Against the backdrop of declining motivation and growing social and emotional challenges in English learning experienced by Hong Kong primary school students, the study aimed to profile an interactive pattern between relevant motivational beliefs (i.e., self-efficacy, interest, and growth mindset), social and emotional learning (SEL) skills and English learning achievements. Data was collected from 913 4th graders with questionnaires and an English test. Results indicated a medium-high level of motivation among the participants, and a high level of self-awareness and social awareness skills but a medium level of self-management and social management skills in terms of SEL. More importantly, structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses confirmed the intricate interplay where the motivational beliefs predicted English learning achievements through the mediation of self-awareness and self-management skills. Our findings also underscore the relatively higher importance of interest and growth mindset than self-efficacy in English learning for young children. Pedagogical implications are discussed. Copyright ©2024 Taylor & Francis.

Life and Values Education (LVE) should be student-centered, life-oriented and culture-based towards the holistic development of the young generation, especially for primary students who are at the most crucial and foundational stage for their psychosocial, cognitive and moral developmental stage of values formation and independent behaviors. To facilitate the delivery of LVE as a life-transforming journey in love, it is essential to connect students’ prior knowledge to attain new insights for reinforcement and consolidation of positive values in life. This preliminary study is endeavored to explore their perceptions of life so as to broaden the knowledge base for designing and implementing LVE activities for the primary students in the local context.The design of this study has undertaken a mixed methods approach in convergent parallel design for data collection and analysis. ‘Draw and Narrate Approach’ and ‘Semi-structured Questionnaire’ have been respectively adopted in the qualitative and quantitative parts of this study as the major research tools.This study has contributed to fill up the research gap by collecting the firsthand information for generating preliminary insights to explore the perceived perceptions and values of life with aspirations from the local primary students for enhancing LVE. This is an exploratory study rather than a correlational study. The research findings collected from a total number of 606 participating students have demonstrated that their perceptions of life are multi-dimensional to address different areas of human needs while their proposed ways in cherishing life are oriented towards various types of relationships.By the sociocultural review of the major findings, this study also sheds light on understanding how sociocultural factors have profoundly affected the perceptions and anticipations of our local primary students. They have developed the awareness of ecological senses even though they live in a highly urbanized city. Students

In Hong Kong, the Education Bureau stipulates in the curriculum document that schools should enrich English language learning and teaching through incorporating moral and civic education, and use of information technology for interactive learning. To prepare preservice teachers to meet these pressing demands, an experiential learning project was conducted to engage student teachers outside the formal curriculum to produce a series of digital stories that stress values education for primary school children. A total of 11 bachelor of education students and MATESOL students joined the project, in which they collaboratively developed 12 digital stories using online tools, such as Book Creator and Canva. Interactive learning activities were designed to accompany the digital stories to facilitate school learners to develop positive values and good character, including respect, responsibility, confidence building, problem solving, sportsmanship, friendship, caring, helpfulness, compassion, civic sense and service to others. Various evaluation methods were used to gauge the usefulness of the experiential learning project. These encompass school trials, post-lesson evaluation, student teachers’ self-reflections and interviews. The findings indicate that the experiential learning process not only enabled the participating student teachers to enrich their pedagogical knowledge and skills but also provided opportunities to enhance various generic skills, such as creativity and critical thinking. Evidence shows that experiential learning plays a valuable role in equipping student teachers with the necessary skills for the challenges in their future teaching careers. Copyright © 2023 ECLL.

A Community of Practice (CoP) was established in 2020 to promote positive life values and well-being among university students in the Education University of Hong Kong. The CoP team has adopted the Heaven, People, Environment, and Self perspectives to conduct life education and positive education and help students learn about transcendental, communal, environmental, and personal well-being. In this symposium, the CoP team members will share the results of a cross-sectional survey study about the levels and predictors of university students’ meaning in life and positive mental health. The CoP team members will also introduce a newly developed online learning platform, the E-hub for Life Education and Positive Education, which shares learning resources and teaching materials related to life education and positive education. Moreover, the CoP team members will introduce a collaborative digital storytelling project related to positive education, in which students are trained to create and reflect on a series of digital stories that highlight different contributing factors of a positive life, including personal character strengths and positive values (e.g., determination, courage, and bravery), family love and support, and friendship and collaboration. The CoP team members will discuss how these non-formal learning activities help students enhance personal, family and social well-being, and develop reflective skills and values-laden perspectives in their personal and professional lives. Copyright © 2021 ICLT.

The transition to primary school is stressful for children in Hong Kong, with students showing high rates of anxiety and depressive symptoms. To further understand this transition, the current study: 1) examined the utility of Pekrun's (2006) theory of achievement emotions for young children with limited control conceptions; 2) tested the theory in high and low competence subject areas; and 3) tested a mediational model predicting changes in children's achievement emotions over time from control/value appraisals and academic coping strategies. 242 children (age 5 to 6) from 11 schools in Hong Kong participated. At each of two time points (the third and last months of the school year), children were interviewed individually about their control/value appraisals, academic achievement emotions, and academic coping strategies. Control and value appraisals were positively associated with academic enjoyment and negatively associated with boredom and anxiety. The control by value interaction for academic anxiety was in the expected direction and marginally significant (p =.06). Results were stronger for the low competence areas, and the mediational model was significant for girls only. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Humility as a virtue has been receiving increasing scholarly attention in the fields of philosophy and psychology (particularly positive psychology). While humility is regarded as important for knowledge production, acquisition, and transmission, philosophical and psychological inquiries indicate that the concept of humility can significantly differ across social arenas and cultural traditions. However, despite its clear educational importance, humility as a moral concept is seldom explored empirically in relation to teaching and learning. This study seeks to extend our cross-cultural understanding of humility and its association with teaching and learning practices in schools. Based on semi-structured interviews with teachers in local and international secondary schools in Hong Kong, we comparatively explore how teachers understand the concept of humility and how their understandings shape their teaching practices in classrooms. This comparative approach can provide a deeper understanding of the differences and similarities between different teachers’ understandings of humility as an important moral concept. Furthermore, this study will shed light on how educators’ moral concepts are associated with their pedagogical practices. This will provide an alternative lens to reflect on and improve teaching and learning practices, and teacher-student relations in schools. Copyright © 2021 The Education University of Hong Kong.

Around the world the prevalence of mathematics anxiety and disengagement point to a poor sense of student 'mathematical wellbeing'. Mathematical wellbeing is defined here as the fulfilment of one's ultimate or core values, accompanied by positive feelings and functioning in mathematics education. Yet student wellbeing and how to support it in specific school subjects including mathematics is vastly under-researched. Also, despite outperforming other countries in international mathematics assessments, East Asian students generally appear to experience poor affect and high academic burden in mathematics education, which are indicative of poor mathematical wellbeing. In this context, this explorative and descriptive study investigates the values that are associated with the mathematical wellbeing of a cohort of Chinese primary school students. 258 Grade three students in Chengdu, China responded to a questionnaire which explored teacher-nominated mathematics learning moments that students valued most for their mathematical wellbeing. Findings pointed to students valuing all the learning moments to some extent, with good grades, fun and interest, mathematics-themed videos, and teacher praise rated most commonly for wellbeing. The values underlying these learning moments are similar to the seven mathematical wellbeing dimensions found in Australian classrooms. The findings also highlight the cultural subjectivities involved, in which the same classroom actions can reflect different underlying values across cultures, and in which a particular value can be espoused in different ways in different places. We also look ahead to suggest how teachers might support students' mathematical wellbeing, by recognising and then fulfilling their students' values in the mathematics classroom. Copyright © 2022 Springer.

In Hong Kong, which transitioned from a colonial to post-colonial One Country-Two Systems structure, sustainability implementation rests on two institutional pillars: education, which drives the city’s knowledge-based economy, and family system. In light of the recent policy demands to strengthen higher education and family systems by capitalizing on the unique advantages of the post-colonial era, the purpose of this study was to: (1) describe and analyze sustainability values of the first-year university students; and (2) investigate roles of family and educational systems in the process of their formation. The mix-method study stressed the importance of discerning and analyzing sustainability value formation in order to create in-depth understanding of the curricular adjustments that align the sustainability mindset of Hong Kong students in the context of the One Country-Two Systems under the pressing demands of global economy. The study relied on the use of two systems theoretical frameworks employed within sustainability education (Sterling, 2003) and family (Bowen, 1957/1974) fields. Data sources included questionnaires of 4985 Hong Kong first-year university students; and 31 semi-structured interviews of Liberal Studies teachers. The quantitative findings showed that 85% of the students believed that their family influenced their environmental values; reported a significant negative coefficient (-0.044) between the two student cohorts in relation to family influence; and showed that family influence on students’ sustainability values differed by gender. The qualitative results revealed the overarching themes of Family Income, Role Modeling, and Shared Responsibility as three major descriptors of family influences on sustainability values of Hong Kong students. Copyright © 2022 Springer.