Abstract

This paper reports on a three-week on-campus residential program organized by the Faculty of Education of The Chinese University of Hong Kong for 38 elite Guangdong English teachers from mainland China. The background of the program, followed by aims of the program as well as program activities and components will first be described. Next, participants’ feedback on the program in the form of a questionnaire will be presented. Benefits from the program as perceived by the participants regarding ESL teaching approaches, school visits and classroom observations, development of school-based English language curriculum, adaptation and development of teaching/learning materials as well as educational practices in Hong Kong are discussed. The paper concludes with possible ways to sustain and expand the professional learning community among the Guangdong teachers themselves and with teachers in Hong Kong as suggested by the participants.

Keywords: ESL professional learning community; training program for Guangdong teachers of English; professional development

Abstract

Introduction of Putonghua learning to the Hong Kong school curriculum began in 1984. There have been many discussions on Putonghua curriculum, material development and on teaching methodology, but to date, little research has been carried out on how students learn Putonghua. This survey focuses on the Putonghua learning strategies of Hong Kong students from three schools. More than five hundred Form 1 students are included in this project. Questionnaire is used in the survey. Survey of Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (Oxford 1990) has been adapted and translated into Chinese. The findings show that the average of strategy use falls in the medium range. Three categorical strategies used frequently by Hong Kong Putonghua learners are identified: compensative, metacognitive and affective. Focus group interviews are also conducted to validate the findings. Implications to Putonghua instruction are discussed.

Keywords: Putonghua; language learning strategies; learner autonomy

Abstract

Of increasing interest to the educational assessment researchers is the role of educational assessment practices on student achievement-related outcomes (Black & Wiliam, 1998). By their inherent nature, the data collected in this line of research are hierarchically structured in that students are nested within classes. As might be expected, not considering the nested nature of the data in the educational assessment research may lead to invalid inferences about the relationship between educational assessment and student motivation and achievement. As a means of drawing valid inferences from hierarchically structured data, this paper highlights the utility and applicability of hierarchical linear modeling techniques in the educational assessment research. These techniques not only facilitate a decomposition of the relationship between the variables into separate student-level and class-level components, but also recognize the dependence among the outcomes of students within the same class (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002). This dependence may arise as a result of shared students’ experiences with regard to the teacher’s assessment practices. This paper discusses the necessity for using these techniques in the educational assessment research in order to validate inferences and further research agenda in this area.

Keywords: Hierarchical Linear Models; educational assessment research; data analysis

Abstract

This paper describes the role of a synergistic professional development model in developing networks of practitioners among teacher-leaders to support schools’ curriculum innovation efforts. The subjects were 38 teachers from various Singapore schools, invited as research activists (RAs) and attached to the Curriculum Policy and Pedagogy Unit (CPPU) at the Ministry of Education (MOE) for two days a week over 40 weeks to carry out an action research study on their school-based curriculum innovation (SCI) project. In the course of designing and implementing their SCIs, the RAs developed close networks among themselves and built collaborative relationship with curriculum partners from MOE and various educational institutions. The paper discusses the enabling processes provided by the ground-up initiatives from schools and the top-down support from MOE, in which professional networks of practitioners emerged organically. The RAs cascaded similar support to their colleagues back in schools, sharing knowledge to sustain and scale-up school-based curriculum. The study also highlighted ways where professional networks could engage other stakeholders to multiply good teaching practices in Singapore schools.

Keywords: practitioner networks; school-based curriculum innovation; teacher engagement

Abstract

This article reviews the role of reforms in student loans policies in contributing to the expansion of higher education in Korea from a historical perspective. Since the end of the Korean War in 1950, the development of Korea’s loan system has occurred at a dramatic pace concurrent with the rapid expansion of Korean higher education. The major features of the reforms are as follows: (1) 1950s to early 1980s: Interest-free student loans; (2) 1985–2005: Subsidized interest rates loans scheme; (3) 2005–present: Student loans-backed securities scheme (SLBS); and (4) 2010: Income contingent loans as a supplement to SLBS. The driving forces behind these reforms were social pressures to increase affordability of higher education for all, and the need to secure a sustainable funding mechanism corresponding to the increase in student loans. Although the loans policy was instrumental in expanding higher education in Korea, its effect was mediated by various factors such as the relationship between the funding structure of higher education and private higher education institutions (HEIs), the regulation on university establishment and deregulation of student quota, education fever, and economic conditions. The Korean case demonstrates the complicated dynamics between reforms in the student loans system and expansion of higher education in Korea.

Keywords: student loans policy; higher education expansion; Korea

摘要

香港教育統籌局增撥資源，讓學校進行通識教育科分組授課，同時容許學校按本身的情況靈活運用資源。本研究關注，通識教育科科主任作為前線的決策和執行者，是如何實施分組授課的。研究結果顯示，通識科科主任對學校內分組授課扮演著重要的角色。科主任對政策的理解，與政策制定者的原意有一定的差異；他們對政策的落實和執行，可施行自由裁量權；他們自行發展折衷方案，以尋找方案實施個人所理解的政策。可見，通識教育科主任具備「街頭官僚」的特色。

關鍵詞：通識教育科；街頭官僚；課程決策

Abstract

The Hong Kong Education Bureau provides additional resources for schools to execute teaching in groups in Liberal Studies. Meanwhile, it allows schools to operate with flexibility in respect to individual school situation. This research focuses on how panels of Liberal Studies, as frontline decision makers and executors, implement small group teaching. The research findings show the panels of Liberal Studies play an important role. In details, they may have different understandings from the intents of policy makers; they may hold the power to judge freely when implementing and executing the policy; and, they may develop accommodating plans to implement their perceived policy. Obviously, Liberal Studies panels own features of “street-level bureaucrats”.