This article draws upon the experiences of a five-year government-funded university–school partnership project known as the Partnership for Improvement of Learning and Teaching (PILT) (2004–09), aimed at supporting teachers through improving their teaching quality and enhancing their professional growth in key learning areas – particularly mathematics, education and personal, social and humanities education – and initial experience of another completed project, the School Improvement Project for Early Childhood Education (SIP-ECE). The article first describes the rationale and operation of the PILT and SIP-ECE, respectively, and then explores the application of a 4-P (problem clarification, planning, programme action and progress evaluation) action learning approach to the improvement of subject teaching practice. This is followed, through case studies, by an exploration of teachers' own perceptions and university partners' perceptions of professional development and instructional improvement through the project. The final part of the article refers to Western concepts of professional development and university–school partnership, and suggests ways forward for school-based teacher development and instructional improvement in Hong Kong.
[Copyright © 2012 by the Editor.]

This research linked 47 Hong Kong and 35 Canadian teacher candidates in a new participatory culture project within the theoretical framework of new media literacies. This paper reports the qualitative data with quantitative descriptions of participants' social interactivity within the cross-border communities of practice. Besides the constraints of the designated online forum, findings relate that participants' engagement in the new participatory culture contributed to their knowledge- and awareness-building of harnessing online participation, new media technologies, and cultural/linguistic diversity in education. The paper concludes with implications of cultivating communities of practice buttressed by new media literacies for teacher professional development.

This article reports on a mixed-method inquiry into pre-service and in-service secondary school teachers' knowledge about Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and attitudes toward students with this disorder in Hong Kong. The inquiry revealed no differences between pre- service and in-service secondary school teachers concerning their knowledge of ADHD and attitudes toward students with ADHD. It also identified possible sources of participants' knowledge and a variety of factors underlying their attitudes toward students with ADHD including sociocultural beliefs and working conditions. The findings call for teacher educators to develop better education programs to support both pre-service and in-service teachers in undertaking the challenging task of teaching students with ADHD.

筆者任教於香港教育學院「國際漢語教學文學碩士課程」的「漢語知識」學科多年，一直思考著師資培育課程的本科學習與一般綜合大學課程的本科學習是否有差異。筆者贊同教育學者就師資培育研究所提出的「學科教學知識」理念，認為師資培訓課程中的本科學習，要同時注重「學科教學知識」的建構。在語言師資教育範疇，也有研究指出，「語言教師元語言能力」的重要性。「學科教學知識」是師資培訓的宏觀理念，「語言教師元語言能力」則針對語言教學而言，兩者都強調師資培訓課程的本科學習與純學科學習不同。本文綜合筆者三個學期的教學探索，通過學生（準教師）的學習成果分析，討論漢語師資培育課程中「漢語知識」學習的意義和取向。
[Copyright © 2014 國立臺灣師範大學.]

The paper aims to gain better understandings of preservice teachers’ social media integrations with various pedagogic strategies towards constructivist orientation for teaching practicum. A qualitative study of a group of preservice teachers integrating the social media for teaching in early childhood, primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong was conducted. A framework of pedagogy was integrated in the literature for exploration of preservice teachers’ teaching practices. The results reveal that YouTube social media was regarded as preservice teachers’ (1) common practices as part of initial pedagogic development; (2) social media integrations of various pedagogic strategies mainly towards didactic-oriented teaching instead of constructive-oriented one; and (3) preparedness in constructivist-oriented teaching with the YouTube social media integrations is needed. Implications for teacher educators and schools are discussed.
[Copyright © 2016 The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology.]

Based on the recognized status of the Hong Kong school system indicated in international studies, facilitating students with quality Integrated Learning (IL) is the crucial pedagogy for a new subject entitled Liberal Studies (LS) which has been implemented in secondary education in Hong Kong since 2009. This study uses case studies and semi-structured interviews of novice and experienced teachers to investigate the concerns and work of teachers in Small-Class Teaching (SCT) for IL in LS and explores how teacher leadership may help in terms of classroom context, learning community, improved practice, and outcome achievement. The findings reveal the common and diversified ideas and practices regarding SCT for IL in LS, which may provide valuable insights into teacher leadership for teachers and policy makers across the world.
[Copyright © 2016 SCHOLINK INC.]

This article offers a theoretical discussion on the current problems and future challenges of school capacity building in early childhood education (ECE), aiming to highlight some key areas for future research. In recent years, there has been a notable policy shift from monitoring quality through inspection to improving quality through school capacity building in early childhood institutions in the global discourse for quality. Reflecting this policy shift and its implications on school development, ECE in Hong Kong is used as an illustrative example to deliberate the issues of school capacity building in Chinese educational contexts. We identify three challenging contexts: (1) low professional qualification and minimal teacher education resulting in a deficit approach to processional development, (2) absence of school-based professional learning culture for empowering teachers as internal agents of change, and (3) hierarchical culture within a school and between university and school hindering the process of school capacity building. Corresponding to these challenges, we aim to propose two suggestions, including (1) empowering teachers in ECE through school-based professional learning community and (2) promoting authentic external support in the process of university–school collaboration. Finally, we further propose specific directions for future research on school capacity building in ECE in Hong Kong. In doing so, it will contribute to knowledge-based development in school capacity building in Chinese educational contexts.
[Copyright © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.]

Field experience at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) is viewed as a central aspect to our programmes. The proposed chapter will discuss a project that aimed to enhance student teachers' professional development in FE by adopting mobile technology and cloud services. Also, the use of digital forms of FE documents such as TP supervision forms, FE portfolios, and reflective journals enables student teachers and Institute supervisors to build their own e-portfolio for further sharing of their professional practices within and outside the Institute.
[Copyright © 2016, IGI Global.]