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

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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

A prior study conducted by Walker (1996) showed teachers working in Primary schools in Hong-kong experienced professional development as a ‘one off’ occurrence, referring to one day out of the academic year, in the form of a workshop or course. Teachers felt that they did not take into consideration ‘teachers skills needs and involovement’ (Walker, 1996). According to the study, Principals and heads of department are usually responsible for shaping and establishing the norms for professional growth. The study revealed that the general consensus amongst principals and administrators believed that teachers should be involved in the actual planning and design of professional development. This study aims to further shed light on this phenomenon in the form of a case study at a primary school in Hong-Kong. An in depth look at how a school implements and organizes professional development can be beneficial to numerous members of the school community, including principals, teachers and administrators. Walker’s (1996) study was ultimately effective in recognizing the trends and opinions amongst principals and administrators regarding professional development. However there is limited research regarding how teachers perceive professional development and how they feel it can improve their needs. By acknowledging the lack of professional development , and it’s perceived ineffectiveness from teachers, this studies objectives is to explore how professional development is organized and developed in the school, and use such insights and opinions gained to provide a means to establish how professional development can be implemented more effectively to benefit teachers. Moreover research shows that in recent times, professional development is low on the list of teacher priorities, as they feel overwhelmed with their existing workload. Though the present study stems for the ideologies and perceptions teachers in Hong-Kong seemingly have toward professional development, majority of the research will be addressing the current effectiveness of professional development at the school, as this will enable one deduce factors that make it successful or unsuccessful. It is important to recognize that every school is different and will therefore have different needs. Thus making comparisons towards professional development regarding its policies and implementation will most likely to render obsolete, as a professional development program that is successful at one school may not be at the other. Though there is no concrete definition for what constitutes ‘effective professional development’ Desimone (2009) offers a framework that is broad enough to be relevant to most schools. Such a framework will be used as an indicator in establishing whether professional development is effective in the school (See appendix A and B). Responses from administrators and teachers from the interview questions will also be used to analyse whether professional development offered at the school is effective and productive. This study will adopt a qualitative approach primarily through the use of interviews and observations. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

Understanding nature of science (NOS) is an important learning objective of the science curricula in many countries. However, research shows that there is a large gap between the curriculum emphasis and classroom practice. There have been calls for more studies on how teachers can be better prepared for teaching NOS. This study examines what teachers have learned, how they have learned it and the factors affecting their learning in a teacher professional development (TPD) programme to prepare them to teach NOS. The study was conducted in 2008-10, when the new Hong Kong Senior Secondary Biology curriculum, with its emphasis on NOS, was introduced. Three of the 18 teachers participating in the programme were chosen for in-depth case studies to illuminate their process of learning to teach NOS. Over a 20-month period, the teachers worked collaboratively to learn how to teach NOS in study group settings. Initially, the teachers were given curriculum materials designed for the explicit and reflective teaching of NOS. They selected, adapted and refined the curriculum materials to suit their own students. They then taught NOS to their students using the modified curriculum materials in their classroom, and the lessons were videotaped. These videos were later shared and analyzed collaboratively in study group meetings and workshops. To monitor their learning, the teachers were asked to complete reflection tasks and follow-up interviews after participating in each of the TPD activities, including the trial teaching of NOS in their own classroom, reflecting on the lesson, reflecting on the lesson video, and discussing the lesson video with their peers. Using an interpretive approach, other data sources, including field notes from classroom observations, transcripts of teacher discussions in meetings and workshops, and interviews with individual teachers before and after the programme on their confidence and concerns about NOS teaching, were also collected for triangulation purposes, and for the production of individual case reports for each teacher. It was found that the teachers had improved their NOS knowledge, NOS teaching skills, confidence as well as intention to teach NOS after participating in the programme. The process of learning to teach NOS can be characterized as lengthy, recursive and closely embedded in authentic classroom practices. Four major factors related to the TPD programme were identified as contributory to teachers’ learning to teach NOS. They are: (1) the formation of a community of practice with a shared goal to improve NOS teaching, (2) the provision of educative curriculum resources for explicit and reflective teaching of NOS, (3) first-hand experience of teaching NOS in authentic classroom settings, and (4) video-based discussions on NOS teaching in meetings and workshops. Based on the findings, an emergent model of effective use of video for learning to teach NOS was also proposed. The implications of the findings on the design of effective TPD programmes for learning to teach NOS were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy