Abstract

The problem of teachers’ “learning to teach” is discussed in the context of teacher knowledge, modes of knowing, and the theory-practice dichotomy. It is contended that in valuing narrative and practical knowledge, teacher narratives capture the complexities of teachers’ school and classroom experiences and are important in teacher development. The narrative therapy approach provides a perspective for conceptualizing teacher education, which acknowledges that teacher changes and development occur when personal and professional identities are recognized as being inextricably linked in the retelling and rewriting of teacher narratives.

Keywords: teacher education; teacher development; narrative therapy; Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper investigates the link between parents’ physical activity and their children’s physical activity participation. Psychological factors of both parents and children were examined to determine how parental factors affected children’s corresponding constructs. A total of 748 children (430 girls, 318 boys) and their parents were examined. The questionnaire was designed in two parts, one for the parents and one for the children. Correlations and path analysis were conducted. Results suggest that parental experiences and attitudes towards physical activity are significantly but weakly associated with children’s physical activity involvement. In the final model, child-perceived family environment and gender were found the most influential factors in shaping children’s physical activity participation. The final model accounted for 19.7 % of the variance of children’s physical activity participation. The standardized coefficients for the paths from children’s attitudes, child-perceived family environment and child’s gender to children’s physical activity level were .13, .27 and .31 respectively. All parental factors exerted their respective influences to children’s physical activity behaviour through children’s attitude and child-perceived family environment.

Keywords: parental influence; children’s physical activity

Abstract

A survey was conducted to examine the effect of teacher expectation of higher disciplinary problems on predicting stress among Hong Kong secondary school teachers. Questionnaires were completed by 187 teachers from 14 secondary schools. The results show that teacher expectation of higher disciplinary problems could be a major predictor of stress. Compared with teachers from band 1 schools, teachers from band 3 schools reported higher level of teacher stress, greater number of disruptive students in class, higher teacher expectation of more disciplinary problems in the beginning of the term, and more time spent on classroom management. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses demonstrated that teacher expectation of a higher level of disciplinary problems predict teacher stress after controlling for school banding and actual disruptive situation in classroom. The findings from our study suggest that how teachers cognitively construe the working environment could substantially influence occupational stress above and beyond the actual working environment. “What teacher expects” might be an important factor to consider when examining teacher stress. Recommendations on alleviating teacher stress were made.

Keywords: teacher expectation; disruptive classroom situation; school banding; stress

Abstract

In this evaluation exercise, I would like to investigate how public art museums in Hong Kong use their collections to stimulate and motivate students to learn through artifact study. Five galleries with permanent display of artifacts in the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Hong Kong Heritage Museum were selected as testing places in this research. Pre- and post-visit questionnaires were designed for individual gallery to assess to what extent the students in this study could be stimulated and motivated to learn through visiting the five galleries. In-depth interviews in the form of focus group discussion were followed up in order to find out how these students learnt from studying of artifact inside museums. From the opinions expressed in the questionnaires and during the focus group discussion session, it was found that these students had definitely learnt something new from their museum visit. However, by comparing the results of the pre- and post-visit questionnaires, evidence of improved learning experience was not obvious, especially for the three galleries inside the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

Keywords: artifact study; museum education; evaluation

摘要

社會資本的議論在社會學、經濟學及教育學均漸受關注，社會資本的創造更成為解決社會問題及改善教育的良方。可是，不同學者對社會資本有不同的理解，本研究嘗試應用社群主義的觀點，檢視社會資本的概念及社會資本的創造與功能。研究樣本為參與HK-PISA預試的學校共31所，分析資料來自學生問卷1,067份及家長問卷1,061份。按照社群主義的觀點，社會資本對個人及社會均具有正面的效應。根據PISA預試數據，可初步引證這理論的真確性。本研究採用因素分析及迴歸分析。初步分析結果顯示三個類型的社會資本與學生學業成效呈不同的相關性，而兩者間的相關性不一定正面。

關鍵詞：社會資本；社群主義；家校合作

Abstract

The discourse of social capital has fueled a growing interest in the field of sociology, economics and education as one of the strategies to solve a number of socioeconomic problems and to enhance children’s education. However, it appears that the meaning of “social capital” varies with people. This paper attempts to clarify the meaning and generation of social capital from a communitarians’ perspective. Data for this study were collected from the trial study of a larger international project called PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), which was conducted in 2001. A total of 1,067 fifteen-year-old students from 31 Hong Kong secondary schools completed student assessment in reading, mathematics and science. A total of 1,061 parents also completed parent questionnaires. Factor analysis and regression analysis are used in this paper. The study identified three forms of social capital and different forms of social capital have different association with student academic achievement; however, the association is not always positive.

摘要

本研究發現，香港和內地中學生在偶像選擇中均存在某種「同性認同趨向」，這一趨向尤以香港中學女生對女明星偶像的提名和內地中學男生對男性傑出人物的提名為代表。本研究還發現，隨著年齡的增長，香港中學生對明星偶像的選擇絲毫無減，而內地中學生則越來越趨於選擇傑出人物偶像。筆者為以為，偶像商品化程度的高低是其根本原因。

關鍵詞：偶像崇拜；青少年偶像崇拜

Abstract

The present study discovers that there exists a “same sex identification tendency” in selection of idols among high school students in both Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland. This is particularly characterized by Hong Kong female students’ selection of female idols and by Mainland male students’ selection of male idols. This shows a strong identification effect in adolescent idol worship. In addition, as age increased, Hong Kong students showed insignificant difference in their overwhelming selection of star idols while Mainland students selected significantly more luminary idols. This may be attributed to a high degree of commercialization of star idols in Hong Kong and a low degree of commercialization of star idols in the Chinese Mainland.

摘要

本研究指出，香港和澳門的教師比北京、上海、台北（台北僅作參考）教師的上課工作量幾乎多出一半並且需要多關注二至三成的學生，只是其工作負荷差異的表面現象；值得整個社會關注的，是不同的工作負荷制約了港澳教師和京滬台教師在教學與專業發展上不同的時間分配結構，從而影響到港澳教師的教學方式相對更被動和京滬台教師的教學方式相對更主動。結論是，教師的專業成長需要持續的學習和交流，適當的自由時間是教師專業學習與成長的必要條件，而自由時間的價值又只能夠被那些不斷追求專業發展的教師所創造。

關鍵詞：教師專業發展；教師教育政策；比較教育

Abstract

This study is concerned with teachers’ work lives in the global climate of educational changes, under which teachers in Macau and Hong Kong have been confronting challenges shared by teachers elsewhere with comparability in culture and socio-economic climate. The study has primarily confirmed that teaching hours for teachers in Hong Kong and Macau tend to double those of their counterparts in Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei (for reference only), with student numbers amounting to over 120% more. Approaches to time use in different cities can be identified as of active and passive modes, constituting facets of how time itself is interpreted due to structural environment. Findings from the study powerfully invite a re-consideration of teachers’ free time to engage in activities for professional development, and that should not merely be a policy matter. It is critical that teachers’ needs for professional learning be confronted by teachers themselves through their creation of learning space in the teaching profession.