香港教育學院兒童研究與創新中心在2013年獲優質教育基金資助，推行為期20個月之《建立學校網絡支援幼兒「問題-探索-經驗」建構學習模式的校本發展》計劃﹝下簡稱問題-探索-經驗」計劃﹞，期望蒐集幼兒學校推行建構學習之資料，經過分析及綜合，總結出實踐知識，以惠及幼教界及學術界。是次計劃得蒙20所幼兒學校不同程度的參與，分別在教師專業發展，學習社群文化建立，建構學習課程及教學發展方面提供寶貴資料及數據，對優化幼兒教育及深化教育研究極具意義。 本書集結部分是次計劃蒐集到的課程與教學實踐資料，以課題資料及焦點問題探究案例展示，提供建構學習的實例，並提出是次計劃資料的初步分析，分享實踐成果，作為推行「問題-探索-經驗」建構學習的教學指引。

This paper examines choice of kindergarten by mothers of different socio-economic status (SES) for children aged 3 while using vouchers in Hong Kong. It identifies potential market failure to meet needs and preferences and ensure access to preferred options for all, and thus challenges the global prevalence of the market approach to early childhood services. It questions gendered responsibility and policy that prevents mothers from fulfilling care responsibilities for young children. This paper presents data from a mixed-method study including an analysis of mothers' options in terms of convenience and their views on the impact of the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme (thereafter voucher scheme) and local provision. Data were collected from two questionnaires, seven focus groups, and government documents. The quantitative data covered two-parent households using vouchers, with 1572 and 1360 mothers responding to the initial and follow-up questionnaires, respectively. The qualitative data from 33 mothers were coded and analyzed to capture recurring themes and nuances. Official figures were tabulated to investigate market adjustments relating to changes in demand and supply. The results reveal mothers' strong emphasis on convenience when making choices of kindergarten, the significance of SES in their choice and views, and issues of access linked to market situations and failure. They are discussed in terms of the nature, allocation, and fulfillment of care responsibilities in markets. The results lend support to the international call for active government involvement to achieve the dual goals of early childhood services (meeting children's educational needs and parents' employment needs) and show how markets may neglect the specific nature of care responsibilities, which in turn can exacerbate historical injustices in society.
[Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.]

THE TRANSITION FROM HOME to early childhood education can be stressful for both children and parents. How parents cope with this potentially stressful event affects both the children's adaptation and the parents' lives during the preschooler stage of the family lifecycle. This paper examines how parents respond to their children's adjustment difficulties, particularly a reluctance to attend school, by examining the coping strategies of 29 Hong Kong parents. The parents expressed different kinds of negative emotions regarding their children's reluctance to go to school due to various adjustment difficulties. Parents' coping strategies can be classified as planful coping, seeking social support, accepting responsibilities, distancing, self-controlling and positive reappraisal according to Folkman and Lazarus's Ways of Coping (WOC) framework. The implications of these strategies for how early childhood professionals can support parents are discussed.
[Copyright © 2014 Early Childhood Australia Inc.]

Since the late 1990s, early childhood education in Hong Kong has progressively lounged a series of reforms to raise the quality of early year education. Along with the emphasis on adopting the 'child-centred' concept of children's learning, the Guide to the Pre-primary Curriculum issued in 2006 recommend an integrated approach in the curriculum design. The integrated "holistic" approach calls for a shift of paradigm from the formal didactic teaching of academic knowledge to an informal development of the children through quality teacher-children interactions. Hitherto, small class teaching environment is created via the increase in teacher-student ratio at the start of the 2003-2004 academic year. A review of literature on small class teaching suggested that teacher-children ratio, classroom settings and the relevant pedagogic applications are important ingredients for the philosophical enhancement of the small class spirit. This paper will report some preliminary data collected in a pilot study conducted in two classrooms in a Hong Kong Kindergarten. The findings are reported as case studies which suggest that the spirit of small class teaching is not restricted in an informal teaching environment but in some formal teaching settings in the school as well. Discussion and implications on this understanding will be made.