Global competence has gained momentum in international policy and scholarly discourses. As a multidimensional construct, its conceptualisation has been ambiguous. So far, the OECD Global Competence Framework has been the most updated and comprehensive framework for understanding global competence. However, all current conceptualisations, including that of the OECD, have been developed in the Western context, and their applicability in non-Western contexts is questioned. In this paper, we conduct a prototype study to examine how local university students in Hong Kong understand global competence and to explore how their conceptualisations shed light on cross-cultural similarities and differences in their understanding of global competence. Based on three sub-studies (n = 276), this prototype study showed that certain features appear more frequently, are more central to global competence and are seen as more salient in people viewed globally as more competent by the participants. It provides lay (university students) cross-cultural conceptions of global competence beyond definitions and frameworks provided by scholars and international organisations. Local Hong Kong university students' conceptions of global competence not only display an assemblage of multiple dimensions resonating with the international literature but also extend it to other dimensions and features shaped by local social and cultural dynamics. Copyright © 2025 The Author(s).

Introduction: College transition is often regarded as the most stressful phase of life by college students. Hence, it is necessary to find ways to help them adjust more smoothly to this transition. Hope, as conceptualized by C. R. Snyder, has been widely studied as a predictor of optimal functioning and has been shown to be associated with better adjustment among college students. This study aimed to shed light on the role of hope in college transition by examining its unique reciprocal relationships with an array of important psychosocial resources and emotional well‐being among first‐year college students. Methods: Data were collected from a sample of Hong Kong college freshmen ( N  = 433, Median age  = 18 years old, 63.7% female) at two time points. At each time point, participants completed self‐reported measures tapping into their levels of hope, psychosocial resources, and emotional well‐being. Psychological resources included general and academic self‐efficacy, meaning in life, and optimism. Social resources included secure attachment, perceived school environment, and social support. Emotional well‐being was operationalized as positive and negative emotions. Cross‐lagged panel models were constructed and tested by path analyses. Results: When autoregression and the effects of other variables were controlled, a greater sense of hope uniquely predicted higher levels of general and academic self‐efficacy, greater presence of life meanings, more secure attachment, and more positive and fewer negative emotions. On the other hand, higher levels of meaning in life (both presence and search) and social support uniquely predicted greater hope. Academic hope and presence of life meanings reciprocally predicted one another, whereas other significant cross‐lagged relationships were unidirectional. Conclusions: The findings suggest interventions that promote hope can be useful in helping college freshmen adjust to the new college environment by enhancing their psychosocial

The expansion of English medium instruction (EMI) in higher education has generated significant scholarly interest, resulting in an increasing body of research across different contexts. This bibliometric study examines 1522 publications in the Scopus database to explore the intellectual, conceptual, and social structure of the EMI literature in higher education. Findings revealed substantial growth in publications and citations between 1974 and 2024, showing a notable increase in productivity after 2018. Most cited authors focus on EMI within their affiliated country, but some affiliated with British universities have made global contributions. The field exhibits global coverage, albeit with strong dominance by China, Spain, the UK, Australia, and Hong Kong, as well as limited representation from African nations, barring South Africa. EMI networks are primarily driven by authors’ current and past institutional affiliations as well as geographical proximity, with the UK, Spain, and China emerging as leaders in these networks. The most productive journals focus on multilingualism, bilingualism, language policy, teaching, and learning while also encompassing higher education and multidisciplinary areas. Key topics signal a shift towards translanguaging and classroom interaction. Under-researched areas include (post)colonialism and EMI implementation. These findings provide a comprehensive insight into the evolving landscape of EMI research and potential future directions. Copyright ©2024 MDPI.

This study aimed to explore ESL teachers’ perceptions of online teaching during the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong. A qualitative multiple-case study approach was employed, focusing on the online teaching experiences of three teachers in primary school contexts. Through semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, rich data were collected and analysed. The findings revealed five prominent challenges faced by the teachers, including inadequate infrastructure, limited technical support and training, classroom management issues, teachers’ limited technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) in ELT, students’ unreadiness and lack of parental support. The study also identified three opportunities arising from online teaching, such as changes in teachers’ attitudes and beliefs in technology, opportunities for teacher learning and experimenting with online teaching practice for pedagogical innovations. Despite the significant challenges encountered, the teachers perceived the online teaching experiences as opportunities to enhance their teaching competence with technology. This study has substantial implications, calling for strategic governmental measures to improve online learning in schools, highlighting the need to integrate technology-focused pedagogies into teacher education, revising outdated school curriculums to enhance students’ digital literacy, providing financial support for disadvantaged students, encouraging parental involvement in online learning and fostering collaborative professional learning communities to enhance English teachers’ TPACK. Copyright ©2024 Taylor & Francis.

This study reports on a collaborative research project initiated in 2022 by the authors based in Hong Kong and the Philippines. The overarching goal is to review and assess the impact that the prolonged use of technology for teaching has had on K-12 teachers. Through a narrative inquiry, the study seeks to encapsulate teachers' online teaching experiences: its efficacy, challenges, impacts on teaching, and other relevant issues. These narratives are compared against the backdrop of access to technology in Hong Kong and in the Philippines, as there are immense differences in IT infrastructure. It was found that technological advancement and preparedness did not guarantee smooth delivery of online teaching. In contrast, teachers' own personal circumstances, workload, stress, and mental wellbeing tend to have a much greater impact on themselves and their work. Copyright ©2024 IGI Global.

Since the 1990s, Hong Kong has been promoting globally-endorsed, Western-derived early childhood ideologies and approaches, such as the Project Approach (*Chen et al., 2017). This orientation appears to be influenced by policies and practices linked to global neoliberalism and neocolonialism. To shed light on the state of knowledge concerning the implementability of the imported "foreign" practices by Hong Kong kindergarten teachers (teaching children ages 3-6), I conducted a research synthesis analyzing the 10 empirical articles that met the inclusion criteria. The analysis was guided by the two existing theoretical frameworks: (1) "Tian Shi" (timing/temporal), "Di Li" (context/spatial), "Ren He" (human capital) (Chen and Li, 2023) and (2) the "foreground-middle ground-background" (Chen, 2022) as well as the newly proposed "globalization-localization interaction dynamics model." A content analysis revealed three salient findings. First, due to the lack of "Tian Shi," "Di Li," "Ren He," Hong Kong kindergarten teachers' implementation of the imported early childhood approaches with fidelity has been largely unsuccessful. Second, the evidence corroborates the "foreground-middle ground-background" theory, suggesting that a hybrid approach (combining both the local and global practices) represents the "best" implementable one. Third, the manner in which the teachers implemented the imported practices seemingly reflects a "glocalization-dominant" pattern. This pattern constitutes one of the four quadrants within my proposed "globalization-localization interaction dynamics model." The four quadrants represent the specific degree of interactive dominance: (1) "grobalization-dominant" (high in globalization and low in localization); (2) "glocalization-dominant" (high in both localization and globalization); (3) "non-committal" (low in both globalization and localization); and (4) "localization-dominant" (low in globalization and high in localization). Copyright ©2024 SAGE Publications

During the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous schools halted face-to-face teaching and instead resorted to online classes. The impact of online learning on students’ academic worries, social relationships, and psychological well-being has received growing attention. Based on a sample of 1095 students aged 14–16 in 12 secondary schools in Hong Kong, structural equation modeling was used to investigate the association between online learning problems, academic worries and performance, social interaction, and psychosocial well-being during the pandemic. The path relationships among variables were compared by gender groups and socio-economic status (SES). Online learning problems were found to be negatively associated with psychosocial well-being through academic worries and social interaction as mediators. The effect of mediation among female students was larger than that of males, whereas the impact of academic worries on both psychosocial well-being and social interaction was stronger and significant only in the low SES group. As the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the learning and well-being of students, attention should be given to gender and SES difference among students. Copyright ©2024 Springer Netherlands.

Continuing education (CE) plays a crucial role in workforce development and economic growth across Asia, yet the landscape of CE research in the region has not been comprehensively mapped. A comprehensive bibliometric analysis of continuing education (CE) research in Asia from 1972 to 2023 was carried out, utilizing data from the Scopus database to map the evolving landscape of CE research in the region. Findings revealed a significant surge in research output since the late 1990s, with East Asian countries, particularly China, Hong Kong (China), and Taiwan (ROC), emerging as leaders in the field. The analysis uncovers several key patterns: institutional collaborations tend to cluster regionally, there's a noticeable generational gap in researcher’s networks, and the healthcare sector dominates CE research topics. Recent trends indicate a shift towards digital learning approaches and learner-centered methodologies. The study also highlights the need for increased cross-border collaborations and expansion of CE research beyond the healthcare sector. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of CE research trends in Asia and provides insights for future directions in the field. Copyright ©2024 Scientific Methodical Center.

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the adoption of distance learning as a new alternative educational approach globally, a shift that has persisted even to the post-pandemic period. Despite identifying online educational advantages in previous studies, the abrupt societal changes brought about by the pandemic have exposed disproportionate difficulties. This study aims to understand how attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) children and their parents are influenced by this educational pattern, and to outline a framework to improve their home-based learning environment from a design perspective. Following the Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle (KELC), the research commenced with the analysis of ADHD children and online-schooling in Hong Kong. After problems are identified initially, the observational study of 32 school students with or without ADHD in a home-learning environment is conducted to interpret these problems. This process has identified the key issues of domestic distraction and the need for resource support. The study also provides a multi-functional table design as an initial direction for developing supportive frameworks. Then, another study is conducted with a total of 30 school students with or without ADHD and their stakeholders to assess the effectiveness of the design concept. Therefore, the study's findings provide a valuable insight for proposing the framework to improve the home learning experience via the working area for ADHD children. These research findings not only contribute to academic discourse for validating ADHD children challenges in distance education, but also facilitate ADHD parents, educators and designers to enhance the home learning environment by offering a structured design framework. Copyright ©2024 Scientia Socialis Ltd.