Life And Learning Between Hong Kong And Toronto

This book presents a narrative inquiry into the cross-cultural educational experiences of a family living in Hong Kong and Toronto, Canada. At heart a go-and-return story, Lau reflects on the difficulties of adjusting to the different practices of teaching and learning in two places with their own distinctive cultures. Ever more prescient now amid the current social and political upheavals in Hong Kong and around the world, the book considers the profound impacts such transitions have on families. By delving into the challenges of living, working, and learning across cultures, he reflects upon the deep-rooted values in both family and school landscapes to gain new insights about educational and cultural practices in Hong Kong and Toronto.

The story of a life transformed by the people and culture of China and East Asia. The stories of people in Hong Kong, China and Japan are interwoven into this narrative account, as Ruth Hayhoe shares what it was like to live through a series of major transitions - from the Cultural Revolution in 1967, to Hong Kong's return to China in 1997.

Narrative inquiry is being used more widely in the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Northern European countries to conduct research across a range of disciplines. It is gaining popularity in Hong Kong, Macao and Mainland China, but research in these contexts continues to be dominated by quantitative and more traditional qualitative approaches. Narrative inquirers in these areas can, therefore, find it problematic to have the value of their work acknowledged. This book demonstrates creatively, accessibly and rigorously the ways in which narrative inquiry as a methodological approach, already more firmly established in Australia and New Zealand, is gaining a foothold in other parts of the Asia Pacific region. Contributors to the book write about their use of narrative inquiry in, for example, the Confucian heritage cultures (CHC) of Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore, Macao and the Anglo-Celtic cultures of Australia and New Zealand. Chapters in the book include: Creative Non-Fiction Across Cultures in Asia Pacific Contexts Riding the Wave of Education Reform: Using a Reflecting Team to Explore the Professional Identities of School Counsellors in Hong Kong Is the Silent Mode On? Re-searching Teachers' Voices in Macao through Narrative Research Narrative Inquiry and the Exploration of Culture for Improving Teacher Education This book will appeal to researchers across all sectors of education, in particular those who are exploring, the use of qualitative research methods in their context. Those interested in comparative education and cross-cultural studies will also find this book valuable.

A unique feature of Learning Diversity in the Chinese Classroom is its Chinese context for meeting the educational requirements of children with special needs. At a time when many of the currently available texts in the area have a general perspective, Asian teachers and students have long felt the need for a text that specifically recognizes the local context. Learning Diversity in the Chinese Classroom notes that international trends, including those in many Southeast Asian countries are moving toward inclusive education and special needs, and includes chapters on giftedness, counseling and behavior management. Section 1 of the book describes the context of inclusive education in Asia. Summaries of the special features of the classroom in the region, the conceptions of inclusion and cultural diversity from the perspective of the Asian classroom, and how these are different to the Western classroom are provided. Section 2 focuses on various approaches to meeting the educational and socio-emotional needs of children in the inclusive classroom. The first part is concerned with theoretical underpinnings of the type of need, and the second part describes examples of how a teacher can cater for this type of diversity according to subject, including mathematics, Chinese, English, information technology, and arts. Section 3 widens the perspective and describes a whole-school approach to meeting the educational requirements of children with special needs. A systems approach is taken, whereby the success of the inclusive school is dependent on the functioning of a number of interrelated parts. This section draws from recent case studies which describe the approaches taken by a number of schools that have been successful in implementing inclusive education. Learning Diversity in the Chinese Classroom will appeal to teachers, parents, health professionals who are working with children with special educational needs.

This book conveys an understanding of China’s educational development from within and provides unique insights into Chinese society. It does so through portraits of eleven influential educators whose ideas have shaped the educational reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping in 1978. The book makes Chinese civilization concrete through the drama of the real lives of educators and provides glimpses into the educational context of China’s recent move onto the world stage.

This book examines, from a sociological perspective, teacher-student power relations in classroom learning and teaching. The case study consists of four Hong Kong primary schools—and sixteen classrooms therein—that were selected as research sites to explore the concept of teacher-student power relations. Observations, individual interviews, and document analysis were the main data collection methods employed. Wong provides the historical context for the issue of teacher-student power relationship by reviewing the traditional Chinese cultures and values, in particular the values of respect for authority and for teachers, and demonstrates the intermingling of Chinese and Western cultures in contemporary Hong Kong Chinese society. She reviews the major educational initiatives carried out in Hong Kong since the 1970s, showing how Western educational policies promoting student-centric teaching modes have encouraged changes in classroom culture. With reference to the observed seventy-three lessons, the study identified three patterns of teacher-student power relations—Teacher Domination, Relatively Balanced Opportunity for Power Sharing, and Student Self-Empowerment—each involving different degrees of power being exercised by teacher and students. The coexistence of these three power patterns and the two corresponding power situations (student empowerment and disempowerment) can be explained as the result of multileveled, intertwined interactions among six factors related to social culture, education policy, school and classroom contexts, and to the individual players concerned. The book thus contributes to the understanding of teacher-student power relations in the context of Hong Kong by proposing a theoretical framework that reflects local socio-cultural, educational, and school contexts.

The mission of the International Journal of Educational Reform (IJER) is to keep readers up-to-date with worldwide developments in education reform by providing scholarly information and practical analysis from recognized international authorities. As the only peer-reviewed scholarly publication that combines authors’ voices without regard for the political affiliations perspectives, or research methodologies, IJER provides readers with a balanced view of all sides of the political and educational mainstream. To this end, IJER includes, but is not limited to, inquiry based and opinion pieces on developments in such areas as policy, administration, curriculum, instruction, law, and research. IJER should thus be of interest to professional educators with decision-making roles and policymakers at all levels turn since it provides a broad-based conversation between and among policymakers, practitioners, and academicians about reform goals, objectives, and methods for success throughout the world. Readers can call on IJER to learn from an international group of reform implementers by discovering what they can do that has actually worked. IJER can also help readers to understand the pitfalls of current reforms in order to avoid making similar mistakes. Finally, it is the mission of IJER to help readers to learn about key issues in school reform from movers and shakers who help to study and shape the power base directing educational reform in the U.S. and the world.

This book comprises an examination of novice teachers’ experiences in schools and cultures of schooling across the contexts of Hong Kong, Japan, and Canada. Drawing on narrative inquiry and arts-based approaches, this study employs experience as a starting point for making sense of both professional and personal encounters in local and foreign settings. This work thus sheds light on how people make sense of shifting landscapes in an era of increasing intercultural communication and interaction while addressing important curricular implications of intercultural professional development for equity and social justice.