conceptions, the presentation of chalkboard layout, the use of high order questions to probe understanding and facilitate concept development, and the conduct of interactive learning activities. This can be related to the subjects' lack of teaching experience and inadequate subject knowledge, the passive learning attitude of pupils, constraints in time and resources, and the non-supportive conditions in schools.
[Copyright of International Journal of Science Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500690010016067]

This article is based on the findings of a study that examined the use of portfolios for assessment and learning purposes in an initial teacher education course in the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Progressive refocusing of the research led to an investigation of the extent to which the use of portfolios for such purposes promoted the development of reflective practice and teaching skills. Constraints and supports for the implementation of portfolios were identified through the use of observation, documentary analysis, surveys, video recordings and interviews with pre-service teachers and their lecturers. The implementation process and the teaching and learning outcomes are described. Teacher educators requested portfolio exemplars, more specific grading criteria and more examples to illustrate standards. Six principles that underpin the use of portfolios for assessment purposes, that emerged from an analysis of the research data and findings, are briefly described. An interactive CD ROM and a set of guidelines were produced as implementation resources. Details of these resources are provided.
[Copyright of Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09695940050118724]

We have investigated how open attitudes, attribution beliefs, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge were related to teaching performance among teacher interns. The participants were 72 teacher interns in Hong Kong, where large-scale education reform has been launched since 2000. Multiple methods (self-report, academic grades, and ratings from mentors and supervisors) were used to measure the interns' attribution beliefs, open attitudes, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and teaching performance. It was found that their openness to advice and challenges, effort attribution for failure, and pedagogical content knowledge were positively associated with their teaching performance in an era of education reform.
[Copyright of Asia Pacific Journal of Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02188790802036661]