This article is an academic commentary on the concept of sociology of education. The authors have ventured through the lens of Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition and discuss its impact might have had if the corresponding mode of education and pedagogy be carried out in reality according to what Arendt had inspired her readers. A cross reference has been made on the recent 2017 early childhood reform document in Hong Kong on Play with the anticipated forms of education which the authors have perceived in Arendt’s The Human Condition, namely the ‘labor’, ‘work’ and ‘action’. Since “free play” is highly promoted in the latest early childhood reform document and is tempered by the role of the teacher. As teacher is endorsed to perform the role of “feedback-giver” in the process of play, it has matched precisely with Arendt’s perception of “works of art” and eventually paving the way to “action-vita-activa” as forms of education for the promotion of democratic collaborative learning. Since “Sociology” has an intimate connection with politics, it is anticipated that following the implementation of free play for young children in the early childhood classroom and by the tactic guide of the teachers, the educational landscape of the early years education in Hong Kong will be changed significantly. The impact of this on the society at large has yet to be examined in the long run. Copyright © 2018 INASED.

Early childhood education in Hong Kong has experienced drastic changes since 1982 following the criticism made by the Llewellyn visiting panel and a western style play-based curriculum was recommended. The Curriculum Development Council in 2006 stated that curriculum development is a continuing process of renewals that should devetail with the development of education system globally. The curriculum renewal, however, has been based on continuous fostering the play-based approach of the 1980s, despite that in the Western world, there have been calls for a reversion to the traditional teacher-centered education paradigm in recent years. Is there a double standard in designing curriculum in this respect? Copyright © 2018 CESHK.

本研究旨在探討以「交互教學法」的策略來說故事，提升香港幼兒的閱讀理解能力的可行性。本研究以隨機抽樣方法選取共32位五至六歲幼稚園高班的幼兒，採用準實驗研究方法，將幼兒分為實驗組及控制組，分前測、實驗教學及後測三個階段進行，再就所得資料做質性和量化的分析。結果顯示，經過「交互教學法」的閱讀策略說故事後，實驗組閱讀理解能力比控制組為佳。本研究根據實驗教學的結果，找出如何以圖畫故事書為教材並運用交互教學策略進行活動，來幫助香港幼稚園教師實踐交互教學以提升幼兒的閱讀能力，並有助於其他幼稚園吸取相關的成功經驗。This study used the reciprocal teaching approach to storytelling as a reading strategy method to determine whether it affects Hong Kong children's competence in reading comprehension. A total of 32 children (age 5-6 years) studying in upper class (K3) were selected through random sampling to undertake reading activities for 6 weeks. They were split into experimental and control groups for a quasiexperiment study. The children of the control group carried out the story activity with the traditional way of teaching storytelling while the experimental group used the Reciprocal Teaching Approach with interactive teaching strategies to tell story books. The study, which used qualitative and quantitative methods, was conducted in three stages: pretesting, experimental teaching, and posttesting. The results revealed that children's competence in reading comprehension in the posttesting stage was superior to that in the pretesting stage. Children found learning vocabulary that appeared more frequently to be easier when listening to stories. Because of the link between pictures and context, children's image came up in their thoughts was developed in a multifaceted manner, which enhanced and improved their reading comprehension competence. The results of the experimental teaching indicated that by using picture stories and by adopting the reciprocal teaching approach, young children's competence in reading comprehension can be enhanced. This paper provides insight that can be applied in other kindergartens. Copyright © 2017 國立清華大學.

This study investigated the conceptualization of children's socioemotional competence among parents and teachers of preschool children in Hong Kong, China. Focus groups were conducted with 16 parents and 18 teachers from three preschools. Thematic content analysis revealed that, reflecting the cultural as well as contextual characteristics of Hong Kong, parents and teachers expected socioemotionally competent children to master skills in emotion understanding, emotion expressivity, emotion regulation, relationship building, conflict management, and inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. There was diversity within parents' and teachers' interpretations of the characteristics of emotionally regulated and socially skilled children. Findings highlighted the ecosystemic nature of societal ideas about children's developmental competence, demonstrated the utility of qualitative research in exploring these ideas in culturally sensitive manners, and called for the mobilization of parents and teachers as research-informed scaffolders of holistic development of children. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Studies on parental views and experiences of the integrated programme implemented in mainstream early childhood settings for children with disabilities are dominated by the perspectives of mothers and teaching personnel. Additionally, most of these studies are largely from Western countries. This hermeneutic phenomenological study attempts to document the personal views and experiences of Hong Kong Chinese fathers who are raising children with disabilities. A total of 24 fathers of children with disabilities currently studying in 12 mainstream child care centres (CCCs) with an integrated programme were interviewed twice. Results indicate that the fathers appreciated the rationales of the integrated education of their children's integrated CCCs, which is the ideal programme for allowing the involvement of their children in the real world. Nevertheless, the fathers also experienced difficulties, frustrations and dissatisfaction after their children were admitted into the integrated CCCs. Policy and practice implications are also discussed. Copyright © 2018 Educational Review.

The promotion of creativity has come to be seen as a vital component in the development of a knowledge-based globalised society, and Hong Kong, like other countries around the world, has been responding to this challenge through a raft of educational policy reforms. However, despite the last ten years of policy reforms aimed at encouraging creativity, traditional teacher-centred didactic practices still dominate. This chapter will argue that before creativity can be promoted, it is essential to understand teachers' beliefs in relation to creativity and then to establish whether these beliefs are actualized in practice. Drawing on research that was undertaken within a number of Hong Kong early childhood settings, this chapter will exemplify how it became possible to utilize a Western-orientated pedagogical framework for creative practice (PFCP). Using examples of illustrative data, the chapter will draw out the complexities that surround the interrelationship between teachers' beliefs and practice whilst also foregrounding the necessity for the development of culturally and contextually appropriate pedagogies. The chapter suggests that because creative practice is complex, changing, and developmental, more effort is needed in searching for culturally and contextually appropriate pedagogies. This may involve some fusion of Chinese and Western creative pedagogies. Copyright © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Kerry J. Kennedy and John Chi-Kin Lee; individual chapters, the contributors.

The concept of “Assessment-of-Learning” (AoL) has long been the tradition in most school assessment practices in Hong Kong. In view of the deficiencies in the assessment mechanism, the Education Commission (2000) recommended “Assessment-for-Learning” (AfL) as one of the major areas of action in the current education reform. This paper reports the outcomes of a research study designed to investigate the practice of assessment for learning by Hong Kong teachers. The project was a collaborative one, involving the School Development and Evaluation Team (SDET) of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and teachers from 20 kindergartens. In the project, central seminars, workshops and meetings were provided to the participating schools for the purpose of enhancing teachers’ Assessment for Learning (A fL) competency in their daily teaching. A questionnaire of 60 items was administered twice to teachers from the participating kindergartens at the beginning as well as towards the end of the project in order to assess their uses of the nine AfL strategies, namely, informing teaching objectives, informing success criteria, effective questioning, quality feedback, self-assessment, peer assessment, collecting learning evidence and teacher reflections in their daily teaching. Results indicate that there is a remarkable improvement regarding teachers’ habits in utilizing AfL strategies after the intervention. This research has pioneered a quantitative study of the practice of AfL in kindergartens and has validated an instrument for assessing such a practice. The framework, the instrument, the findings and insights generated from the study may have significant contributions to the improvement of classroom teaching in kindergartens. Copyright © 2014 ICSEI.

Valid feedback is essential for the administrators, educators, parents and, of course, for children to be able to steer their development in a sustainable way. Key influential theorists such as Montessori, Piaget, Vygotsky, and others all used observations extensively to understand how children learn and use knowledge about children's learning to improve pedagogies and children's lives. However, most adults including teachers in the ECEC settings have not always observed children and tracked their growth. Based on the research and professional development programs conducted in Finland, Taiwan and Hong Kong with more than 100,000 observations, we found some relationships between young children's involvement, adaptation and agency in early childhood settings through systematic observations. We will introduce observation strategies with video clips and demonstrate our latest mobile application for observation for practitioners to contribute to a big data pool aimed to enhance the teaching quality in ECEC settings. Copyright © 2018 EARLI.