This article investigates the variety of factors that hinder the implementation of play (as defined by western scholars) in Asian preschools. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of policy borrowing, enactment and glocalisation, we analyse three jurisdictions that illustrate distinctive problematics: India, Mainland China and Hong Kong. The methodology involves a bibliographic review. Each jurisdiction is presented as a narrative portrait, including key sociocultural characteristics, features of early childhood education system, role of play in government policies, and teachers’ beliefs and practices pertaining to play. The findings show that the distinctive factors hindering play relate to societal mindsets in India, a lack of curriculum clarity in China, and structural factors and parental pressures in Hong Kong. Common hurdles include a high societal emphasis on academic learning, lack of information on how play should contribute to achieve curriculum outcomes, and insufficient teacher preparation. The authors show that play is neither adequately defined nor justified in some Asian policy frameworks, and argue that play might not be viable in certain preschools (especially in half-day programmes). An alternative glocal notion is proposed – child-led activities – which would be less conceptually problematic and more culturally appropriate. The study highlights the need for the glocalisation of Asian early childhood education systems. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s).

Transmitting traditional music for sustainability has been a common theme in global music education. Recently, the school systems of Hong Kong and Guangdong have been encouraged by governmental authorities to teach Cantonese opera aiming at enhancing the sustainability of the genre and promote a Chinese cultural identity within students. This paper details a survey of school music teachers working in Hong Kong and Guangdong examining the current state of Cantonese opera teaching in the schools of both regions and investigate how it is affected by teacher variables including their interest in Chinese opera, the confidence in teaching the subject, and their perceptions of their Chinese cultural identities. A total of 1,974 valid questionnaires were received and examined. Descriptive and inferential statistics including MANOVA and chi-square tests were used to analyze the data. Findings reveal that Cantonese opera teaching is limited in both regions. While teachers are modestly interested, confident, and knowledgeable about teaching the genre, there is a significant relationship between the music backgrounds of teachers and their interest in Cantonese opera. The article discusses the findings within the context of a historical predominance of Western music within music education curricula and wider societies. Implications for policy makers are proposed. Copyright © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Dialogic teaching has been demonstrated to be conducive to the development of such important competencies and skills as creativity, communication skills, and critical thinking skills. However, the literature confirms that teacher-student interactions in the classroom are predominantly monologic rather than dialogic across subjects, grades, and countries. This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme in facilitating the development of dialogic and inquiry teaching in teachers in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for teachers to enable them to teach P4C to their students during Integrated Humanities and English lessons. P4C was found to help increase the teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom in terms of their ability to engage in dialogic and inquiry teaching, to develop relevant curricular materials for such teaching, to reflect on their own teaching, to recognise their students’ capacity for constructing knowledge through dialogic inquiry, to transfer the teaching strategies learned in P4C to other non-P4C lessons, and to identify and analyse philosophical concepts in the school curriculum. The findings of this study suggest that P4C plays a significant role in promoting the professional development of teachers. Copyright © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Prior publications on sexuality education experiences have often focused on cisgender students. Few have studied transgender students’ experiences, particularly in East Asia, and none have addressed these issues in the Hong Kong Chinese context, where transgender human rights are a hotly debated issue, and injustice towards trans youth persists. Using the concepts of transprejudice and rights-based sexuality education, this paper identifies the non-inclusive and inclusive sexuality education experiences of Chinese transgender students as reported in data from qualitative interviews with eight trans students aged 16–20 years from secondary schools and a community college. We identified the following themes: 1) Left Out – being omitted and silenced; 2) Terrified and Distressed – being misgendered and misinformed; 3) Outraged – being pathologised and bullied; 4) Empowered: connecting trans-Inclusive and rights-based education; 5) Affirmed and Supported – engaging in trans-inclusive dialogue. The paper argues that rights-based gender diversity content needs to be included in the sexuality education curriculum to reduce transgender students’ feelings of marginalisation. It also speaks to the need for advocacy for non-prejudiced and inclusive sexuality education in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

A major cluster of economic engines that have changed Asian higher education, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan have all developed high-income societies as well as world-class universities which linked local “knowledge economies” to global science and created hubs for international collaborations and mobility. However, there has been limited analysis of interdependencies between the rise of world-class universities and changes in the flows of international talent. This paper elaborates on the concept of higher education internationalization that aims at enhancing geopolitical equity in global mobility and re-positioning local students for improved access to the world-class excellence. The paper compares key themes and patterns that define the Tiger societies’ unique positions in the field of global higher education. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s).

In two studies, we investigated how Hong Kong university students reacted to descriptions of China as multicultural vs. assimilatory, examining effects on emotions, prejudice toward Mainland Chinese, attitudes toward Hong Kong/China culture mixing, and cultural identities. Study 1 compared a multicultural priming condition to a control condition and found that the multiculturalism prime significantly reduced desire to socially distance from Mainland Chinese. Study 2 compared multiculturalism, assimilation, or control primes’ effects, and found that the multiculturalism prime, through increased positive emotions, indirectly reduced social distancing from Mainland Chinese and disgust toward culture mixing, and increased Chinese ethnic identity and multicultural identity styles; the assimilation prime had the opposite indirect effects through increasing negative emotions. Results show new evidence of the importance of emotion in how non-immigrant regional groups, who are both minority and majority culture members, react to different diversity models. Multicultural frames increased positive emotions, with downstream positive effects on both intergroup attitudes and integrated identities. Copyright © 2021 Ye and Buchtel.

Literature offers a theoretical framework exemplifying the inherent tensions between “becoming Chinese” and “remaining global” in the evolution of the international status of Hong Kong. Adopting this framework, this paper examines the global position of Hong Kong’s higher education through an investigation of universities’ participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Greater Bay Area development plan. Specifically, drawing on data from interviews about universities’ engagement with the two Chinese grand strategies, the paper discusses university leaders and academics’ experience and perception of Hong Kong’s global status against a policy context that foregrounds a deeper integration with the Chinese national development. This discussion offers a theoretical dialogue that reveals different but overlapping scenarios for the future of Hong Kong’s higher education and sheds light on the link between the changing geopolitical contexts and international higher education. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s).