When Christian education meets patriotism: Christian organisations’ response to the introduction of Moral and National Education in Hong Kong schools

Plans by the Hong Kong Government to introduce moral and national education (MNE) as a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools in 2010 encountered strong opposition. The controversy over the plans has lasted for two years, with the government and its supporters claiming that the subject will help to instil a stronger sense of national identity in children and critics deriding it as biased and constituting a form of brainwashing. The subject is also seen as posing troubles or a considerable threat to local Christian schools because most of them have had their own religious education programmes for years. Most Christian school-sponsoring bodies and parachurch organisations oppose the subject’s introduction, urging the government to scrap its curricular guidelines, and many say they will boycott its implementation. To bring the issues surrounding MNE into sharper focus, this article traces the development of Christian education in Hong Kong and analyses how local Christian communities perceive and have responded to the official proposal. Three prominent themes commonly emphasised in the Christian discourse are plural identities, conditional patriotism and universal values. These themes could shed light on wider theoretical discussion about the positive roles of religion and religious education for citizenship education.     

The relationship between intelligence and performance on the test of variables of attention (TOVA)

The present study explored the relationship between the intelligence of young adults and their performance on the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA). The study also examined whether significant differences existed between adults with and without attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on TOVA errors of omission, errors of commission, mean correct response time, and variability, as well as on performance on the freedom from distractibility (FD) factor on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R). Seventy-nine adults participated in the study, including 17 with ADHD and 62 college students without ADHD. Pearson product-moment correlations indicated that none of the correlations between Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) and TOVA variables were significant. Analysis of variance results revealed that adults with ADHD made more errors of omission on the TOVA than did controls. Between-group differences were not found on the remaining dependent variables.     

Noise Levels in Hong Kong Primary Schools: Implications for classroom listening

Many researchers have stressed that the acoustic environment is crucial to the speech perception, academic performance, attention, and participation of students in classrooms. Classrooms in highly urbanised locations are especially vulnerable to noise, a major influence on the acoustic environment. The purpose of this investigation was to determine noise levels in one such urban environment, Hong Kong. The ambient noise level, and its relationship to the speech intensity levels of both teachers and students was surveyed in 47 primary school classrooms. Moreover, the presence of acoustical treatments for noise reduction and the use of classroom amplification systems were documented for each classroom. The survey found that the mean occupied noise level was 60.74 dB (A); the mean unamplified and amplified speech‐to‐noise ratios of teachers were 13.53 dB and 18.45 dB, respectively; while the mean unamplified speech‐to‐noise ratio for students was 4.13 dB. Most of the classrooms exhibited insufficient acoustical treatments to provide significant noise reduction. The listening environment in many Hong Kong primary schools was not favourable for optimal classroom learning. Recommendations for improving the acoustical environment in classrooms in highly urbanised locations such as Hong Kong are discussed.     

The roles of peritraumatic dissociation, child physical abuse, and child sexual abuse in the development of posttraumatic stress disorder and adult victimization

OBJECTIVE: Previous research has indicated that women who experience childhood physical abuse or childhood sexual abuse are at increased risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and adult victimization. Recently, peritraumatic dissociation (PD) has been suggested as another possible risk factor for PTSD and adult victimization. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of childhood physical and sexual abuse and PD on PTSD and adult victimization. METHOD: A sample of 467 female college students completed questionnaires about childhood and adult sexual and physical abuse experiences, PD, and PTSD symptoms. RESULTS: The combined sexual and physical abuse (CA) and sexual abuse only (SA) groups reported significantly higher numbers of PTSD symptoms than the physical abuse only (PA) and no abuse (NA) groups. The CA and PA groups reported significantly more adult sexual and physical victimization than the SA and NA groups. Across all four groups, higher levels of PD were associated with higher levels of PTSD and adult sexual and physical victimization. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the current study suggest that different types of childhood abuse may lead to different adult problems. The results also indicated that PD may have a broad effect on PTSD development and adult victimization.     

Developing a student-led school mental health strategy

Although there is increasing interest in promoting mental health and wellbeing within education, to date, the voices of young people appear to have been almost completely overlooked in the development of school-based mental health practices. This is despite increasing focus on young people’s participation; and the fact that young people may be best positioned to understand the pressures of contemporary society. This paper, co-authored by educational psychologists (EPs), school students and the school vice-principal, documents the development of a student-led mental health initiative within a high-achieving girls’ grammar school, led by students aged 12–18. Following EP input, the students devised a whole-school, student-friendly mental health strategy with the support of the EPs and senior school staff. As the project progressed, it became evident that applying even carefully selected adult mental health models to school contexts might not be appropriate; instead the students advocated for young person-friendly, innovative, contemporary and creative ways of communicating information about mental health, which avoided stigma. The students involved were well-placed to identify environmental stressors and to disseminate their strategy. The authors conclude that mental health planning in schools should encourage greater student participation, show caution over applying adult mental health models and promote greater use of technology or visual resources.     

民族语言授课远程高等教育发展的比较分析

总结了国内少数民族语言授课远程高等教育的发展过程,并比较分析了同一时期维吾尔语授课和蒙古语授课远程高等教育发展状况,由此提出了创办和发展蒙古语授课现代远程高等教育的启示。     

Whose Citizenship Education? Hong Kong from a spatial and cultural politics perspective

Citizenship (education) is de facto a political and spatial concept and should be considered in local, national, and global contexts. Adopting a spatial and cultural politics perspective and with the dynamic formation of Hong Kong's citizenship education as a case study, this article tries to illustrate the politics at three different levels. It shows how citizenship and identity are hotly contested, with the result that, while the official civic education programme is oriented towards “national education”, a pluralistic and vibrant civil society allows the hybridization and cross-fertilization of multiple discourses and practices to run parallel with the state project, either in a complementary or competitive way. Civic education launched by the democratic camp in civil society may be viewed as empowerment struggles for human rights and democracy vis-à-vis the domestication efforts made by the government and the pro-Beijing camp, as well as the tyranny of global capitalism.     

PhD students’ work conditions and study environment in university- and industry-based PhD programmes

During the last 10 years, new models of funding and training PhD students have been established in Denmark in order to integrate industry into the entire PhD education. Several programmes have been conducted where it is possible to co-finance PhD scholarships or to become an employee as an industrial PhD in a company. An important question is what impact these new conditions will have on the PhD students’ training, work conditions and study environment. In this article, the new type of programmes will be presented together with data analysis of PhD students’ work conditions and study environment in various programmes mainly based on a research project from 2006. The results of this study show no significant difference between PhD students in a traditional university PhD programme and PhD students in an industrial programme concerning working environment. However, the study shows significant differences in the intercultural dimension, where foreign PhD students are significantly more satisfied with their study environment compared with Danish PhD students. In general the workload is very high and the environment is stressful for all PhD students.