A cross‐cultural comparison of teachers’ expressed beliefs about music education and their observed practices in classroom music teaching

Through interviews and observing day‐to‐day classroom practice, this study explores the beliefs of 10 music teachers in elementary schools in Vancouver and Hong Kong. The results demonstrate that the music teachers of the two localities hold similar cognitive beliefs about the essential elements of music education. However, they hold different beliefs about the value or impact of music education on the psychological or character development of students. Music teachers of Vancouver are found to be more student‐centred than their counterparts in Hong Kong, and this is reflected in both the curriculum and activities selected for classroom teaching. Though both groups of teachers place similar emphasis on western music, in Canada more classroom activities are based around the student’s personal enjoyment and expression. In Hong Kong, meanwhile, music education is viewed as a means of nurturing the student’s temperamental development. While students in Vancouver are allowed to express their personal musical preferences in classroom activities, in Hong Kong students are required to perform according to prescribed standard indicators of success. This is probably linked—albeit invisibly—to Chinese Confucian culture.     

On the pedagogy of examinations in Hong Kong

We present a portrayal of the pressures exerted on Hong Kong students by the examination system. However, the examination experience in China should not be confused with the contemporary emphasis on examinations in North American schools. We involve both teachers and students in experiential writing with respect to their experiences of examinations. These writings provide opportunity for reflections about pedagogical questions and dimensions of examinations in Hong Kong schools and society. We describe the historical background, the functions and the nature of examinations in Hong Kong. It is in the context of an awareness of such cultural traditions and present day global pressures that teachers (and their students) may gain a more thoughtful pedagogical perspective.     

Science Teachers’ Professional Development and Changes in Science Practical Assessment Practices: What are the Issues?

This paper considers the circumstances under which science teachers can respond positively and productively to educational policy reforms in the area of science practical assessment. To understand what might be involved in linking science teachers’ assessment capacities and their professional development, we present illustrative data from recent research studies conducted in Singapore and Hong Kong showing contrasting approaches taken in the implementation of reforms in science practical assessment. In Singapore, teachers worked together to select, discuss, clarify and refine their practices as they made decisions about what to teach and assess. In Hong Kong, teachers took a critical stance towards the new policy and learnt from their own experiences in order to build their confidence. With the same policy initiative, one group of teachers focused more on the technicalities of complying with requirements imposed on them while in the other group had their professional consciousness of what they thought was best for their students provoked so that their practices would be transformed. In an attempt to draw lessons for other contexts in supporting the implementation of assessment policy reforms through professional development work, we identify and discuss a range of factors in science teachers’ professional development that arise once in situ professional development work has started. Overall, our intent in this article is to recast assessment reform as a driver or pivot in teachers’ professional development and learning. To do this it is necessary, we argue, to afford teachers’ experiences and the processes involved in learning from them greater emphasis in order to ensure the continuance of innovation in the assessment of laboratory-based work.     

规限的专业性:香港及中国内地教师评鉴工作比较

香港及中国内地两地在上世纪90年代末起均积极推动教育改革,以发展优质/素质教育为主要的发展方向,以期培养适切的人才,提高两地的国际竞争力。基于此,两地均强调课程改革,引入新的教学法,如专题研习/研究性学习,强调问责性的评核机制。面对教与学的种种改革,教师的工作出现了新的转变及挑战,本文比较两地在教改情境下,如何透过教师评鉴保证及提升教育质素,两地教师如何以不同策略作响应,呈现两地教师在工作评鉴下的处境。     

“课堂学习研究”对香港教育的影响

世界上不少地方正在进行教育及课程改革，然而不少教育研究的结果却告诉我们，绝少教育改革能真正对学生学习产生正面的影响；而能够产生明显作用的，都是那些直接涉及学习内容的改革。课堂学习研究就是针对学习内容为出发点，以变易学习理论为基础，运用行动研究的模式，聚合教师、教育研究员的集体智慧，解决学生的学习困难，帮助每个学生学得更好。经过六年的探索、实践及研究，香港已有超过100多所学校参与，并已开展了130多项课堂学习研究。在这过程中，课堂学习研究被发现不仅能帮助学生学得更好。更是一个成就教师发展、校本课程发展及学校改革的有效工具。本除阐述课堂学习研究在香港的发展外，更探讨其对教师发展、校本课程发展及学校改革的影响，以及其未来发展所要面对的挑战。     

Exploring teachers’ beliefs about teacher learning in professional learning communities and their influence on collegial activities in two departments

Factors leading to successful professional learning communities (PLCs) have been widely discussed in the West, but little is known about how/whether teachers’ beliefs contribute to PLCs in the Chinese context. This qualitative case study aimed to investigate teachers’ beliefs about teacher learning in PLCs and their influence on collegial learning activities in two departments of a Hong Kong secondary school. Semi-structured interviews and observations were employed to collect data. The findings indicate that teachers in the Chinese Department believed that learning could be achieved in PLCs and their practices of collegial activities were conducive to teacher learning. Conversely, teachers in the English Department did not believe that interacting with colleagues would foster learning and their collegial activities yielded limited accomplishment in teacher growth. It is suggested that teachers’ beliefs play an important role in facilitating or impeding reform initiatives on teacher development. Implications for teacher education and further studies are discussed.     

以课堂学习研究为平台改进朗读教学的个案分析

香港地区关于朗读教学的研究不多,教师难以得到专业上的有力支持。香港一所中学的教师凭借"课堂学习研究"这个平台,与香港教育学院协作,在初中三年级进行了一次有关朗读教学的研究。研究由诊断学生朗读中的困难开始,继而找出学习内容及关键特征,并运用变易学习理论设计教学。三个循环的课堂实践不但让学生普遍掌握了朗读的技巧,而且让教师认识到学生学习成果与课堂教学的关系,从而促进了教师的专业发展。     

The discrepancy between teachers’ beliefs and practices: a study of kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong

This study examines the discrepancy between teachers’ beliefs and practices in Hong Kong kindergartens and the factors that influence this discrepancy. Three kindergartens, considered by the Hong Kong Education Bureau to be of varying quality, were chosen from different areas of Hong Kong. Questionnaires about teaching beliefs were administered to 35 teachers from these kindergartens. These quantitative data were supplemented with qualitative data gathered during individual interviews with five of the teachers and the three principals. In addition, a focus group of five early childhood education specialists commented on the videotaped observations of the classroom practices of the five interviewed teachers. The findings showed that all of the teachers endorsed the advocated teaching beliefs, but there was a discrepancy between their beliefs and practices. The most significant factors contributing to the discrepancy were teachers’ professional education and their attitudes towards personal teaching introspection. Teachers were also under pressure from parents’ curriculum requests, demands on the children’s academic abilities and expectations for a strong link to Primary One. Enhanced early childhood education training that helps teachers to be introspective about their own teaching practices and beliefs is recommended. Government support is also required to teach parents what constitutes a high-quality learning environment for young children.     

A shift in Hong Kong principals ’ leadership conceptions

Schools in Hong Kong are now undergoing many educational reforms. With so many ideas and demanding tasks ahead, principals have been expected to bear the responsibility for implementing change. In 1991, the leadership of Hong Kong principals was described as “dictatorial” in a government document, which painted a bleak picture of the leadership being offered by Hong Kong principals at that time. However, this recent study showed that teachers perceived that principals as exerting some degree of transformational leadership in schools. All the eight dimensions of the leadership were above the mid-point on the rating scale. It seems that there is a shift in Hong Kong primary school principals leadership conceptions. This paper describes the extent to which teachers perceived their principal ’s to be exercising transformational leadership. Issues concerning principal development are discussed.     

以课堂学习研究为平台改进朗读教学的个案分析

香港地区关于朗读教学的研究不多,教师难以得到专业上的有力支持。香港一所中学的教师凭借“课堂学习研究”这个平台,与香港教育学院协作,在初中三年级进行了一次有关朗读教学的研究。研究由诊断学生朗读中的困难开始,继而找出学习内容及关键特征,并运用变易学习理论设计教学。三个循环的课堂实践不但让学生普遍掌握了朗读的技巧,而且让教师认识到学生学习成果与课堂教学的关系,从而促进了教师的专业发展。     

The role of a professional learning community in teacher change: a perspective from beliefs and practices

This longitudinal study aimed to examine the role of a professional learning community (PLC) in changing teachers’ beliefs and practices. Teachers of a Chinese department in a Hong Kong secondary school were interviewed and observed. The findings indicate that the features of a PLC-facilitating teacher change are development of a coherent structure, a collaborative culture, and effective learning activities. These help teachers to overcome initial difficulties and induce their motivation for transformation. Teacher change in five dimensions (curriculum, teaching, learning, roles of teachers, and learning to teach) and three patterns (change in practice but not in belief, change in belief but not in practice, change in practice and belief) were detected. It is argued that cultivating an effective PLC is significant to teacher development.     

Consensus or dissensus? Stakeholders’ views on the role of play in learning

Across cultures and eras, children have engaged in play as part of the process of growing and maturing into adulthood. Play has been recognized as an effective form of pedagogy to promote learning in the early years. However, beliefs about what play is and how it should be practiced vary across Hong Kong and in other countries. Because Chinese culture places a heavy emphasis on academic achievement, a play-based curriculum has not been widely implemented in the region. Through classroom observations and interviews with key stakeholders in early childhood education, namely parents, teachers, and principals, this study reveals the complexity of views on this matter and uncovers the root cause of the difficulties in supporting play in the Hong Kong kindergartens. These findings may help promote the play-based curriculum in Hong Kong and other countries where play is in crisis.     

Teacher professionalism in educational reform: the experiences of Hong Kong and Shanghai

Beginning in the 1990s, the education departments of Hong Kong and Shanghai began to actively initiate reform with a focus on the quality of education. In reviewing the implementation of educational reform in these two societies, we found that Hong Kong teachers tended to only adopt those policies which they felt were beneficial for students' learning, whereas Shanghai teachers tended to conform more to the state's requirements. Teachers in Hong Kong strongly expressed their frustration over the intensification of their work, while teachers in Shanghai seldom expressed disagreement over the state initiatives. Concerning the meaning of teacher professionalism, teachers in Hong Kong were more able than their counterparts in Shanghai to develop their own interpretations. However, at the same time, teachers' work in Hong Kong was still being monitored by the emerging schooling market, while the work of Shanghai teachers was monitored by the state. Teachers' work in both societies can be interpreted as ‘confined professionalism’. In addition, in both of the two societies teachers' awareness of their professionalism was comparatively weak. Further empowerment in this area is needed.     

北京香港两地普小教师对有特殊教育需要学生随班就读态度的比较研究

北京、香港两个地区的普通小学中随机抽取了 2 2 5名教师进行问卷调查 ,结果表明 ,在对有特殊教育需要学生在普通班级随班就读的基本态度上 ,香港地区持赞同态度的教师比例高于北京地区。但对各类有特殊教育需要学生的随班就读 ,两地教师的态度既有相同的方面 ,也有不同的方面。两地教师对随班就读的接受程度明显受学生的残疾类型和残疾程度的影响     

The Influence of an Inclusive Education Course on Attitude Change of Pre‐service Secondary Teachers in Hong Kong

Since the mid‐1990s in Hong Kong there has been a slow but obvious shift from expecting students with disabilities to be educated in segregated special schools to providing more opportunities for them to be educated alongside their mainstream peers. Pre‐service teacher training institutions have begun to offer modules of study in order to assist mainstream teachers in coping with greater diversity in their classes. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the adequacy of an inclusive education module on the attitude change of pre‐service teachers in Hong Kong. A convenience sample of over 200 pre‐service secondary teachers in a B.Ed. (Honours) Programme at one university participated in the study. Data were obtained through a three‐part questionnaire to find out whether there were any substantial changes in their attitudes, concerns and confidence for inclusion before and after taking a module of study on inclusive education. Findings and implications are drawn in light of preparing teachers to cater for diversity in the schools in Hong Kong.     

Computer-mediated communication and teacher education: some observations from the implementation of TeleNex

This paper outlines some of the reasons for the use of computer networking for teacher education and professional development, and discusses why networking can be used to support teacher education and development. A review of the literature suggests that among other reasons, networking is particularly conducive to teacher development because: (a) it helps break down teacher isolation and build a supportive learning community, (b) it serves as an agent of change, and (c) it helps disseminate educational materials and resources. The computer network recently developed specifically for secondary English teachers in Hong Kong, the TeleNex, is reported in this paper to highlight some of the factors that should be considered in the design and implementation of networks for teacher development. Preliminary observations suggest that these teachers are on their way to using this new technology to build and own their own electronic learning community.     

Educating teachers in Hong Kong for leadership in the age of the internet: a re-conceptualisation

There is very little argument that one of the major developments to have impacted in schools in the past decade is the rapid and world-wide development of information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly the Internet. In Hong Kong, reforms in the ICT teacher training policy, and the fact that Hong Kong is a ‘wired’ city, has resulted in pre-service teachers being well versed in the technical competencies of computer usage and its pedagogical manifestations. However, there has been scant attention paid to the fact that students are actively engaged in large-scale autonomous, teacher-less learning via the Internet. In this paper, it is argued that for teachers to be leaders in contemporary classrooms, teacher education programs need to focus more on the deeper and wider implications of ICT and the Internet in education than has hitherto been the practice.     

Preserving the literary past, looking to the future： the first Hong Kong Literature Database

INTRODUCTION In the last two decades of the 20th century, there was an emerging interest in and emphasis on the study of Hong Kong literature among academic scholars. Since the first biennial conference “Conference on Taiwan and Hong Kong Literature (Tai Gang Wen Xue Xue Shu Tao Lun Hui)” held in 1982 in Mainland China, various conferences with diverse themes on Hong Kong literature have been held both locally and overseas in these twenty some years (Huang, 1988; Liu, 1997). The…     

课堂学习研究:教师专业发展的平台

教育改革成功的关键在于教师专业能力的发展与提升。"课堂学习研究"是香港教育学院推动的具有特色的教师专业发展项目。该项目以改善课堂教学质量为核心,通过大学研究人员与教师的协作,在校本行动研究的基础上提供教师反思及再实践的机会,为教师持续的专业发展搭建了一个可操作的平台。本文检视了在"课堂学习研究"的实践过程中,教师如何从与不同成员的互动中得到学习的机会,实现自身的专业发展。