近年來，隨著社會的發展，香港公眾對於提高學前教育質量有著日益強烈的需求。香港教育統籌委員會提出 “面向21世紀教育藍圖”，呈現了一系列關於香港教育系統的改革計劃，明確指出學前教育是終身學習的基礎。改革中的一個關鍵性舉措是樹立學前教育新文化，這主要通過提升教師專業水平以及加強教育質量保證機制來實現。本文將呈現近年來香港學前教育實踐的背景，重點關注學前教育質量的提高，並概括介紹香港教育統籌委員會的改革計劃。本文將進一步探討香港學前教育在保證質量、課程設置、教師專業發展、財政資助以及家長教育方面面臨的挑戰。
[Copyright © 2007 華東師範大學出版社]

本文主要探討香港幼稚園的教育實踐。首先，本文分析了一些影響教育實踐的宏觀層面的變化，其次探討了專業知識、教育政策、傳統幼兒學習觀等因素是如何對師幼互動產生影響的，接著舉例分析了既有的和正在涌現的幼稚園教學實踐，討論了不同 “文化性 – 環境性” 因素在塑造香港學前教育實踐過程中的作用。最後，通過全面系統的課室觀察，我們可以察覺出一種獨特的香港 – 中國式學前教育實踐。
[Copyright © 2007 華東師範大學出版社]

Enhancing quality early childhood education and enabling access for ethnic minority South Asian (SA) children in kindergartens have increasingly been a social concern in Hong Kong. This empirical study examines the beliefs and perceptions of kindergarten teachers and principals towards educating SA children in their own educational settings. The research focus was sharpened by a case-study method to examine the effectiveness of SA children from two different kindergartens with significant demographic differences. In total, 10 focus group interviews with 29 teachers and individual interviews with the 2 principals were conducted to understand their perspectives on the learning and transitional needs of SA children. The findings reveal a remarkable difference between the beliefs and perceptions of both teachers and principals from the two kindergartens in response to the diverse needs of SA children. School policy, practice and the implications for the development of early years education are discussed.; Enhancing quality early childhood education and enabling access for ethnic minority South Asian (SA) children in kindergartens have increasingly been a social concern in Hong Kong. This empirical study examines the beliefs and perceptions of kindergarten teachers and principals towards educating SA children in their own educational settings. The research focus was sharpened by a case-study method to examine the effectiveness of SA children from two different kindergartens with significant demographic differences. In total, 10 focus group interviews with 29 teachers and individual interviews with the 2 principals were conducted to understand their perspectives on the learning and transitional needs of SA children. The findings reveal a remarkable difference between the beliefs and perceptions of both teachers and principals from the two kindergartens in response to the diverse needs of SA children. School policy, practice and the implications for the development of early

This study investigated how the Performance Indicators (PIs), a quantifiable check of school effectiveness and accountable issued by the government, was used by Chinese preschools to do self-evaluation and improvement in Hong Kong. Sixty-four representative pre-primary institutions of 15 035 children and 1 600 practitioners, and 9 project members worked collaboratively through the self-evaluation and improvement cycle within 18 months. Post-project surveys, group interviews, documentation analysis, and multiple case studies were conducted to gauge the participants’ views on the progress and problems regarding school improvement. The results indicated that: (1) the revised 7-step Chinese model of self-evaluation and improvement was workable for Hong Kong pre-primary institutions; (2) the institutions did benefit from the project and got better understanding of the PIs, reflections on children’s learning and teacher’s teaching, professional development, heightening of organizational morale and team spirit; (3) the common difficulties encountered in the processes were time limitation, lack of resources, and under-qualified teachers; and (4) the successful experiences might include strong leadership, team work with deep collaboration, school-based training, peer observation, useful instruments, and support from external advisor. The sociocontextual factors and the educational implications of these findings are discussed.
[Copyright © College of Education and Human Development, University of North Dakota. The publisher website is located at http://www.und.edu/dept/ehd]