published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Nowadays, preschool education plays a key role in all aspects of people’s lives. Preschool education teacher training programs need to reform accommodate the requirements of society and parents. This research studies the effectiveness of a new pre-school education teacher training program in Shanghai, using the Art Education Department (AED) of East China Normal University as a case study. The study involves AED graduates, AED lecturers and kindergarten principals, and assesses the effectiveness of the new program based on its course content and balance, its graduates’ work performance, and employers’ evaluations. This research was conducted through questionnaires, interviews and document analysis. A better understanding of the different opinions obtained can further our understanding of the effectiveness of the new pre-school education teacher training program. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This study examines the ways to produce a successful transfer of the school-based continuing professional development activities into an improvement of classroom teaching from the viewpoints of teachers in a band one secondary school of Hong Kong. Both quantitative and qualitative methods in form of questionnaires and interviews were employed to obtain the data. The findings indicated that the continuing professional development activities that were related to curriculum and engaged teachers in collaborative work with more reflections were more effective to improve teachers’ instructions. Variables that facilitate and inhibit such learning transfer of professional development activities were discussed. To produce a successful transfer for teachers to put the learnt innovations into classroom practices, the school should have a systemic planning of the continued professional development activities through participatory decision-making that address to teacher needs with the necessary professional and resource support. However, it is found that the school-based continuing professional development of teachers is context-specific. Contextual variables like the school leadership and management, needs of teachers, departmental culture, and perceptions of individual teachers towards continuing professional development activities should be taken into consideration by school leaders in planning, implementing and evaluating the continued professional development activities to make them effective for improving teachers’ instructions and hence student outcome. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

本研究嘗試採用論述性制度主義框架，分析自 1949 年以降，中國的教師教育制度的形成與轉變。本研究旨在指出，了解社會主義國家如何論釋、理解及應對關於教師和教師訓媡與教育的預期及理解之過程是十分重要的，這些預期及理解通常具體表現為不同國家的教育思想及經驗。本研究提出論述性組合框架，以說明在不同時間，這些預期及理解如何被描述及解釋。這將有助於增進社會學對文化交流與互動之動態的了解，避免墮入制度分析中常見的趨同論及趨異論之間過於簡約化的爭論當中。 / The current study attempts to adopt a discursive institutionalist perspective to examine the formation and transformation of the teacher education institution of China since 1949. It argues that it is important to delineate how the different expectations and understandings about the teachers and their training and education from the different cultural contexts, often manifested as the educational ideas and experiences from different countries, may be interpreted, understood, and responded to by the socialist state. The current study has advanced the framework of discursive configuration to delineate how these expectations and understandings have been specified and justified across time. It contributes to enrich the sociological understanding of the dynamics of cultural interactions and exchanges without falling into the trap of overly simplistic arguments for convergence or divergence common in conventional institutional analysis. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Ho, Ching Wai. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 174-197). / Abstracts also in Chinese.

The competence of mathematics teachers and how to prepare competent future mathematics teachers have been hotly debated in recent years; pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is a critical indictor of that competency (e.g., Ball & Bass, 2000; Ferrini-Mundy & Findell, 2010). This explorative study examines PCK and PCK change and the factors contributing to both among a group of secondary school mathematics student teachers in Hangzhou (the capital of and largest city in Zhejiang Province, China). Changes in PCK are investigated across the final two years of a pre-service secondary mathematics teacher education program. This program is traditional in nature, mainly consisting of mathematics teaching methods courses, teaching practica and advanced mathematics courses. Student teachers’ performance in three aspects of PCK — the substance of PCK, approaches to PCK and the structure of PCK — were assessed using a combination of quantitative and qualitative measures employed at two distinct stages of the program. At each stage, student teachers’ PCK was examined by a PCK questionnaire, a follow-up interview and three video-based interviews. The factors influencing PCK change were investigated using multiple phases and approaches of data collections. Specifically, rating schemes for each aspect of PCK were developed to evaluate student teachers’ responses and track the changes in their PCK. Interviews were conducted with student teachers at various stages of their professional growth to determine what they considered to be important factors affecting their PCK and changes to their PCK. In addition, observations of student teachers’ teaching practice during their teaching practica, together with interviews involving course instructors, mentor teachers and university teachers were employed to collect supplementary evidence on the impact of those factors. A quantitative analysis of the PCK questionnaire indicated that the participating student teachers generally did not perform well in PCK items in either stage. The follow-up interviews suggest that the different logic applied by the student teachers when responding to those items, their lack of sensitivity to contextual information, and their misunderstanding of terminology and incorrect assumptions all affected their performance. An additional qualitative analysis, based on three video-based interviews, indicated that student teachers’ overall performances in the three aspects of PCK improved in the second stage. Insights were gained into the major types of changes in PCK through paired responses. These changes were found to be influenced by changes in the student teachers’ knowledge of curriculum, of good examples/tasks/exercises, of clear lesson and teaching goals and of some affiliated affective factors. Other factors, including individual and social contextual factors, prior learning and tutoring experience, practicum experience and preparations for examinations and teaching competitions, are also examined for their direct or indirect impact on PCK. This study may contribute to current literature on the characteristics of Chinese student teachers’ PCK and PCK changes during the final two years of their pre-service teacher education. It provides a tentative explanation of how institutional and social contextual factors affect PCK and PCK change in different ways. Methodological and practical implications are also discussed. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Arts in Education

This paper is a case study of teacher professional development in a local Hong Kong secondary school. By examining the tension among various influencing parties - i.e. Education Bureau (EDB), school sponsoring body, school, principal and teachers - as well as the dilemmas arising from the planning and implementation of professional development programs, this research seeks to explore areas of improvements and provide recommendations. The discussions centre on the needs identification and program evaluation processes, and are based on theoretical principles of organizational learning, individualization of learning, training evaluation and transfer of learning. Following analysis of the research findings, this paper goes on to suggest that school leaders should promote the principles of professional learning to all teachers. In particular, teachers should be empowered with the autonomy to manage their own professional development as their responsibility. Also, school leaders should encourage teachers to integrate school development needs with their own professional needs. The findings may be applied to other local secondary schools with staff development structures and processes at a comparable level of maturity. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education