The formation of attitude towards gender roles begins at an early age and it is important for the education system to address the factors involved. Textbooks play an important role in local early childhood education settings. It is uncertain that the extent to which this issue has been addressed sufficiently. This paper discusses the depiction of gender roles in the thematic subject – Integrated Curriculum from Kindergartens 1 to 3. a questionnaire was distributed to 224 serving Kindergarten teachers attending the Certificate in Kindergarten Education Programme at the Hong Kong Institute of Education to determine the most commonly used publisher. A case study was employed to review the thematic textbooks published by the chosen publishers. Data collection methods included textbook content analysis and focused group teacher interviews. Implications and recommendations were made for kindergarten teachers, curriculum developers and teacher educators.

The paper examines the management of classroom discipline. The objective was to examine how they constructed indiscipline and good discipline, and accordingly what practices they facilitated to manage students’ behaviour. Qualitative data were collected from four Hong Kong secondary schools. Twelve teachers were interviewed. Eight lessons were observed. Results indicated that classroom discipline was a crucial factor for effective teaching. Also, the classroom itself could hardly separate from the wider context where it was located, such as school structure and cultural values. The implications of these findings, particularly to other countries, are given. Some appropriate recommendations for change are discussed.

This paper outlines the changes in English medium of instruction policy in Hong Kong secondary schools since it became a specially administered region of China on 1st July, 1997. It gives a brief description of the background to the present situation, outlining the special place of English in Hong Kong schools and the reasons for the failure of policy initiatives in the past. The rationale for the present policy changes is critically discussed as are reasons for the resistance to change in certain Hong Kong schools as expressed by the school principals, the staff, parents and pupils. The paper concludes by examining the success of the present policy initiatives and examines the future of English medium education in Hong Kong schools.

Teachers have often been placed in the heart of educational reform. They are expected to play a pivotal role in the enhancement of educational quality. Various forces energize the professionalization project of teaching and there has long been advocacy that teachers should be regarded as professionals. Although literature shows that there are divided views on whether it is entirely favorable for teaching to become a 'profession', there is little disparity that teachers should uphold professionalism. While teachers as professionals may well be a conception that denotes different meanings by different people, this paper seeks to understand the conceptions of a professional teacher held by four fist year primary school teachers in Hong Kong. The paper reports the results of a study which entails three main parts. The first part is about the societal expectations of a professional teacher in Hong Kong. With reference to the profession literature, selections of key educational documents of Hong Kong were analyzed to find out the common expectations. The second part involves the analysis of the first year teachers' conceptions of what makes a professional teacher. Each of the four teachers have been followed through in the first year of teaching by four in-depth face to face interviews and at least three telephone interviews. Their conceptions of a professional teacher have been studied and analyzed in the context of their career events. The third part of the paper identifies the similarities and differences of the conceptions between those identified as the societal expectations and those held by the informants. The paper ends with a discussion on the various implications of the findings.

Student teachers are concerned with discipline as in-service teachers do. The study aims to explore their knowledge of classroom discipline. The study is qualitative, descriptive and narrative in nature. The research method of unstructured interviews was employed to capture their professional knowledge of classroom discipline. Ten student teachers from Hong Kong were involved. Throughout the two-month period of their teaching practicum in Hong Kong secondary schools, three interviews for each participant were conducted. The study illuminates the classroom experience of student teachers and reveals that they found difficult to transfer concepts and skills mastered during their training to the classroom. Further, with the exploration of the convictions and meanings that have arisen from their experience, the initial findings enhance our understanding of their needs regarding classroom discipline. The implications to the professional development, future studies into discipline, and the promotion of positive classroom discipline strategies will be given.