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This paper was inspired by three important concerns in higher education, namely, changes in higher education curricula (Bourner, 2004), concept of a fully functioning university (Bourner, 2008), and nature of education, such a university offers (Bourner, Heath, & Rospigliosi, 2013). To prepare university graduates for the unpredictable changes and diversified needs of a fast-growing world, the authors explore the use of narrative knowing in designing a student-centered curriculum. This paper reports the learning achieved by students when a Hong Kong university applies the under-developed narrative pedagogy in teaching and learning.

Consequences of competition for global university rankings, such as changes in funding modes, have been extensively discussed in the field of higher education. However, few studies have reviewed its implications on knowledge production. This study provides a contextualised method for theorising the implications of this competition on the development of East Asian higher education, specifically teacher education. It identifies the new forms of knowledge being produced in two teacher education institutions in Hong Kong and Macau by reviewing the publications of new recruits in a five-year period. The study considers the following variables: author(s), date and form of publication, abstract, title, keywords, journal name, language, data source, research context and methods. The findings show that the dominant publication trends are towards quantitative research and multiple authors. Psychological research is the most popular area and studies of other long-term issues in teacher education are being marginalised.

This paper reports a case study of four project schools in the primary school context of Hong Kong. It has investigated how teachers who were assigned subject panel head's and curriculum leader's roles perceived the student assessment reform and how they experimented with new assessment strategies in the school policy and classroom practice. The major focus of the paper lies on how these teacher leaders expressed their understanding of student assessment reform in classroom practice. The main discussion of findings shows the perception of these teacher leaders on student assessment reform, how they put their ideas of formative assessment into practice, and in addition, the challenges they faced in the reform process.

Hong Kong is seeking to increase the use of "assessment for learning" rather than rely on "assessment of learning" through summative examinations. Nearly 300 teachers from 14 primary and secondary schools answered a Chinese translation of the Teachers' Conceptions of Assessment inventory and a new Practices of Assessment Inventory. Structural equation modelling showed that there was clear alignment between conceptions and practices. Further, there were significant differences in the conceptions of assessment held by Hong Kong teachers as compared to New Zealand and Queensland teachers. This sample of Hong Kong teachers strongly associated (r = 0.91) using assessment to improve teaching and learning with making students accountable through assessment, which, in turn, led to a strong use of examination preparation practices (beta = 0.43). Hong Kong teachers believed learning outcomes were improved by using assessments to make students accountable and by preparing them for examinations. These results suggest that broader Chinese cultural norms concerning examinations are part of school culture and may provide barriers for the assessment reform agenda in Hong Kong and other Confucian societies. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)

This study sought to explore the teaching practices of lecturers within one department of a university-level institute of education in Hong Kong. A sample of 19 teachers were interviewed in the study. Short interview schedules were designed to elicit teachers' descriptions of how they taught and the thinking behind their pedagogical practices. A collaborative and developmental approach to the analysis of the interview data was adopted. As a result of the approach to data analysis adopted, five themes were identified and are described in this paper. These are: (1) eclectic teaching and learning strategies; (2) sensitivity towards student needs; (3) theory-based instruction; (4) using student feedback as a pedagogical instrument; and (5) showing professional commitment and passion. This study has identified teaching practices within an education department that are consistent with the characteristics of good teachers and good teaching identified in previous studies. However, the findings go beyond this and extend the understanding of the particular way in which these characteristics may be instantiated in the particular case of teachers educators in Hong Kong. (Contains 1 table.)

In this article, the authors argue that no matter how well a reform is conceptualized and planned, it is in the frontline schools and classrooms that the reform goals and strategies are tried out, reflected on, and refined. This article reports on a study of reforms that were carried out in one local primary school in Hong Kong. The study seeks to learn from the experiences of the teachers and principal about the challenges and dynamics of the reform process in the school by attending closely to their everyday stories and experiences from the field. In the study, the authors adapted a narrative inquiry methodology. In the background of the study, they discuss the changing school context and changing social context. They also discuss the principal's story of reform, the teacher's story of reform, and teachers' practice in the reform context, as well as learning for education reform in schools. (Contains 1 figure and 3 endnotes.)

This study outlines the perceptions of school leaders regarding the New Senior Secondary Curriculum in Hong Kong. It illustrates the diversity of perceptions and responses of school leaders in terms of the purposes of the reforms, challenges to be faced, and strategies for implementing the reform. The findings suggest that school leaders' perceptions and responses are varied because of the different agendas and cultures of individual schools. This paper argues that planners need to avoid over-prescription in designing a new curriculum so as to allow schools scope to take account of their own characteristics and readiness when implementing the reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Action research facilitates professional development (Stenhouse, 1975). Facilitating teachers to learn from their own experience and improve their practice by action research is an important means to teacher empowerment and autonomy (Ebbutt & Elliott, 1985; McKernan, 1991). The idea of action research, however, has never been well-received in Hong Kong (Kwan, 1993), nor is the idea explicitly supported as a sound practice for practitioners in the local context by officials and administrators until very recently (Board of Education, 1997). The article tries to construct a comprehensive explanation for the lack of action research in Hong Kong, identifying and explaining the contributing factors. These negative elements are interrelated and operate ecologically in the education system. The authors conceive four levels of barrier, namely, policy, system, professional and individual, with nine major types of possible restrictions. These possible restrictions include, for example, the legacy of colonial administration (Morris & Marsh, 1992), oriental cultural factors (Cheng, 1990; Bond, 1991) and epistemological restrictions (Kincheloe, 1991). It is argued that if the lack of action research is properly understood, relevant and genuine support can be given to practitioners to carry out action research and school-based reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]