The teaching profession, similar to other human service occupations, requires recruits to have a strong sense of social responsibility, as their commitment is to help their students to become better citizens. Success in recruiting qualified and committed teachers, nevertheless, depends on whether the teaching career is attractive to quality and motivated young people. This paper reports a quantitative and qualitative study of the perceptions of teaching as a career by graduates from twenty secondary schools with different backgrounds in Hong Kong. It analyzed the relationship of the characteristics of these students with their interest in teaching, and examined the factors which may have influenced their choice of teaching as a career. It is hoped that the findings of the study could increase our understanding of young people's perceptions of a teaching career in different societies, and help policy makers adopt more effective measures to increase the attractiveness of teaching to qualified school leavers.

E-portfolios are increasing in popularity and use, yet research into their efficacy lags behind implementation. This paper seeks to address this gap by presenting results of research on student ownership of a course-based eportfolio. The research is informed by Milner-Bolotin framework for ownership of learning. A co-curricular student life course at a university in Hong Kong was conducted in which students were required to construct eportfolios. Data were obtained through semi-structured one-on-one interviews with a sample of course participants. Iterative, sequential coding was used to analyse data; categories of meaning were established, emanating from existing research and emergent patterns in the data. Results from the study indicate that the framework had strong resonance with the participants’ experience constructing the eportfolio. Specific findings include a strong emphasis on the utilitarian value of eporfolios as school-to-work bridges and the potential for freedom of choice to create both opportunities for and challenges to students feeling in control. Implications of findings are discussed in terms of both research and practice.
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