Data from primary school administrators about professional development in Hong Kong schools and its possible relationship with change and improvement were collected through interviews, a self-report instrument and targeted dominant professional development beliefs and practices. Incongruence between espoused administrator beliefs about professional development and practices in schools was found. Inconsistencies were evident in terms of planning, purposes, activities and teacher involvement. Administrators did not appear to associate strongly professional development with school improvement or change. It is suggested that administrators consider increasing involvement and building a environment based on norms of ongoing improvement. System support, particularly focused on encouraging broader understandings of professional development and greater contextualisation are needed.
[Copyright © 1996 Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business.]

The purpose of this study was to analyze the current status of integrated physical education (PE) in general PE classes at elementary schools in Hong Kong. A questionnaire and cover letter were sent to 115 participants. A follow-up was made to contact non-respondents two weeks after the initial dissemination of questionnaires. Of those that were surveyed, 72.17% (N=83) responded. The results indicated that there were 12 different types of students with disabilities integrated into general settings. Most inclusive classroom integrated 1-3 students with disabilities and class sizes vary widely from school to school. Teachers received limited personnel support, faced more serious barriers for integration in the future, and possessed the need for professional development. Seven valuable implications of the results were discussed.
[Copyright © 2010 ACESS, Asian Council of Exercise & Sports Science. Authors are granted permission by ACESS to use their own material in subsequent publications, and to reproduce the material in total or in part for educational purposes or personal use.]

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.]

There have been many claims about the benefits that the use of technology can bring to music learning. In fact, examples of successful applications and high levels of motivation associated with computer-based music learning reported in the literature have evidentially substantiated both the feasibility and adaptability of technology applications to music education. This paper describes the experience of Information and Computer Technology (ICT) integration in primary school music education in countries where both pioneering and relatively advanced developments have taken place. A comprehensive study of related literature and curriculum documents has been undertaken, aspects including major software programs development for music education and its pedagogical orientation, hardware configuration and classroom organization, applications of ICT in music teaching and learning, requirements for curriculum, hardware and software, and technology competency requirements and related professional development for music teachers are studied. Findings from the literature reviewed and documents analyzed reveal that ICT can best support constructivist approach to music learning, particularly activities of creative nature such as composing, improvising and creative music making; in addition, resource and related circumstantial factor as well as music teacher‘s readiness were found to be the most influential factors of successful ICT integration. Coupled with these findings, conclusion and implications for ICT integration in primary music curriculum in Hong Kong are then drawn and discussed.
[Copyright © 2010 HKIEd APFSLT.]

This study explores a beginning early childhood teacher’s reflective practices and looks for evidence of characteristics of a reflective practitioner. The participant took part in a series of reflective thinking activities over five months. The findings of this study revealed the participant’s reflective practice in the following aspects: on students learning, teacher-students interaction and teaching behaviour. Most of her reflections focused on technical and practical levels. The participant had the characteristic of a reflective practitioner. Through this case study the author wishes to facilitate reflective teaching by early childhood educators which in turn is expected to help improve the quality of their teaching, besides promoting reflective practice among early childhood educators.
[Copyright © 2011 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

This paper examines the field of art education for young children in Hong Kong with a focus on the curriculum policy. A number of researchers have found that effects of cultures on the conceptions and understanding of art education for young children and its values are significant in their process of formation (e.g., Duncum, 2000, 2002; Freedman, 2000; Gardner, 2004; Green, 2000; Piscitelli, 1999; Piscitelli, Renshaw, Dunn & Hawke, 2004; Schirrmacher, 2001; Wright, 1991, 1997, 2003). This paper has applied the framework of the three orientations from Efland (1990), i.e. expressionism, reconstructionism and scientific rationalism in the analysis of Hong Kong curriculum policy documents and found that contradictions in terms of principles and practices are embedded. It is argued that these hidden but value-loaded assumptions about theories and practices in early childhood education and art education should be made explicit both in the formation of the policies and their implementation in schools if success is expected.
[Copyright © 2009 HKIEd APFSLT.]

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.]

Drawing on the theory of dialogism and the literature on children’s culture and cultural resistance, this article investigates the contextual and textual features of the cultural making of a group of children in sociodramatic play in a Hong Kong kindergarten. Different from other, similar studies, this study reports that under the gaze of the teacher, children’s play is largely practised as a reproduction of the teacher’s cultural texts. Children’s culture or resistance only arises as a bricolage of various cultural texts in which the cultural texts of the teacher and the children are intertwined, dissonant and hybridized. Two major modes of bricolage are identified. They are hybridization and invalidation. This result suggests that the teacher’s strategies and authoritarian discourse are suppressive of the children’s culture, aiming largely to shape the way and process of their cultural making. Nonetheless, from the evidence in this study, it is believed that bricoleur is a creative act as it involves tactful and creative appropriation, orchestration and transformation of all sorts of cultural texts which are at hand. The pretend play corner is consequently reframed and recreated as a heteroglot playing space of the children’s own.
[Copyright © The Author(s) 2012.]