This article presents classroom discourse analysis as a tool for critical teacher education. It argues that such analysis can raise awareness of how teachers live out their ethical commitments in classroom-level interactions, but needs to be carefully situated. Drawing on the author's research conducted while teaching junior secondary students in Hong Kong, the article weaves classroom discourse analysis into a critical incident reflection focusing on ethical tensions that emerge from a class activity exploring dehumanisation. The activity used a pedagogy of discomfort in order to unsettle students' beliefs and practices, but in facilitating the activity, the teacher's ethic of care was also challenged. Copyright ©Taylor & Francis.

This study examined pre-service primary teachers' (PSPTs) mathematics performance on a set of question items measuring at the sixth grade level in Hong Kong. These items covered the five learning strands of the local primary mathematics curriculum – number, algebra, measures, shape and space, and data handling. The participants of the study were 152 PSPTs who had chosen mathematics as a major in an undergraduate teacher education program. Their strengths and weaknesses in particular mathematics topics were identified. Across all four years of the teacher education program, only 6% of the participants were able to provide fully correct mathematical responses to all five items. Further, it is surprising that merely 14% of graduating cohorts achieved a full mark for the mathematical word problem that required them to show their working steps. These findings suggest that issues relating to the preparation of mathematics specialists should be further considered in primary mathematics education. Copyright ©Routledge.

Hong Kong, as a capitalist society, has an achievement-driven education system. Visual arts have become a marginalized learning area, especially in early childhood education. Although 'art and creativity' is one of the six learning domains for early childhood education in the kindergarten curriculum guide in Hong Kong, product-oriented and craft-based art activities are commonly practiced in kindergarten classrooms. This study observed 33 classrooms and interviewed 29 teachers for a total of 409 minutes to discuss issues surrounding the early childhood art curriculum in Hong Kong and the difficulties teachers face responding within the context. Through the triangulation of observations, interviews, and documentation analysis, the teachers indicated that they are facing a dilemma regarding teacher-directed and child-centred orientations towards teaching children visual arts. To sustain the 'third space' of early childhood visual arts education, three main areas are considered: (a) introducing visual arts as an alternative narrative in early childhood curriculum, (b) considering that children's creative behaviours are performative, and (c) positioning teacher education in relation to the visual arts. Copyright ©Routledge.

Integrated writing skills that emphasize integrated use of language skills and multiple source materials have attracted increasing attention in language education globally and locally in Hong Kong. This study examines teachers’ conceptions of integrated writing skills and interviewed twenty-five Chinese language teachers. Three conceptions emerged from the data, representing writing as a composite of disconnected parts (Category1), a logical inquiry (Category 2), and a developmental process (Category 3). As the categories move up, the alignment between teachers’ conceptions and the curriculum objectives increases accordingly, with the purpose of writing instruction ranging from fulfilling examination requirements, enhancing reasoning skills, to developing integrated use of language skills. The findings also reveal that although the development of integrated writing skills has been a critical component of the Chinese language curriculum since the first public examination in 2007, teachers’ receptivity toward it still varied greatly. Insufficient professional training, the legitimacy of integrated writing as a curriculum component, and the fossilization of the public examination were the factors that accounted for the differing attitudes among the teachers. The discourse of integrated writing in the Hong Kong context has been centered around high-stakes testing. The unbalanced discourse resulted in an oversimplified view that conflated the teaching and learning of integrated writing with integrated writing assessment. The study contributes to the conversation between integrated writing curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Implications for teacher professional development are discussed. Copyright ©Springer Netherlands.

This article examines the experiences of transnational teachers of English in government-funded English language teaching programs, each of which recruits, trains, and administers native speakers of English: Hong Kong's Native-speaking English Teachers scheme (NET), the Japan Exchange and Teaching program (JET), the English Program in Korea (EPIK), and Teach and Learn in Korea (TaLK). It focuses on the relationship between the participation and experiences of native-English speaking teachers and the programs' different policies and institutional structures. The findings demonstrate that these different policies and institutional structures—such as the program aims, eligibility requirements, policies on salary and benefits—have significant implications for the participation of native-English speaking teachers in these programs. This research, with its focus on the experiences of these teachers, extends our understanding of their involvement in English language teaching in Asia. It urges us to locate transnationalism and the global spread of English within a much more complex field of social power relations, calling for more insightful approaches to English language teaching. Copyright ©Elsevier Ltd.

知識管理是近年教育界熱點話題之一,特別是當一所學校或機構進入新舊交替的時期,需要將校內的集體智慧、顯性及隱性知識、專業技能整合,並於一個互相信任的平台上進行分享,才能將知識承傳下去。筆者觀察的特殊學校,於 2009 年開始從教職發展的方向入手,利用行動研究進行知識分享,推行「一人一行動研究」,即是校方要求教師及專責人員,每年就著自己工作的困難, 進行行動研究。經過數年的發展,校內形成了彼此分享、彼此信任的文化,並且漸漸建立了學習社群的雛型。因此,本文嘗試探討和觀察,這所特殊學校如何在一定的「知識管理」基礎上,以「協同行動研究,建立學習社群」的計劃。Copyright by Special Education Society of Hong Kong Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Study abroad has become an important component of many teacher education programs. Through the lens of culturally relevant pedagogy, critical thinking, and educational freedom, this qualitative case study focuses on understanding Hong Kong teachers' perceptions about United States culture and education. Data were collected through in-depth, one-on-one interviews with five Hong Kong educators. The findings reveal that the Hong Kong teachers believe that respecting individual differences, inspiring students' critical thinking, and having freedom to choose how to teach and learn are top priorities in the U.S. However, there are also misconceptions in a few areas. This study not only helps prepare for a multicultural collaboration between U.S. teacher candidates and Hong Kong educators in a study abroad course, but it also aims to contribute to the literature the critical need of understanding unintentional biases and stereotypes that might negatively influence U.S. teacher candidates' assumptions of their students with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Copyright ©Petru Maior University Publishing House.