Bick Har 林碧霞 Lam

The relationship between conceptions of teaching and approaches to teaching

The relationship between conceptions of teaching and approaches to teaching was explored in a study of 18 secondary school art teachers in Hong Kong. Conceptions of teaching approaches were fitted to a four‐category model. Each of the categories was distinguished by reference to six relevant dimensions. As is the case in higher education, approaches to teaching lower forms, with little pressure from external examinations or school ethos, followed logically from conceptions of teaching. There was also evidence that contextual influences, if they were sufficiently strong, could play a part in teachers’ approaches to teaching in the lower forms. For senior forms, the most marked contextual influence on approaches to teaching came from the external examination syllabus. Of the 13 teachers who taught senior form students, eight reported using approaches to teaching that were significantly different from those they used for lower forms. The remaining four used essentially the same approach for junior and senior forms because these were consistent with the orientation of examinations that measure skill and knowledge acquisition. Finally, the data suggest that both the educational background of the teachers and the banding levels (designation of the school as high or low achieving) of the schools they were teaching in were related to the combined conceptions and approaches. The influence of banding levels could be due either to teachers choosing a type of school consistent with their beliefs or the environment of the school influencing teachers’ beliefs and practices.

Beginning teachers’ job satisfaction: the impact of school-based factors

Using a longitudinal design, the job satisfaction and career development of beginning teachers are explored in the present study. Beginning teachers were initially interviewed after graduation from the teacher training programme and then after gaining a two-year teaching experience. The results are presented in a fourfold typology in which the initial teaching orientation of teachers interacts with the school environment to produce different teaching outlooks. School factors, such as volume of non-teaching workload, equitability in the distribution of work, and professional autonomy, are found to influence the job satisfaction and teaching motivation of teachers significantly.

Curriculum Mapping as Deliberation--Examining the Alignment of Subject Learning Outcomes and Course Curricula.

This article aims to evaluate the alignment between subject learning outcomes (SLOs) that represent the role of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (C&I) and the course curricula documents. Content analysis was conducted to map SLOs in the curricula documents of a set of compulsory courses offered by the department of C&I. A hermeneutic perspective was adopted by four academic staff members who were involved in the mapping process, which considers curriculum scrutiny as an opportunity of reflective dialog. Findings suggest that though SLOs were adequately addressed in courses offered in various programs, the coverage and depth of studying SLOs may differ in different programs, such as Bachelor of Education and Post Graduate Diploma in Education. In this study, curriculum mapping was facilitated by deliberative dialog among participants, which made the mapping exercise a validating professional development activity. Implications are discussed. Recommendations regarding curriculum evaluation and teacher training are similarly suggested.

The Issue of Diversity in the Hong Kong School Curriculum

Two decades after I left teaching primary school for a university career, I observed students and teachers in a mainstream primary school in Hong Kong. There were three main student communities within the school. Those who were labeled extremely low achievers were taught in a small class of not more than 12; these students were taught a curriculum that featured art and play. They appeared to enjoy school life very much. Another group of extremely low academic ability students were taught a curriculum that followed the mainstream. This group had adjustment problems that resulted in emotional reactions and frustrations. The final group were the low academic ability students who were integrated into a larger class with the average students. This small group behaved aggressively and constantly created disruptions and discipline problems. My observation of this school has updated my understanding of students, teachers, and the school environment after 20 years. My reflections do not focus on a comparison of the past and present, but they do relate the past to the experience of my return to school. I want to share the lessons I learned from Hong Kong education, from studying some generic problems that have existed in our culture over a period of time. I hope the discussion can stimulate readers from different countries to reflect on situations of their own at a time when student learning and learner diversities are paramount in the call for curriculum reform.

Challenges Beginning Teachers Face in Hong Kong.

By conducting in-depth interviews with new teachers who are about to become full-time teachers and then reinterviewing them two years later, the author of this article presents how beginning teachers think and feel about teaching and describes the challenges they face as beginning teachers in the context of Hong Kong. The stories of the teachers, as revealed by the interviews, suggest that changing educational ideals, school leaders’ management style, and workload issues are some of the important challenges faced by beginning teachers. A short review of work on effective school research and school leadership suggests how school leaders can create an environment that is conducive to teachers’ professional development.

A Reflective Account of a Preservice Teacher's Effort to Implement a Progressive Curriculum in Field Practice.

This essay presents a reflective account of a preservice teacher’s experience in her fieldwork practice. The author, a professor in the preservice teacher’s education institute, acted as a critical friend and joined in the reflection as an equal. Based on the voices of the preservice teacher and a group of primary teachers, this essay presents a genuine description of the participants’ story. It tells about the preservice teacher’s progressive educational beliefs in the implementation of project learning: catering to diversities, adopting authentic learning methods, and promoting cooperative learning. The in-service teachers rejected this progressive pedagogy, dismissing it as too playful and undefined, and they suggested that it creates classroom discipline problems. The author connects this teacher’s experience to the specific areas that provide necessary conditions for reform: teacher professionalism, professional knowledge, and the organizational structure of schools.

Formative Feedback as a Global Facilitator: Impact on Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation and Positive Affect

This chapter seeks to examine how formative feedback shapes students’ motivation and positive emotions in the higher education setting. We propose that formative feedback has a central role to play in fostering students’ motivation toward their learning, in that it does not only directly impact their motivation toward the courses where formative feedback practices are present, but also foster their overall motivational tendencies, through the promotion of positive emotions. Looking at a formative feedback project in a HK higher education institution, the current chapter reports a quasi-experiment to investigate the impacts of theoretically derived formative feedback practices on students’ extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and their positive emotions experienced during the courses in which the practices were put forth. The research’s findings suggested that formative feedback leads to increases in intrinsic motivation to attend the courses and students’ overall positive emotions. It also exerts a ‘protecting’ effect on their extrinsic motivation to attend the courses. Implications of these results are discussed. The impact of this study, especially on its contribution to scholarship of learning and teaching (SoLT), is discussed.

Constructing Formative Assessment Strategies

For years, formative assessment has been a popular topic for educational reforms across the globe. This form of assessment demands high level of student participation and teachers’ continuous feedback during and after instruction time and is recommended as a useful means of learning for students in both the schools and higher education institutions in the twenty-first century. The current chapter discusses the underpinnings of formative assessment, being a newly promoted assessment concept in the education literature. It explores the main theories in formative assessment and its relationships with student motivation and self-regulated learning. The chapter further discusses exemplar formative feedback practices derived from this body of the literature, and they are research-based practices applicable to different classroom settings. Suggestions are made to recognize formative assessment as an important strategy of reforming education; this echoes the ideas of scholarship of learning and teaching (SoLT) in promoting professional learning for improving student learning.

Learning and Teaching in the Chinese Classroom: Responding to Individual Needs

This book provides an essential starting point for understanding the contexts of learning and teaching in the Chinese classroom. Drawing upon recent research in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and China, the book will bridges the gap between traditional texts on educational psychology and the unique nature of the Chinese learner and their teacher.