In Hong Kong, three principal languages co-exist: Cantonese, English and Putonghua. For more than two decades, among policy-makers and educators, there has been a substantial debate on the language policies governing the three principal languages. Since the political transition in 1997, the Hong Kong government has made a series of language policy reforms trying to create a reasonable balance among the three languages, and a “biliterate and trilingual” policy has been adopted, with the aim of enabling Hong Kong residents to become biliterate in written Chinese and English, and trilingual in Cantonese, Putonghua and spoken English. The policy is now guiding the curriculum design in Hong Kong language education. However, currently, Hong Kong primary schools do not have an agreed approach or method for the implementation of trilingual education, and there is an urgent need to explore current successful or unsuccessful models. After a comprehensive historical review of the development of language education in Hong Kong schools, this study aims to find out how the ‘biliterate' and ‘trilingual' language policy is currently implemented in Hong Kong primary schools. A large scale questionnaire survey were carried out among Hong Kong primary school principals on how trilingual education was implemented in the schools. The findings suggest that, from school to school, the implementation of trilingual education varied significantly, and the effectiveness of the trilingual education models varied as well. It is hoped that this study will help us to gain a better understanding of trilingual education in Hong Kong, and the study could lead to some insightful and theoretical contributions to multilingual education in general.

Language in education debates in Hong Kong focus on the role and status of English (as the former colonial language and an important means for international communication); Cantonese, the mother tongue of the majority of the population; and Putonghua, the national language of China. I will examine language in education policy from an historical perspective, with particular emphasis on the period after the retrocession of Hong Kong in 1997. The questions I will address include: How have the role and status of each of the three language changed over time? What are the major influences on policy decisions? What do policy changes reveal about educational values and ideologies in Hong Kong? Who wins and who loses out?

Enhancing the higher order thinking (HOT) ability of students is a worldwide educational goal. This has also become a significant objective in the curriculum reforms in Hong Kong, which aims at better preparation of students to meet the challenges of the new era. Cultural aspects are often regarded as salient in determining approaches to teaching. The influence of Chinese traditions on teaching in Hong Kong has been discussed by many researchers, who found the thinking of Confucius still strongly influences the conception of teaching of Chinese teachers. By the in-depth interviews with 12 Chinese teachers, their conceptions of effective HOT teaching were examined. Nine teaching tips were suggested by the teachers. The list of HOT teaching tips reflects that intermingled values of Western and traditional Chinese education are embraced. The findings also show how Chinese values influence teachers' conceptions of effective HOT teaching and the results are discussed with reference to the influence of Confucian thought. The comparatively narrow conceptions regarding HOT teaching imply that certain cultural barriers are still hampering Hong Kong teachers in the post-handover period. One major recommendation is that an awareness of the cultural values of the context is important for any application of foreign methods of teaching.
[Copyright © 2015 British Educational Research Association.]

This article explores the dynamics of power-sharing between teacher and students in learning and teaching situations, and describes the theoretical bases, implementation, and results of an empirical study in three elementary schools in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. Findings from 58 class observations and interviews with 50 students, 25 teachers, and three school principals suggest that teachers can empower students by acknowledging their right to and responsibility for learning and by sharing power with students. Power-sharing classroom practice requires the dual efforts of teachers and students, and can be facilitated by the teachers’ interactive teaching mode, students’ cooperation and willingness to engage in learning, and school policy and culture, etc. In the power-sharing classrooms, teachers played the role of facilitators and students played as collaborators. In this article, theoretical implications for understanding power-sharing and critical pedagogy are discussed. The empirical evidence from this Hong Kong study contributes to an understanding of teacher-initiated power-sharing in the Chinese context, and the practice of critical pedagogy in classrooms.
[Copyright © 2014 Higher Education Press.]

本文藉著一項「創意教師獎勵計劃」來描述及探討香港小學教師在「創意教學」上的教學理念。作者參照Kainan (1995) 的敘事報告分析法與及Cropley (1997) 的六層創造階段，發現香港小學創意教師的表現，跟高效能教師的特質吻合。他們的創造過程符合Cropley 的理論架構，其等勇於創新的態度亦令人欽佩；可是這些被推薦的創意作品袛一面倒地偏向「兒童為本」的取向。此外，這些老師均認為整個創造過程都需要教師的自願及積極參與；本自工作環境的推動力，只可稍作幫忙而未足以成事。本文末部提出偏頗的教學取向，淺薄的教師資歷及欠理想的工作情境是妨礙香港小學創意教學的主要原因。幸好近年在香港的教育改革已開始為創意教學帶來新的希望和路向。以下是本文的行文大網：1. 引言；2. 「創意教學」之創造過程；3. 討論；4. 前景和希望；5. 結語；6. 參考文獻。

本文為許美德教授應香港教師會邀請在「全港教師教學研究周年大會」上所仍專題演講之講辭。文中她分享年青時在本港的愉快學習經驗，以及現時對提高教育質素的意見。她認為教育的核心目標是令每個兒童的潛質得以充分發展。優質教師除了要熟習本科知識和技能外，還要掌握教育學和心理學。教師不應要求學生死記硬背以應付測驗，因為兒童的思潮是活潑和主動的。除了智育外，教師還要因應學生個別的需要，幫助他們在情智、社智、審美、性靈等各方面的發展。本地教師應揉合中西教育思想的精粹，應用到實際教學上，使兒童在課室裡愉快而有效地學習。
[Copyright © 2000 朗文香港教育.]

世界上不少地方正在進行教育及課程改革，香港也被一輪又一輪的教育改革衝擊著。然而不少教育研究的結果卻告訴我們，絕少教育改革能真正對學生的學習有正面的影響；然而能夠產生明顯作用的，都是那些直接涉及學習內容的改革。「課堂學習研究」就是針對學習內容為出發點，建基於變易學習理論，透過行動研究的模式，集教師、教育研究員的智慧，試圖解決學生的學習困難，幫助每個學生學得更好。經過六年的探索、實踐及研究，已有超過一百間學校參與，並已進行了一百三十多個「課堂學習研究」。在這過程中，我們發現「課堂學習研究」不單能幫助學生學得更好，更是一個成就教師發展、校本課程發展及學校更新的有效工具。本文除闡述「課堂學習研究」在香港的發展外，更探討其對教師發展、校本課程發展及學校更新的影響，以及其未來發展所要面對的挑戰。