The symposium aims at sharing the personal experience of the principals of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocesan Kindergartens on the effect of Staff Development Programme on promoting quality kindergarten programme in their schools. In order to promote the quality of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocesan Kindergarten education, the Management Committee of Hong Kong Catholic Diocesan Kindergartens had organized a series of staff development programme for the teaching staff and principals. The staff development programme which included a one workshop on teaching approaches, a 13-session staff development seminars for principals and head teachers funded by the Quality Education Fund and a project on reading stories with young children had been conducted from March 98 to July 98. the principals found that the series of staff development programme had enhanced their construction of professional knowledge and the management of their kindergartens. The symposium will provide opportunities for the presenters and the audience to share their first hand experience on the related issues.

This paper is concerned with the conceptions held by the HKIEd graduates of the certificate course in relation to the role of a professional teacher. While upgrading the professionalism of teachers is a stated policy of the SAR, the understanding of the teachers’ interpretations of their role as a professional teacher is deemed fundamental. This paper is based on data drawn from case studies of 8 graduates of the HKIEd before they started teaching in their primary schools in September 1998. It reports findings concerning the graduates’ expectations of what they should be able to do as a professional teacher and the factors that contribute to the formation of such conceptions. Informed by the perspective of symbolic interactionism, the paper relates the literature on teacher socialization and teacher development to the study of the scenario in Hong Kong. It examines the extent to which the graduates’ interpretations of the professional role of a teacher is an idiosyncratic process reflecting the differences in biography, personality and their selective interaction in the pre-service teacher education context. Implications on the structure and processes of pre-service teacher education are then discussed.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

In order to help student teachers to clarify what they know about art, thus to improve the quality of learning and teaching about art for kindergarten teachers, an action research was designed and implemented during the Qualified Kindergarten Teacher Education Course offered by the Hong Kong Institute of Education. This paper presents the changes of conception of art for the student teachers in the course. Before and after the art activities, the students were invited to discuss as well as complete open-ended questionnaires to express their own ideas on art. They were requested to explain what they thought art is for themselves as well as for the early childhood children. It is interesting to find that after they had undergone the process of the project they showed that art is not only for art’s sake. Art activities mean more than an abstract term. Then the relationship between art learning and other aspects of children’s development was identified and disputed.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

This symposium presents four case reports of an action research project conducted by teacher educators to investigate the relationship between teaching within the Hong Kong Institute of Education and the practical context in school classrooms in Hong Kong. Each presenter shares the background, rationale, theoretical framework, research design, modes of inquiry and findings based on data collected from teaching a selected teacher preparation course or in authentic classroom situations. The interactions and reflective dialogue among team members and student-teachers of diversified background have established a collaborative culture in developing effective means of linking theories and beliefs into the practical context of schools. These best practices through action research have formed a sustainable process of inquiry transferable and adaptable to other teacher educators aspired to advance in their professional career.

It is important to promote the use of ICT, used in a broad sense, by teachers in the field of early childhood education. This paper discusses a case study of a pre-service kindergarten teacher in Hong Kong Institute of Education who enrolled on a course in Computer Applications in Early Childhood Education Curriculum in 2006. The research methodologies used were in-depth interview and content analysis. The case study aims to explore this pre-service student's conception of ICT and understanding of the strategies to integrate it into a one-day teaching plan. The research data showed that a range of technologies were used and identified the reasons for their use. It was found that the following factors influenced the student's decisions: experience of using technologies; beliefs about using technologies; the organizational environment; the acceptance of ICT use by kindergarten teachers; and the technical support and professional training available. The case study gave insights into the views of pre-service kindergarten teachers on preparing and implementing technologies in the classroom and should assist teacher educators to develop powerful training strategies for integrating ICT into early childhood education.

This paper attempts to explore the complex and multi-dimensional nature of student teachers’ learning to teach in teaching practice from the life history perspective. It first reviews the relevant literature portraying the life history perspective, with particular reference to student teachers’ learning. It then presents the methodology and findings of a pilot study of student teachers’ learning to teach in Hong Kong, adopting the life history lens to analyze the qualitative data collected. The tentative analysis of the data collected tells that the life history perspective is far from offering an adequate explanation of the complexity of student teachers’ learning. Suggestions are made on using the teacher socialization perspective as a conceptual alternative to guide future research.