Since two decades ago, the Hong Kong Curriculum Development Council started to promote the Integrated Curriculum in Early Childhood Education in resonance with the global curriculum change. By engaging young children in the integrated curriculum, young children can obtain an informal learning experience in the school that helps prepare them for a more active involvement with peers, thereby fostering the spirit of democracy and social change in their young hearts. Three types of integrated curriculum with their matching pedagogies and their possible social impact on early childhood classroom will be discussed in this paper.

In many settings a perplexing scenario is unfolding in which school systems claim to move towards whole-person development while students and parents run in the opposite direction of narrowly defined academic achievement enhanced by private supplementary tutoring. Such tutoring is widely called shadow education because much of its content mimics that of regular schooling. It has long been clearly visible in Asia, and is now increasingly visible elsewhere. This study focuses on school teachers' perceptions of shadow education in the context of a flourishing sector that parallels and to some extent contradicts progressive education reforms. Drawing on 47 in-depth interviews with teachers from 12 secondary schools in Hong Kong, the research found ambivalent views towards private tutoring. This ambivalence reflected intrinsic contradictions between the educational ideals of whole-person development and the function of schooling in social stratification. Such tensions are likely to become increasingly evident elsewhere as commercialised forms of private supplementary tutoring expand.

There are increasing commitments from the education sector to cultivate our next generation with a life-long and forward-looking concern for the environment, preparing them to make well-informed, reasoned and practical decisions, and to take actions leading to the creation of a sustainable environment. In 2005, the United Nations declared the year as the start of the “United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development”, where “sustainable development” is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. This has become the guiding principle of environmental education focusing on the three major aspects of awareness, attitudes and actions. Through enhancing our students’ awareness of environmental issues and cultivating their positive attitudes towards conservation work, it is believed that they will be more willing to take environmental friendly actions. In response, guidelines have been issued to schools in Hong Kong urging energy saving and waste reduction. Current work on Education For Sustainability (EFS) includes elements of sustainable development infused into the curricula of various subjects at different levels of schooling, from kindergarten to secondary. In addition, a whole range of programmes related to the promotion of sustainable development have been organized. However, at a recent symposium on plastic waste management attended by educators, policy makers, personnel from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and scientists, there were discussions that in spite of these programmes aiming to help our students better understand the interactions between human activities and the natural environment as well as the environmental problems they face locally and globally, our next generation cannot contribute much to alleviating these problems in their daily lives. This presentation will share the existing challenges and opportunities of EFS on plastic waste

Short-term study abroad programs have been increasingly emphasized in expanding university curricula since the beginning of the 21st Century. This chapter aims to understand students' perceptions of short-term study abroad programs in the context of Hong Kong Higher Education (HE). Its objectives are to examine students' perceived benefits, concerns and the issues facing them when deciding on their participation in these programs. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, a case study was conducted in the eight universities of Hong Kong. Results show that the students strongly believed that the greatest benefits of taking part in these programs included enhancing their personal growth and intercultural development. The significance of this chapter is to contribute new knowledge to the understanding of students' perceptions and values of outbound short-term study abroad in an Asian/Chinese context.
[Copyright © 2016, IGI Global.]

專題研習在教育界最初出現在中學、大學及專上教育，普遍稱為project work。而專題研習在香港小學的出現可追溯到八十年代，當時名為專題設計。近年香港教育重視培養學生學習能力，專題研習更是二零零零年教育改革中的四大關鍵項目，成為中、小學生指定之習作。鑑於當是小學教師及家長對專題研習的理解只從他們以往的教育學習得來的，在推行初期，有些教師源用過往的個人見解，有些教師參閱政府文件的建議，由於沒有實踐的經驗，兩者都未能充分掌握專題研習在小學課堂開展的技巧。 經過教育界各方人仕近年來的努力探索及嘗試，時至今日，專題研習已是香港小學的核心學習部分，其發展不但涵蓋了教育改革的四個關鍵項目，而更重要的是它體現了香港教育方向的大前題，讓學生在研習過程中「學會學習」，達致知識的建構、技能的掌握和態度的學習。然而在眾多學校發表的成功專題事例外，不難發現仍存在著空白、灰色及未知之問題。 此外，差不多所有關於專題研習的學術和實踐文章中，都指出專題研習應能作多元化評估，而例子中不但讓學生進行自評和互評，也在整個研習過程中，讓老師進行進展性評估，更讓家長得悉所有評估的結果。究竟這樣的評估是否屬多元化呢？ 本研討主題由教師教育工作者與學校的教師經緊密合作後，於小學的高年級進行專題研習所得的成功案例，並從中嘗試透過多個學習理論，配合學校的實際情況，討論冢下各個影響研習成效的問題；包括(1)專題研習在課程架構中有哪些定位？(2)指導學生的責任由誰來承擔？何時作出指導才合適？(3)學生所需要的研習技能從何得來？(4)為何在不同年級下，學生所進行的研習程序與其掌握的學習技能會不同的？(5)如何平衡四個關鍵項目的發展？(6)在研習的哪個階段上，適宜對學生的進度和學習進行評估？(7)如何處理專題研習的成果與評估的結果？ 最後，就以上的討論，歸納出專題研習在小學教育的發展潛能，並總結和建議專題研習發展多元化評估的方向。

The concept of hidden curriculum has been interpreted in various perspectives and the diversity of its functions, patterns and definitions has also cried for a more consensual platform for discussion. It has been linked with values acquisition, socialization, and maintenance of class structures (Vallance, 1991, Anyon, 1981; Bowles & Gintis, 1976), the social structure of the classroom (Dreeban, 1967), the moral dimension (Kohlberg, 1970), hegemony (Apple, 1975) and the social stratification of class, race, and gender (Apple, 1982; Aronowitz & Giroux,1985; Giroux & Purpel, 1983; Oakes, 1985; Weiss, 1988). In this study, hidden curriculum is defined as 'those practices and outcomes of schooling which, while not explicit in curriculum guides or school policy, nevertheless seem to be a regular and effective part of the school experience' (Vallance, 1991, p.40). It involves the cognitive, physical and social environment of a school (Gordon, 1982). Bloom(1972) maintains that the hidden curriculum 'is in many respects likely to be more effective than the manifest curriculum' because hidden curriculum is 'so pervasive and consistent over the many yeas in which our students attend school. Its lessons are experienced daily and learned firmly...' (p.343) and also its transmission is unconscious, thus making the students less likely to resist its influence. Also the outcomes of a hidden curriculum can either be intended or unintended. This study aims to study the functions, patterns and efficacy of the hidden curriculum as perceived by the students and teachers in a primary school in Tai Po. The research was carried out mainly through a two-week attachment scheme initiated by the Hong Kong Institute of Education in which the researcher was arranged to get first hand experience of primary school teaching in the case school. Some follow-up interviews and observation were made within the month after the two-week attachment finished. The findings from the fieldwork has inevitably turned