After the government of Hong Kong branded Hong Kong as "Asia's World City," there has been more interest in addressing the needs of multicultural education in the city. This is also the intent of this study, which discusses the impact of a sports program that involves a South Asian sport called kabaddi on intercultural competence. The program was conducted in a multicultural setting in secondary schools and social communities with participants of different ethnic backgrounds. These participants included students, school teachers and kabaddi coaches. Four schools were purposefully selected, and the data collection methods comprised interviews and participant observation. The findings of the study revealed that the program which adopted the approach of teaching games for understanding (TGfU) could enhance the intercultural competence of both Chinese and South Asian students. The students gained new knowledge about heritage/minority cultures, learned to appreciate them, and developed bonding and bridging social capital. The implications of this study validate the feasibility and merit of integrating intercultural education into physical education. However, it is important to identify the ethnic composition and relations of the participants and devise a suitable pedagogy and curriculum when implementing the program for optimal results. Copyright © 2023 Taylor & Francis.

This article analyses the study-abroad identity of Central Asian undergraduate students in a Hong Kong university. It draws on the narrative data to explore the intercultural tensions and challenges they faced in the higher education context, as well as the impact of their study-abroad experiences on their identity-making when integrating into the receiving society. Drawing on Herzfeld’s (2005) concept of cultural intimacy, this article explains the students’ limited participation in local Hong Kong communities and their strong connection to the small, diasporic Central Asian network. It also reveals the co-existence of post-Soviet national identities and a cohesive Central Asian identity in the participants’ identity-making processes. Copyright © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Internationally, there is growing concern regarding the insufficient preparation of teachers in mainstream kindergartens in terms of teaching for ethnically diverse children. As teacher educators, we are concerned about how to help kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong improve their teaching. In this study, we adopted the research approach of phenomenography to investigate the following research question: In what qualitatively different ways do teachers experience the teaching for ethnically diverse children? We conducted individual semi-structured interviews with 26 in-service kindergarten teachers. Four ways of experiencing were identified. Teaching for ethnically diverse children can be experienced as: adjusting instruction (A), expanding modes of expression (B), exploring new possibilities (C), and embracing inclusion (D). We recommend that teacher educators discuss our results with teachers in professional development programmes, making them aware of alternatives and appropriate advanced ways of experiencing such teaching. Moreover, our results also revealed the benefits that ethnically diverse children bring to all children. Copyright © 2023 Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research.

Despite national policies, de facto school segregation for racial/ethnic minority students in the West and East has continued to deepen. In Hong Kong, the segregated school system was abolished in 2013, while from 2004 reformed School Places Allocation Systems encouraged minority students to choose mainstream primary and secondary schools. However, de facto ethnicity-based school segregation continues to prevail. Most minority students in the mainstream system are stuck in low-status schools where they face discrimination and institutional exclusion. This has led many of them to retreat to a limited number of schools that have traditionally catered for minority communities. Such segregation calls forth scholarly attention to the paradoxical correlation between the physical mixing of diverse students and equality of educational opportunity, especially equal access to post-secondary education (PSE)—a key for minority youth to function in the competitive labour market. This study employed the theory of school-based social capital (SBSC) and compared the ways in which PSE-relevant institutional resources and support were rationalised and enacted by staff in de facto segregated and desegregated school contexts. Case studies of two secondary schools lead us to argue that desegregation is only effective when institutional structure, culture and agents empower minority students through access to instrumental resources and support for the pursuit of PSE. The findings confound the desegregation policy and call for structural/institutional interventions to ensure instrumental SBSC is accessible to PSE-bound minority students in all schools, and thus increase the effectiveness of school desegregation. Copyright © 2023 British Educational Research Association.

In Hong Kong, around 33,000 non-Chinese speaking ethnic minority (NCS-EM) students were studying in local schools in 2019-2020, and nearly 40% were kindergarten children. However, from 2015 to 2019, the percentage of NCS-EM students admitted to government-funded postsecondary programmes remained 10% lower than that of the overall student population (Legislative Council Secretariat, 2020). Many NCS-EM students have experienced challenges in school adaptation because of difficulties with Chinese language. Studies on NCS-EM children’s problems in Chinese learning revealed that insufficient exposure to Chinese language in children’s daily living made them lag behind their Chinese-speaking peers (Oxfam et al., 2019). Even though some of them were locally born, their Chinese language proficiency, especially in recognizing Chinese characters and writing Chinese characters, remained a concern (Legislative Council Secretariat, 2018; Oxfam et al., 2019). This paper suggests immersing cultural responsiveness in support of NCS-EM children in learning Chinese language and social-emotional skills. The focus will be on teacher professional development, curriculum planning, and learning and teaching. Practical suggestions derived from a five-year Hong Kong based ‘C-for-Chinese@JC’ Project, which underscores the use of culturally responsive education benchmarks in kindergartens, are given. Guidelines for providing support to NCS-EM children for building up a learning environment with equity will be proposed. Copyright © 2023 ACEID.

Objective: This research focused on the psychosocial influences that account for differences in academic achievement and motivation among ethnic minority and ethnic majority students in Hong Kong. Methods: A cross-sectional correlation was conducted on 154 students in total. Specifically, 86 ethnic minority students and 68 local Chinese students. Researchers assessed students’ ethnic identity, academic self-concept, perceived parental expectations, ethnic/ideal self-discrepancies, actual/ideal self-discrepancies, ethnic group, academic achievement and academic motivation. Results: A significant t-test indicated greater ethnic identity in the ethnic minority group. A moderated mediation model suggested that ethnic/ideal self-discrepancies predicted a negative correlation with academic motivation through the mediation of actual/ideal self-discrepancies; a stronger effect was shown in ethnic minority students. A significant mediation of academic self-concept was found between perceived parental expectations and academic outcomes. Moderated mediations revealed that ethnic identity produced a positive correlation with academic motivation in students between ethnic groups; a stronger effect was shown in ethnic majority students. Implications: Implementation of growth mindset interventions, frequent parent communication, heritage language classes and teachers of same ethnic origin in educational institutions are recommended. Conclusion: Ethnic identity, ethnic/ideal self-discrepancies and perceived parental expectations are notable psychosocial factors to consider in the academic outcomes of all students and especially those of ethnic minority descent. All rights reserved.

Background: Schools around the world are increasingly diverse in ethnicity. Given the importance of peer acceptance in children’s well-being and development, it is a pressing concern for educators to promote intergroup acceptance in schools. Aims: First, to examine the developmental trends of acceptance of outgroup members in both the ethnic minority and majority students. Second, to investigate how outgroup acceptance is subject to the interplay between perceived norm of prejudice, a risk factor in the macrosystem, and teacher support, a protective factor in the microsystem. Sample: The participants were 3,723 students (ethnic majority: 61%; boys: 51.9%; mean age: 13.7) at Grade 2, 5, 8, and 11 from 24 schools in Hong Kong. Methods: The students were asked to complete a battery of questionnaires regarding their willingness to accept outgroup members in schools, perceived societal norm of prejudice against ethnic minority group, and teacher support they received in schools. Results: It was found that ethnic minority students accepted outgroup members more than ethnic majority students accepted them. The difference was primarily driven by the low outgroup acceptance of ethnic majority students in Grades 2 and 5. The results of multi-level analysis revealed that outgroup acceptance was associated negatively with perceived norm of prejudice but positively with teacher support. The negative association between outgroup acceptance and perceived norm of prejudice was attenuated in schools with supportive culture. Conclusions: The results point to the need of early intervention and the importance of cultivating school culture with strong social emotional support. Copyright © 2020 The British Psychological Society.

This study examined the relations between majority/minority group membership and cross-cultural acceptance, and their linkage to school adjustment. A total of 2,016 students (ethnic minority [EM]: 51%; boys: 50%) at Grades 2, 5, 8, and 11 from 15 schools in Hong Kong participated in the study. These schools were either of low (below 30%) or high EM concentrations (over 70%). EM students at low-EM-concentration schools and Chinese students at high-EM-concentration schools both belonged to the minority groups in their respective schools. Moderated mediation analyses showed that being the numerical minority in school predicted higher school engagement and more positive affect. The associations between numerical group membership and adjustment outcomes were each mediated by the intention to accept outgroup members. In other words, higher cross-cultural acceptance was found among students who were themselves the minority in school, and stronger outgroup acceptance, in turn, predicted better adjustment. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s).

This article examines nine secondary school teachers’ narratives and perspectives about the determinants of their ethnic minority students’ sense of belonging in Hong Kong. The thematic analysis of their in-depth interviews reveals three sets of determinants of belonging, including demographic, personal, and intercultural factors. The study findings underscore the importance of students’ socialisation contexts and the critical role of the Chinese language curriculum and the social reception towards non-European immigrants in Hong Kong. The paper discusses the potential avenues of educational policy and practice interventions for developing a stronger sense of belonging among young people with immigrant and ethnic minority backgrounds in the multicultural societies of settlement. Copyright © 2022 Informa UK Limited.