Purpose: This study empirically investigates the influence of students' brand attitudes and perceptions of brand fit on their study intention vis-à-vis international brand alliances and individual brands after alliance. Design/methodology/approach: Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used in data analysis, and a questionnaire was administered to a sample of sub-degree business management students recruited from a self-financing higher education institution in Hong Kong. Findings: The results indicate that students' prior attitudes towards the brands of foreign and local institutions and their perceptions of brand fit positively affect their study intention, providing evidence that post-attitudes towards individual brands fully mediate the relationship between attitudes towards international brand alliances and study intention towards individual institutions. Originality/value: International brand alliances between higher education institutions are becoming increasingly important. In Hong Kong, despite the emerging trend of collaboration between foreign and local universities, an evaluation of the effect of international brand alliances on study intention has been seriously overlooked. Copyright © 2023 Emerald.

Against the backdrop of internationalisation of education and the emergence of English as a global language, medium of instruction (MOI) has long been a controversial issue globally. The present study examined the relationships between secondary-level MOI (English, EMI; Chinese, CMI) and learners' tertiary-level academic achievement and perceptions. 434 tertiary-level business, science, and social science students in Hong Kong completed a survey and 18 of them also attended an interview. An overall significant difference was found in tertiary-level academic achievement between the EMI and CMI students. Significant differences were also found in their self-rated performance in and preferences for some but not all kinds of assessments. When analysed by tertiary-level disciplines, business students showed no differences while science students showed some, and social science students showed the greatest differences between the CMI and EMI groups. The interviewees highlighted academic and psychological challenges facing CMI students. Implications for educators and researchers are discussed. Copyright © 2023 Taylor & Francis.

In light of its low fertility rate and long life span, Hong Kong is facing the challenge of a rapidly ageing population. To foster successful ageing, learning throughout life regardless of age is promoted as lifelong learning. A total of 20 older adults who are studying the Diploma in Active Ageing at the School of Professional Education and Executive Development of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University participated in a questionnaire survey while 16 older adult students participated in individual in-depth interviews in the present study. The results show that those who have received both informal and formal learning opportunities experienced positive changes to their physical, psychological and social health. The participants reported that the current lifelong learning policy provides insufficient financial support and insufficient promotion of formal education for older adults. For older adults to pursue further education, there is a need to provide more generous subsidies and relax age eligibility restrictions. To sustain lifelong learning, both informal and formal education for older adults should be promoted equally in order to meet the diverse interests and ability of older learners. Copyright © 2023 SAGE Publications.

Homework is a core pedagogical tool used by schools around the world. Yet concern for heavy homework load has been raised regarding stress on students and families and how it may overshadow opportunities for non-academic development. Drawing support from Self-Determination Theory and Hope Theory, an innovative intervention project was designed to create homework-free opportunities for school children to take part in freely chosen self-directed leisure activities. The project was implemented in four primary schools in Hong Kong during the Easter holiday in 2017 and 2018. A mixed-method evaluation was conducted to appraise the experiences of student participants as well as the project's impact on holiday satisfaction, homework attitudes and self-directed outcomes. This study's sample was comprised of 1,425 students enrolled in Primary levels 1 to 6. Participants reported in interviews that engagement in self-chosen, self-directed leisure activities were exciting and appealing. Pre- and post-holiday survey results with control-group comparisons confirmed that students who undertook self-directed leisure activities over a homework-free holiday gained enhanced agency thinking and academic competence while also becoming less inclined to see homework as meeting their immediate learning needs. Implications are also discussed regarding the benefits of self-directed leisure activities as well as school-based homework policies regarding assignment load. Copyright © 2023 USF M3 Publishing.

This study examined the relationships between kindergartens teachers' emotional labour strategies and their relations to instructional leadership, trust in colleagues, teaching experiences, and teaching satisfaction. With a sample of 491 kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong, this study found that surface acting negatively predicted while deep acting and expression of naturally felt emotion positively predicted teachers' teaching satisfaction; instructional leadership and trust in colleagues were positively related to deep acting and expression of naturally felt emotion, respectively. Meanwhile, teaching experience was found to be positively related to their adoption of expression of naturally felt emotion and teaching satisfaction. These findings shed light on the nature of kindergarten teachers' work, and provide some implications for teacher development in kindergartens. Copyright © 2023 Springer.

International kindergartens, which offer an immersive dual-language (English and Chinese) environment, are popular among middle-class families in Hong Kong. The international learning and teaching environment is cultivated primarily by developing a diverse workforce, in which Chinese-speaking (Putonghua and/or Cantonese) teachers with local training or from mainland China generally work with their English-speaking counterparts from overseas in the same classroom. Such heterogeneity has complicated the already challenging concept of collaborative teaching. This article presents a case study of the collaborative teaching practice in a trilingual international kindergarten which had been established for over 50 years. Through in-depth interviews, questionnaires, text messaging, document analysis, site visits, and observations, the study examined the collaborative teaching practices among international colleagues in the kindergarten. The findings revealed that collaboration among international colleagues was made successful by: (1) senior management and teachers sharing a common goal; (2) a dynamic whole-school supportive structure that embraced heterogeneity; and (3) the development of a shared culture of professional learning. The implications of these findings for management, practice, and research are discussed, including the need to foster a culture of collaboration, the importance of professional development, and the need for further research on collaborative teaching practices in diverse educational settings. Copyright © 2023 Springer.

With the COVID-19 outbreak, emergency remote teaching -- an unprepared distant mode of education became the only possible alternative for schools. The present large-scale survey with 3,672 Grade 3 and 9 students, their parents, and 863 teachers/principals was conducted in the metropolitan city of Hong Kong after half a year of school lockdown. Results showed teachers, principals, and parents were worried about students' inability to concentrate and learn without teachers' explanations. In contrast, students, particularly younger ones, were less affected. They perceived their academic achievement was not worsened and they were more lively. Generally, lack of computers and stable internet was not seen as problems. Notably, socially disadvantaged students were not different in their perceived challenges, affects, life satisfaction, or perceived academic achievement. For cities with adequate provision of computers and internet facilities, the pandemic probably forced a positive and giant leap in using advanced technologies and pedagogies. Copyright © 2023 Springer.

While increasing the equitable participation in computer science (CS) education at schools, most existing studies focus on the acquisition of computational skills and measurements of cognitive skills as the learning outcome. The potential benefits of developing psychosocial attributes in the process of computational learning are of less concern, particularly for the underprivileged youth with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and from low-income family. To improve the inequitable learning in school, the "Project C program" has been developed to integrate computational participation and mentoring scheme through social-cognitive approach for underprivileged youth. The aim of this research is to investigate the psychosocial impact of the program, and examine the interrelation between hope, sense of community, and perceived social support in computational learning. The Project C program was piloted in a special school in Hong Kong under the category of "Schools for Children with Moderate Intellectual Disability," targeting 8th grade students (n = 51) with SEN (i.e., mild autism) living in low-income residential districts, and a self-reported pre/post questionnaire was administered to measure the psychosocial changes before and after the intervention. The findings reveal a statistically significant change in hope, sense of community, and perceived social support through the program, and the relation between sense of community and hope was fully mediated by the perceived social support. Based on the findings, theoretical and practical implications of social-cognitive approach to computational learning are discussed. Copyright © 2023 Springer.

Despite the increasing use of virtual modalities in schools since the COVID-19 pandemic, no systematic tools exist to evaluate the process of online learning. We developed and validated an Online Learning Process Questionnaire (OLPQ) for assessing online at-home learning among 219 Hong Kong primary-school students and 474 caregivers. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of caregivers' data classified the 58-item OLPQ into 11 subscales: (1) learning aims, (2) environmental structuring, (3) learning environment, (4) time management, (5) engagement in learning activities, (6) persistence, (7) interaction between teachers and students, (8) interaction among students, (9) feedback from the interface, (10) application of learning, and (11) meaning of learning under three learning phases. Confirmatory factor analysis of students' data further categorized the 11-subscale framework into three learning phases: preparatory, performance, and transfer. The OLPQ demonstrated excellent reliability and discriminant validity across caregiver (Cronbach's alpha = 0.98) and student samples (alpha = 0.98). These findings indicate that the OLPQ is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing the online at-home learning process among both students and their caregivers. Copyright © 2023 Springer Nature.

Teachers’ beliefs influence educational goals, teaching practices, and learning outcomes, and are thus of great importance for civics research. This comparative study used semi-structured interviews with 17 teachers in Hong Kong and Germany conducted in 2020 to examine teachers’ beliefs about digital citizenship and education in digital societies. The teachers acknowledged the positive influences of digitalization on information gathering and participation opportunities. They also highlighted the threat of manipulation and interference by antidemocratic actors but rarely reflected on the influences of digitalization on the citizenship concept. Teacher education should facilitate discourses about digital citizenship that go beyond traditional competence models. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier.