All public-funded Hong Kong universities have explicit practices to promote integrity and prevent students’ academic dishonesty. Using the Behaviour Change Wheel as a conceptual framework, three common practices were analysed in the present study, namely, enforcement of policies to penalize dishonest acts, use of plagiarism detection software, and mandatory attendance at academic honesty workshops. Qualitative data were collected from 50 students (in 14 focus groups) and individual interviews with 18 faculty members from eight publicly-funded universities in Hong Kong. Content analyses reveal that, although the students and faculty staff endorsed punishment as an effective intervention to reduce motivation to cheat, they also believed it would not enhance motivation for honest behaviours. Plagiarism detection software might reduce opportunities to plagiarize, but students with dishonest motivations will only turn to harder-to-trace means to cheat. While demonstrating good concepts of academic honesty, a sign that academic honesty education was working, the students attributed dishonest motivation to insufficient capability to perform academic tasks, which they described as a common problem. Both students and staff opined that the solution lies in more responsive learning support and pedagogical enhancement, but that it is constrained by university policies. Copyright © 2022 National Institute of Education, Singapore.

Mathematics is one of the core subjects in engineering education and forms the foundation of all disciplines in engineering. In Hong Kong, a significant number of students are admitted to engineering programmes without sufficient mathematical background. Engineering mathematics is essential for teaching and learning many fundamental and advanced engineering subjects. Due to this reason, a mobile application (app) is developed as one of the core components of engineering mathematics education by offering students flexible and self-initiated learning. In this study, a hypothesis model is proposed to investigate the effectiveness of student's learning in engineering mathematics with the developed mobile app. The results showed that the ease and convenience of using the mobile app have a positive effect on students' autonomous learning, and motivation and have a positive relationship with the learning effectiveness of the mobile learning (M-learning) app. It was found that the average marks of the assessment tests were significantly better than the screening test by using the app and notes. The current study has important implications in that the M-learning app should be used as a supportive role to supplement traditional teaching approaches. Copyright © 2022 Routledge.

While online learning has been widely adopted to substitute in-person schooling and sustain children's learning at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, some schools have implemented offline distance learning instead of depending on technology. This case study documented how offline home learning focusing on child-centredness and authentic learning experiences was implemented through home and school involvement in a typical preschool in Hong Kong. This study aimed at examining the phenomenon of this home learning practice and its effectiveness from the perspectives of school administrators (n = 3), teachers (n = 8), and parents (n = 18). Qualitative data collected from interviews and supplemental school documents revealed that the effective implementation of offline home learning primarily depended on (1) a child-centred approach with individualized learning support and (2) family-based support tailored for diverse families. The findings also suggested that a connection among peers was lacking as a result of social distancing and limits on physical interactions. Based on the findings, implications for further studies and parent education for strengthening competence in home learning are discussed. Copyright © 2022 Routledge.

One hundred and eighty ethnic minority students studying in Hong Kong mainstream schools were found to value knowledge, activities, practice, product, inquiry, process, feedback, and technology in their mathematics learning. To identify these values, a mixed methods approach was adopted, using a values questionnaire as a lens to identify what students find important in mathematics learning, and followed by semi-structured focus group interviews for details and verification. The data also revealed that ethnic minority students valued activities and practice more than their ethnic Chinese peers. Implications for research and instructional practice are offered. Copyright © 2022 Routledge.

Opportunities for pre-service teachers to participate during their initial teacher education (ITE) in teaching-abroad experiences, where they spend time teaching in a foreign country, have become increasingly popular. However, studies to date have collected data during or soon after the participant’s return. Little is known about how recently qualified teachers (RQTs) who participated in such experiences during the ITE perceive their benefits. By collecting and analysing reflective writings of ten RQTs in Hong Kong, who participated in a teaching-abroad experience in China, this small-scale study sought to explore its impact on their perceived preparedness for their current roles in their home context. The findings suggest that the teachers feel that the experience added to their preparedness, in areas such as lesson preparation and planning, teaching confidence and flexibility and professional collaborations. The RQTs attributed these benefits to the unfamiliar teaching context and the additional teaching practice that the experience provided, as well as the opportunity to work closely with peers, course tutors and teachers in China. The study adds to the growing teaching-abroad literature by including the perspectives of RQTs, providing further justification for including such experiences in ITE programme curriculums. Copyright © 2022 Taylor & Francis.

The aim of this study is to investigate the reasons for academic stress in Hong Kong and provide recommendations to the government on ways to alleviate this problem. Using photovoice, 15 undergraduate students from a private community college in Hong Kong were invited to take and discuss photographs regarding their lived experiences of learning. Thematic analysis is applied to generate themes from the photovoice data. The results suggest several possible reasons for academic stress, including examination demands, school administration and parents. However, the underlying social reason for academic stress may be the internal contradictions of the education system. That is, the education system purports to value all-round and whole-person education but subordinates this worthy goal to examination results. Thus, the results of the study suggest that the government should address this internal contradiction by considering educational, economic and cultural factors when planning educational policies and/or changes. Copyright © 2020 National Institute of Education, Singapore.

Students’ social identity is considered to have profound effects on their learning and academic performance, but there was a lack of research on whether students’ social identity would also influence their aspirations to pursue STEM careers. This research studied the associations between the social identity of students and their aspirations to engage in STEM careers. Nearly 4,000 Hong Kong students from three key learning stages participated in a survey related to their STEM aspirations. Data analysis using multiple regression and structural equation modelling showed that local and national identity were predictive of STEM career aspirations. Moreover, students’ sense of contribution to the nation and local society, as well as the perceived value of STEM professionals were mediators of the impact of their social identity on their STEM career aspirations. The implications provide insights for policymakers and educators to formulate appropriate curricula benefiting students’ social identity development as well as their STEM aspirations. Copyright © 2022 National Institute of Education, Singapore.

Along with the global trend of developing students’ 21st-century skills, teacher education must enable preservice teachers (PSTs) to improve students’ learning outcomes with Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and school practicum plays an essential role in the process. This study investigated Hong Kong PSTs’ ICT competency with or without teaching practicum completed and explored factors contributing to ICT competency in and beyond the practicum. This mixed-methods study began with a questionnaire to give a broad picture of the ICT competence of Hong Kong PSTs of English (N = 127), who were found to perceive themselves as competent with educational technology and their competencies of understanding ICT related policy and using ICT for professional development was enhanced after school practicum. A purposeful subset of the sample (N = 10) was interviewed based on their ICT competency scores, exploring the factors shaping interviewees’ readiness and ICT use in their teaching practicum. It highlights that digital native students do not naturally transform into teachers with ICT competency to facilitate 21st-century learning, and the practicum could play a more critical role in enhancing their ICT competence to future-proof their skills. Promoting ICT-friendly school culture and designing better teaching practicum programmes are suggested. Copyright © 2022 National Institute of Education, Singapore.

The issue of the “research-practice gap” has been a long-standing concern in the education community. To tackle this issue, there is a growing interest in research–practice partnerships (RPPs) to connect research with practice by providing solutions for improving practice in schools. Although studies have reported that constructive relationship would produce positive outcomes, establishing long-term and mutually beneficial RPPs requires further investigation. In Hong Kong, the Learning Study (LS) approach with Variation Theory derived from phenomenology as the theoretical framework for pedagogical design has been adopted as a RPP model and has sustained for two decades. Like many RPPs models, LS approach has been facing different challenges when teachers are increasingly held accountable for meeting new demands from education reform. In this respect, this paper explores the challenges and strategies of the LS approach as a RPP model and its conditions of success. It reports a case study of how a group of English Language teachers adopting a LS approach while integrating education initiatives in their instructional design. The findings have identified trust building, teacher’s capacity building and visible outcomes as possible key factors of effective RPP model. This paper may shed light on the implementation of research–practice partnerships. Copyright © 2022 National Institute of Education, Singapore.

School-based mentoring programmes in which teachers act as mentors have the potential to offer a non-stigmatizing and developmentally appropriate source of support for secondary school students. However, the experience of teacher-mentors is under-researched, particularly in Hong Kong. Fifteen mentors participating in a school-based mentoring programme in one Hong Kong secondary school serving a Chinese population were interviewed and the data were analysed thematically. Findings indicated that teacher-mentors provided social and emotional support to their mentees, and that they were motivated to do so by a desire for greater relatedness to the students with whom they worked. The relationship formed between mentors and mentees was more spontaneous, less hierarchical, more wide-ranging, and more personal in nature than that between teachers and students, and constituted a source of satisfaction for mentors. The study has several implications for schools which may be considering implementing a mentoring programme. Copyright © 2022 National Institute of Education, Singapore.