Beginning teachers, especially first year beginning teachers, are familiar with the traumatic time when they first encounter the real classroom situations (Veenman, 1984). The author of this paper has initiated a study on the changes of the major concerns of the first year beginning secondary school teachers in Hong Kong at four time points in their first year of teaching: exploring their changes of focuses in classroom and school contextual problems and comparing them with findings illustrated by Veenman (1984) in his summary of previous studies in various countries. As part of a more comprehensive study (Chan, 1992), the present study forms part of the cross-validation for the development of an induction model applicable for induction purposes of the beginning secondary school teachers. Results from a supplementary survey on a group of more experienced secondary school teachers’ views towards the same set of concerns through their responses to the same set of questionnaire would be analysed, compares and contrasted with those of the beginning teachers. The major implication for the study are (1) on the care, concern and help for the beginning secondary teachers’ personal and professional needs at different times during their adaptation period of learning to teach, and (2) on the development of an induction model with varying emphases at different time points for the school administrators to assist beginning teachers to cater for their own specific needs at different times, even in the first year, not to offer them ‘help’ which is basically not well-received as shown in some previous studies (Bullough, 199 1). An expectation for extending the induction or professional guidance period for secondary teachers in general would also be explored in the last part of the paper.

Present day education requires professional expertise of teachers in facilitating modern learning, which enables students to cope with life changes brought forth by a learning society in the new era to come. Reform in school, which liberates teachers from bureaucratic practices and creates a new professional work culture is inevitable. Hong Kong schools now undergo quality school education reforms where organisational and school based management innovations are the focus of reform changes. The reform aims, among others, at enhancing professional involvement of teachers in school administration and curriculum for the sake of fostering the lifelong learning among students, a paradigm shift of learning in the learning society in the forthcoming Y2K. Observations however reveal that the profeesional role of Hong Kong school teachers does not change much as expected in recent policy reform papers on school education.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the health concepts of preschool teachers. The samples were from 72 in-service teachers and 128 pre-service students, totalling 200 preschool teachers. The data were collected via a self-administered questionnaire survey and a quantitative methodology was employed in the study. The findings indicated that both in-service and pre-service teachers shared similar concerns and attitudes towards health, which tend to be socio-culturally determined. Demographic factors seem to affect the health concepts of preschool teachers. The overall findings provide useful information for health professionals and educators in developing health training materials for preschool teachers.
[Copyright © 2005 Institute of Health Promotion and Education.]

This study explores transformations in the cultural identities of a group of pre-service teachers from mainland China during their educational experiences in Hong Kong, and how these transformations subsequently impact their professional identity. Individual and focus group interviews were conducted with 16 cross-border pre-service teachers from a teacher education institution. Findings demonstrate that 1) the participants recast their extant ideologies and cultural beliefs in response to multiple influences in their new context, enabling them to move beyond pre-established teaching values to re-construct their teaching identity; and 2) some participants constructed a bicultural and multilingual identity to gain legitimacy in the host context. The findings indicate that a more supportive context that provides more room for cultural awareness should be co-constructed by local and non-local pre-service teachers, institutions and policy makers. The study extends understanding of the interconnected relations between teacher identity and historical and social discourses.
[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/10.1080/02188791.2013.808987]