Ming-tak Hue

Preliminary outcomes of a mindfulness-based programme for Hong Kong adolescents in schools: well-being, stress and depressive symptoms

Mindfulness-based intervention with adults has been found to be highly effective and as such it has been the subject of much research in the past few decades. However, the study of mindfulness-based approaches with adolescents, especially in the Asian context, is still under-explored. This paper reports findings from a pilot controlled trial assessing preliminary outcomes of a mindfulness-based programme in schools in Hong Kong. Fourteen to 16-year-old adolescents with low academic performance from two secondary schools were invited to take part in intervention and control groups (n = 48). It was hypothesised that a six-week mindfulness-based programme would increase well-being, reduce stress and symptoms of depression. Well-being, stress and depressive symptoms of both intervention and control groups were assessed at baseline and post-intervention. The findings showed that there was a significant decrease in symptoms of depression and a significant increase in one dimension of well-being among both groups. Qualitative data reflected that the mindfulness programme was beneficial and feasible to adolescents at schools. The results support conducting a randomised controlled trial with a larger sample and a long term follow-up.

Creation of culturally responsive classrooms: teachers’ conceptualization of a new rationale for cultural responsiveness and management of diversity in Hong Kong secondary schools

Presently, there are a growing number of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong schools. This article examines teachers’ views of the cross-cultural experience of ethnic minority students, their influence on the performance of these students, and how the diverse learning needs of these students are being addressed. Qualitative data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 32 teachers from three secondary schools. This study shows that teachers struggle to conceptualize a new rationale for responding to cultural diversity. They develop a sense of intercultural sensitivity, promote cultural responsiveness to diversity, and strengthen the home–school connection. This article argues that, like students, teachers simultaneously engage in a cross-cultural process through which they learn the culture of ethnic minority students, relearn their own culture and reexamine the relevant rationale underlying cultural responsiveness. Finally, a framework for the creation of culturally responsive classrooms, based upon the teachers’ new rationale of cultural responsiveness, is proposed.

Researching Ethnic Minority Students in a Chinese Context: Mixed Methods Design for Cross Cultural Understandings.

Research on and with ethnic minority students is characterised by a growing international literature that privileges ‘liberal multiculturalism’ as a lens through which to understand their experiences, yet ethnic diversity is constructed and responded to in many societies that are not underpinned by liberal democratic values. In this paper we use Joppkes binary to show how researching ethnic minority students outside of a liberal democratic framework requires methodologies that enable researchers to see beyond the invisibility that is often attached to ethnic minorities. We show how invisibility (i.e. antidiscrimination) can also be further culturally constructed, confounding even more any broader multicultural project. We canvass four broad areas including the role of legally binding legislation that seeks to prohibit racism, the views of policymakers attempting to implement policy consistent with the legislation and the views of teachers about their roles in supporting ethnic minority students.

Cross-cultural experiences of immigrant students from Mainland China in Hong Kong secondary schools

Many schools in Hong Kong are concerned with the growing number of enrolments of students from Mainland China. This article examines the immigrant students’ constructs of their cross-cultural identities. It reveals how these students experience a journey of transformation in language, culture and identity. Qualitative data were collected from unstructured interviews with 12 immigrant students from Mainland China from six secondary schools. Two cases which are representative of the sample are reported. The study showed the transformation of the cross-cultural identities of these students, in the process of which they adopted the new culture into their lives and made it their reality while they still strongly connected part of their identity to their Mainland Chinese background. Despite some negative experiences of adaptation, they adopted a meritocratic approach to making sense of their cross-cultural experience. It was used as a form of agency to overcome, or at least ameliorate, feelings of discrimination, loss of cultural support and being immigrants in the ‘new’ society of Hong Kong. Lastly, two implications for the promotion of education for immigrant students will be discussed at school and legal levels.

The influence of Confucianism: a narrative study of Hong Kong teachers’ understanding and practices of school guidance and counselling

ABSTRACT School guidance seeks to promote the whole person growth of students. It is regarded as an integral part of an educational programme. In Hong Kong secondary schools, a team of teachers are responsible for school guidance. This article examines how guidance teachers made sense of their caring work in general and specifically the counselling services they offered to students. With the use of a narrative analysis and personal experience methods, the study explores the experience of guidance teachers in counselling. Twelve in-service teachers who had enrolled in the Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme at the Hong Kong Institute of Education were interviewed. The influence of the Chinese philosophy of Confucianism, emerging as a theme from the data, was prominent, as its key principles were incorporated into the teachers’ personal systems of counselling. The findings illuminate the influence of Chinese culture in Hong Kong schools. Implications for the promotion of culturally responsive approaches to counselling and culturally competent practices for helping are discussed.

Promoting cultural responsiveness: teachers’ constructs of an assessment classroom environment for ethnic minority students in Hong Kong secondary schools

Many Hong Kong schools are concerned about how diverse learning needs of ethnic minority students could be better fulfilled. This study examines local teachers’ constructs of assessment classroom environments. Using qualitative data collected from semi-structured interviews with 32 teachers from three secondary schools, this study shows ways in which summative assessment influences teachers’ formative assessment practices. Cultural responsiveness in this study is not limited to the notion of multiculturalism. It can be constructed under the ethos of respect, care and equality. The culturally responsive approach to assessment described in this study foregrounds considerations of cultural influence in teachers’ beliefs regarding assessment. Principles of culturally responsive assessment identified include: (i) integrating the ‘part’ of assessment with the ‘whole’ of teaching, (ii) managing the diverse learning needs of students, (iii) removing language barriers from the assessment process and (iv) examining the influence of the public examination on teachers’ classroom assessment practice.

Promoting well-being and preventing burnout in teacher education: a pilot study of a mindfulness-based programme for pre-service teachers in Hong Kong

The stress that negatively affects teachers has been found to influence the turnover rate in the teaching profession. Recent research has shown that mindfulness-based programmes effectively promote well-being while addressing psychological distress. In this study, the authors investigated the effects of a six-week mindfulness-based programme on pre-service teachers in Hong Kong (N = 70). The authors hypothesised that a six-week mindfulness-based programme would increase mindfulness and well-being while reducing stress and symptoms of depression. Both intervention and control groups were assessed at baseline and post-intervention. A univariate analysis revealed a significant increase in mindfulness and well-being. A regression analysis indicated that mindfulness was a significant predictor of well-being, stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Qualitative data reflected that the mindfulness programme was beneficial to and feasible for pre-service teachers. Such a programme could be implemented in teaching education to promote well-being and stress management while preventing burnout among teaching professionals.

Inclusion Practices with Special Educational Needs Students in a Hong Kong Secondary School: Teachers' Narratives from a School Guidance Perspective.

Schools in Hong Kong are concerned about the growing enrolments of students with special educational needs (SEN) and how these students could be included in school guidance. This study examines teachers’ narratives of the inclusivity of school guidance. The study was qualitative, being a case study of a Hong Kong secondary school. School documents were collected for textual analysis and semi-structured interviews with 13 teachers were conducted, including nine guidance teachers and four other teachers who worked closely with these guidance teachers. Four dimensions for the inclusivity of school guidance were identified: the development of inclusive practices of guidance, the adoption of a proactive approach, the promotion of inclusive discipline, and the clear definition of the partnership between school guidance and professional organization offering specialised services for students with SEN. The study provides insights into contextual influences of Hong Kong education on school guidance and the development of an inclusive approach to guidance.

The Challenges of Making School Guidance Culturally Responsive: Narratives of Pastoral Needs of Ethnic Minority Students in Hong Kong Secondary Schools.

Many Hong Kong schools are concerned about the growing number of ethnic minority students. How they are supported and how the diversity of their pastoral needs is fulfilled become critical. This article examines teachers’, students’ and parents’ narratives of the cross‐cultural experience of ethnic minority students from India, Pakistan, Philippines, Nepal and Thailand, and the diversity of those students’ pastoral needs. The qualitative data were collected from interviews, through which the constructs of 32 teachers and 32 students from three secondary schools were explored. Four groups of focus‐group interviews were conducted, in which 15 parents were involved. This article argues that to implement the ethos of caring, it is not only necessary for the school to promote the intercultural sensitivity of all practitioners, but equally important to develop a connected school system where ethnic minority students and parents can be consistently supported in the subsystems of classroom, school and home.

The relationships between school guidance and discipline: critical contrasts in two Hong Kong secondary schools

Hong Kong secondary schools have difficulty in integrating guidance, or counselling, and discipline into schooling. In some schools, discipline is overdeveloped while guidance is underdeveloped. The positive aspect of the caring system is distorted as part of the provision of discipline. This article looks at the distinction between guidance and discipline, and deals with what relatively little is known about in current research, that is, how guidance and discipline function within a school organization. It uses the perspectives of interactionism and social constructionism to contrast the relationship between guidance and discipline in two Hong Kong secondary schools. It employs case study and qualitative methods for data collection. Data for the two schools show that the contextual and organizational factors have a profound impact on the connectedness between guidance and discipline at the three levels of whole school, department and classroom. Finally, the implications for their implementation and integration will be given.