Band 1 schools have an enviable reputation in Hong Kong and one which can breed false assumptions that somehow Band 1 schools present that fabled-land where teaching somehow is "easy". How do Band 1 schools gain and (more importantly) justifiably sustain their reputations for excellence in education? This paper seeks answers to this question by investigating one case study Band 1 Primary School from the perspective of the teachers who shoulder responsibility for sustaining a track record of "educational excellence". The challenges facing these teachers, their practical solutions and the underpinning educational theories will be examined. This examination includes the perspectives of a school principal, two local and two expatriate experienced classroom teachers and a "visiting" practicing teacher. By triangulating these varied perspectives, this paper seeks to focus attention not only on "Band 1 teaching methods" but, more significantly on the features of effective teaching which may be generalisable across the spectrum of Hong Kong Primary schools.

Empirical Research Background: Recent waves of Fullbright and other charity foundations‘ sponsored American English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) integration into tertiary module teaching and learning in Asian countries, has raised concerns whether the ETAs are welcomed by students. Empirical Research Aims: The present study discusses the development and piloting of an instrument to evaluate students‘ perspectives of ETAs‘ role in module teaching and learning in a tertiary context in Hong Kong. Empirical Research Sample: Participants were 153 students from modules that involved ETAs, ranging from first to third year students of four year undergraduate programmes. Empirical Research Method: Students were asked to rate their agreement to 20 statements related to ETAs‘ role in and out of classroom situations on a 4-point category. Empirical Research RASCH: Rasch analysis was used to determine the fit and reliability of the items and the performance of the category structures. Empirical Research Results: Adequate item and person separations were found for all items except for two. Repeated analysis without these items showed improvements in item and person fit and separations. Individual item category structures were generally found to fulfill Linacre‘s (2004) eight guidelines for well performing categories. Empirical Research Conclusions: The resulting 18-item tool is suitable for future evaluations of ETA‘s role in module teaching and learning in tertiary context.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between school management practices and teacher leadership. The exercise of teacher leadership within school organization is proven to be contributed to the improvement of school effectiveness (Leithwood et. al. 2000). How to encourage teachers to exercise their leadership for school improvement become an important management issue to be explored. However, only few attempts have so far been made at identify the management practices that affect teacher leadership. If the relationships between them are explored, school administrators can fine tune their management practices for enhancing the exercise of teacher leadership contributes to school improvement. This study intends to identify the roles of teacher leadership that would provide school administrators practical steps to involve teachers in exercising their leadership effectively. The theoretical framework of this study was theoretically constructed and empirically validated. Weick's (1976) Organization theory of loose-tight coupling in school management and Katzenmeyer and Moller"s (2001) three-dimensional teacher leadership model were adopted for constructing the theoretical framework. 360 teachers from 20 aided secondary schools in Hong Kong took part in the questionnaire survey of this study. A three-dimensional teacher leadership model includes instructional coaching, instructional leadership and administrative leadership and a model of loose-tight management practices includes bureaucratic control and professional autonomy was theoretically and empirically identified by structural equation modelling. Results showed that there are positive predictive effects of professional autonomy and bureaucratic control in instructional coaching, instructional leadership and administrative leadership. This study contributes theoretically to our knowledge of the relationship between management practices and the roles of teacher leadership, and proposes practically a model for school

This paper examines teachers’ (un)thoughtful actions in the dynamic and contingent classroom moments through classroom anecdotes obtained from the author’s most recent research project in Hong Kong context. It raises the research question of how we should cultivate teacher’s pedagogical thoughfulness. Experiential stories of unexpected/contingent classroom moments have been obtained through teacher/student interviews and writing exercises, and then interpreted using the hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry. From these descriptions, reflections on quality teaching, meaningful learning, embodied knowing and pedagogical thoughtfulness are generated, with a special discussion on the quality teaching requirements and its implications for pre and in-service teacher preparation programs.

The Learning Study module developed in one of the teacher training institutes in Hong Kong, the HKIED, is an attempt to enable student teachers to improve their lesson preparation skills through engaging in action research in the form of Learning Study. This 30 hour taught module, introduced in 2006 to all Bed Year Two students (about 400 in total), is designed to integrate with the practicum component of the programme to allow students to learn the related theoretical framework and then work in subject groups to conduct Learning Study projects in schools during their School Attachment. This paper will examine the implementation of the module after its first year of operation, with a focus on the difficulties encountered and the resolutions that have been sought. The paper will also evaluate, through questionnaires and interviews, the impact of the module on developing students’ understanding and skills in doing Learning Study and their collaborative group planning skills. Finally, the potential for using Learning Study as a model for collaborative practice in initial teacher education will be discussed.

The Hong Kong Institute of Education, the major teacher education institute in Hong Kong, is launching a personal tutorial system project in an attempt to providing student teachers with advice on personal and professional development in the process of whole teacher education. This paper aims to examine the student teachers' perceptions of the project and its effectiveness. A questionnaire will be administered to the whole sample involved in the project, followed by an interview of a selected sample. It is hoped that the results will have some implications to the 'Whole-Teacher Development'.

This paper is based on research conducted at the Hong Kong Institute of Education with student teachers. The paper outlines the implementation of portfolio assessment by some lecturers of the Curriculum and Instruction Department. The portfolio, which incorporates critical self-assessment, is discussed and presented as an alternative form of assessment. This form of assessment provides student teachers with the opportunity to demonstrate their progress in learning and metacognitive skills. This research was conducted using qualitative methodology to study the processes involved in portfolio assessment and the values which underlie the new assessment methods. Teaching sessions were observed, interviews of students and their lecturers were conducted, and documentary evidence (such as the teaching portfolios and students self-assessments) were examined. The findings include an analysis of the implementation of the process of portfolio assessment, the supports and constraints which impacted on the implementation, and the student learning outcomes. The research was funded by the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

The study on effective teachers has been conducted as early as 1890. At that time effective teachers were rated against their personality traits by their superiors. Research done along this line gave discouraging result as the personality traits of an effective teacher were not consistently tied to the rating levels (Barr, 1961 ; Darling- Hammond, 1988). Research focusing on the relationship between teacher behaviour and student learning began to be dominant since the 1960's. Effective teachers were then defined according to their ability to help students gain in their achievement. Lo and Siu (1987) suggest that different people such as principals, teachers, students and parents have different perceptions of an effective secondary school teacher. This paper attempts to investigate the perceptions of student teachers on the characteristics of an effective primary school teacher. The sample subjects consisted of 66 student teachers selected from the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The method of collecting information was by conducting a survey in which all the sampled student teachers were administered to a questionnaire to find out their perceptions of an effective primary school teacher. Four respondents were further asked for interview to look into the reason why they had such perceptions. Frequency counts from the questionnaires revealed that 'possesses a sense of responsibility' ranked top among the ten most essential characteristics selected by the respondents. The findings also showed that an effective primary school teacher should have good personal quality as well as professional skills and abilities. Result of the interview reflected that the respondents' former teachers, their teaching experience, and the Institute in which they were studying were the main factors affecting their perceptions. The implications for teacher education of these findings were finally discussed.

Teaching excellence may mean different things to different people. The experience of students is vital because they are the consumers and they know what good teaching is about. Based on a survey conducted in the Hong Kong Institute of Education for the Distinguished Teacher Awards, this paper attempts to identity what the main criteria of good teaching are. As student opinions may relate to a particular cultural norm, the relevant social factors and their implications will be discussed in the paper.

The internationalisation of higher education in countries such as Australia and the UK has resulted in increased numbers of South-East Asia students in higher education classrooms. While considerable attention has been given to exploring the implications of internationalisation on students in ‘Western’ university contexts, less attention is given to researching the effects on teachers of higher education, and in particular those employed to teach in countries culturally foreign to their own. This aims to initiate such discussion through an exploration of the current results of an ongoing ethnographic study of two teaching academics working in Hong Kong. Issues that will be addressed include language and communication, social and cultural distance and the effect of hierarchy and related teaching strategies developed to meet the inter-cultural learning needs of themselves and their students. The authors argue that the development of inter-cultural understandings must permeate the curricula and be a shared goal and responsibility of both teachers and students.