To increase the competitive position in the higher education sector, management teams of self-financing institutions have to investigate critical factors influencing satisfaction of students studying at sub-degree and undergraduate degree levels so as to implement appropriate strategies in recruiting students. We adopted a model of Strategic Enrolment Management (SEM) to investigate student satisfaction on tertiary studies. 626 questionnaires were collected to investigate the critical factors affecting student satisfaction in studying self-financed programs. The findings revealed that marketing, admission, academic advising, career services, institutional research and peer influence are the critical factors affecting students' perceived satisfaction. The results provide insightful information and suggestions on how self-financing higher education institutions could improve student satisfaction and further strengthen their institutional strategies and management in increasing the competiveness. Copyright © 2018 International Economic Society.

Purpose - The objective of this study is to investigate the factors of two sub-processes – knowledge donating and knowledge collecting – of knowledge sharing in Hong Kong higher education context. This study examines the individual factors, organizational factors and technology factor of knowledge sharing. Individual factors include enjoyment in helping others and knowledge self-efficacy while organizational factors refer to the top management support, organizational rewards and organizational culture. The use of technology system is proposed to be the technology factor.Design/methodology/approach - Based on the literature review, this study develops a structural model representing the impact of six latent variables on knowledge donating and knowledge collecting processes Data from a questionnaire survey of 166 respondents from academics from Hong Kong higher education sector was used to analyze the model. PLS-SEM was adopted in this study.Findings - The result of the data analysis suggests enjoyment in helping others has a positive impact on both knowledge donating and knowledge collecting. For organizational factors, a trust and collaborative culture enhance both the sub-processes. The technology factor only contributes to the knowledge donating process. Several practical implications are provided to high education leaders, for instance, by establishing a trust and collaborative environment, academics are more eager to donate and collect knowledge.Originality/value - This paper provides insights for researchers to further understand how individual, organizational and technology factors affect two sub-processes of knowledge sharing. On the practical side, this study validated several critical factors to successful knowledge donation and knowledge collection. Copyright © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited.

This study assessed elementary school students’ conceptions of STEM professions and its potential influence on STEM career interest, as well as the moderation effect of gender on the relationships between conceptions of STEM professionals and career interest in STEM. A total of 216 grade 3 through 5 students in Hong Kong participated in this study. They were asked to draw images of professionals in specific STEM areas, and complete questionnaires about their conceptions of STEM professionals and interests in STEM careers. Drawings were analyzed using graphic content analysis, and survey data were analyzed using moderated hierarchical regression analysis. Analysis of drawings showed that the students had inadequate understanding of engineers or scientists in the air, food, and water area. Boys were more likely to hold gender-related stereotypes about STEM professionals than girls. Analysis of survey data revealed that students’ views about STEM career implications, STEM professionals’ personal aptitudes, and social relations significantly predicted their STEM career interest. Gender significantly moderated the association of Social relations and Interest, meaning that compared to boys, girls might express higher STEM career interest when they more strongly believed that STEM professionals are able to build good social relationships with others. This study has implications for the design and implementation of pertinent lessons on STEM for elementary schools. Copyright © 2020 Springer Nature B.V.

In the last 20 years, humane education (HE) has undergone a paradigm shift from a simple animal welfare education model to a teacher-led positive education approach that cultivates kindness, love, and empathy in children and youth. While teachers’ humane attitudes are considered a prerequisite for HE program success in school settings, their attitudes toward animals have received little attention to date. This study investigated pre-service teachers’ humane attitudes toward animals and assessed whether and to what extent these attitudes are correlated with empathetic tendencies as well as variables such as gender and current and previous pet ownership. A total of 226 pre-service teachers in Hong Kong completed the Animal Attitude Scale (AAS) and the Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). The results showed that pre-service teachers showed moderate concern for the humane treatment of animals, and a difference in humane attitude was identified based on sex: female pre-service teachers tended to express more humane attitudes than their male counterparts. Moreover, pre-service teachers with greater tendencies toward warmth and compassion demonstrated a more welfare-oriented attitude toward animals. The results of the current study support using HE as a positive education approach and imply that the provision of training for pre-service teachers and teachers should be given higher priority by humane educators. Humane educators are recommended to recruit pre-service teachers as HE program instructors in their research projects. Copyright © 2020 ISAZ.

Purpose: A growing body of research has focused on the topic of inclusive education for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. At the same time, few scholars have explored the role technology can play in enhancing inclusivity within the context of quality education. This study examines how the differentiated use of technology that takes into account disparities in prior knowledge can benefit students of different learning backgrounds.Design/Approach/Methods: This study adopted an experimental design to investigate how content-specific and content-neutral technologies can be strategically used to support the classroom discussions of Chinese and ethnic minority students' learning Chinese language and mathematics. One hundred and twenty-one secondary school students participated in the study. Each student was randomly assigned to a condition, in a 2 (ethnicity: Chinese vs. ethnic minority) × 2 (content: content-specific first vs. content-neutral first) design.Findings: The study found that (a) for Chinese language lessons, ethnic minority students preferred to learn with content-neutral and content-specific technologies in prediscussion and postdiscussion activities, respectively; whereas the Chinese students' preferences were the opposite and (b) for mathematics lessons, both groups of students performed better when content-specific and content-neutral technologies were used in prediscussion and postdiscussion activities, respectively.Originality/Value: The study presents five practical suggestions for the strategic use of technology in inclusive classrooms in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s).

This qualitative case study investigates two early-stage doctoral students' developing conceptions of research in their situated context. Drawing on data collected from in-depth interviews and informal conversations with the participants over two years, the study showed that the participants' research conceptions were in a symbiotic relationship with their research activities. Also, their developing research conceptions were influenced by their past academic experience and future goals, interaction with significant others in their community, and disciplinary and institutional practices, which acted to change or sustain their perceptions and engagement as an emerging academic. The findings indicate that reflection can be useful for doctoral students to manage their own conceptions of research and for supervisors to adjust practice to enhance doctoral education. Implications for universities regarding how institutional practice and discourse may dominate and foster doctoral students’ research conceptions are provided. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This qualitative multi-case study explores a group of university-based language teacher educators' boundary crossing experiences in Hong Kong. Informed by a conceptual framework on boundary crossing and drawing on data from in-depth interviews and field observations, the findings reveal the opportunities and challenges embedded in teacher educators' boundary crossing between university and schools, between the teacher education and academic community, and between local and external contexts. The study contributes new knowledge to our understanding of teacher educators' boundary crossing through two different forms, i.e., horizontal and hierarchical, as they navigate sociocultural differences between various communities. The paper concludes with practical implications on how to promote teacher educators' continuing development in university settings. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Effective teaching is a key factor in educational effectiveness and improvement. To facilitate the knowledge exchange regarding effective teaching in secondary education internationally, there has been a growing interest in using classroom observation measures. However, little is known regarding the comparability of observation measures across various national contexts (measurement invariance). Consequently, comparing effective teaching behaviour across contexts is compromised by issues of construct and measurement equivalence. In the present study, we investigated measurement invariance of the International Comparative Analysis of Learning and Teaching (ICALT) for measuring teaching behaviour across various national contexts including the Netherlands, South Korea, South Africa, Indonesia, Hong Kong-China, and Pakistan. Results showed that ICALT indicates full strict invariance in four out of the six countries, which provides a possibility to compare teaching behaviour in the Netherlands, South Korea, South Africa, and Indonesia. South Korea indicated the highest quality of teaching behaviour, while Indonesia indicated the lowest. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Background: Hong Kong students with physical disabilities were being seen as physically inactive compared with typically developed people or even people with other disabilities, such as visual impairment or intellectual disabilities. Lack of regular physical activity would lead to poor physical fitness, and yet is associated with a higher risk of being obese or other physical as well as mental health problems. Currently, a newly developed sport, sitting light volleyball, modified from the Paralympic sitting volleyball, is considered as suitable for disabled people with lower physical fitness, in which was able to increase fitness level and increase their physical activity.Objectives: The current study aimed to examine the effect of sitting light volleyball in improving physical fitness among students with physical disabilities in Hong Kong.Methods: The current study was an interventional, quasi-experimental study. Nineteen participants, 8 males and 11 females, with the age of 18.5 on average (SD = 3.24), participated in the study. Two local special education schools were involved in the 10-week (65 minutes per session) sitting light volleyball intervention program. Participants took part in a fitness test before and after the intervention. The intended-to-treat approach was adopted throughout the data analysis, with the last observation carried forward method for managing the missing data.Results: No significant changes in body composition outcomes of the participants were found. The non-parametric sign test showed significant median differences on dumbbell press test and flexibility test of the right shoulder before and after the intervention, with Z = 2.94, P = 0.003; Z = 2.20, P = 0.028, respectively.Conclusions: This indicated that the sitting light volleyball intervention was able to provide preliminary evidence on showing the enhancement of muscle endurance and flexibility of the students with physical disabilities. Whereas, intensified interventions should be