The purpose of this study was to investigate Hong Kong preschool teachers’ music-specific professional development (PD) preferences and analyze the potential differences among teachers with varying levels of teaching experience (beginning, experienced, and advanced). A survey was developed to assess four music-specific PD preferences: content, facilitators, types, and activities/resources. We found that respondents (N = 1,019) preferred PD that was centered on musical creativity and curriculum integration; facilitated by experts in pedagogy and music performance; conducted as short workshops and mentoring sessions; and focused on observation, skill acquisition, and practice. The data also revealed significant differences between beginning, experienced, and advanced teachers and their PD preferences. Beginning teachers showed a higher preference for graduate studies and blended PD. Beginning and experienced teachers were more interested in playing instruments and in learning by observing other teachers. Advanced teachers showed preference for PD focusing on dance and music appreciation. The study shows that teaching experience is a crucial factor for determining preschool teachers’ music-specific PD preferences. Implications include considering teachers’ interests, motivations, and needs while planning and designing PD for preschool teachers. Further research should explore what teachers with different profiles require in specific educational settings. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

Although studying music at school can be an enriching and enjoyable experience, it is an unpopular choice for many Hong Kong senior secondary students. The purpose of this study was to examine the rationale behind the low enrolment of music as a Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) subject. A questionnaire was conducted among senior secondary school students (N = 121) studying music at the HKDSE level, collecting information about their learning experiences and their perceptions of the curriculum. The results provided evidence supporting the difficulties and struggles faced by the students, including degrees of familiarity with, and confidence about, subject matters of different musical cultures, which subjects were prioritised when it came to studying, and the amount of prior specialist knowledge needed as part of the decision-making process. Tensions were revealed between the driving forces behind curriculum change and the readiness of students to cope with these changes, along with perceptions of music as an elitist subject with low utilitarian value. Socio-cultural interventions, such as making music education more accessible for all, while simultaneously ensuring that stakeholders' voices are heard as part of the decolonisation process, remain fundamental challenges facing the curriculum. Copyright © 2022 Sage Publications.

Few large-scale studies have examined how prepared early childhood educators feel to teach music and movement to young children. This paper is part of a survey study conducted with 1,019 Hong Kong kindergarten teachers. We investigated their prior music and movement educational experiences (extracurricular activities, pre-service courses, in-service professional development), their perceived usefulness of such experiences, as well as their perceived confidence and readiness to teach music and movement in kindergartens. Differences according to teaching experience and educational qualifications were analyzed. Findings reveal the need to strengthen teachers’ preparation in music and movement, especially among beginning educators. Limitations are discussed. Copyright © 2022 Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

In K-12 schools, classes are forced to transform online due to the class suspension amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Educators began to design alternative ways to conduct some meaningful learning activities for their students. However, not all subject disciplines could be easily transformed online, especially for those requiring much social interaction and creation processes. In this article, we explore the learning processes through learning Shubailan, a form of music folk-talk-singing, with a mobile instrument application called muyu in an online flipped classroom among 122 secondary school students in Hong Kong. The opportunities can encourage students to learn music theories and instruments about Shubailan, and create a Shubailan piece through 6-lesson music learning. To gain more online face-to-face time for collaboration, flipping the online classroom is adopted in this study to engage students in lesson preparations via preassigned recorded videos and collaborative activities during face-to-face online lessons. In this study, a mixed research method was employed with the use of a learning satisfaction survey, teachers’ observations and semi-structured interviews. We found that this strategy could effectively motivate students to learn music and improve their music knowledge in Shubailan. This article presents evidence of implementing the online flipped classroom approach to enhance students’ satisfaction and knowledge acquisition throughout Shubailan music making processes, and offers recommendations for online music educators. Results provide a set of innovative pedagogical approaches to teach music in an online alternative mode during the difficult times. Copyright © 2022 Springer.

To investigate music teachers' perceptions and concerns in fostering music creativity of students with intellectual disabilities, findings are presented from a study of nine music teachers purposely sampled from across all three categories (mild, medium, severe) of Hong Kong's special school for students with intellectual disabilities. Personal profiles identify respondents' displaying three professional knowledge gaps -- music expertise, special-education training and prior experience of being taught 'creativity'. Findings also indicate that respondents add to the creativity literature: first by supplementing Hargreaves' 2012. "Musical Imagination: Perception and Production, Beauty and Creativity." "Psychology of Music" 40 (5): 539-557] 'process' to include 'music making' and 'body movement', and second, that music creativity may be described as a spectrum that embraces various forms of expressions. Copyright © 2022 Routledge.

The first COVID-19 case in Hong Kong was detected on January 22, 2020. The disease spread quickly. Schools were suspended from January 25 to May 24. During these four months, the Government promoted online learning to replace face-to-face learning. However, as online teaching was very new, school music teachers had found tremendous difficulties, especially in recorder playing and ensemble training.On the other hand, the Hong Kong Diploma for Secondary Education Examination was postponed from March 11 to April 24 in the same year. New measurements for disease prevention were implemented. For example, Paper-II Performing was cancelled as it involved ensemble playing, which was not in line with the Government’s disease prevention policy. In this study, I have invited two primary school music teachers and two secondary music teachers to share the challenges and opportunities they have faced in teaching during the pandemic. Copyright © 2022 International Society for Music Education.

Art classrooms and museums are places where teachers and students talk about artworks. However, there is a lack of empirical research into dialogue—the most basic component of classroom teaching and the most used education strategy in museums. I investigated the development and experimentation of a dialogue-and-questioning framework for art classrooms and museums. I conducted a design-based research study with seven primary schoolteachers and 187 6th-grade students in Hong Kong. I found that the total number of questions asked by the teacher participants increased significantly. Teachers’ performance, when asking personal connection, observation, interpretation, and evaluation questions, also improved significantly. They became more conscious of relating artworks to the students in a personal way and developed a practice that fostered a more comprehensive understanding of artworks. Student participants began to approach artworks from different perspectives and engaged in more in-depth examinations. Copyright © 2022 National Art Education Association.