In Hong Kong, the Education Bureau (EDB) assesses the quality of services provided to children in local kindergartens. Quality Review (QR) reports of kindergartens that pass the assessment are published on EDB’s website. We conducted a content analysis of 164 QR reports to examine the alignment between the music activities alluded to and the curriculum objectives established for music in official policies. A coding scheme was developed using both inductive and deductive approaches. High inter-reliability was obtained. MAXQDA was used to conduct word frequency, descriptive, and co-occurrence analyses. The most common terms identified in the music-related segments focused on children’s development of sensory abilities through music experiences, in relation to singing, rhythm, beat, movement, and instrumental music. However, activities intended to foster musical creativity and self-expression were seldom mentioned. We conclude that the QR reports reveal important discrepancies between official curriculum policies and actual classroom practices, which EDB assessors seemed to ignore or overlook. Implications focus on the need for kindergarten stakeholders to address curriculum/practice gaps and further prepare teachers to foster children’s musical creativity. Copyright © 2022 Yan Lam HO, Alfredo Bautista.

This paper is to investigate kindergarten teachers’ understanding of play and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in practicing play-based curriculum. Kindergarten teachers’ professional knowledge, particularly their PCK, has always been considered an important component in securing the quality of early childhood education (Hedges & Cullen, 2005, Sheridan et al., 2009, Wood & Bennett, 2000). This study is built upon the work of Shulman (1986, 1987). Among seven domains of knowledge, PCK blends both content and pedagogy, encompasses both teachers’ understanding of content areas and enactments, with aims to develop better practices for children. This specific domain constitutes knowledge base of teachers to warrant the quality of play-based curricular practice. This study invited 19 kindergartens and 29 teachers. Using the interpretivist approach, qualitative data were collected through classroom observations and teacher focus group interviews to gain a deeper understanding about the kinds of PCK embedded in their actual practice. The present study has met the university’s research ethics. Informed consent has also been obtained from kindergarten principals, teachers and parents of the participating children. Our findings indicated that kindergarten teachers’ situated form of knowledge appeared as significant as their PCK in shaping their professional practice of play-based curriculum. Teachers conceived that ongoing complexities and dilemmas that circumscribing their practice required them to constantly frame, adapt and modify pedagogical strategies. Findings revealed that teachers’ knowledge on play-based pedagogy is contextually bounded. This study gives insights into how teachers develop situated wisdom to complement their PCK in constructing authentic play-based learning in classes. Copyright © 2018 28th EECERA Conference.

This study aims to conceptualise a drama-integrated curriculum devised from process drama as an approach to play-based pedagogy and curriculum to realise the policy initiative of learning through play. By investigating teachers’ perspectives and practices in relation to the curriculum of a local kindergarten, examples of effective drama-integration strategies and the associated children's learning are identified and organised into four themes – namely, drama teaching and learning through, before, in and after play. The teachers understood that although their curriculum is not based on free play, its not-so-free features may reconcile the play–learning binarism, daring them to navigate the maze of complex relationships between play, drama, teaching and learning in implementing a playful curriculum. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s).

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).

This study employed an inductive qualitative approach to understanding the effects of local culture on early childhood curriculum development in two Hong Kong kindergartens. A triangulation of interviews, observations and documents was established, and cultural-historical activity theory was employed as the theoretical framework. The results indicated that local culture played an important role in early childhood curriculum development. First, the two cases learned from diverse models and approaches during the transformation of their curricula, resulting in contradictory demands and motives. Then, these contradictions were, in turn, resolved by the local culture to achieve curriculum hybridisation and innovation, as well as inherit the culture. Such findings provide valuable implications for early childhood professionals to integrate social and cultural diversity into curriculum development and to localise imported curricular practices so as to ensure a good fit between the curriculum and the local context. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s).

Hong Kong preschool teachers have long been portrayed as ineffective reform implementers entrenched in the Confucian educational practices. This study, conducted in an award-winning drama partnership, solicits nineteen teachers’ voices on their first-hand experiences in using process drama for curriculum and pedagogical innovation. Based on Bakhtin’s voice theory and thematic analysis, the study identifies various kinds of teacher-reported benefits of this western educational borrowing, ranging from teaching capacity building, perceptual changes concerning childhood and teachers’ role, to personal wellbeing enhancement. Unlike previous studies, these findings represent teachers as effective implementers of process drama and active agents of education reform. Copyright © 2021 American Alliance for Theatre and Education.

As a result of globalization, kindergarten curriculum frameworks in Asia have been strongly influenced by Western theories, pedagogies, and values. In this article, we argue that Singapore's Nurturing Early Learners and Hong Kong's Kindergarten Education Curriculum Guide present key notions that are inconsistent with cultural values that are deeply rooted in these two societies. To overcome the challenges these inconsistencies trigger for teachers, principals, teacher educators, and parents, we advocate for the design of 'glocal' (global/local, explicitly hybrid) curriculum frameworks, based on principles that are culturally appropriate and socially situated. Drawing on recent research studies, we analyze current curriculum/practice gaps in relation to the notions of Child-Centeredness, Quality Interactions, Creativity and Self-Expression, and Play. In seeking the global/local balance that is needed in Singapore and Hong Kong, four alternative glocal notions are proposed: Child-Appropriateness, Pedagogical Quality, Arts Engagement, and Child-Led Activities. We conclude there is an urgent need for generating a solid corpus of local research in both jurisdictions, which should guide subsequent curriculum reforms and teacher preparation models. Our final aim is to contribute to early childhood education policy discussions in Asia, against the background of internationalization. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s).

Adolescent problems in Hong Kong have brought questions about their moral development and mental health to light. Moral education for preschool children will be strategically important to address these issues because applying early educational interventions to preschool children will effectively enhance their personal development. This article highlights the inadequacy of the Hong Kong preschool curriculum guides in the promotion of moral development in children. The lack of a consensus about the values and character that preschool children should develop is a fundamental problem of implementing preschool moral education in Hong Kong. If moral education is regarded as a school curriculum, either formal or informal, the objectives, content and assessment should be closely adhered to one another. In addition, the learning and teaching activities should also be in line with student's developmental characteristics and experiences. The O-C-A model is then proposed for moral education in the preschool settings of Hong Kong. Advice has also been made for the promotion of moral education in Hong Kong's early childhood settings.
[Copyright of Global Studies of Childhood is the property of SAGE Publications.]

This chapter comparatively analyzes the most recent national curriculum guidelines for early childhood education (ECE) in Norway, Finland, China, and Hong Kong. By exploring the aims and dominant concepts in the guidelines, we aspire to better understand how governments of different cultures utilize the dominant concepts, that is, play and learning to manage and facilitate ECE and children’s development. The major data sources are the national curriculum guidelines for ECE and major policies directing and/or influencing the formulation of the guidelines. Content analysis and comparative analysis methods are utilized to analyze the documents. Through analysis and comparison, this chapter aims to inspire policy makers, practitioners, and interested parties in the four cultures and internationally to understand and reflect on their own ECE so that ECE can be better approached in their own culture as well as in settings of diverse cultures.
[Copyright of International Perspectives on Education and Society is the property of JAI Press Ltd.]

校本課程開發(School-based curriculum)是當前中國大陸和香港地區課程改革的重點之一,也是世界基礎課程改革的發展趨勢。一個成功的校本課程開發,其首要條件應是教師具備校本課程開發的能力。而校本課程開發的改革,則正是教師開始成為校本課程開發的主體之一,將原本屬於國家的課程開發權力部分地下放給學校和教師,從而使得課程開發不再僅僅是學科專家和官方的專屬權利,讓教師也擁有了部分課程開發的自主權。這種以合作方式參與校本課程的開發,不僅賦予教師以自主權來決定校本課程內容及教學模式,還對教師本身的素質提出了嶄新的要求。學前教育作為基礎教育的一個組成部分,是學校教育和終身教育的初始階段。隨著新一輪基礎教育課程改革的推進與實施,我國的學前教育課程改革也在積極而深入展開。自2001年9月,教育部頒發了《幼兒園教育指導綱要(試行)》(以下簡稱“幼兒園綱要”),明確要求幼兒園教師(以下簡稱“幼師”)要從園本的條件出發,以平行的方式進行校本課程開發,並結合班本幼兒的實際,制定切實可行的校本課程並靈活地執行。這在一方面為中國幼兒園校本課程開發確立了開放性的理念;另一方面,也充分肯定了幼師在幼兒園開發校本課程的作用和地位。踏進二十一世紀,香港進行了大規模的教育制度和課程改革,明確其對香港中學、小學及幼兒園校本課程開發的要求。除此之外,自2017年起香港地區政府還為幼兒園推出免費優質幼兒園教育政策,政策通告指出,幼兒園需配合官方《幼兒園教育課程指引》(2017)的要求,發展以“兒童為本”為核心概念的校本課程,並明確提出幼師必須參與到校本課程開發中來。這意味著賦予幼兒園和幼師自主開發校本課程的權利和職能。但這一政策同時也對幼師的專業素養提出了更高的要求,幼師要由以往慣性被動、只執行規定課程教育而變為課程開發的主動者,需積極參與到幼兒園的課程開發中去,並成為課程開發者、設計者、反思實踐者甚至研究者。而校本課程的開發涉及深厚的課程理論和專業化技能,這是當下幼師們所面臨的現實問題,也是一個新的挑戰。縱觀國內外學界相關研究,發現幼兒園與幼師校本課程的開發過程中均存在很多問題,幼師開發校本課程亦存在很多困難與疑惑,而幼師對校本課程開發能力的缺乏正是校本課程開發面臨主要困難。幼師在開發校本課程的實踐中會遇到甚麼問題?幼師需要具備甚麼的能力?哪些策略有助提升幼師校本課程開發能力?這都是亟待研究的關鍵。當下,不僅有關幼師校本課程開發能力的研究極為缺乏,有關幼師校本課程開發能力提升的策略就更為稀少。加上香港幼兒教育推行校本課程發展至今,對香港幼師開發校本課程能力的研究相對較少,而以提升幼師開發校本課程能力的策略研究也屬極為罕見。因此,本論文對香港幼師開發校本課程的現況、提升幼師校本課程開發能力的探討,就顯得尤為重要。論文總結了香港幼師開發校本課程與提升幼師校本課程開發能力的經驗,相信在香港幼兒園校本課程、香港幼師在校本課程及到校培訓等未來發展方向上將有一定幫助。除此之外,論文中所提倡的推動幼兒園校本課程發展、提升幼師開發校本課程的能力,甚至鼓勵及支持幼師進行校本課程開發,分析幼師課程開發的能力等,都是當前幼師專業發展的必然要求。因此,從理論意義上來說,本研究有助於提高業界對於幼兒園校本課程開發的意義、幼師開發校本課程的過程和提升幼師校本課程開發的能力等問題的理解和認識。另外,也為香政府及幼師培訓機構在設計幼師開發校本課程的培訓課程時,提供了一些參考。論文基於校本課程開發能促進幼師專業發展的理論依據,試圖通過理論闡述與實證研究,從香港幼兒教育的視角,從兩大方面進行重點闡述:一,運用問卷及訪談的方式,對香港130多所不同類型幼兒園的幼師開發校本課程能力、認知、態度及困難進行了調查和研究,以了解香港幼師開發校本課程的現況及困難;二,筆者以行動研究的方式,針對幼師在開發校本課程方面的困難,設計出了適合幼師需要的策略,即以“到校專業支持服務”的校本教師培訓模式進行介入,介入香港一所幼兒園,以課程專家的身份作指導,鼓勵幼師從過去被動的角色轉變成為主動的課程設計者及教研者,能切實地解決校本課程所出現的問題。在此過程中,讓幼師邊做邊學,以激發幼師的創造性和主動性,不斷總結和反思校本課程中所存在的問題,並找出解決方法,以此提升幼師開發校本課程的能力,解決過去幼師在校本課程中不知“如何做”及“沒有能力做”的困難。同時,筆者還闡述了“到校專業支持服務”(On-site professional support services)對提升幼師在開發校本課程的能力、認知、態度,以及對幼兒園開發“兒童為本”的校本課程等方面的效能,以形成本文的結果及結論。最後,筆者肯定了本文以行動研究為基礎的“到校專業支持服務”的校本培訓模式,在提升幼師開發校本課程的能力、認知、態度等方面均具有一定的效果。筆者認為