Using autobiographical accounts acquired from her extensive career in education, the author has explored the multi-faceted influences on teacher career motivation and professional development in special and inclusive education in China. The social realities faced by teachers in their professional lives in a city in China have been highlighted through comparison and contrast with those of their international peers. This is achieved through a comprehensive review of recent literature and an empirical study to encourage teacher voices with this regard.
Focusing on the competence of teachers that underpins inclusive education seeking equal access to education for special needs children, this title examines teacher competence cultivation based on examples in China and excellent international experience. To give a clear picture of the context of inclusive education in China, the author first clarifies the relevant concepts and reviews the evolving policies and practices embodied in the “Learning in Regular Classrooms (LRC)” program. The study then constructs an analytical model of four key indicators that help evaluate the competence of teachers in inclusive education. Based on analysis of the influencing factors of teacher competence, the book elucidates how these factors work to determine teacher competence. Drawing on international experience, especially pre-service teacher cultivation in the US and in-service training in China, it introduces three major cultivation models and feasible suggestions and strategies to improve the competence of teachers in inclusion. This book will benefit researchers, professionals, and policymakers interested in inclusive education, special education, and teacher education.
The question of what makes a good teacher has been asked by practitioners, policymakers, and researchers. Teachers are important drivers of student success in the immediate term, such as academic success. Nowadays, the education process is influenced by various factors which can all have a strong effect on the quality of teaching and learning. Having the intention to create high-quality teaching and learning, it is very important to clearly determine what those factors are, and what kind of effect they have on the education process. Different teacher characteristics and competencies have been distinguished in the literature as being relevant predictors of their instructional quality. Even though educational psychology has emphasized the significance of the personality role in the education process, the empirical evidence on the relationship between teacher characteristics and instructional quality is not yet conclusive. Certainly, there is much more to find out.
By adopting a comparative approach, this book investigates the philosophy, policy, practices, and challenges of inclusive education in the Chinese contexts, recognizing influences of Chinese culture, such as Confucianism, collectivism, and familism. In the 1980s, the Chinese government promoted a policy named “Learning in Regular Classroom” to ensure educational rights for children with disabilities, which subsequently turned into an inclusive education program in the western sense. Starting from this point, the policy and practice of inclusive education have developed tremendously. To facilitate reflection and future development, this is the latest and most comprehensive attempt at understanding the status quo of inclusive education in China from a variety of perspectives: from early childhood to higher education, from family to schools and communities, from peers to teachers and parents. It also analyzed the unique Chinese philosophy of inclusive education, adding to current debates with a Chinese lens. This book will appeal to academics, students, and practitioners in disciplines such as education, early childhood studies, sociology, social work, social policy, disability studies, and youth studies.
This book is based upon three interrelated open naturalistic studies conducted to better characterise the motivational orientation of students in higher education. Open semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with undergraduates, students at community colleges and students in taught postgraduate courses in Hong Kong. The analysis used an exploratory grounded theory approach and resulted in a motivational orientation framework with six continua with positive and negative poles. On enrolment students had positions on the six facets of motivation, which shifted as they progressed through their degree according to their perceptions of the teaching and learning environment. The framework can, therefore, be used to explain both initial decisions to enrol and motivation to continue studying. The interviews included descriptions of teaching approaches and learning activities and their effects on motivation. This made it possible to describe a teaching and learning environment conducive to motivation, with eight supportive conditions. Each facet of the teaching and learning environment is illustrated with quotations from the three groups of students, resulting in a guide to configuring a teaching and learning environment conducive to motivating students. The emerging community-college sector in Hong Kong is used as a case study of the effects on student motivation of the expansion of the higher education sector through private colleges. Cultural issues are discussed, particularly the performance of Asian students relative to those in the West.
The unwelcomed arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated inequities and inequalities in accessing educational opportunities among different social groups. Abruptly, the idea of inclusivity in education has become more of an abstract phenomenon that widens the digital divide and creates social injustice. The resulting intensification of digital disparities demands an immediate coordinated response from all education and government stakeholders to guarantee that no one is left behind as we navigate the so-called new normal. Without an appropriate intervention and sound policy guidance, negative repercussions may be so widespread that they will remain a problem in the education sector far into the future. Socioeconomic Inclusion During an Era of Online Education aims to answer emerging questions on inclusive online education by exploring and collating the experiences and lessons learned during the implementation of emergency remote education. With the earlier-than-expected arrival of the online education era, best practices and innovative approaches from various educational institutions are concrete paradigms for safeguarding the promise of an undivided future of learning through equal access to quality education from a distance. Covering topics from learning space to education governance, this reference work is ideal for policymakers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, scholars, instructors, and students seeking to adjust and adapt to technology-enabled education during and after the COVID-19 era.
A major concern of all education authorities around the world is the challenge that schools face in catering for learner diversity. That this concern is shared by authorities in East Asia, including the Education Bureau (EDB) of Hong Kong, is surprising given the high academic achievement of students from this part of the world. This book helps to meet this challenge for teachers in East Asia by focusing on specific research that helps explain the basis for diversity in the Chinese learner. Although there are many textbooks that cover the basic principles of educational psychology, few do not focus on the Chinese learner. This book makes the link between the broad field of educational psychology and how these theories contribute to our understanding of the Chinese learner. This book is unique in that it draws on recent research to illustrate the application of these theories, thereby helping teachers and students in teacher education progammes understand the variability in student achievement. Our book is based on the idea that the Chinese context is in many ways different to other cultural contexts, and that teachers can make a difference to the outcomes of student learning. We also draw on our many years of experience in educating future teachers where our students want us to focus on the Chinese classroom. Our student-teachers also want to be educated by professors who are themselves researchers. In drawing on research about the Chinese learner we also bring to our student-teachers the richness and value of educational research. We also encourage our student-teachers to think of themselves as “professional researchers” in terms of developing an understanding of the research literature and in finding solutions to their classroom problems.
This book utilises expectancy–value theory and undermining effect of extrinsic reward theory to examine the impact of the Central Government-Funded Teacher Education (CGFTE) policy on Chinese pre-service teachers' motivations for choosing the teaching profession. Quantitative data analysis revealed six distinct categories of motivations to teach: teacher influence, job advantages (extrinsic), social value (altruistic), personal interest (intrinsic), others' suggestions, and fallback career. These categories were further exemplified in ten narrative stories. The findings indicate that the CGFTE policy attracts high-school graduates with higher intrinsic motivation to enrol in teacher-training programs, but it seems ineffective in increasing their intrinsic career-choice motivation. It is argued that the CGFTE policy, which emphasises extrinsic benefits but limits professional development, does not have a significant negative impact on pre-service teachers' motivation to choose teaching. This conclusion is supported by the offsetting effects of the policy's restrictive and encouraging aspects, as explained by expectancy–value theory and the qualitative data. Nevertheless, the intrinsic motivation of policy-funded pre-service teachers did not improve as much as that of their self-supported counterparts, indicating potential undermining effects of the policy. The study concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for enhancing the CGFTE policy, teacher training, and career education in China. The book will be an essential read for students and scholars of higher education, Chinese studies, and educational studies in general.
Emotions are at the core of the educational enterprise but their role is mostly left unexamined. This book explores the role of emotions across students, teachers and school leaders. It showcases current theoretical and empirical research on emotions in educational settings conducted in the Asian context. The book consists of three parts, namely, emotions in learning, emotions in teaching and emotions in leadership. These chapters cover different levels from students (e.g., school, university), to teachers (e.g., pre-service, in-service) and to school leaders (e.g., middle-level teachers, principals). Samples are recruited from a wide range of Asian contexts (e.g., Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Mainland China, Singapore and the Philippines). Collectively, the authors use a variety of methods ranging from quantitative to qualitative approaches and demonstrate innovative theoretical work that pushes the boundaries of emotions research forward.