Hong Kong has been regarded as one of the strong examination-driven systems worldwide. Under the current education system, local secondary school students have to sit for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) at the end of Grade 12. Although the continuing assessment reform since 2000 tried to reduce the number of high-stakes examinations for secondary school students (from two to one at the end of the six-year secondary education), it remained a high-stakes public examination because the examination results usually have a significant influence on learners’ future pathways, including further education and employment. In respect of the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020, many international public examinations have been tried to be called off, but the Hong Kong government did persist in moving ahead with HKDSE. This aroused criticisms about whether the government has taken students’ well-being as a top priority because the annual survey on DSE students’ stress recorded the highest levels in 2020, 2021 and 2022. In this paper, the positioning and myth of HKDSE and its tie to Confucian philosophy will be examined. Students’ well-being is also discussed regarding rescheduling the examination and the impacts on the mental health of all DSE students, notwithstanding the challenges that can bring to any successful outcomes. It is hoped to urge mental health education and promotion could be carried out systematically to improve its effectiveness. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

A five-year-old kindergarten girl who died of maltreatment in 2018 shocked Hong Kong, bringing up the recommendation on the legislation of “Failure to Protect” offence. The unprecedented increase in domestic violence globally since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic made the United Nations Women describe it “shadow pandemic”. The paper aims to explore the new school practice for protecting children from maltreatment under the “shadow pandemic” and “failure to protect” offence from the perspective of teacher education. This paper contributes cutting-edge views on the unprecedented issue. The views of this paper are based on the author’s comparison and professional interpretation. Comparison is made between the 2020 newly revised “Protecting Children from Maltreatment – Procedural Guide for Multi-disciplinary Co-operation” and its previous version. Professional interpretation is generated from the author’s professional experiences. The implication is that school personnel have not effectively reported these cases mainly because of insufficient knowledge to recognise the signs of abuse. It is recommended to strengthen the Family-School-Community Collaboration training of protecting children from maltreatment. Copyright © 2021 International Conference on Learning and Teaching.

Background: Childhood obesity is a serious health problem that may affect children until their adulthood. Prevalence of childhood obesity found in Hong Kong has increased significantly. Childhood obesity is believed to be to associate with unhealthy behaviour; therefore, different programs have been conducted previously to promote healthy lifestyle behaviour. So far, the effectiveness of these programs is still controversial. As a parent is an agent having great impact on children, the purpose of the present study was to design a parent-based childhood obesity program, and the effectiveness of this program was assessed.Methods: Design: A randomized, controlled trial, including pre- and post-intervention assessment to examine the effects of a comprehensive intervention program comparing the control condition of a parent’s self-efficacy in managing problem behaviour of children.Subjects: 128 pairs of primary school students and parents in Hong Kong were recruited to participate in a “Healthy for Life” program.Duration: The 20-week program included 10 weeks of intervention and a maintenance period of 10 weeks.Intervention: Participants were randomly divided into an intervention group (n=62) and a control group (n=54). In the intervention group, parents were given education on health knowledge, information on childhood obesity and parenting skills strategies for managing obesity-related problem behaviour of children. In addition, they received a health information sheet nine times during the intervention period. Parents were recommended to use such knowledge and skills to control the body weight of children through modifying children’s unhealthy lifestyle behaviour in the intervention period. In the control group, parents received several health information sheets during the intervention period only.Outcome measures: Parents were asked to complete the “Lifestyle Behaviour Checklist” to assess the problem level and their confidence level in managing the child’s behaviour.

The current study aimed to predict secondary school students’ motivation toward sport injury prevention in “in‐school” and “out‐of‐school” contexts, and their sport injury prevention behavior at 3‐month follow‐up using the trans‐contextual model (TCM). Hong Kong secondary school students (N = 1566; mean age = 13.34 years, range = 11 to 19; female = 49.42%) were recruited. Participants were asked to complete a survey comprising previously validated scales measuring TCM constructs at baseline and a measure of sport injury prevention behavior at follow‐up three months later. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the hypothesized paths among TCM constructs. A SEM specifying hypothesized paths among TCM variables showed acceptable fit with the data (χ²(29) = 418.55, CFI = .93, TLI = .90, and RMSEA = .09, 90% CI [.09, .10], and SRMR = .05). Findings supported tenets of the TCM: the effects of perceived autonomy support from PE teachers on in‐school autonomous motivation toward injury prevention, the trans‐contextual relationship between students' “in‐school” and “out‐of‐school” autonomous motivation toward injury prevention, and the effects of autonomous motivation toward injury prevention on social cognitive variables and subsequent sport injury prevention behaviors. Results supported the tenets proposed within the TCM in predicting students' “in‐school” and “out‐of‐school” autonomous motivation toward sport injury prevention. Findings underscore the potential importance of autonomy support from PE teachers in facilitating students’ sport injury prevention behaviors. Further longitudinal and intervention research is warranted to establish temporal and causal effects of TCM variables in sport injury prevention. Copyright © 2020 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Introduction: Despite the increasingly widespread popularity of electronic devices, there are limited comprehensive studies on the effects of usage and exposure to multiple electronic devices over extended periods of time. Therefore, this study explored the cumulative musculoskeletal implications of exposure to various electronic devices among university students. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was administered in the university in Hong Kong and students provided information about the frequency and duration of electronic devices use, including computers, mobile phones and game consoles, and reported on any musculoskeletal pain or discomfort that may relate to electronic devices usage in the immediate 12 months prior to the survey date. Results: A total of 503 university students (59% males and 41% females) aged 18-25 years completed the questionnaire. The results showed that 251 (49.9%) respondents reported upper limb musculoskeletal symptoms, particularly in the neck and shoulder regions. Among these, 155 (61.8%) indicated that their discomfort was related to electronic device usage. Statistically significant differences in exposure to electronic devices and musculoskeletal outcomes between genders were found (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The use of electronic devices and habitual postures were associated with musculoskeletal problems among university students in Hong Kong. This phenomenon highlights the urgent need for ergonomics education and recommendations to increase students' awareness of musculoskeletal wellbeing.