This paper employs the notion of a “career script” as a conceptual basis to examine how age-based academic career norms are internalized, strategized, and reproduced among PhD students aspiring to become academics. It draws on interviews with 70 PhD students at leading universities in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau that were organized and explored using narrative inquiry. The findings suggest that the tournament-like, age-based career scripts are primarily shaped by institutional policies on recruitment and funding applications and reinforced through social interactions. Doctoral students internalize the established criteria for success defined by the career scripts and stigmatize those who lag behind in the attainment of institutionally predetermined milestones, thus discouraging any attempt to rescript career norms. While enacting successful career scripts, students experience age and temporal anxiety at a fairly young age, exacerbating ageism in the academic labor market. Copyright ©2024 Springer.

This study examined the motivations, perceived benefits, and challenges of engaging in intergenerational programs from the perspectives of older adults and university students. A narrative interview approach was employed, involving a sample of 38 older adults and 20 university students who participated in intergenerational programs in Hong Kong. The motivation to reinforce intergenerational contact, strengthen social cohesion, and previous productive experiences were driving forces behind individuals' participation in intergenerational programs. Moreover, participating in intergenerational programs enhanced mutual understanding between generations, and expanded knowledge and social circles of participants. However, participants found it was challenging to cope with intergenerational conflicts, role conflict and ambiguity, inactive engagement, and difficulty in establishing meaningful connections between generations. It is suggested that program designers and organizers should establish collaboration between various institutions, provide appropriate training sessions, and incorporate meaningful and purposeful components in program design to improve the quality of intergenerational programs. CONTRIBUTION TO THE FIELD: Motivations of participation included strengthening intergenerational contact and social cohesion, and previous positive experiences. Intergenerational programs enhanced mutual understanding, mental well-being, knowledge sharing, and social circles. Enhancing program preparations and design, facilitating skills, and quality interactions are important for intergenerational programs. Copyright ©2025 Taylor & Francis Ltd.

Drawing upon the mutually constitutive notions of possible selves and agency, this study illuminates how maintaining a future orientation in doctoral education acts to supply candidates with a pivotal sense of direction and drive their experimentation with disparate pathways to realise their academic career aspirations. In-depth analysis of two longitudinal cases reveals that participants' trajectorial differences were closely linked to their exercise of agency towards different ends and to different extents under the biographical, institutional, local/national, and global conditions and contingencies they engaged with. However, neither was immune to the risk of suffering an unpredictable employment outcome following candidature. While this plight has much to do with the fierce competition inherent to the neoliberal academic job market, findings also underlined its association with the prominent absence of supervisory and programme support along their doctorate. The study concludes with proffering practical implications beneficial to nurturing and supporting candidates' (diverse) career-possible selves. Copyright ©2025 Routledge.

Differentiated instruction (DI), an educational philosophy that aims to cater for learner diversity, has been advocated by scholars and teachers over the past two decades. Nevertheless, little is known about how teachers practise DI in online teaching, particularly in the context of English language teaching during the outbreak of the COVID‐19 pandemic. To fill this gap, this single participant case study aimed to delineate concrete ways of implementing DI during an online English writing lesson for English as a second language (ESL) learners in a Hong Kong primary school. To provide a thick description, multiple sources of data were extracted from a rich data pool of a two‐year longitudinal teacher professional development project which included lesson recordings, post‐lesson debriefing meeting recordings, and student work. The findings suggested that the case teacher employed various DI strategies (i.e., providing chances for all student participation, using multisensory pedagogical designs, using information technology) to cater for learner diversity during online English teaching. It is argued that despite the potential challenges, it could be feasible and manageable to employ some DI strategies to address learner diversity during online English teaching. This study contributes to DI theory and practice by deepening our understanding of implementing DI in the context of online English teaching and providing a valuable reference for educational practitioners. It also advances our knowledge of how technology could be leveraged to support DI implementation. Copyright ©2024 Wiley.

This article reports findings from a mixed-method study investigating parents’ perspectives and experiences in navigating their children’s online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study involved surveys of parents (n = 775) and interviews (n = 32) conducted in eight primary schools in Hong Kong. Statistical analyses revealed that parents’ perceptions of online learning (PPOL) were positively affected by their self-efficacy in providing online learning support, their expectations for parent-teacher communication, and their satisfaction with schools’ support. Conversely, increased levels of parental engagement and stress, and the need for regular school updates negatively affected PPOL. Qualitative findings showed that parents’ perspectives were influenced by experiences tied to their normative role expectations and their perceptions of teachers and schools, which subsequently shaped their emotional responses to online learning. These findings offer nuanced insights for developing policies and practices aimed at better supporting parents’ engagement in the digital era. Copyright © 2024 the author(s).

This article reports a case study of an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher in Hong Kong who conducted lessons via Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study focused on the factors influencing her technology integration in synchronous online teaching mode. Using data from classroom recordings, stimulated-recall and semi-structured interviews, this study uncovered how Zoom functioned as a substitute for face-to-face lessons. The findings revealed that although there were fewer interactions between the teacher and her students, teaching in synchronous online mode provided the teacher with opportunities to utilize certain online features to augment methods of checking student understanding. The study identified the teacher’s pedagogical beliefs, the context and professional development as factors that influenced the level of technology integration in her Zoom classes. The study concludes that embracing process-oriented pedagogies may be necessary for a higher level of technology integration among ESL teachers who have adequate professional development opportunities and school support. © The Author(s) 2021.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the perceptions of elderly learners in experiencing Zoom learning under the effects of COVID in the case of Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach An online survey and focus group interviews have been conducted with quantitative and qualitative approaches, respectively. The survey design was based on the input-process-output (IPO) model conceptual framework and used to assess students’ perceptions regarding their Zoom learning experiences at the Elder Academy of Hong Kong Metropolitan University. Thereafter, selected students were invited to participate in focus group interviews to offer more in-depth comments for analysis purposes. Statistical Product and Service Solutions software and SmartPLS were used for data analysis of the survey, and content analysis was used to summarize opinions from the focus group interviews; thus, a comprehensive picture of elderly learners’ learning experiences on Zoom is presented. Findings An overall positive perception was the result of elderly learners’ Zoom learning journeys, particularly in the “input” and “process” stages of the IPO model. Yet, their perception of the “learning outcomes achieved” level in the “output” stage was lower among the rest, thus strongly affected by the factors of “interactions” and “teaching” experienced by elderly learners on Zoom. Although the perception of the youngest age group was more positive, none have agreed that Zoom learning was more favourable when compared with the traditional face-to-face mode. Originality/value Given Zoom as the short-term replacement option under the COVID pandemic, this study will provide recommendations for educators/institutions to improve their design of the whole learning process for elderly learners on the Zoom platform. © 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited.