Defining the Effects of Transformational Leadership on Organisational Learning: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

The present study attempts to address three specific problems. First, amidst a large volume of literature on transformational leadership and its role on school operations in diverse domains, it hopes to identify its contribution to organisational learning. Second, as the intricate relationships that exist among leadership, structure and culture of the school are widely documented in the current literature, there is a need to determine the precise contribution transformational leadership makes to the collective search for adaptation strategies. Third, there is also a need to know whether the overt roles of transformational leadership in the context of organisational change is universal or culturally specific. Findings from schools in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Western Australia and Central Canada provided interesting generalised as well as specific patterns of leadership behaviours that shed light on the last question raised.     

Résumés Français

This article reports the results of the first systematic, though only exploratory, study that assesses the effectiveness of the Philosophy for Children (commonly known as P4C) programme in promoting children's critical thinking in Hong Kong. Forty-two Secondary 1 students volunteered for this study, from whom 28 students were randomly selected and randomly assigned to 2 groups of 14 each: one receiving P4C lessons and the other receiving English lessons. The students who were taught P4C were found to show a greater improvement in the reasoning test performance than those who were not, to be capable of doing philosophy, and to have a positive attitude towards doing philosophy in the classroom. It was also found that P4C played a major role in developing the students' critical thinking, and that 10 crucial factors contributed to the success of the P4C programme.     

Consensus of multi-agent systems with Luenberger observers

This paper studies the consensus problem of the multi-agent systems with parallel Luenberger observers. First, the structure of the cooperative system is established, where the output of the built-in Luenberger observer for each agent is used as its local control input and the cooperative control input combining with the cooperative measurement output is utilized as the input of the observers. Based on the structure of the closed-loop system, the consensus problem is then analyzed. In addition, two methods for designing the controller gains are provided. By virtue of the proposed structure, it is pointed out that the design of the controller gains and the observer parameters can be carried out separately. Finally, by resorting to the gradient flow method, an optimization algorithm is proposed to reduce the influence of the environmental noises. The effectiveness of the obtained results is shown through a numerical example.     

Probing the allocation of attention in implicit (motor) learning

Abstract

We investigated the attention demands associated with implicit and explicit (motor) learning and performance using a probe reaction time paradigm. Two groups of participants learned a golf putting task over eight blocks of 50 trials performed from different distances. One group (errorless learning) began putting from the shortest distance (25 cm) and moved progressively back to the furthest distance (200 cm). A second group (errorful learning) began putting from the furthest distance (200 cm) and moved progressively closer (25 cm). Retention tests were used to assess learning in the two conditions, followed by transfer tests in which participants used either an unusual putter or a very unusual putter. Transfer to the unusual putters had an equivalent effect on the performance of both errorless and errorful learners, but probe reaction times were unaffected in the errorless learners, suggesting that execution of their movements was associated with reduced attention demands. Reducing errors during initial learning trials may encourage an implicit mode of learning and lower the demand for cognitive resources in subsequent performance.     

The dilemma of case‐based teaching and learning in science in Hong Kong: Students need it,want it,but may not value it

The paper reports a study for determining a suitable process for converting traditional surface science courses into case‐based learning ones in two universities in Hong Kong. In this preparative study, a set of baseline data was collected on the current level of students’ conceptual understanding and also students’ perceptions about the traditional courses. The student data (from 38 students) came from examination results, the Study Process Questionnaire, a course‐end survey and a focus group meeting; teachers also kept reflective journals. This set of baseline data revealed factors that both support and inhibit case‐based learning. On the one hand, students demonstrate a motivation to be able to solve practical problems in this field; on the other hand, they show an unwillingness to take up a personal responsibility for learning. This finding strengthens our resolve to take into account students’ expectations and beliefs in the implementation of case‐based teaching and learning.     

Short reports

While Western educators caution against contrived collegiality in the midst of enthusiasm for peer coaching as a form of teacher development, Hong Kong educators are struggling to detach discussion and observation of classroom teaching from staff appraisal. The challenges for this task are twofold: to secure a niche for peer coaching in the practice of staff development, and to ward off contrived collegiality in the course. Using an action research paradigm, the present project attempted to meet these challenges in two schools. As a joint work between various parties, the present project had to negotiate its way cautiously to achieve genuine collaboration and avoid imposition from the administrators and outsiders to the front-line teachers. During the course, innovative strategies were taken to cope with various difficulties, including time constraints, teachers' psychological pressure, and the possibility of contrived collegiality and implementation partnership. The evaluation of the project showed that the teachers generally accepted peer coaching and found it helpful to their professional development. The experience in the two schools indicated that true collaboration might emerge from organizationally induced collegiality under certain conditions.     

Epigenetic Vestiges of Early Developmental Adversity: Childhood Stress Exposure and DNA Methylation in Adolescence

Fifteen‐year‐old adolescents (N = 109) in a longitudinal study of child development were recruited to examine differences in DNA methylation in relation to parent reports of adversity during the adolescents’ infancy and preschool periods. Microarray technology applied to 28,000 cytosine–guanine dinucleotide sites within DNA derived from buccal epithelial cells showed differential methylation among adolescents whose parents reported high levels of stress during their children’s early lives. Maternal stressors in infancy and paternal stressors in the preschool years were most strongly predictive of differential methylation, and the patterning of such epigenetic marks varied by children’s gender. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of prospective associations between adversities in early childhood and the epigenetic conformation of adolescents’ genomic DNA.     

Involving parents in paired reading with preschoolers: Results from a randomized controlled trial

A paired reading program was implemented for 195 Hong Kong preschoolers (mean age = 4.7 years) and their parents from families with a wide range of family income. The preschoolers were randomly assigned to experimental or waitlist control groups. The parents in the experimental group received 12 sessions of school-based training on paired reading in 7 weeks. They were required to do paired reading with their children for at least four times in each of these 7 weeks. At the end of the program, the preschoolers in the experimental group had better performance in word recognition and reading fluency than their counterparts in the control group. They were also reported as more competent and motivated in reading by their parents. More importantly, the program had many favorable effects on parents. Parents in the experimental group had higher self-efficacy in helping their children to be better readers and learners. They also reported that they had better relationships with their children. Their changes in relationships and self-efficacy were found to mediate the program impact on some of the child outcomes. However, family income did not moderate the effectiveness of the program. Families with high and low income both benefited from the program alike.     

Teaching for Liberation: Critical Reflections in Teacher Education

In this article the author shares a critical reflection of his work as a teacher educator over the last five years teaching in both public and private universities in the U.S. Midwest. The author reflects on his work in a class called “Diversity in Education” over the course of two semesters as a way to trace the genealogy of a course that has emancipatory intent. The implications (tensions and contradictions) for this type of course in teacher education are discussed as are why critical pedagogical approaches and liberatory ways of thinking and knowing are fundamentally essential to and ethically necessary in teacher preparation. The author concludes by offering a pedagogy of resilience and radical hope that is fundamentally premised on the idea that intellectual work is meant to be liberationist, and the desire to connect teacher education to a larger political struggle.