Abstract

This paper explores the idea of a civilizational perspective on compulsory education. It begins with an explanation of the notion of a civilizational perspective, and how it was developed for the field of comparative higher education, particularly relations between Asian higher education and the West. It then considers the relations between compulsory education and modern industrial society, and the transition now facing compulsory education in the post-industrial era. A few examples are provided to show how the Asian heritage might be drawn upon to enrich this transition and make a positive contribution to the next phase of human civilization.

Abstract

This presentation is to discuss basic education and national development: the current issues and strategies for China. Basic education in this content is defined as the nine-year compulsory education as defined by the "Compulsory Education Law" adopted by China. The presentation is divided into four sections. The first section elaborates the point that basic education is the top priority among the national development policies. It is argued that basic education is the foundation for all dimensions of development. In today's new information age, the scientific and technological revolution, and the dramatic economic and social development, have made basic education even more important than before. We have to understand the role of basic education by taking into account the recent changes in the development process, which are dramatic, unprecedented, and significant, characterized by the information revolution, the economic transformation and the strong tendency of internationalization. The second section discusses the financial needs and the financing strategies for the nine-year compulsory education in China. The third section focuses on the key issues in improving the quality of teaching and learning in Chinese basic education; finally, the equity issue in the basic education of China is discussed in section four.

Abstract

A number of recommendations have been made by the Hong Kong Government in the last few years to provide additional resources for schools that take in the weakest 20% of secondary students. These policies implicitly imply that the group of students are having special educational needs as they need extra resources for fulfilling their needs in learning. This study is an attempt to investigate into the attainment level of some of the bottom 20% of students at the end of their 9-year-compulsory education. A sample of 993 Secondary 3 students from 4 schools all located within the same urban district took part in the study to assess both their attainment level and their intellectual functioning. Over 95% of these students were coming from the bottom 20% group of students within the same district. They were all administered the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test for ascertaining their intellectual functioning in terms of their non-verbal reasoning ability. Each student also took the Hong Kong Attainment Tests on the 3 basic subjects of Chinese, English and mathematics. The tests are devised by the Education Research Unit of the Hong Kong Education Department and are standardised for local Primary 3 to Primary 5 pupils. On the test for looking at their non-verbal reasoning ability, over 60% of the students were at least within the average range of intellectual functioning when their scores were compared with other children of the same age in Hong Kong. Their results for the standardised attainment tests reflected that over 90% of the students in the schools were attaining at or below P.5 level across the two major subjects of Chinese and mathematics and more than 70% of the students were attaining at or below P.4 level in the subject of English. The findings indicated that majority of the students are backward in their attainment by 4–5 years. This reaffirmed the findings of the earlier pilot study (Yung, 1994) on another group of S.3 graduates (n = 435) in one of the sample schools a year before this main study. Findings of both studies indicated that majority of the students in the bottom 20% of secondary students should have average intellectual ability to cope with their schooling. Schools with large intake of students from this stratum of secondary students in Hong Kong might need to reconsider how they can modify their curriculum to meet the educational needs of these students in the light of these findings on their academic achievement after 9 years of compulsory education. The data also reflects the need for educators to review the efficacy of the 9 years compulsory education system especially around the years of Primary 3 and 4 when most of the students from the group seemed to have difficulty to move further by their attainment.

Abstract

Studies of bilingual memory explore how bilingual information is processed and organized by the memory system. Studies of bilingual learning try to analyze how the two languages influence each other in their development. This article attempts to describe the theoretical positions and empirical findings of these two different approaches and stress their similarities and concurrence in their generalization and interpretation of their results.

Abstract

Reflective teaching, of various interpretations, has been increasingly discussed in the literature of teacher education. By employing a hierarchical framework which has integrated essential elements of Van Manen's levels of reflectivity, Biggs and Watkins' conceptions of teaching and learning, and LaBoskey's categories of reflection in teacher education, the study attempted to explore local student teachers' perceptions of teaching and learning in terms of their levels of reflectivity. The investigation consisted of a questionnaire study administered twice to a group of 70 student teachers (57 taking both, 11 only the first, and 2 only the second) who completed teacher-training courses in the former Colleges of Education, and were then taking a full-time B.Ed. programme at the university. Their verbal descriptions of teaching, learning and the inter-relationship were analysed and coded, first based on a prespecified framework of reflectivity, and second, by using indexed key words only. Cluster analysis was applied to the coded data by the second scheme to establish convergence of the two approaches and to reveal group characteristics in verbal responses. Overall, the results have revealed that the majority of subjects, despite their training experience, still held traditional quantitative conceptions of teaching and learning. Furthermore, there was a lack of congruence with regard to the quantitative conceptions of teaching and learning and an interdependence between the two. These results call for a critical re-examination of current approaches to induce more qualitative, reflective understanding of learning and teaching in teacher education programmes.

摘要

反思教學在教師教育的文獻中備受討論，亦有不同的詮釋。本文嘗試結合Van Manen的反思水平、Biggs及Watkins就教與學的感知及LaBoskey對教師教育中的反思分類等理論觀點，來探討本地職前教師對教與學感知的反思水平。本研究採用同一問巷，對共70名職前教師先後進行兩次調查（57位填答兩次，11位只填答第一次，2位只填答第二次）。他們俱已完成教育學院的師範課程，並正在大學修讀全日制教育學士課程。他們所填答對有關教與學以及兩者關係的資料，採用了兩種方式處理：第一種乃基於前述預設的理論架稱分類；第二種利用答案中之關鍵字轉錄，再經過群聚分析，嘗試確立二者之收斂性及填答之典型組別特徵。結果顯示大部分已完成師範訓練的職前教師對教與學仍處於傳統和較量化的理解，而且這種理解與其對教與學之關係缺乏一致性。就這些結果，我們有必要檢視當前教師教育課程中應如何建立對教與學更質化及具反思性的理解。

Abstract

Studies of classroom environments indicate children learn through individual and collaborative interactions with their classroom environment, and through the skilled intervention of teachers. This study explored 70 primary classrooms in Hong Kong in an attempt to determine how the classroom environments supported learning, and what messages were being implicitly sent to pupils about language teaching and learning. Observational records were made of the environmental, self-related and symbolic elements that existed in each classroom. Findings reveal highly structured classroom environments largely devoid of displays, visual stimuli or personalisation. The implicit messages identified relate to teacher control and responsibility for learning, an emphasis on neatness, accuracy and conformity, learning by memorisation, and a devaluing of English and written language in general.

Abstract

In investigating the managers' necessary qualities in making business decisions, Maccoby (1976) found out that there was a disparity in the perceived importance between "qualities of head" and "qualities of heart". "Qualities of head" were perceived as much more important and they led to a greater amount of rewards from business organizations. These qualities are akin to "thinking" (e.g., ability to take the initiative and pride in performance) while "qualities of heart" are aligned with "feeling" (e.g.. sense of humor and generosity). However, there is little systematic research investigating the construct validity of this classification of business qualities. This study refines the measures and cross-validates the constructs by multiple samples and external criteria. The results indicate that the two constructs are distinct and have expected relationships with external criteria. Hong Kong business students also perceive the head qualities as more important. Implications for future research are discussed.

摘要

Maccoby（1976）研究管理人員作商業決策的素質時，指出心和腦的素質在重要性上的偏頗，一般來說腦的素質被認為遠較心的素質重要。所謂腦的素質是指理智方面的能力（例如主動性及以成就為榮的傾向），而心的素質是指感性方面的能力（例如幽默感及慷慨）。但是，過去關於這兩個構念的研究，甚少檢訂其構念效度（construct validity）。本研究以多樣本方法在香港進行這方面的檢訂，我們首先以第一個樣本修正過往的測量項目，然後以另一樣本作確認因素分析及與其他變項關係之檢訂。結果印證了心和腦的素質是兩個相關而獨立的構念，而香港的管理學生同樣著重腦的素質而輕視心的素質。最後，我們討論了這些發現對未來研究的啟示。

Abstract

An important unresolved issue in student evaluation research is how different rating dimensions should be weighted for summative evaluation. This study demonstrated the use of hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis to determine the weights. A model for evaluating the teaching effectiveness of a B.Ed. programme delivered by distance education was hypothesized, which consisted of four first-order factors and one second-order factor. The four first-order factors represented four separate dimensions of the construct Teaching Effectiveness: Student Development; Assessment; Learning Materials; and Face-to-face Component. The second-order factor subsumed all the four dimensions and was treated as a general factor of effective teaching. End-of-semester student ratings were collected by a multifactor rating form. Hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis of the student ratings provided clear support for the a priori model. Ways to compute the weights for the four dimensions based on second-order factor loadings were demonstrated.