The expectations of school administrators, teachers, parents and students on form teachers at secondary 1 to 3 levels, the feelings and opinions of form teachers, and their roles and duties in a local subsidized secondary school were studied intensively by interviews and questionnaires as a pilot. It was found that the roles of junior form teachers were important and their responsibilities were ever increasing. Duties of form teachers could be grouped into four areas: Daily Classroom Duties, Class Club Duties, Student Counselling and Communication with Parents. Students expected their form teachers to care for them and help them learn and grow. Parents appreciated the bridging role of form teachers. School administrators recognized the importance of effective form teachers to the good management of a school. Form teachers themselves wanted an effective and fair Form Teacher System and to spend more time on educational issues.
After the pilot, 1007 teachers from 85 schools were studied by referring to the questionnaire on the roles and duties of form teachers in junior forms. The data were then analyzed and some suggestions were proposed focusing on the problems found.
本研究透過詳細測試一所標準津貼中學的學校行政人員、初中班主任、資深老師、學生及家長進行訪問及問卷調查，研究他們對班主任角色及職責的看法，發現初中班主任之角色甚為重要及職責日益繁重。班主任的工作有四大範疇，包括處理日常班務、班會事宜、學生輔導及家長聯繫。訪問中也發現學生期望班主任能照顧他們的學習及幫助他們成長。家長感謝班主任能作溝通的橋樑。行政人員確認了高效能的班主任對學校的管理甚為重要。而班主任自己卻期望能較專注於教育性質的事務上並且在任教的學校裏有一個公平有效的班主任制度。
測試後，筆者進行一個較大型的研究，有85 所中學參與，共1007 位老師接受了問卷調查。資料收集後，經數據分析，筆者嘗試針對問題作出一些討論及建議。
[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/]

Teacher culture is widely regarded as a factor affecting the success of school improvement efforts. Descriptions of teacher cultures in the literature are often rooted in particular historical, geographical and socio-political contexts, which may limit the wider applicability of these models. This paper goes beyond a simplistic comparison of schools against pre-defined models of culture. It provides a rare insight into one of Hong Kong's international primary schools and describes the centrality of collegial support in teachers' day-to-day lives. The evidence confirms that transformational forms of leadership are central to building a supportive school culture, but high expectations of teachers and strong collegial support do not create rigorous development of practice and may in fact work against it. This paper contributes to our knowledge of teacher cultures in a way which can help stimulate discussion of Hong Kong’s diversity of school types in more than simple structural terms.
老師文化被廣泛認為是影響學校成功改善的因素之一。文獻中描述的教師文化模式，多植根於歷史、地理及社會政治因素，因而限制了更廣泛地應用這些模式。這篇文章超越了簡單地把學校與既定文化模式作對比，對一所香港的國際小學提出精闢的見解，同時描繪老師日常生活互相支持的核心要素。研究數據證實，要建立學校支援文化，最重要的是轉化型的領導才能；此外，老師過高的期望和強有力的同儕支持，卻不能在實踐上產生精確的發展，甚至會造成反效果。這篇文章加深我們對教師文化模式的認識，從而激發我們對香港不同類型學校作深入探討，而不僅是依據簡化的系統作研究。
[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/]

This is a study on the evolution of primary education in Hong Kong as reflected in the various designs of primary schools since 1945. This study also shows the relationship between different designs of school building and the conceptualizations of education that underpin them. Six basic primary school designs or prototypes have been identified since 1945. The rooftop primary schools built in the 1950s set a pattern for decades to come relating to the provision of primary education in Hong Kong. Finally this study contrasts the differences in primary education between the British colonial government and the new Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong Government after 1997 when China resumed her sovereignty over Hong Kong.
本研究乃從1945 年起之香港小學校舍設計進行研究，反思戰後迄今之小學教育發展。本文顯示，不同時期校舍設計以及作為設計根基之教育概念，當中兩者關係。本文將1945 年後之校舍設計或標準，分辦成六種類型。過去五十年，香港小學建校模式可追溯至1950 年代天臺學校。文章最後，比較英國殖民地政府時期及1997 年成立香港特別行政區政府後，在小學教育建設方面之差異。
[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/]

This paper reports some preliminary findings of a needs assessment exercise conducted by the Hong Kong Institute of Education for thirteen Hong Kong primary schools towards the end of the British rule. The thirteen schools are members of a school-institute collaborative project and the needs assessment results are used as the basis for follow-up development programmes. The findings indicate that there are challenges faced by schools and that school heads and teachers perceive diverse and common needs for school development. This study provides empirical evidence for school-institute collaboration in school development and research activities.
本文報導在香港回歸前一份有關十三所小學發展需求的初步分析報告。該十三所學校屬教院「院校合作計劃」成員，調查由香港教育學院請師主持，而調查的目的，在方便成員學校作個別學校發展的根據。調查發現：個別學校固然面對不同的發展需要，而校長和老師，對學校發展的看法，亦有差異。調查也顯示了教院和學校在學校發展和學術研究方面合作的可能性。
[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/]

This paper will consider the use of English medium textbooks in bilingual situations and will briefly present the results of a survey of 24 schools in Hong Kong. Language and textual constraints may both inhibit the efficient reading of content subject textbooks in school. It will be argued that textbooks are "inconsiderate" in not making rhetorical (top-down) structures clear and that this is a neglected cause of student difficulty. Practical examples for making books more "considerate" will be offered.
本論文探討在雙語環境中英文教科書的使用及簡述在二十四間香港中學進行意見調查的結果。結果顯示，語言及原文的約束可能妨礙學生有效地閱讀學科教科書。本文的論點是教科書沒有顯明「由上而下」的修辭結構，實為學生閱讀困難的被忽視的原因。本文將提出教科書應如何顧及讀者的實際方法。
[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/]

The "Hong Kong Accelerated Schools Projec" has been initiated with the support from the Quality Education Fund since 1998. Whether it could be successfully implemented might be too early to be criticized. But before evaluating its effectiveness as a borrowing concept from the west, it is necessary to investigate how far this original school design approach has been initiated in the States and what we could perceive about the new idea from both a leadership and cultural perspectives with reference to some relevant literatures. This essay briefly describes the main tenets of the American school design of "Accelerated Schools". Then the approach is critically discussed from both a leadership and cultural perspectives to see if the approach can work in Hong Kong schools. A short conclusion is drawn to sum up the analysis.
自一九九八年始 , 香港躍進學校計劃在優質教育基金的贊助下首次在港推行 , 這個由西方借用的學校改革概念推行至今約有三年 , 但究竟是否能夠在香港學校有效實踐 , 直至目前為止還是未知之數。不過 , 其在美國推行多年的一些寶貴經驗 , 實在亦頗值得我們從不同的角度 , 包括領導和文化等觀點 , 去了解該概念在西方國家的實施現況 , 作為探討其在港能否有效推行的一點借鏡。本文略述躍進學校設計模式的基本理念 , 並嘗試從領導和文化兩個觀點去簡評其現有成效及提出一些在港實踐該改革概念的啟示。
[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/]