Purpose. In 1995, the Government of Hong Kong amalgamated six independent, Government sponsored Colleges of Education, which offered Certificate in Education courses, into the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The remit of the newly-formed, autonomous Institute was to attain university status and to upgrade courses to degree and post-degree level. Many of the existing staff remained with the newly-formed institute while a recruitment drive resulted in an increase in international lecturing staff. This study results from action research, undertaken by the author, to develop pedagogy suitable for both the international lecturing staff and the Chinese student teachers. The research set out to take advantage of the diverse backgrounds of the lecturing staff. Of the various pedagogic strategies employed by lecturing staff, the Total Quality Management (TQM) approach emerged as the most effective, promoting as it does a way for the students to plumb co-operatively the often difficult depths of what they are studying, as well as motivating them in their chosen career. The stringent examination system in Hong Kong, the lack of university places and the economic situation all play their part in determining the student population in the Institute of Education where students whose first choice is to enter the teaching profession could well be outnumbered by those who consider themselves without more attractive alternatives. In addition, the lecturing staff from overseas became aware of the Chinese culture of 'Shame’ among their students - the students who had failed were castigated and further marginalized by their family and friends. It was hoped that the employment of a TQM approach through the use of Quality Learning Teams would help to combat this 'shame' and, hopefully, increase the self-confidence of these 'shamed' students. The project's aim was to introduce and role-model a different pedagogic practice and to utilise constructivist-based pedagogy so that two major outcomes could be measured: (1) that student teachers would become active and confident learners who would themselves challenge their own pupils and (2) that colleagues outside the project could observe the usefulness of this alternative pedagogy and make use of the innovation in their own lecture rooms. This involved investigation of diverse aspects of teaching and learning. Research on individual areas has been quite extensive, but little research has been done in this particular area with regard to student teachers in Hong Kong and it is, therefore, the purpose of this study to add to existing knowledge, with specific emphasis on Quality Learning Teams. The rationale for the study was, on the one hand, the Hong Kong Special Administration (HKSAR) Government Educational Reforms, but also - and more importantly for the lecturers concerned - the search for a means to inculcate a culture of co-operative learning within the student-teacher body, as well as a means for international lecturing staff to create an effective pedagogy, utilizing both mother tongue and English as languages of instruction. Major Findings. The findings of the study indicated that student learning was enhanced by using Quality Learning Teams. This was demonstrated by the overall module results which showed higher module grades for the groups who were subjected to the innovative pedagogy than for those groups who were subjected to the normal 'traditional' pedagogy. Student self-esteem, self-confidence, trust in peers, and a work ethos of self-sufficiency developed amongst the majority of student teachers. Language skills were enhanced and strategies for learning were improved. It is hoped that the results of this study will assist in the future planning of courses in the education of student-teachers and in creating a more 'risk-taking' culture within the lecturing staff at the Institute.

No description available.

Thesis (MEd (Literacy and Language Education)) --University of South Australia, 1994

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 45-48).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references.

The InterdIsciplInary and exploratory nature of thIs thesis has made It difficult to write. The thesIs is InterdIscIplinary in the sense that it touches on a number of broad areas of study. The methodology which was adopted, In partIcular the use of content analysis and of certaIn statIstical processes rests on a knowledge of psychology. The category system which is made up of a number of types of hIstory could only be constructed after an extensIve consideration of the nature of history. The discussIon of the case for and agaInst the current syllabus,and the proposal for a new alternative syllabus at '0' and 'A' level (see Chapters 13 and 14), draws mainly on an understanding of the theoretical debates about the teaching of history which have occurred since the Second World War. FInally throughout the thesis references are made to the evidence and Ideas put forward by historians about particular periods of history. The thesis Is also exploratory.· The findings which are reported arise from the use of a category system drawing on the different types of history developed by hIstorians. No other researchuhas attempted to create such a broad category system, to assess Its valIdIty and reliability and then to employ It to code material dealinq with extensive periods of British and European history. At the same time the arguments, whIch are employed to defend and to attack the existinq syllabus (see Chapter 13), and to construct the outlines of a new syllabus (see Chapter 14), had to be created almost ab initio, since the dominance of particular types of history. both at university and school level. has not been debated extensively. either by historians. or by those writers. who discuss the teaching o f h·I story. These two asoects of the thesis have had a number of reoercussions. First of all vast topics have had to be discussed in a cursory fashion. For example all the arguments for the inclusion or exclusion of oartlcular types of history in the category system had to be reviewed in one chapter. a few pages being devoted to each of the types of history. Secondly maior themes and arguments relating to the nature of history. and to history teachinQ. have had to be exemplified with disturbing brevity. Thus the debate over the impact of oarticular types of history on the community(l) had to be illustrated by a small number of examples when the whole thesis could have been devoted to the discussion. Thirdly. and finally. the wide ranging nature of the thesis has made it impossible to conduct the exhaustive study of every aspect of the subject which would have been appropriate had the topic been more narrowly defined. However. despite these disadvantages. it is to be hoped that this interdisciplinary and exploratory study will throw light on a vital area of the history syllabus in schools.

Abstract not available

The attainment of high grades on the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) is critical to the future study and employment prospects of many Australian adolescents. Thus it is important to understand the factors that contribute to performance in the VCE. The aims of this study were twofold: the main aim was to test competing models of academic performance, subsuming a range of situational and dispositional variables based on a) self-efficacy theory, b) target and purpose goals, c) cognitive skills and self-regulatory strategies, and d) positive psychology. These models were each tested in terms of English performance and mathematics performance as these units contribute proportionally the most to overall VCE scores. In order to study whether pressures peculiar to the VCE impact on performance, the competing models were tested in a sample of Victorian students prior to the VCE (year 10) and then during the VCE (year 11). A preliminary study was conducted in order to develop and test four scales required for use in the major study, using an independent sample of 302 year nine students. The results indicated that these new scales were psychometrically reliable and valid. Three-hundred and seven Australian students participated in the year 10 and 11 study. These students were successively asked to provide their final years 9, 10 and 11 English and mathematics grades at times one, three and five and to complete a series of questionnaires at times two and four. Results of the year 10 study indicated that models based on self-efficacy theory were the best predictors of both English and mathematics performance, with high past grades, high self-efficacy and low anxiety contributing most to performance. While the year 10 self-efficacy models, target goal models, positive psychology models, self-regulatory models and cognitive skill based models were each robust in the sample in year 11, a substantial increase in explained variance was observed from year 10 to year 11 in the purpose goal models. Results indicated that students’ mastery goals and their performance-approach goals became substantially more predictive in the VCE than they were prior to the VCE. This result can be taken to suggest that these students responded in very instrumental ways to the pressures, and importance, of their VCE. An integrated model based on a combination of the variables from the competing models was also tested in the VCE. Results showed that these models were comparable, both in English and mathematics, to the self-efficacy models, but explained less variance than the purpose goal models. Thus in terms of parsimony the integrated models were not preferred. The implications of these results in terms of teaching practices and school counseling practices are discussed. It is recommended that students be encouraged to maintain a positive outlook in relation to their schoolwork and that they be encouraged to set their VCE goals in terms of a combination of self-referenced (mastery) and other-referenced (performance-approach) goals.

This study examines whether recent changes to the mathematics courses offered in the final year of secondary school (Year 12) in the state of Victoria, Australia have affected the learning outcomes of students in terms of then: skill levels in algebra, calculus and problem solving; and in terms of their preparation for a tertiary mathematics unit. The impact of these changes on the transition from secondary to tertiary mathematics is also considered. A comparison is made between students who attempted a first year mathematics unit at the University of Melbourne (U. of M.) having completed the new V.C.E. (Victorian Certificate of Education) mathematics courses and mathematics courses from the previous H.S.C. (Higher School Certificate) system. The comparison involves the use of tests administered upon entrance to a tertiary mathematics unit at the U. of M., and questionnaires. In 1991, V.C.E, students and H.S.C. students attempted the same mathematics test at the U. of M. and their results were compared. In 1992, the tests were attempted by V.C.E. students only. To compare new V.C.E. students and H.S.C. students, questions on the 1991 test were matched with similar questions on the 1992 tests and a panel of experts determined what the H.S.C. students who attempted the 1991 test would have been expected to average on these matched questions on the 1992 tests had they attempted them. These expected average scores were then compared with the actual scores of the new V.C.E. students. The scores of the groups were scaled when necessary. Questionnaires were administered to 1991 U. of M, mathematics students who were part of the V.C.E. pilot group in 1990, secondary mathematics educators, tertiary mathematics educators, and 1991 V.C.E. (1992 U. of M.) students. The mathematical misconceptions exhibited by new V.C.E. students are discussed and their frequencies stated. The research indicates that the new V.C.E. mathematics courses have provided the V.C.E. mathematics students in this study with significantly lower skill levels and a significantly poorer preparation for a tertiary mathematics unit than those which were previously provided by the H.S.C. mathematics courses.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1983. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.