There are still over 14,000 primary teachers and 4,500 secondary teachers in Hong Kong schools who do not have a degree, and there are large number of teachers in both primary and secondary schools who are teaching subjects without either the academic or professional qualifications that would normally be required in an advanced education system. There is also the ongoing need for all teachers, whether qualified or not, to keep up with advances in academic subject knowledge, with good practices in teaching and learning, and with how best to harness new technologies to educational purposes. This paper will draw on the experience of setting up a Division of Continuing Professional Education in the Hong Kong Institute of Education, and put forward a range of ideas for the development of a more robust, better articulated and higher quality continuing professional education scene for teachers in Hong Kong.

This paper will present the findings of a project conducted at the Hong Kong Institute of Education that studied a teaching practicum design that incorporated multimodal support and feedback during a 14-week, semester-long trial with eleven B.Ed. students. The design increased the amount and quality of the critical engagement and reflective practice of student teachers by integrating these several support mechanisms.

This paper aims to examine how Lesson Study of an initial teacher education course develops the instructional design competency of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong. Lesson Study is a collaborative action research approach for developing teacher professional competency. This study assesses the effectiveness of the Lesson Study course conducted in a teacher education institute that based on a quasi-experimental design. There were 341 pre-service teachers participated to a questionnaire survey. Confirmatory factor analysis and reliability test were used to confirm the constructed validity and reliability of the survey instrument. Canonical correlation was applied to explore the relationship between the approaches of their learning process and their learning outcomes. Results show that action research tutorials and collaborative practice are predictors of their instructional design skills and teaching competency. This paper discusses the critical success factors and the potential for using Lesson Study as a model to help pre-service teachers develop their teaching competency.
[Copyright © Time Taylor Academic Journals].

This paper aims to examine the relationship between the personal knowledge management (PKM) competency of pre-service teachers and their instructional design skills. Supporting the sustainable development of teachers as professionals in the knowledge society is a critical issue in teacher education. This study attempts to identify an empirical model and a curriculum framework for nurturing pre-service teachers' PKM competency. Dorsey (2000) PKM skills were adopted for constructing the theoretical framework and the survey instrument. A quasi-experimental research design was used to collect data from pre-service teachers from Hong Kong's largest teacher education institution. A structural equation model was applied to explore the predictive power of PKM competency on their instructional design. Results show that a four-factor PKM competency model, which consists of retrieving, analyzing, organizing and collaborative skills, was identified as a predictor of instructional design. Use of PKM tools, e-learning activities and collaborative action research for developing pre-service teacher PKM competency are recommended to teaching education institute.
[Copyright © The Leadership Alliance Inc.].

This study highlights the importance of mentorship focused on reflective practice during preservice teacher education and early years of teaching. Thoughtful reflection about teaching practices during early years of teaching is critical in preparing teachers for a child-centered curriculum. To successfully distinguish between teacher-directed and child-centered learning experiences, novice teachers require adequate understanding of child development and observations that inform planning and classroom teaching practices. This article discusses an early childhood teacher education program in Hong Kong in light of the need to broaden the scope of inquiry-based, reflective practice in ongoing teacher professional development. The author provides recommendations for successful mentorship programs and collaborations between educator preparation programs and schools.
[Copyright © Routledge].