This paper is a situated biographical reflection on the author's Hong Kong teaching experience written using a narrative inquiry approach, describing attempts to generate innovative pedagogical practices. The journey explores how autocratic, traditional Chinese cultural expectations in Hong Kong education have nurtured a commonsense belief in "discipline first and then teach". This teacher/researcher adopted alternative approaches to authority through the use of developmental drama which made teacher image and teacher-student power relationships an object of talk and study. The aim of this paper is to bring together theories and pedagogical models based on the sociology of education, social psychology and drama pedagogy in an effort to change how we teach marginalized students in one distinctive Chinese cultural context.
[Copyright of Asia Pacific Journal of Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02188790903503627]

This thesis is an attempt to analyze how higher education in Hong Kong has been affected by the sweeping force of globalization. I will focus mainly on higher education, as the implications of globalization for higher education are relatively more substantial, especially in terms of its relation to national development and to academic work within universities themselves. Also, my analysis of the unfolding dynamics of globalization involves chiefly two players/agents: one at the 'top' level, while another at the 'bottom' level. The agent at the top level is represented by the Hong Kong University Grants Committee (UGC), as it has been entrusted by the state to develop a quality assurance and assessment mechanism at all state-funded higher education institutions. The global trends and elements, such as accountability, marketization, commodification of higher education, etc., can well be illustrated by the education policies enforced by the UGC, especially the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), the Teaching and Learning Quality Process Review (TLQPR) and the promotion of self-financed programmes. On the other hand, the agent at the bottom level refers to the higher education institutions and its academics. Through in-depth interviews, the responses and reactions of the academics, faculty members and administrators of universities towards the global practices and the policies of the UGC will be analyzed. I tries to argue that the faculty/institutional response is rather passive, individualistic, and covert, and there has lacked collective response to fight against the globalization forces that emphasize economic norms like productivity, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, etc. There has emerged a paradoxical phenomenon that the traditional values and beliefs seem to be, on the one hand, under threat from global forces, and on the other hand, increasingly pushed toward similarity and homogeneity. On the whole, I hope that this study can raise the issues for universities and

「一條龍」直資中小學的成立引起教育界人士關注到有關教育機會均等的問題。本文首先試從「教育機會均等」的角度來闡述支持和反對成立「一條龍」直資中小學的人士的理據 , 然後討論「一條龍」直資中小學的成立對培育精英人才的重要 , 以及對如何盡量保持「教育機會均等」的問題作出建議。
The establishment of Direct-granted primary and secondary schools with "Through train model" leads to the concern of educators for the issue of equal opportunity of education. This paper first describes the reasons for supporting and opposing the setting up of Direct- granted primary and secondary schools that apply the "Through train model" from the perspective of equal opportunity of education. Then, it discusses the importance of establishing such schools in fostering elite. It also suggests ways to ensure equal opportunity of education.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

本文探討貧窮與教育的關係，指出改善學校教育可以消減跨代貧窮。要打破「出身、教育及成就」的連鎖效應，就必須消減學校對貧窮學生所造成的負面影響。除政府的扶貧教育政策外，訪談資料顯示，老師也是一個非常重要的因素。本文建議老師注重提升學生的學業自尊感，對所有學生都應寄以合理的期望，才能積極地消減因貧窮而引致的教育成效不均問題。
This article discusses the relationship between poverty and education. Improved schooling can combat intergenerational poverty. In order to break through the chain effect of "social background-education achievement," schools must minimize any further disadvantages for students who are already socially disadvantaged. Alongside the role the government's education policy plays in tackling poverty, the findings show that teachers also play an important role. This article recommends that teachers pay more attention to raising students' academic self-esteem and to holding appropriate expectations of all students so as to effectively tackle the unequal educational results caused by poverty.
[Copyright of Journal of Youth Studies is the property of The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups at http://yrc.hkfyg.org.hk/]

The year 2008 marked the 11th anniversary of Hong Kong's return from the UK to the People's Republic of China. In this decade, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has repeatedly emphasised the importance of the development of national identity and patriotism in school education, and has at the same time introduced diverse cultural values into the school curriculum. This article explores the dynamics and complexity of the relationships between the state, globalisation and nationalism in Hong Kong that are re-shaping music education in response to contemporary socio-political changes. It argues that Hong Kong school music education has made a gradual cultural shift towards globalism and nationalism, and away from the Westernism that has dominated Hong Kong music education since before the change of sovereignty on 1 July 1997. The article concludes with a discussion of how music education might juggle two pairs of relationships in the curriculum: between global and national cultures; and between the education of cultural values and nationalism in Chinese music. There is pressure to rethink teacher education in terms of the need to be aware of the socio-political environment in which it operates, and within which it makes music education socially relevant.
[Copyright of Music Education Research is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14613800903390741]

This paper explores two current issues in the educational policies and practices of Hong Kong that have been shaped by the emergence of the nation-state and the return of Hong Kong's sovereignty from the UK to the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1997. Since this time there have been two great challenges facing music education. The first concerns how to incorporate diverse cultures, including Chinese music, into a Western-orientated music curriculum; and the second is to find a way to cultivate national identity and democracy through music education. The data presented here were collected via in-depth, semi-structured individual interviews with music teachers, school heads and assistant school heads across 40 primary and secondary schools between 2006 and 2007. The findings can be explained by referring to the shortcomings of multicultural education and the underdevelopment of democracy in Hong Kong's education system.
[Copyright of Discourse is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01596300902809203]