This study aims to explore the discipline masters’ and school social workers' perception of delinquency in secondary schools in Hong Kong, in terms of its prevalence and causation and the responses of the school system to it. Twelve secondary schools with a balanced mix of different bands, nature of governance, location and sex composition were studied, using a multiple-case study method. The two key actors of each school, namely the discipline master and the school social worker, were interviewed to identify the landscape of delinquency in their schools, and their theorization and responses to it.
All the schools under study are found to be faced with the problem of delinquency, though in varying degrees and forms. They regarded anti-authority behaviours directed at the teachers as most serious. Concerning the attribution of causes of delinquency however, the school authorities are not quite aware of the school being a cause of, rather than a solution to, delinquency when it adopts labelling and oppressive measures. It is further found that all the schools emphasized uniformity, standardization, hierarchical authority and discipline. The overuse of power against students, often disguised as the need for discipline, was prevalent among most of them. Their students were often labelled, which in turn accentuated their delinquent behaviours. It is thus concluded that schools are more prone to over-control rather than losing control in dealing with such behaviours.
This study shows the responses of the schools to delinquency vary. According to the school social workers interviewed, seven schools were described as non-punitive, four schools as punitive and one as permissive. Those schools, described as non-punitive exhibited more elements of collaboration, humanization, legitimization, restoration and education in their responses to delinquency. While these positive elements existed, they were not consistently and systematically applied, showing that these schools

The perceptions and beliefs about study strategies of Hong Kong university students in a self-access language centre were examined in this study. Twenty undergraduate students at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University were the main study participants. These students were interviewed in the investigation of how their perceptions and beliefs influenced their study strategies. Data were analysed using a qualitative approach. The emergent themes derived from the data show the study strategies employed by the students as in their different grouping orientations (individual learners versus group learners), their use of materials and tutor support. The findings give evidence that the majority of the students had a preference for group-learning activities. The results also show that group learners took the initiative in accessing tutor support while individual learners seemed reluctant. Interestingly, individual learners tended to use more materials, which perhaps reflects that they were more comfortable in using material support in substitution for peer/tutor support. Findings indicate a need to provide students with a learner-training programme so they can have a knowledge-base related to their self-access study. Providing such training may require more self-access trained tutors to better cater for the needs of students. There is also a need to change the physical design of a self-access centre, which is originally designed for individual-based learning, to better cater for both individual learning and group learning needs. Also, the notion of study strategies in the self-access contexts needs to be further explored.

The universities in Hong Kong have attracted large numbers of Mainland Research Postgraduates (MRPs) in the last ten years but little research has focused on their adaptation. Such a study is of value as MRPs have special features of being both graduate students and adapting to a sibling cultural environment, which are comparatively less investigated in previous research. Based on college impact theories, which propose that academic integration and social integration are the major predictors of student persistence and satisfaction, this study modified Tinto's (1993) model for the study of MRPs' adaptation to the universities of Hong Kong. Unlike most previous research that emphasized either institutional factors or cultural factors of student adaptation, this research enhanced Tinto's model with a new cultural element: interaction with Hong Kong culture and people. Persistence intention as well as satisfaction were utilised as indicators of MRPs' adaptation. Satisfaction, in particular, was also hypothesised as a mediating factor for persistence intention. Two quantitative and one qualitative studies were conducted. 103 MRPs from the University of Hong Kong participated in the first study, which aimed at validating instruments and exploring the pattern of correlations between the major variables involved. 222 MRPs from four universities of Hong Kong participated in the second study designed to test the model.
Another 24 and 3 MRPs participated in the focus-group discussions and follow-up interviews respectively in the third study designed for triangulation and a further understanding of MRPs' adaptation. The results generally supported the fit of the model with the data. They showed that the sibling cultural setting and the presence of large numbers of Mainland fellow peers in the universities of Hong Kong provided a culturally grounded environment for the MRPs but difficulties relating to cultural differences such as problems with language and in interactions with

A review of the literature showed that systematic studies on adolescent volunteerism, particularly in the Chinese context, were very limited. The present study was conducted to fill this knowledge gap. The conceptual model was an integrative model comprising elements of the ecological perspective and the cognitive motivational approach. Both personal and environmental factors were taken into account during the examination of psychosocial correlates of students' volunteering intention and behavior in Hong Kong based on the paradigm of post-positivism. With reference to literature, a series of hypotheses were put forward for empirical testing.
The first part of the study was to construct and validate four instruments assessing personal beliefs on volunteerism and perceived environmental influence, including (1) Revised Personal Functions of Volunteerism Scale, (2) Beliefs Against Volunteering Scale, (3) Microsystem (Family, School, Peers) Influence on Volunteerism Scale, and (4) Cultural Influence on Volunteerism Scale. A small-sample validation study (N = 192) showed that the instruments had high internal consistency, good content validity and acceptable criterion-related validity in distinguishing between volunteers and non-volunteers. The scales were used in the main study.
The second part of the study was a large-scale quantitative survey with 6,213 secondary school students from F.1 to F.6 (Grade 7 to 12) recruited via convenience sampling. The respondents completed a 244-item questionnaire which measured beliefs on volunteerism, perceived environmental influence, personal competence assets, prior volunteering experience, intention to volunteer, volunteering interests, details of current volunteering behavior and socio-demographic characteristics.
The findings from the main study showed that the scales used in the study possessed acceptable psychometric properties. While most of the proposed antecedents were found to be related to volunteering behavior

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among students' performance goals, vocational identity and career-exploration behaviours and to examine the effects of their personal attributes on these variables.
Based on the social cognitive view of the school-to-work transition proposed by Lent, Hackett and Brown (1999), the study presents a comprehensive conceptual framework for career counselling, with special emphasis on enhancing adolescents' career-exploration behaviours and work-related motivations and attitudes. The career readiness model proposed in this study deals with interactions among a number of variables that affect career decision-making self-efficacy, career decision-making outcome expectations, career decision-making intentions, career-exploration behaviour, vocational identity and performance goals. It explains and illustrates the paths and factors that play a significant part in the development of career readiness.
The target population was secondary fourth form and secondary sixth form students in Hong Kong. A total of 1216 students from 14 secondary schools participated in this study. Gender had a more significant impact on scores than the effects of different backgrounds. Male respondents generally had lower mean scores than female respondents in most variables. It was also found that the standard deviations of the male students' scores from were greater than those of female students. Apart from gender differences, there were no significant differences among students from various grade levels and streams of study. The results support the hypothesis that career decision-making self-efficacy in plays a significant role in career decision-making outcome expectations, career decision-making intentions, exploration behaviour, performance goals and vocational identity of secondary school students. Most of the structural paths in the model were found to be significant.
The study concludes that students' self-efficacy in career