Online teaching was adopted in Hong Kong and many other places worldwide due to lockdown policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research explores the effectiveness of kindergarten students' online learning as measured by parents' reports of their child's satisfaction with learning, engagement in learning, effective teaching strategies, and an environment conducive to online learning. Parents of 392 students from 40 randomly selected kindergartens in Hong Kong completed questionnaires in March 2022, a few months after the end of online teaching. A questionnaire was designed for this study, with reliability and validity supported by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test hypotheses. The findings show that effective teaching strategies and an environment conducive to online learning positively affected student learning. It can cast light on the issue of whether online teaching is suitable for kindergarten students, the appropriate teaching strategies, and the kind of learning environment needed to enhance online learning processes and outcomes. Copyright ©2024 Gate Association for Teaching and Education.

香港特區政府近十年積極推動職業專才教育（下稱「職專教育」），以滿足未來社會的人力資源需求。大專院校在港開辦職前幼稚園教師課程已近四十年，持續影響本地幼兒教育與服務的發展。為了探討課程在職專教育下的發展前路，本文透過文獻研究分析，先回顧其歷史發展，然後根據特區政府的「推廣職業專才教育專責小組」檢討報告為基礎，從「資歷級別」、「進階路徑」及「職場學習」三方面審視課程的現況與前路，以給予業界與學界啟示。 Copyright © 2024 教育研究獎勵計劃工作小組秘書處.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) rhetoric and initiatives are gaining attention in Asian higher education. Yet, these are still underexplored in terms of their potential to bring about cohesive campus climates. As higher education institutions admit students from diverse backgrounds, there is room for examining how DEI might be leveraged to support growing student learning needs, particularly in contexts where cultural diversity is not the norm. Using Hong Kong as an example, this paper probes the genesis of DEI initiatives and sources of deficit thinking in higher education with reference to the experiences of ethnic minority (EM) students. It proposes a conceptualization of resilience theory from a social justice lens to counter deficit thinking and racism, which helps locate DEI initiatives in building culturally inclusive environments. Copyright © 2024 Florida Gulf Coast University.

As the caregivers and educators of young children, kindergarten teachers often have to make spontaneous decisions and deal with challenging situations on a daily basis. The well-being of kindergarten teachers is of interest to parents, teacher trainers, and policymakers, as whether kindergarten teachers do well physically, psychologically, and occupationally has important implications for young children—the future pillars of society. Therefore, it is important to examine factors that may contribute to our understanding of the well-being of kindergarten teachers. This cross-sectional study examined whether mindfulness was linked to Chinese kindergarten teachers’ physical, psychological, and occupational well-being and tested self-compassion as a mediator. Online questionnaire data were collected from 336 kindergarten teachers working in Hong Kong, China (mean age = 31.6 years; 86% of them were women). Kindergarten teachers rated their physical well-being (indicated by physical health and voice disorder symptoms), psychological well-being (indicated by life satisfaction and depressive symptoms), and occupational well-being (indicated by job satisfaction and turnover intentions) as well as their mindfulness and self-compassion. Structural equational modeling revealed that mindfulness was associated with all three aspects of well-being and self-compassion mediated such associations. Theoretically, findings highlighted the multidimensional nature of kindergarten teachers’ well-being and the roles of intrapersonal factors—such as mindfulness and self-compassion—in understanding it. Practically, findings pointed to the potential utility of supporting kindergarten teachers’ well-being by targeting their mindfulness and self-compassion. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

Early childhood educators' (ECEs) well-being is important for many outcomes. Drawing on the job demands-resources model, many variable-centered studies have found that job demands, job resources, and personal resources are linked to ECEs' well-being. Yet, little is known about the heterogeneity of these demands and resources and their implications for well-being, especially considering school-level effects and the adoption of a holistic view of well-being. This study used multilevel latent profile analysis to examine these issues. Participants included 1198 Chinese ECEs from 50 kindergartens who reported their job demands (i.e., quantitative, cognitive, and emotional demands), job resources (i.e., influence at work, quality of leadership, support from supervisors and colleagues, and sense of community at work), and personal resources (i.e., self-control and resilience). At the teacher-level, four profiles emerged: (a) at risk, (b) undemanded, (c) safeguarded, and (d) vulnerable learners. ECEs with lower salaries, higher educational levels, and larger class sizes were more likely assigned to the at-risk profile. Teachers in the at-risk and the safeguarded profiles reported the worst and the best well-being, respectively. Demands (in particular quantitative and emotional demands) appeared more critical than resources in distinguishing well-being. At the school-level, two profiles emerged: (a) high demand climate and (b) mixed climate. Kindergartens in Hong Kong were more likely assigned to the high demand climate profile and kindergartens with a high demand climate showed poorer school average well-being. This study reveals the complex configuration of job demands, job resources, and personal resources in ECEs and its implications for well-being at both teacher- and school-levels. The findings also inform strategies to enhance ECEs' well-being. Copyright © 2024 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those

External quality assurance (EQA) has expanded from the traditional academic sector to the vocational and professional education and training (VPET) sector in Hong Kong since the launch of the Hong Kong Qualifications Framework (HKQF) in 2008. Since then, awareness of VPET by the whole community and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has been rising. Beginning with the Chief Executive’s Policy Address 2011-2012, VPET (rebranded from vocational education and training (VET) in 2016) has continuously been a standard item on the Government’s policy agenda. While the Government has made efforts to promote VPET with the establishment of two task forces which made a series of recommendations to further improve the image of VPET, VPET is still considered by the major stakeholders, including learners and teachers, as an inferior choice for pursuing further study. Although EQA has been playing a crucial role in ensuring the quality of VPET providers and programmes, it is interesting to the researcher that none of the recommendations made by the two task forces are related to the EQA mechanism for VPET being implemented by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ) through accreditation. Even though the accreditation system has gone through a review during 2015 to 2018, the engagement of stakeholders seemed to be limited in the sense that two major stakeholder groups, namely learners and teachers, were not identified for collection of their views by the HKCAAVQ. With the continuous development of the VPET sector reflected in the rising number of corporate academies established by different industries, such as the railway and aviation industries, seeking HKQF recognition through accreditation conducted by the HKCAAVQ, EQA for VPET in Hong Kong, covering accreditation principles, standards and approaches, deserves a systematic study of whether the major stakeholders in the community consider it effective. This study