Teacher attrition is a perennial problem in many countries around the globe. With attrition especially pronounced amongst early career teachers, efforts to retain and sustain these teachers have highlighted the importance of effective mentoring and support programs within schools. However, less is known about the perceptions and experiences of graduates of initial teacher education (ITE) programs who choose not to enter the teacher profession, therefore not benefiting from such mentoring and support, and subsequently being lost to the profession, potentially forever. Therefore, this paper reports on a qualitative case study that investigated the reasons why one group of graduates from an ITE program in Hong Kong chose not to teach. Using in-depth interviews and grounded in a theory of teacher identity construction, the results reveal how the participants struggled to construct their preferred professional identities, in particular during a teaching practicum, and the role this played in their decision not to enter the teaching profession. Implications for how teacher educators can better support preservice teachers as they struggle to construct their professional identities are considered and suggestions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Australian Teacher Education Association.

Educational-policy makers worldwide are concerned with finding effective strategies to recruit and retain high-quality teachers. The recruitment of second-career teachers has been seen as one means of fulfilling this aim. Against a background of calls to better understand SCTs, this article reports the results of a qualitative study investigating the experiences of six second-career teachers in Hong Kong. Based on a theoretical framework of teacher-identity construction, discourse analysis was used to explore the participants' perceptions of their professional development. In-depth interviews were conducted to gain detailed insights into how the teachers construct their identities-in-practice and identities-in-discourse within Hong Kong schools. The findings expose tensions between attempts the positioning of SCTs within dominant discourses as 'traditional' and 'conventional' teachers, for example, and the participants' self-positioning in practice as 'innovative' and 'risk-taking' teachers. Ways in SCT agency, and hence identity construction, can be facilitated through the introduction of the innovative pedagogical practices which many SCTs seek to pursue in Hong Kong schools are considered. Copyright © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The last decade has witnessed a sharp decrease of school-aged children in the East-Asia and Pacific regions. In some affected districts in Hong Kong, for example, the insufficient student enrolment has brought to school closure. Teacher job satisfaction and principal leadership approaches have been greatly affected. In response to the situation, the Education Bureau of Hong Kong launched the Voluntary Optimisation of Class Structure Scheme (hereafter the Scheme) to cushion the shock and to lower the risk of secondary school closures. There are 220 schools participate in the Scheme involving around 12,000 principals and teachers. The Scheme has direct implications on the number of class structure and teacher career advancement. The negative impacts of the Scheme on teacher job satisfaction has since been widely discussed. Yet, there has no parallel research attention been given to this situation. This doctoral study is the first of its kind to conduct a systematic investigation into the impact of the Scheme on teacher job satisfaction looking at both the individual and contextual factors. Mixed methods include semi-structured interviews and questionnaire survey were employed. Multiple Regression analyses were performed to examine the impacts of the Scheme on principal leadership and teacher job satisfaction. Additionally, the predictive factors of principal leadership for teacher job satisfaction were determined. Based on the empirical data, this presentation will discuss the obstacles and success factors of the implementation of Scheme for teacher job satisfaction. Recommendations will be made for addressing the problem in terms of principal leadership and policy enactment.

教師資格制度是國家對教師實行的法定職業許可制度,規定了從事教師職業所應具備的基本資質和準入條件。為了保障教師來源質量,提升教師隊伍整體素質,教育部正在推行中小學教師資格制度改革。本文梳理了香港中小學教師資格制度的歷史沿革,從教師資格申請人接受教師教育專業培養、教育實習、考試認定三個方面,對現行香港中小學教師資格制度進行剖析,為改革和完善內地中小學教師資格制度提供借鑒。

此節主要從管理學的角度，介紹成本效能的概念，並檢視香港過往在教師供求、編制和薪酬方面的政策和發展，及其與成本效能的關係。 此節的內容，將根據近期一些相關的研究，希望帶出以下的觀點和討論：香港過往在制訂和落實教師供求、編制和薪酬方面的經驗，隨著上世紀90年代社會、經濟、政治等因素的轉變，和教育改革的浪潮，正面臨很大的挑戰，所以香港有需要從新思考，肯定或修正以往的運作，以配合社會和時代的轉變，從而提升學校教育的質素。

自九零年代開始，本港的基礎教育開始了不同程度及層次的改變：在學校層面方面有學校管理新措施 (SMI) 及學校行政及管理系統 (SAMS) 的引入；在教室層次上，傳統式教學法與活動教學法兩方面的紏纏演進及TOC的引入，對小學課程起了重大的變化；此外，在教師專業發展上，教師學位化及語文基準的引入，對教師有更多的要求；另外，教育學院重整後引致師資訓練模式的結構性改革，與小學學制方面從半日制漸次改為全日制的轉變等，均對教師帶來不同程度的影響。 上述所提到有關本港小學在學校層次、教室層次、教師專業、師資培訓及學制方面的改變，會否影響本港小學教師的流動，進而影響本港小學的教育質素？這是甚具意義的研究課題。另外，本港的小學教師除了要面對90年代開始的排山倒海左的教育改革外，更要同時面對97年主權回歸的疑惑及衝擊、98年至今的經濟轉變，故探討本港教師的流動的情況及現時教師的組群變化實在有其意義。 基於上述原因，香港初等教育研究學會開展了這項探討本港教師流動情況的長期研究，分別在九七及九八年發表了初步之研究資料，研究結果展示了本港小學教師的組群變化 (如年齡、性別、受訓學歷、受訓科目、學位化的速度)、本港小學教師的流動及流失比率的變化、行政改革、課程改革、學制改變等因素對教師流動的影響。 本研究至今共收集了三年的教師流動情況之資料，是資報告之分析，除了交代九六至九八共三個學年度之教師流動情況外，更集中比較及分析三個年度本港小學教師的組群變化 (如年齡、性別、受訓學歷、受訓科目、學位化的速度)、本港小學教師的流動及流失比率的變化、行政改革、課程改革、學制改變等因素對教師流動的影響。此外，是項研究更將比較三年度的整體小學教師的變化趨勢，從而作出評估及分析。研究小組深信，研究結果能提供教師流動狀況之具體資料，而這些資料對日後本港教育的策劃與發展有十分重要的參考價值。