published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

A sociocultural theoretical lens is used to study university and school collaboration, and the ways in which a context for teacher learning is created in this process. It also examines the results of teacher learning. Using qualitative data gathered in the two projects, the study confirms that collaboration can offer a supportive context for teachers to learn. / As an area of inquiry, teacher learning has grown increasingly important in the field of teacher development and school improvement. It is commonly believed that teacher development is a form of professional development; and professional development implies 'learning' by teachers. Even though opportunities for teachers' professional development have increased in recent years, there has been little advancement toward a commonly shared understanding of the vital aspects of professional development: What are the essential factors for success? What do teachers really learn from professional development? Based on the idea of facilitating school improvement and teacher development more effectively, several important university-school collaborative projects were introduced and launched in Hong Kong and Beijing in the last decade. / During the process of appropriation, teachers master and own the necessary cultural tools, and then aquire about new knowledge and skills that enhance understanding on practice. During the process of collaboration, which is established on the principles of trust and equality, university faculties provide teachers with cultural tools, which is essential for teacher change. Only when the cultural tools are appropriated by teachers as agents can real change take palce. / From the institutional perspective, school organization, education policy, and social culture are important factors that have a strong impact on teachers. This study finds that teachers can construct a new understanding on the major subject that they teach, their relationship with the student, and their role and identity as a teacher. This is accomplished through a reflection on the moral dimension of teaching, an exercise that involves both the teachers and univerisy faculty. / Key words. teacher learning; teacher professional development; university-school collaboration; sociocultural theory; teacher professional identity / This study aims to delineate teacher learning in the context of university and school collaboration. The two projects under investigation are based in Hong Kong and Beijing. While the two projects have different missions, the participants in both projects share a common belief that collaboration should enhance teacher capacity and ultimately help to improve students' learning. / 鍾亞妮. / Adviser: Lo Nai-Kwai-Leslie. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: A, page: 3114. / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 242-258). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Zhong Yani.

王建军. / 论文(哲学博士)--香港中文大学, 2002. / 参考文献 (p. 227-247). / 中英文摘要. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Wang Jianjun. / Zhong Ying wen zhai yao. / Lun wen (zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2002. / Can kao wen xian (p. 227-247).

黃晶榕. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 298-348) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Huang Jingrong.

Five experienced primary school teachers were involved in the study. In-depth interviews and non-participatory observation were used to collect data. Based on thick description of five cases individually and a comprehensive comparison among them, the research revealed: (1) Teacher trainers need to take a multi-dimensional view to study the difficulties teachers encountered in implementing reform initiatives; (2) Teacher learning should take account of both "teacher" and "learning". The research highlighted that teacher professional development and personal growth are closely interrelated; (3) In different sectors (such as, the starting point of learning, the learning task, learning methods, the learning approach, learning progress and learning support), as well as at different levels, (such as, supportive vs. accelerative), teacher-change agency partnerships may have a positive influence on teacher learning. However, the professional capacity of the change agency, and the unique needs of the school played a crucial role in shaping the efficacy of the relationship between both partners and also the level of teacher learning. / Over the last decade, educational reformers in Hong Kong have targeted teacher development and learning as a key area of need. As part of this movement, different external change agencies began developing partnerships with school as attempts to enhance the quality of teacher professional development. Such partnerships have operated for a number of years, but, to date, their efficacy has been largely unexplored. This research, taking teachers' implementation of project learning as an example, aims to explore the impact of teacher-change agency partnerships on teacher learning. The study is important in helping educators to better understand the difficulties teachers face when engaging in changes and also teachers' learning need. This research also reveals the effects of teacher-change agency partnership and its impact on teacher learning. This study can shed lights on ways of curriculum change and teacher development. / The research posed four questions: (1) What difficulties do teachers face while carrying out project learning in school? (2) What kind of learning did teachers experience while involved in the teacher-change agency partnership? (3) Within the context of educational change, did teacher-change agency partnerships have an impact on teacher learning? (4) What do teacher-change agencies need to consider if partnership is to achieve positive results? / To conclude, based on the five personal narratives and with reference to relevant literature review, the research suggested that a broader discussion is needed in the area, and recommended a conceptual framework which may guide further development. / 朱嘉穎. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2005. / 參考文獻(p. 283-298). / Adviser: Hin-wah Wong. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-07, Section: A, page: 2444. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts also in English. / School code: 1307. / Lun wen (Zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2005. / Can kao wen xian (p. 283-298). / Zhu Jiaying.

After the comparison and contrast of the four schools, it is propounded that in the establishment and developing process of a professional learning community, its core, teachers' collaborative culture, also displays a developmental process from individualism and comfortable collaboration to organizationally induced collegiality and interdependent collegiality. A supportive system is the guarantee of the teachers' collaborative culture; and the key to facilitate the birth of this culture as well as the building of a professional learning community lies on the principals' leadership style which put attention both on the management strategies and the leading strategies. / Based on the result revealed from the questionnaire survey and data of the case studies, it is found that professional learning community, as an introduced concept from the west, has its local significance in primary schools in the three cities of mainland China, supporting the theoretical structure built by the following four professional learning community dimensions---Shared decision making; Shared sense of purpose and focus on student learning; collaborative activity and deprivatized practice; Staff support and cooperation. The features of the abovementioned dimensions also possess their local flavor: degree of the shared decision making is relatively low and the teachers rarely participate in the financial and personnel decision-making, but own more authority within their professional field; secondly, students' exam scores are more emphasized in the aspect of the focus on student learning, but this varies from the schools according to its realization of professional learning community; thirdly, as for collaborative activity and deprivatized practice, collaboration among teaching practice are bolstered by the traditional "teaching research system", nevertheless there is a gap between the system and the actual outcome of the activities; lastly, the uniform teaching research system, to some extent, provides teachers' cooperation with much support, but is overweighed by the collaborative culture among teachers. / Mixed methods are adopted in this research, in which the questionnaires are delivered in three cities (including Shanghai) of mainland China in order to know the features and the realization of professional learning community in primary schools in Shanghai. It is then followed a purposeful sampling on the basis of the data analysis from the questionnaires, and four schools will be chosen out as the cases to probe into the relationship between professional learning community and teacher development. The major methods for the data collection include questionnaire survey, in-depth interview, participant observation and document collection. / The professional learning community being the one side, the teachers' development is interactively on the other, and the key platform for their interaction is teacher development activities. The contents of teacher development activities vary in different schools of different realization of professional learning community, and also diverse in the interaction between professional learning community and teachers' teacher development. Meanwhile, the second round curriculum reform in Shanghai being the common backdrop, it on one hand offers three platforms to the interaction between professional learning community and teacher development, and on the other hand is itself affected by this interaction. Especially under the pressure of "moderate empowerment and high responsibility" in the second round curriculum reform, teachers are supported by professional learning community in terms of empowerment and responsibility, and are also aided to seek for their professional identities, which leads to the achievement of teachers' real proactive professional development. / With the advent of a transitional era, the field of education is likewise undergoing a global reform. However, in retrospect of the educational reforms launched by various countries in the past thirty years, the aspect of class teaching is seldom touched upon. The academia therefore gives increasing emphasis on teachers as well as teachers' communities, and the concept of professional learning community thus comes into being. In the recent years, the studies on professional learning community have been proliferated in the west, and are gradually introduced into our country, but the related empirical studies in China still remain a virgin land. / 宋萑. / Adviser: Lee Chi Kin. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: A, page: 3113. / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 276-302). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Song Huan.