Hong Kong and Taipei have similarities in their ethnic compositions, geographic locations, economic structures, and relationships with Mainland China. However, they also have significant differences in each of these spheres, and in other socio-political dimensions. Socio-political factors have had an impact on curriculum as well as on other domains of education. This thesis compares the intended, resourced and implemented curricula in Hong Kong and Taipei. Comparisons across place and across dimensions of curriculum help to identify the forces which are unique to particular locations and dimensions and the forces which are more generalisable.
The thesis focuses on music in junior secondary schools, and is constructed around one main research question and two supporting questions. The main research question is "What is the nature and extent of Chinese music in the curricula of junior secondary schools in Hong Kong and Taipei, and what socio-political forces have determined these patterns?" This has two supporting research questions: (1) What is the nature and extent of Chinese music in the curriculum at the intended, resourced and implemented levels in both places? and (2) What are the roles and status of Chinese and non-Chinese elements in the curricula in the two places? The answers to these questions are then interpreted within the context of analysis of socio-political forces.
This analysis is undertaken with the help of a set of conceptual models drawn from the literature on comparative education. The research methods included content analysis of two official syllabi and four sets of music textbooks, as well as interviews with syllabus designers, textbook publishers, and music teachers in Hong Kong and Taipei. The analysis centres on the curricular choices made regarding Chinese and non-Chinese music. This is a significant area of political, cultural and educational decision-making which is bound up with questions of national identity, allegiance and citizenship

This phenomenon might show that every teacher has some underlying beliefs, which could be made clear by narration. Lack of "traditional" art making experience, Helen thought the "Visual Learning" in art education could help students "unwrap packaging" and get to understand the hidden truth. On the other hand, other three teachers who love drawing from their very young age, focused more on different media of art making. To some extent, reflecting an "art for art sake" attitude, which shows quite a distance from the orientation of recent curriculum changes.
This study is an exploratory narrative research, focusing on the beliefs and their formation process of those teachers who regard themselves as art teachers. Hong Kong society seems ignore the importance of art education. Most teachers teach in primary school can have a share on having a few Art & Craft lessons, including those who even don't understand what is art. In this context, there are still some teachers who regard themselves as art teachers. Why? What beliefs do they hold towards art or art education? How are these belief constructed? Are these teachers conscious of their own beliefs? Are these beliefs related to their teaching experience and seniority?
Through "synthesis text" interview, teachers are provided with the opportunity to reflect their beliefs and discover the unaware "existential presumptions". It was a good chance for them to clarify their blurred perspectives, even to make change of them.
Through four interviewees' sharing of their "life stories" towards art or art education as well as "how" and "why" they transmitted such teaching activities, the researcher found that regardless their teaching seniority, they all showed that art teachers should possess drawing ability. Interactive interviews and self-evaluation of their own "synthesis text" were delivered. The researcher found that during their late phase of teaching life, Wangyi and Zhongliang were aware that they haven't thought

Collaboration in design has become a geographically distributed and culturally dispersed activity. Increasingly, design educators see the need to prepare young designers for an international market by providing students with skills not only for design but also for intercultural communication.
This thesis investigates how design patterns for facilitating intercultural design education contexts can be identified through qualitative and comparative analysis of a long-term ethnographic study of cross-cultural computer-supported collaborative design learning. The core findings of this research are based on a three-year ethnographic study of intercultural computer-supported collaboration between groups of students from Hong Kong, Korea, Austria and Taiwan. A qualitative research approach was utilized for the discovery of regularities in the observed collaborations, and a comparative research approach was employed to discover similarities and differences across cultural contexts. Data from the first year was analyzed inductively to identify reoccurring themes in design collaboration. This guided the observation of collocated activity and analysis of online conversations in the second year of this study. A map of recurring design solutions was constructed from this analysis. Eleven design patterns were written based on this analysis and presented to designers for evaluation in a pattern workshop. Based on the feedback from this workshop, in the third year of this study an in-depth analysis of computer-mediated interaction between Hong Kong and Korean students, and their local tutors, was carried out. A deductive coding scheme, informed by theories of intercultural and cross-cultural communication research, was employed to guide the analysis and articulation of design patterns for intercultural collaboration.
Within this research, an inductive and deductive methodology for identifying and articulating design patterns was developed. Therein, eleven patterns for intercultural

This study explores the changes in the conceptions of pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1986'0) of student teachers during training. The focus of geographical education in Hong Kong is shifting from imparting knowledge to developing skills of geographical enquiry, requiring geography teachers to rethink their pedagogical content knowledge to reflect this change of emphasis. This poses a particular problem for student teachers with limited understanding of what is involved. In the transition from training to full time teaching, geography student teachers undergo and must undergo changes in their individual understanding about planning and conducting lessons.
The aims of this study were: (I) to explore the pattern and variations of student teachers' conceptions of pedagogical content knowledge for teaching secondary school geography; (2) to identify the factors influencing thinking and changes in conceptions; and (3) to develop a schema to synthesise the development of their geographical pedagogical content knowledge. A qualitative-interpretive research approach, adopting a phenomenographic perspective, was used. The data came from recursive, in-depth interviews with three student teachers conducted at various points during the two years of their training.
The study demonstrated that the conceptions of the student teachers shifted in varying ways and to varying degrees during training, as their pedagogical content knowledge grew. Conceptions of pedagogical content knowledge were viewed in terms of teachers' use of concepts to explain phenomena, their choice of teaching methods in relation to pupils and images of teaching. The three teachers exhibited seven conceptions of pedagogical content knowledge, ranging from the simple transmission of text to the development of structured ideas appropriate to pupil understanding, and the integration of content and method. Their conceptions were influenced by a number of factors, including their own past learning,