How much of a difference do principals make? An analysis of between-schools variation in academic achievement in Hong Kong public secondary schools

This article aims to explain the role principals play in the variation in academic achievement between secondary schools in Hong Kong. The article draws on survey data from 179 key staff and 2,037 students from 42 schools. The study uses 2 analytical approaches. First, it employs classification and regression tree analysis (CART). This was used to sort out the most significant leadership practices associated with student achievement. Second, based on first-stage analysis, the study further explores the effects of leadership practices on academic achievement using hierarchical linear modelling (HLM). Results indicate that transparent and efficient communication structures as managed by principals explained approximately 12% of between-schools variation in academic achievement. Leadership practices related to quality assurance and accountability and resource management also contributed to explaining between-schools variation in academic achievement, yet they had negative effects on student achievement. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Positioning the Undervalued Metropolitan University

No abstract available for this article.     

香港高等体育教育的办学特色及其启示

香港的高等体育教育经过百年沿革特别是近数十年的发展,已逐步形成较为完整、协调发展的高等体育教育体系,尤其在吸纳欧美先进经验、以国际化方式运作并同香港的本土文化相整合上,取得了显著成效。通过在香港教学交流及实地考察,探讨了香港高等体育教育的办学特色及经验,以期为我国内地高校体育教育的改革提供一定的借鉴。     

The Influence of Classic Chinese Philosophy of Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism on Classroom Discipline in Hong Kong Junior Secondary Schools

Discipline is a crucial aspect of teachers' and students' classroom lives. Hong Kong secondary teachers, as elsewhere, are concerned with students' misbehaviour. This article examines teachers' constructs of classroom discipline and strategies adopted for behaviour management. Qualitative data were collected by interviews and classroom observation. Sixty teachers were involved. Eighteen classrooms were observed. The influence of the three schools of classic Chinese philosophy, Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism, emerged as a main theme from the data. It was prominent as their key principles were incorporated into the teachers' personal system of classroom discipline. The findings illuminate the influence of Chinese culture in Hong Kong classrooms. Implications for the promotion of culturally responsive classrooms and the development of educational policies on pastoral care are drawn.     

The object of learning in action research and learning study

ABSTRACT

The Learning study and the Educational Action Research approaches to educational research are compared, not from a third, neutral point of view, but from the perspective of the former. Hence, the comparison is carried out in terms of how the main point of departure of the Learning study (LS), the question of ‘What is to be learned?’, is addressed in the two approaches. Both represent critical stances to Educational objectives, the frequently taken-for-granted answer to the question. Educational objectives communicate, however, what the students are expected to become able to do, but not what they need to learn in order to get there. Hence, what is to be learned cannot be stated in advance, prior to the teacher learning what her students need to learn. The two approaches to educational research agree on the principle that what is to be learned has to be found in the interaction between students and teachers; however, there is an important difference between the two concerning the very point of departure. Educational objectives are too wide and imprecise according to LS, the teachers have to find the critical aspects (necessary to appropriate, but not appropriated as yet by the students) of the object of learning. According to Action research, as formulated by Lawrence Stenhouse, educational objectives are too narrow, too limited and limiting. We shall start looking for what is to be learned amongst inherent aspects of the content itself.     

香港《家庭及同居关系暴力条例》述评

港府于2008和2009连续两年修订《家庭暴力条例,》2010年更名为《家庭及同居关系暴力条例》。该条例修订最大限度扩大了受保护主体范围,着重规定法院适用强制令制度,顺应了世界反家庭暴力立法趋势。香港对防治家庭暴力专门立法、扩大适用范围,强调法院严格适用强制令等做法已走在世界前列,其立法经验颇值内地借鉴。     

Improving teachers’ self-efficacy in applying teaching and learning strategies and classroom management to students with special education needs in Hong Kong

This study examines the impact of a revised one-week training course on teacher self-efficacy in terms of improving teaching and learning strategies and classroom management to support students with special educational needs (SEN) in ordinary schools in Hong Kong. Various teacher-related variables (i.e., level of prior training in special education, confidence in teaching students with SEN, knowledge of legislation and policies, years of teaching, teaching experience with students with SEN, gender, and school type) are analyzed among 347 regular primary and secondary teachers. Teacher confidence and school type are determined to be significant predictors for the self-efficacy of teachers in inclusive education.     

Mainland Chinese students at an elite Hong Kong university: habitus–field disjuncture in a transborder context

Drawing on in-depth interview data from 31 mainland Chinese (MLC) students in a Hong Kong university, this article conceptualises MLC and Hong Kong higher education as two dissonant but interrelated subfields of the Chinese higher education field. The article argues that these MLC students’ habitus, one that possesses rich economic, social and cultural capital, prompts a strong sense of entitlement to anticipated privileges. However, this sense of entitlement is disrupted by the differential capital valuations across these fields. There is thus notable habitus–field disjuncture, which, exacerbated by the hysteresis effect, gives rise to a sense of disappointment and ambivalence. This article demonstrates how the Hong Kong education credential, which these students initially set out to pursue as a form of capital, can become a disadvantage at multiple levels; the article illustrates that capital valuation and conversion in a transborder context is not a straightforward, but rather a complicated and sometimes contradictory, process.     

规模扩张背景下的香港高等教育质量保障

香港高等教育在过去20年里经历了从精英阶段到普及化的迅速发展,然而规模的扩张并未带来质量的下降,这与香港高等教育多元化的质量保障机制密切相关。香港针对不同的高等教育界别和层次,成立了三个主要的质量保障机构以负责各自界别和层次的高等教育质量保障,取得了良好的效果,但也面临着新的挑战。