This paper provides a critical account of the role of universities in the development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong.To do so, the paper examines the political economy of Hong Kong's innovation and technology development. It outlines a finance-led regime, under which the vision of long-term innovation initiatives is transformed into short-term finance events, and the development of an entrepreneurial culture in society and in universities is neglected. The paper also suggests that the current research funding system and the rise of managerialism in the higher education sector restrict the development of academic entrepreneurship, though universities play a significant role in the innovation system. The paper closes by examining the recent changes in higher education policy and governance, the intensification of integration with mainland China and their implications for prospects of advocating a culture of innovation and promoting innovation and technology in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2019 Association for Tertiary Education Management and the LH Martin Institute for Tertiary Education Leadership and Management.

The conflicting education values in Hong Kong kindergartens and primary schools pose various challenges to kindergarten teachers in providing pupils with a smooth transition to primary school which requires collaboration from schools and families. This study explored these challenges as well as the benefits of a professional teacher training programme. In-service teachers (N = 35) and tutors (N = 2) engaged in the module ‘The Social and Emotional Aspects of Teaching and Learning’ participated in this study. The trainees’ weekly reflective journals throughout the 22-week module were subjected to documentation analysis. Group interviews with the in-service teachers and individual interviews with the tutors were conducted on completion of the module. Findings reveal a gap between teacher training and providing pastoral care for pupils through supporting the social and emotional aspects of their families in Hong Kong, and indicated that traditional beliefs associated with the teaching profession should be widened. Meanwhile, counselling knowledge and skills should be contextualised and integrated into teacher training programmes.
[Copyright of International Journal of Early Years Education is the property of Routledge.]

This study argues that teachers are disempowered and demoralised moral agents. Specifically, it uses a qualitative study of Hong Kong teachers to show that teachers' agency in the pursuit of the moral goal of education is socially disempowered. The study shows that although teachers are committed to the moral goal of education, the obstacles to attaining this goal result in demoralisation. The difficulties consist of technical disempowerment (deprivation of power over one's labour) and cognitive disempowerment (deprivation of power to identify the instructional value of teachers' work), which are induced by managerialist educational reforms and school administration.
[Copyright of British Journal of Educational Studies is the property of Routledge.]

New vice-principals (VPs) inevitably experience high levels of uncertainty when assuming the position, and undergo a process of socialisation, involving engaging with both professional and relational sources of support in schools, to adjust to their changing role. Drawing on socialisation theories, this exploratory study proposes that novice VPs would rely on the school's structural feedback mechanism, peer affirmation and principal's sponsorship in their adaptation process; the first of these is professionally oriented whereas the remaining two are relationally oriented. The study further argues that VPs would experience varying degrees of dependence on these factors corresponding to the stage of their development in the socialisation process. Findings of the study, informed by a Hong Kong data set covering VPs in their first, second, and third years of tenure respectively, support these propositions. Peer affirmation appears to be a continuous source of support to VPs in all tenure groups and it stands at odds with principal's sponsorship. The effects of the structural feedback mechanism and principal's sponsorship on VP's transition are only evident in the 2-year group, with the former being positive and the latter negative. Implications of the findings are discussed.
[Copyright of School Leadership & Management is the property of Routledge.]

One measure of current education reform in Hong Kong is reporting school performance to the public to increase the transparency and accountability of schools, enhance parents' right of access to information, and provide guides for choosing schools. This article examines the controversies and politics involved and shows how the sociopolitical construction of information are connected to crucial questions about how the conflicting values and expectations of different stakeholders are balanced. Advocating public school performance reporting without adequate deliberation could introduce anti-educational and unethical consequences, however unintended. Drawing on the works by Albert Meijer and findings from Hong Kong, this study provides additional empirical evidence and conceptual insights for understanding the complex dynamics of school transparency in the context of public sector accountability. The article concludes with analytical and ethical implications of the Hong Kong experience and recommendations for policy makers, particularly concerning the value judgments on the right to information, freedom of choice, transparency, accountability, freedom of the press, and professionalism.
[Copyright of Education & Urban Society is the property of Sage Publications, Inc.]

This proposal reports a case study of four principals’ leadership approaches to equality of learning opportunities towards inclusion for all students with different special educational needs (SEN). The study was conducted in the Chinese education system in Hong Kong where more SEN students are placed in ordinary public schools. The key questions are: What are the challenges facing the principals for equality of learning opportunity for SEN students in ordinary public schools? How do the principals enact leadership for equal learning opportunity for SEN students? What effects of the principal leadership on the student learning are regarded as school improvement towards inclusion? The findings unveil the principals’ concerns with the effects of leadership practice for whole-school inclusion on all students. Copyright © 2019 AERA.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between the civic mission of schools and students on participation in school governance through an empirical study. It articulates the importance of school mission on nurturing citizenship of high school students.Design/methodology/approach - The research used a mixed method with questionnaire survey in the first phase and qualitative interviews in the second phase. Quantitative data were obtained from a survey completed by 3,209 students and 495 teachers (including principals) from 51 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Qualitative data were collected from 41 individual interviews with principals and teachers and 17 focus group interviews with 56 students in five case study schools.Findings - Both students and teachers believed that good citizenship qualities should include students’ participation in school governance. Schools in general took up the civic mission to nurture good and participatory citizens. A mission of nurturing students to become good and participatory citizens made a significant and positive contribution toward achieving students’ actual participation in school governance. However, students’ actual impact on major school policies was minimal. A paradox existed whereby students, knowing their influence over managerial issues was much circumscribed, still gave it a higher rating than their teachers.Originality/value - The paper contributes an empirical model for school leaders to develop school vision for promoting student participation in school governance. Based on a large-scale research supported by public funding, the paper contributes an empirical model for school leaders to develop school vision for promoting student participation in school governance. It further adds to the literature on relationship between citizenship education, civic mission of school and student participation in governance. Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited.

Teachers’ attitudes towards parental involvement play an important role in the ways they approach children’s families. This study examined Hong Kong pre-service early childhood teachers’ attitudes towards different types of parental involvement strategies and investigated whether these attitudes were related to the quality of relationships within their own family. Data were collected from 163 Hong Kong pre-service early childhood teachers via questionnaire. Results showed that engaging families in school decisions was perceived as the least important and feasible. The pre-service teachers also felt least confident in implementing it. There were, however, discrepancies in the perceived levels of importance, feasibility and confidence towards other types of parental involvement strategies. The levels of cohesion and expressiveness in pre-service teachers’ own families were positively related to their attitudes towards some types of parental involvement strategies. These findings suggest that teacher educators should take pre-service teachers’ family experiences into consideration when preparing them to work with children’s families. Copyright © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This study aimed to explore the principals’ perspectives in terms of their understanding, support and expectation towards programming education among primary schools in Hong Kong. 147 primary school principals (30.2%) responded to the survey. The results indicated that all principals have positive perspectives towards programming education in all three aspects. Their major concern was the competency of teachers in teaching programming. They suggested that more teacher development courses should be provided to address this problem. Copyright © 2019 Central China Normal University.

Home-school collaboration can bring numerous benefits to children, teachers and families. One of the major responsibilities of early childhood teachers nowadays, therefore, is to collaborate with families and involve them in their children’s education. However, not all pre-service teachers demonstrate high levels of willingness and readiness to do so. The present study aims to identify the character strengths and parent-related perceptions associated with pre-service early childhood teachers’ positive attitudes towards collaboration with families and confidence in implementing home-school collaboration activities. A total of 250 pre-service early childhood teachers were recruited from a university in Hong Kong and surveyed. Results of hierarchical regression analysis showed that after controlling for the year of study in the teacher education programme (as a proxy of professional knowledge), pre-service teachers’ character strength of judgment, perception of parents’ responsibilities in children’s education and perception of parents’ trust towards kindergarten teachers were significant correlates of their attitudes towards collaboration with families. Meanwhile, pre-service teachers’ character strength of judgment, character strength of social intelligence, perception of parents’ parenting competence, perception of parents’ trust towards kindergarten teachers were significant correlates of their confidence in implementing home-school collaboration activities. These findings suggest that in order to better prepare pre-service teachers to collaborate with families, it is important for teacher educators to help them develop positive perceptions about parents, an attitude of openness to diverse perspectives, and the skills of responding to others’ feelings in caring ways in different social situations. Copyright © 2018 HKERA International Conference.