School choice with education vouchers: an empirical case study from Hong Kong

This paper seeks to question what impact education vouchers have on the process of school choice. The context examined in the paper is the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme (‘Voucher Scheme’) introduced in 2007 in Hong Kong. Using a Straussian grounded theory method, data collected from 40 parent interviews are coded, analysed and developed into categories. The paper analytically situates the findings within a model, derived from the data, which is based on two properties: orientation and time. Orientation differentiates and emphasises the significance of choice factors in relation to the school versus the family, and time is related to focus on the present versus the future. The paper subsequently presents the data related to these properties and reflects on the intricate dynamic of parents’ school choice decisions under the Voucher Scheme.     

Nationalistic education as the focus for civics and citizenship education : The case of Hong Kong

Civic education has been assigned the mission of preparing critical thinking, responsible, participating, multidimensional citizens and is also used to serve the function of instilling a sense of national identity, loyalty to the nation state and patriotism In 1996, before the return of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China, the Hong Kong Education Department published theGuidelines in Civic Education for School (1996), which includes education for democracy, human rights education, global education and nationalistic education This survey adopted an amalgamate framework of five types of nationalistic education to study the understanding of nationalistic education of civic educators in secondary schools in Hong Kong The initial findings showed that the civic educators were basically strongly eclectic in terms of education for cosmopolitan, civic, and cultural nationalism and moderately eclectic in terms of anti colonial nationalism but rejected education for totalitarian nationalism This eclectic understanding can be said to be heading towards a more liberal, rational, open and inclusive type of nationalistic education, which is compatible with a cosmopolitan and pluralistic society such as Hong Kong     

Discipline and rules in four Hong Kong kindergarten classrooms: a qualitative case study

Classroom discipline is a topic of international interest and teachers are bombarded with advice regarding how to and why they should manage children’s behaviour in their classrooms. This paper draws on data related to classroom discipline gathered from a detailed classroom observation schedule, teacher interviews, and field notes with four purposively selected kindergarten teachers working in Hong Kong with children aged 5–6 years. The findings of this qualitative case study show that the teachers were concerned about disciplining children to ensure good behaviour. They expected all children to follow the rules and used characteristic discipline strategies such as stating expectations and ‘praising the opposite’ to maintain good behaviour. The paper discusses these findings in light of the Westernisation of kindergarten teaching practices in Hong Kong.     

Meeting the challenge of human rights education: the case of Hong Kong

Since 1 July l997 Hong Kong has become a Special Administrative Region under the Peoples Republic of China. There is a difference in the interpretation of human rights between East and West. Even before the change of sovereignty human rights education was not an important element in the Hong Kong school curricula. The hidden curriculum is not supportive of human rights education either. During the United Nation Decade for Human Rights Education (1995–2005), Hong Kong people are torn between the dichotomy of liberalism-communitarianism over human rights. This paper examines the attitude about human rights of the Hong Kong Chinese people and the issues of human rights in Hong Kong schools, thereby throwing light on the prospect of human rights education in its relationship to education reform taking place in Hong Kong. The conclusion is that Hong Kongs education reform proposals already embody the spirit of human rights and they have laid the foundation for the development of human rights education.     

Changing curriculum policy into practice: the case of physical education in Hong Kong

This article examines the differences between the formally stated aims of education and the implementation of the school curriculum in order to show the divergence between what is initiated and what emerges as school practice. This implementation problem is examined from the policy-makers' and teachers' perspectives, with specific reference to physical education as a school subject in Hong Kong. First, it examines the existence and intention of educational policy towards curriculum as established by policy-makers. Second, the implementation process is evaluated from the teachers' perspective by employing a framework adopted by Cuban (1998) that utilized effectiveness, popularity, fidelity, adaptability and longevity. The data are derived from a case-study of a physical education programme that included document analysis, and interviews with teachers, parents and students. The case-study provided a subjective perspective of teachers and their work, while the framework assisted in demonstrating the absence of cohesion between the various government agencies. The resulting fragmentation of ideas leading to confusion and frustration for teachers also indicates that longevity and adaptability are likely to be the most constructive criteria for the assessment of curriculum change.     

The relevance of media education in primary schools in Hong Kong in the age of new media: a case study

In this age of new media, children are exposed to media messages at an early age. What can we do when the mass media exert such a great influence on children? One proposal has been for the introduction of a new school subject: media education. Though media education has not been part of the official curriculum in Hong Kong, some schools, both primary and secondary, have tried it out. This paper argues for the desirability of introducing media education in primary schools in Hong Kong, with regard to social change, recent education reform and learning initiatives of primary pupils. It then draws on the findings of a study conducted in a local primary school to examine the views of pupils, parents, and teachers on the effects on pupils of the implementation of media education lessons and campus radio projects in this age of new media.     

Curriculum Leadership and Management in Secondary Schools: A Hong Kong case study

Relatively little is known about how and by whom curriculum leadership and management occur inside secondary schools, especially in Asian contexts. This article aims to analyse curriculum decision-making in two academically effective secondary schools in Hong Kong. It employs qualitative methods to capture the contributions made by various school personnel, and in particular the principals, to curriculum leadership and management. Data for the two schools show that whilst neither of the principals plays a significant role in curriculum monitoring and innovation, the vice-principal (male), the senior teachers and teachers in one school were perceived to place more emphasis on curriculum monitoring and innovation than their counterparts in the other school. Whilst teachers in both schools shared high expectations for students' academic achievement, one subtle difference between them related to the pursuit of academic excellence. In one school, students did not exert much pressure on their teachers whereas in the other school, teachers felt they had to fulfil students' demands for good lesson preparation and take account of students' opinions of their teaching.     

Academic staff's perspectives upon student plagiarism: a case study at a university in Hong Kong

Much of the previous research concerning student plagiarism has been conducted in Anglo-American settings. The present paper reports a case study of academic staff's perspectives upon student plagiarism at a university in Hong Kong. Based on interviews with 16 instructors, the study focused on the teachers' views and pedagogical practices, including their use of Turnitin. The paper ends by noting certain areas that need to be addressed in tackling student plagiarism and by proposing a few lines of future research.     

Media education in Hong Kong schools: possibilities and challenges

In Hong Kong, media education is not a new initiative. With the recent education reform, curricular space will undergo significant changes. Instead of having fixed subject boundaries, key learning areas will be introduced. As such, media education will find much more space for negotiating a place in the reformed curriculum. This study aims to look at how media education is implemented in schools in Hong Kong and the content and pedagogy of the media education curriculum against the background of education reforms.     

National identity,patriotism and studying politics in schools: a case study in Hong Kong

After reunification with the People's Republic of China in 1997, Hong Kong was turned into a special administrative region. The new government has repeatedly emphasised the development of national identity and patriotism. One of the locations where these issues might be expected to appear is in the teaching of Government and Public Affairs (GPA), an optional subject offered to secondary students aged 15–18. The aim of this paper is to study the perceptions of GPA teachers in order to address two issues. First, how do GPA teachers who teach politics in schools construe ‘national identity’ and ‘patriotism’? Second, do the teachers believe studying politics through the subject GPA can enhance national identity and patriotism among the students? The findings show that the teachers understand national identity and patriotism critically. They insist politics should be taught in a rational way. At the same time, they think teaching politics in a rational way, with no appeal to the emotions as is the current practice, will enhance neither the students' sense of national identity nor their patriotism.     

Lessons to be learned? Parallels between Australia and Hong Kong in the development of distance education

Developments in the provision of distance education in Australia and Hong Kong are analysed in terms of eight phases, characterised by Government policies and institutional practices. Hong Kong appears to be progressing through the same developmental phases as Australia, but at later points in time. Both countries decided against forming a single national open university in favour of dispersed provision but neither followed recommendations to form a body to co‐ordinate course provision nationally. Both have experienced a period of uncontrolled and unco-ordinated expansion of distance education courses and Hong Kong is still in this phase, whereas Australia is now in the midst of belated attempts by its federal government to rationalise distance education at the national level along with higher education as a whole. We argue that much of the confusion surrounding these events could have been prevented by early planning and setting of clear policy guidelines, together with a recognition that implementation of higher education policy is by no means a straightforward matter. Hopefully there are lessons to be learned from this analysis: in the case of Hong Kong, that its current trend towards unco‐ordinated expansion may well lead to enforced contraction and rationalisation should economic growth trends be reversed, and, in the case of Australia, a clearer understanding of issues related to policy and implementation.     

Brief of Language education in Hong Kong

This paper discusses the current language education and issues in Hong Kong,The language apply maintain successfully the international and local identity needs in Hong Kong,both English and Cantonese are mainly in the different areas,meeting the different needs of various aspects of the mainstream language.Hong Kong was a multi-lingual region.English was the official language in more than one hundred years before Return;English enjoyed a dominant position in Hong Kong,where expression under the influence of English,Chinese and English code-switching is also very common.The Return of Hong Kong has a considerable influence to language phenomenon;greatly strengthen the importance of Mandarin.In this paper,from the Angle of social linguistics,this paper discusses the English position before and after Hong Kong's return to China,discussing economic,business,education,and other areas of the social development and changes of English status,and analyzes the Hong Kong residents for English,Cantonese and Mandarin language attitude.     

Gender,school management and educational reforms: a case study of a primary school in Hong Kong

Across the globe, many countries have incorporated new managerialism and marketization to reform their education systems. Feminist studies have already pointed out that these changes are gendered and masculinized and have documented their impacts on women teachers in secondary, higher and further education. Yet interestingly, while primary teaching is a feminized occupation, the ways that these changes and the associated practices are gendered and affected women teachers are relatively under‐researched . This article, based on a case school in Hong Kong, attempts to fill this gap. By teasing out the gendered assumptions embedded in management strategies, it will show how an entrepreneurial school has attempted to succeed in a competitive educational market by exploiting young women, discriminating motherhood and forging competition among women of different educational qualifications. While making visible the patriarchal interests and masculine norms of the school, the article also aims to illuminate the contradictions and tensions inherent in, or generated, by those strategies.     

Negotiating teacher professionalism: governmentality and education reform in Hong Kong

This research investigates how the Hong Kong state controls and disciplines the education sector through the regulation and manipulation of discourses. The authoritative narratives are that some schools are failing the students and parents for not being able to provide quality education, and that these schools are not subject to public scrutiny while spending public money. This article seeks to understand the role of such narratives in neoliberal politics and the marketisation of education which lead to governance in the form of initiatives in school quality assurance mechanism; how different actors (Education Bureau, Professional Teachers' Union and individual teachers) are involved in the process; how they negotiate this governance of education; how such governance transforms the self-perception of teachers as well as the perception of teachers by others; and how teachers interpret, appropriate and resist such discursive power.     

Outdoor education in Hong Kong: Past, present and future

This paper examines the development of outdoor education in Hong Kong from its colonial roots to the challenges of its uncertain future. The scene is set by a synopsis of Hong Kong's geography, history, economy, and culture. Next, we trace the history of organised outdoor education from the early 1900s to the present day. This is followed by a critical exploration of issues facing youth adventure education programmes and management development programmes. The paper closes with recommendations to return to “real” outdoor courses in natural environments, to raise the standards of training available to outdoor leaders, and finally, to create a governing body that would facilitate inter-organisational learning, raise standards of programme design and delivery, and help build a body of literature that is specific to experiential learning in Hong Kong.     

Globalization or re-colonization: higher education reforms in Hong Kong

Over the past few decades, the process of globalization had unquestionably caused a paradigm shift in the philosophy of governance. The shift from the welfare state to competitive state has enabled the government to rollback as a service provider and to control the services rendered by various service providers by “steering at a distance”. With the emphasis given to accountability, effectiveness, efficiency and economy, the core elements of “New Public Management” or “corporate managerialism”, the public sector is now managed in line with such notions. Higher education, similar to other major public policies, is now governed by market ideologies and the corporate discourse of efficiency and effectiveness. This paper discusses the theme of “globalization or re-colonization” by examining how three major areas of higher education reforms in Hong Kong, namely, teaching, research and management, have been affected by the global tide of managerialism. It is argued that instead of being “hollowed out”, states will continue to respond to globalization in different ways that ensure their ability to govern the public service sectors like higher education. The authors believe that if we solely follow the global practices and ideologies without developing our own unique systems, we would be entering an era of “re-colonization”.     

Blended learning in higher education: professional development in a Hong Kong university

ABSTRACT

Online learning has become a ubiquitous part of the educational landscape and how teachers are supported in developing approaches to teaching online is a fundamental aspect of the students’ learning experience. Based on the implementation of a professional development course on becoming an online teacher offered in a blended learning mode at one university in Hong Kong, this article proposes that offering this type of professional development in a blended mode is very effective in facilitating enhanced usage of the university’s learning management system. In a blended mode, teachers are actively engaged with blended learning and were found to make more extensive use of features/tools in Blackboard after they attended the professional development course. Results support that offering professional development in a blended mode provides teachers with an authentic student perspective, at the same time as they take guided steps in the teacher’s role in blended learning.     

Student mentoring in higher education: Hong Kong Baptist University

There is a developing interest in mentoring in the educational system in Hong Kong, especially in higher education. Mentoring is looked at as a retention and enhancement strategy for undergraduate education. With the setting up of a mentoring system during the freshmen year, it is hoped that student retention can be increased and academic achievement can be promoted. The study aims to find out the current mentoring practices carried out at the Hong Kong Baptist University. Results are based upon quantitative data collected from 456 students and 79 faculty members engaging in the mentoring programme of the University Life Programme at the university in 1998. The author also conducted insight interviews into the student–mentor relationship and the problems encountered by mentors. The study focuses upon students' perspectives of an ‘effective’ mentor. The implications for resources are discussed as part of a review of the mentoring programme at the university.