The practical issue for many teacher educators is how to effect change at both the micro and macro levels in education in Hong Kong. Within Hong Kong there is a perception that change is necessary and that traditional ways of teaching and learning are no longer able to maintain Hong Kong’s position into the 21st Century. The questions then become: how does one bring about change at both the macro and micro levels, within the system as a whole and with in individual teachers? How cans one break into the circle of self-perpetuating traditional practice within schooling and teacher education? Is it possible to educate teachers who will not simply duplicate traditional practices when they are appointed to their posts in schools? How can student teachers be encouraged to critically examine deeply established preconceptions of what it really means to be teacher in Hong Kong and become willing agents of change? How does ones create enough but not too much discomfort with the status quo?

While studies consistently showed that a person’s subjective well-being (SWB) was related to his/her job performances, health, and adaptation, few research examined Hong Kong kindergarten teachers’ SWB in relation to their demographics. The purpose of study was to address this issue by examining the relationships of teachers’ job satisfaction, self-esteem, and mental health complaints (representing SWB) to their demographic characteristics. 371 in-service teachers participated voluntarily as convenient sample by self-rating on the inventories, including the Job Satisfaction Survey, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory, and the General Health Questionaire-12. Results showed that the SWB variables showed significant correlations with the majority of demographic factors: the factors of age, marital status, years of teaching, and rank in school correlated with all SWB variables. Among all demographics, the “rank in school” factor was the most consistent factor in associating with all SWB variables. In addition, there were group differences in SWB by teachers’ age, working experiences, school ranks, school type, and marital statuses. The age group (46-50) displayed the highest job satisfaction, whereas another age group (26-30) showed the lowest job satisfaction. Teachers with teaching experiences longer than 21 years had significantly higher job satisfactions than those with 6-10 years and 11-15 years of experiences. Of all ranks in kindergartens, the principals displayed the highest job satisfaction. Teachers worked in non-profit-making kindergartens showed consistently more favourable job satisfaction and perceived work environment than teachers in profit-making kindergartens. Furthermore, married teachers indicated significantly higher self-esteem than singled teachers. Implications of findings to teachers’ development were discussed.

This paper reports the effect of Learning Study module on developing the teaching competency of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong. Learning Study module is a research based teacher training course that aims to improve pre-service teachers’ lesson preparation skills and their teaching competency. The module is offered for all Year Two students in the Bachelor of Education programme of the Hong Kong Institute of Education. It comprises a series of lectures, consultation meetings and teaching practices that set the theoretical framework for conducting Learning Study. Activities are organized in such a way that pre-service teachers can practice argumentation, decision making and justification while investigating and solving pedagogical problems. This study aims to validate a theoretical model for exploring the critical successful factors of the Learning Study module for nurturing pre-service teacher’s reflective competency and lesson preparation skills through a quasi-experiment design. 341 preservice teachers took part in a questionnaire survey. A structural equation model was applied to explore the relationships. Lesson analysis, framework for conducting Learning Study, consultation on lesson design and teaching, lesson implementation and peer observation in the teaching practices are identified to be the critical successful factors for developing lesson preparation skills, teaching competency and reflective experiences of the pre-service teachers.

This study aims to explore the relationship between the supporting factors and learning outcomes of a teaching practicum model for an initial teacher education programme in Hong Kong. Identifying the predictive relationships of the supporting factors for pre-service teachers’ teaching practicum and their learning outcome could help promoting the quality of the programme. There were 229 pre-service teachers participated to a questionnaire survey of a quasi-experimental design. Confirmatory factor analysis and reliability test were used to confirm the constructed validity and reliability of the survey instrument. A Structural Equation Model was applied to explore the predictive relationship between the supporting factors and their learning outcomes. Results show that campus-based courses, school mentor support and pre-service teacher’s self-efficacy were identified to be the supporting factors for their learning outcomes which include instructional design, managing learning activities and assessment. Strengthening school partnerships, providing mentor training and enhancing the element of assessment for learning in campus based course are recommended to the teacher education programme.

This paper aims to explore the mechanism of Learning Study in enhancing teacher professional development by adopting community of practices as the analytical framework. Under the curriculum reform in Hong Kong, schools are facing challenges in acquiring pedagogical content knowledge for implementing new curriculum. How to enhance teacher professional development for building school capacity is critical for sustainable development. Learning study is a school improvement project which aims to improve the quality of student learning via enhancing teacher professional development by creating a community of practice among teachers, researchers and educators involved in the design, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of a research lesson, with ultimate goal of developing Learning Community in the school. This study will explore how the community of practice set up by the Learning Study Project can effectively help teachers build their pedagogical content knowledge. Wenger’s theory of Communities of Practices, which postulate that participants have a mutual engagement for a negotiated joint enterprise and they develop a shared repertoire, is adopted as the theoretical framework for exploring teacher learning and professional growth. The study adopts ethnographic approach to investigate social phenomena of teacher interactions in a case selected from Learning Study Project. Results show that the collaborative features of the Learning Study provide opportunities for teachers to create shared knowledge, values and beliefs and to establish overlapping histories among them. Learning Study enhances teacher professional development by creating a community of practice for knowledge sharing and reflective practices on teaching and learning.

To become an effective English language teacher, one needs to have a strong command of the English language, good pedagogical skills and cultural awareness of the target language. Short-term international experiences have therefore become a required component of all pre-service Postgraduate Diploma in Education programmes (English) in Hong Kong. The major aim of the immersion programme is to provide student-teachers with an opportunity to participate in an intensive English language and cultural awareness course at a university in an English-speaking country. Another important aim is for the participants to develop pedagogical knowledge and try out their learning in local schools. In this study the participants were encouraged to reflect on their expectations and experiences of the 6-week immersion programme and to write about these in pre-programme questionnaires, reflective journals, and programme evaluations. Positive feedback about the participants’ language development, understanding of education systems and development of teaching competency was collected. Areas for improvement were also examined. The findings will be of relevance to those institutions which wish to organize similar overseas programmes for student-teachers.

Many schools and NGOs in Hong Kong are deeply concerned with the welfare of ethnic minority students. This paper examines the experience of teachers working in schools where Chinese and non-Chinese students are accommodated. Quantitative and qualitative data respectively collected from a survey and an interview study will be reported. The survey involving 282 teachers from 10 schools explored their perceptions of teaching efficacy. The findings showed that teachers felt more confident in teaching non-Chinese than teaching Chinese students. This finding was illuminated by an interview study into teachers’ view of the cross-experience of students. 25 teachers from four schools were involved. It showed that teachers constructed the behaviour and needs of Chinese and non-Chinese students and their parents differently, in terms of social behaviour, cultural practices, gender identities, languages, and educational aspiration, and that the school, home and community were disconnected. This paper argues that to implement the ethos of equality and social justices, it is not only necessary for the school and government to develop culturally responsive approaches to teaching, but equally important to develop a connected schooling ecology where ethnic minority students and parents can be consistently supported in classroom, in school, at home and in community.