Daily about 75 school-aged children from Mainland China arrived in the schools in Hong Kong. Although children from China were similar in cultural heritage, their "foreignness" in terms of personal characteristics, such as behavior and learning style, dialect differences, or lack of colloquialness, gave them away as "different". This study intends to examine the lived experiences of the teachers in teaching newly arrived children (NAG). The study consists of multiple case studies using a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with school administrators and teachers in nine schools. Findings indicate that schools that operated from an open-door policy contain a higher percentage of MAC than schools that applied strict admission policy. Teachers of the former schools were more negative and apprehensive in their experience in teaching and managing NAC's learning and behavior. They saw the later cohort of NAC more difficult to teach than the earlier cohort. Teachers were unprepared and the strategies they resorted in varied from applying a difference-blind principle to watering down the curriculum. The study causes concern of an education system that lacks critical cultural understanding and sensitivity in catering for cultural diversity. Poverty of bilingual and multicultural education knowledge prevailed in most schools. In order to achieve just educational provisions for these pupils, the study concludes that schools should consider a more flexible grade level system, a curriculum that takes equality of access, survival, output, and outcome into serious considerations. Further, a multicultural teacher education training program is highly recommended to ensure culturally proficient teachers.

An important feature of Hong Kong's education reform over the past decade has been the articulation of the "no loser principle". This policy statement was meant to signal that all students are valuable and will benefit from both basic and senior secondary education. Yet barriers remain for the 2.9% of students under the age of 15 who can be classified as ethnic minorities. Until the 2008 Racial Discrimination Ordinance (RDO), the educational needs of these students remained an invisible issue for the school system. This article examines the policy context in which Hong Kong schools have made provisions for ethnic minority students, and reviews classroom practices that operationalize these policies on a daily basis. In an interview study involving 32 teachers' narratives of how they managed the cultural diversity of ethnic minority students in classrooms (Hue & Kennedy, 2012, 2013), it was reported that at the practical level, teachers struggle to meet the diverse needs of students and to conceptualize a new rationale for responding to cultural diversity. The implications of promoting ethnic minority education at the three levels of policy, practice and research are discussed.
[Copyright © Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED)].

There is a growing body of literature highlighting issues concerning current educational provision for ethnic minority students in Hong Kong. The popular media is also featuring these issues. In addition, the Equal Opportunities Commission has formally notified the Education Bureau of its concerns about the education of ethnic minority students. This article reviews a range of issues and concerns that have been raised regarding educational provision for ethnic minority students in Hong Kong. It particularly raises the issue of "out of school" ethnic minority children in Hong Kong. To date, most of the existing literature has been on ethnic minority students who are already in the school. Yet a careful analysis of the reports and tables published from the 2006 census data suggests that a good number of ethnic minority children are probably not in school, including pre-primary, lower secondary, upper secondary and post-secondary age groups. Despite the fact that some legislation is in place to protect the educational rights of ethnic minority children in Hong Kong, they are nevertheless facing a number of issues and challenges inside school. In addition, the fact that ethnic minority children are "out of school" raises new issues about access and equity in Hong Kong's education system.
[Copyright © Hong Kong Educational Research Association].

An important feature of Hong Kong's education reform over the past decade has been the articulation of the 'no loser principle.' It was meant to signal that all students are valuable and will benefit from both basic and senior secondary education. Yet barriers remain for the 2.9% of students under age 15 who can be classified as ethnic minorities. There is a declining participating rate as students move from primary to tertiary level, the medium of instruction remains alien to most of these students, and there are no curriculum provisions to meet their special needs. This paper will examine both the policy context in which provisions for ethnic minority students have been made in Hong Kong schools and also classroom practice that operationalises this policy on a daily basis. The purpose is to make an assessment of the extent to which the 'no loser principle' can be said to apply to ethnic minority students.
[Copyright © The Hong Kong Teachers' Centre].

In response to the wave of global education reform, the Hong Kong Government has initiated an educational reform to promote the child-centred approach to meet the changing society in the recent ten years. The Holistic Child-centred Educational Approach which enshrine a distinct kind of spirituality of interconnectedness is considered as Quality education. In order to foster the holistic curriculum in young children, the Government has recognized the values of play in the ECE informal curriculum and its allied pedagogy. Despite the Government’s persistent attempts to foster the policy, the feedback from practitioners is less than satisfactory. Through a qualitative research with two preschools with religious affiliations, it is found that spirituality education has an important role to play in fostering the good lives of young children. Children are being ‘equipped’ with skills to deal with life adversity and handling the complex human relationships. A successful implementation of spirituality education however must rest on a clear understanding of the difference between the traditional religious education and spirituality education. A genuine understanding on the part of practitioners would increase the chances for a successful implementation of the ECE Educational reform promoted by the SAR Government. (The Author)
[Copyright © Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker-Society.]

In his 2006-07 Policy Address, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong committed HK$2 billion to enhancing holistic ECE through the instigation of a school voucher scheme. The new paradigm of a child-centred curriculum is considered necessary to keep pace with international quality educational developments. The paradigm of spirituality education for young children, which enshrines interconnectedness (Taggart, 2001), is in essence the holistic education that is advocated in child-centred ideology. Religious education, in contrast, is underpinned by teacher-centred ideology and has the aim of transmitting traditional religious values to the younger generation. The article reports on six case studies on three different faith schools which suggest that elements of spirituality are embedded in the newly advocated curriculum. The preliminary data collected, however, also suggest that there is a misunderstanding on the part of stakeholders in their view of the conceptualisation of Spirituality Education as nearly synonymous with Religious Education. Based on these findings, the author hopes to arouse the public at large to the potential educational inequalities existed alongside the educational reform policy; firstly to the parents when exercising their rights under the school voucher scheme and secondly, to faith schools being distracted from their school mission by a misconception that Spirituality Education and Religious Education are nearly synonymous.
[This material is still protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Please contact the publisher for permission to copy, distribute or reprint the published article.]

Many Hong Kong schools are concerned with the growing number of enrolments of ethnic minority students. This article examines teachers’ views of their influence on the performance of these students and how the cultural diversity among these students were addressed. Qualitative data were collected from semi-structured interviews with thirty-two teachers from three secondary schools. This study shows that teachers struggle to conceptualize a new rationale for responding to cultural diversity. They develop a sense of inter-cultural sensitivity, promote cultural responsiveness to diversity, and strengthen the home-school connection. The implication for the creation of a culturally responsive classroom will be given.