Sally Wai-Yan Wan

The Chinese University of Hong Kong | CUHK · Department of Curriculum and Instruction

The early childhood education system in Hong Kong operates within a corporate governance framework. However, there is a lack of research on the interaction between principalship and corporate governance in kindergartens and childcare centres. This study aims to address this gap by examining how a preschool education coordinator (PEC), working under...

This sociocultural study explores the identities and emotions of 12 Chinese kindergarten teachers from Shenzhen and Shanghai. Using the cultural–historical activity theory (CHAT) framework, we examined how daily tensions shape teachers’ identities and emotions. An activity systems analysis identified five emotion-related identities that teachers fr...

Differentiated instruction (DI) has been introduced as a viable approach for accommodating the diverse learning needs of students in the same classroom. Despite the significant advantages attributed to this approach, it can still be a challenge for teachers to incorporate DI into practice. This study examined the lived experiences and perceptions o...

The study reported Hong Kong teachers’ experience of engaging in a professional development program specially designed to support teachers’ implementation of differentiated instruction in the classroom. A qualitative design was employed to understand teachers’ professional growth and the perceived supportive elements associated with these changes....

Background and purpose of study. Curriculum leadership is commonly considered as a crucial component in times of educational change. There has been a growing number of literature on curriculum leadership over the world. Studies on curriculum leadership in secondary schools were more well- established in the western countries (e.g. USA, UK, Finland)...

Facing dynamic changes in the 21st century, initial teacher education is not only to develop pedagogical knowledge and skills but also to foster professional vision among prospective teachers, where teaching practicum serves as a bridge between theory and practice. The integrated use of digital storytelling and collaborative concept mapping provide...

Using positioning theory as analytic framework, this qualitative study is to explore the discursive positioning of Hong Kong prospective teachers as participants in a global dialogues project engaging prospective teachers from three continents – Hong Kong, the UK, and South Africa in global dialogues to inquire educational issues. Data was gathered...

There has been considerable controversy over the effectiveness of reading instruction. In Hong Kong school curriculum, ‘Reading to Learn’ is one of the four key tasks while Chinese reading is one of the four important language competences in the Chinese language education. Previous studies mostly studied teachers’ perceptions and practices of teach...

The previous literature has strongly emphasized the professional aspects of teacher identity in terms of knowledge and pedagogical matters. However, teachers' emotions have also been academically discussed in recent decades. The voices of kindergarten teachers are critical for reflecting on professional identities within the community of kindergart...

There have been emerging needs and demands for preparing teachers for Education for Sustainable Development. Global dialogues have been recognized as a transformative pedagogy utilizing a shared inquiry approach engaging teachers in surfacing and communicating ideas and experiences with each other across regions and countries in an interactive, res...

Global dialogues are considered as an effective way to help and mediate the development of global mindsets towards Education for Sustainability (EfS). Through global dialogues, prospective teachers and educators are cognitively and intellectually engaged in intercultural dialogue facing humanistic concerns of climate change. The study intended to e...

The aims of this study were to translate and cross-validate the original Differentiated Instruction Questionnaire (DI-Quest; Coubergs et al., 2017) for use in Hong Kong, which measures teachers’ philosophy and praxis factors regarding differentiated instruction (DI) implementation. A total of 416 HK primary and secondary teachers responded to the q...

Focusing on catering learners’ differences, differentiated instruction (DI) plays a significant role in promoting equity of opportunity in the educational context. Yet little and inconsistent results were found that compared the implementation of DI between school levels. This explorative study is aimed at examining the differences of Hong Kong pri...

The aims of this study were to examine the status quo of Hong Kong teachers’ perceptions and practices of differentiated instruction. A total of 416 primary and secondary teachers responded to the Chinese version of Differentiated Instruction Questionnaire (C-DIQ), where relations among the five constructs of the instrument were explored. Findings...

Differentiated instruction is commonly recognized as an effective yet complex approach to improving student learning. Differentiated instruction is commonly known as a systematic curriculum planning approach to cater for learner diversity (i.e. readiness, interest and learner profiles) according to four curriculum components: content, process, prod...

The study used positioning theory as an analytical framework to explore how teachers position themselves and significant others in participating in a school-university partnership programme on differentiated instruction in primary and secondary schools, and how the processes of implementing the programme might be affected by these positions. Positi...

Curriculum leadership is commonly regarded as an essential element in supporting school development and facilitating curriculum change processes. The study identified the qualitative variation in conceptions of curriculum leadership in the development of curriculum leadership, and to describe these variations in terms of categories of description....

TNC Ridge to Reef (R2R) Environmental Education Programmes aims at developing a junior secondary teaching package for helping students learn about the concepts of "ridge to reef (R2R)" concepts through different key learning areas such as geography, life & society and science education.

We present a distinctive approach to knowledge exchange used in the ‘Shared Space’ project; an inter-disciplinary researcher–teacher partnership using Allport’s contact theory contact theory as a lens to interpret teachers’ self-reported practice in the subject Religion and Worldviews (RWE). By so doing, we created new professional knowledge and un...

Purpose This exploratory study investigates the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of professional learning communities (PLCs) and their differentiated instruction (DI) practice in a Hong Kong primary education context. Design/Approach/Methods Three subsidized primary schools participated in the study. A total of 121 teachers completed sur...

Responding to a recent call of nurturing a stance of practitioner-research inquiry, this paper reports collective memory work that disrupted academics’ hegemonic voices in School-Based Curriculum Development (SBCD) studies and elicited teachers’ stories about their SBCD practices. With post-colonialism as the theoretical underpinning, we explored h...

The paper draws upon a collaborative action research project using Photovoice aiming at empowering participants to voice and critically reflect by thinking deeply about their context and difficulties, and using images to foster critical consciousness. Nineteen prospective teachers in a Hong Kong public university participated in this collaborative...

Visual methods are effective in facilitating human learning while metacognition is a critical aspect of the learning process. In this context, the purpose of this study is to explore the metacognition of pre-service teachers in response to their participation in a series of visual reflections after an online dialogue on the topic of inclusive educa...

Facing the hybrid educational landscapes in the 21st century, initial teacher education is not only to develop pedagogical knowledge and skills but also foster critical reflection among prospective teachers. Photovoice is a participatory research strategy empowering prospective teachers to voice their own thinking and develop critical consciousness...

Curriculum leadership is commonly regarded as an essential element in supporting school development and facilitating curriculum change processes. The study identified the qualitative variation in conceptions of curriculum leadership in the development of curriculum leadership, and to describe these variations in terms of categories of description....

Due to the constraints of a traditional classroom teaching, there have been urgent needs for exploring innovative pedagogical designs in addressing the needs of Generation Z university learners. One of the possible solutions is to create a discovery approach for engaging learners in learning with mobile devices as supported with location-based tech...

Generation Z university learners show a variety of talents and cannot feel satisfied in a traditional classroom. To match the needs of learners' multiple intelligence in the learning environment, educators can consider creating a discovery approach by learners using mobile devices in a classroom with location-based technology. With iBeacon transmit...

There has been a rise in the demands of looking for ‘appropriate’ research methodology to investigate how educational technology is used so as to search for ‘better’ ways for sustainable development in the field. Some scholars described the potentials of phenomenography as ‘opening a new territory’ (Bruce, 1999) that explores the understandings of...

The use of differentiated assessment (DA) is not novel in the western countries. However, very limited evidence regarding DA usage is known in the higher education context in the Asian region like Hong Kong. This paper thus aims to fill this critical research gap by investigating students’ perspectives on DA implementation in a public university in...

If accepted following blind peer-review, this abstract appears the conference program. Please be sure the abstract is free of reference to author(s), institution/company, city/state, or your country. • The use of differentiated assessment (DA) is not novel in the western countries. However, very limited evidence regarding DA usage is known in the h...

Continuous reforms in education are not exceptional in Asian regions including Hong Kong. It is believed that understanding teaching efficacy can pave the way for preparing teachers in the face of curriculum reform. However, little is known about Hong Kong teachers’ teaching efficacy. This study thus attempts to explore Hong Kong teachers’ teaching...

Differentiated instruction (DI) is a popular strategy enabling students to learn English effectively. Yet teacher beliefs play an influential role in affecting its implementation. Little is known about English teachers’ beliefs towards DI. This paper aims to report the findings of English subject teachers’ beliefs and dilemmas when practicing DI, w...

Differentiated instruction is one of the important issues in addressing students’ diverse needs. This article focuses on the practice concerning differentiated instruction in Asia. In particular, the issues pertaining to the implementation of differentiated instruction in the Chinese societies such as China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are presented in d...

Future employment & learning expectations: Profiles of university students’ attitudes

Across the world, teacher education programmes are under review. In some contexts where its academic dimension is sufficiently well-established, philosophy may continue to thrive. However, in many other settings where the academic dimension is being downsized and fragmented in favour of employment-based learning, philosophy is under threat, if inde...

Unlike other phonetic alphabet languages, the pronunciation and writing of Chinese are different learning modes. This study intends to motivate primary students to learn Chinese characters and improve learning performance by integrating Augmented Reality (AR) technology with 3D models. The paper first describes the exertion of AR and 3D models to c...

This paper explores the role of theory, and philosophy of education in particular, in the professional formation of teachers through a dialogical encounter between two university-based teacher educators, who are involved in teaching pre-service and in-service teachers in two contrasting settings: Hong Kong and the UK. The ensuing dialogue raises ch...

There have been urgent needs for building schools as professional learning communities (PLC) for sustainable development to foster student learning in schools (Harris, Jones, & Huffman, 2017; Kruse & Johnson, 2017). It is generally believed that teacher education can assist prospective teachers in obtaining fundamental preparation for becoming teac...

A cluster exploration analysis of prospective teachers' perceptions of professional learning communities (PLC) Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/sallywywan2010/a-cluster-exploration-analysis-of-prospective-teachers-perceptions-of-professional-learning-communities-plc

Teacher leadership is one of the essential factors in curriculum implementation. Curriculum development is never an easy task for teachers. Several studies have indicated that teacher leadership has led to school improvement and fostered student achievement and engagement in learning. However, most studies have focused on examining teacher leadersh...

Using phenomenography in educational technology research from 2003 to 2017: A systematic review and content analysis https://www.slideshare.net/SallyWan1/using-phenomenography-in-educational-technology-research-from-2003-to-2017-a-systematic-review-and-content-analysis

Teachers’ attitude towards change plays one of the significant factors in the complexity of change process. The purpose of the paper is to report the exploratory findings of Hong Kong teachers’ attitudes towards curriculum change in Hong Kong elementary schools. Data collection methods included individual interviews with teachers of four elementary...

Teacher leadership is commonly recognized as an essential component in student learning. This is the aim of the paper to explore how teachers perceive and practice teacher leadership in schools in the Asian context. Data collection methods included a survey, individual interviews and observation. Key findings included: (1) Teachers were oriented th...

Understanding prospective teachers’ curriculum leadership development is not widely investigated in the current literatures. In this paper, we aim to explore and look into the experiences of enacting curriculum leadership when facing exam-driven curriculum during the period of field experiences in secondary schools during 2017-18. Specifically, we...

Gender difference is not a new issue in the Hong Kong society and the global society, yet there is insufficient information concerning how gender differences are addressed when catering for learner diversity in general classrooms in current teacher education. In order to obtain insightful information for teacher education, this paper aims to explor...

Recent literatures vastly discuss the significance of professional learning communities (PLCs) in supporting student learning. Differentiated instruction has been regarded as an important teaching approach in improving student learning. Yet little is known about whether there is any relationship between teachers’ engagement in PLCs and their uses o...

The purpose of the study is to examine Hong Kong teachers’ perceptions of distributed leadership. Data were collected from six primary schools with a total of 155 teachers responding to a self-developed survey. Descriptive, reliability, and MANOVA data analyses were done with the application of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) pro...

This paper is to provide a content analysis of leadership studies in the field of higher education as published in three specific types of Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) journals, including higher education (i.e. Higher Education, Higher Education Quarterly, Higher Education Research & Development, Journal of Higher Education, Research in Hi...

Teaching efficacy and teaching beliefs play vital roles in shaping and sustaining teachers’ curriculum and pedagogical practice. In Hong Kong, differentiated instruction has recently been one of the key recommended strategies to catering to learner diversity in the latest curriculum reform across different key learning areas, including Chinese lang...

Searching for a deeper understanding of the perceptions of university students about their international awareness and experiences might pave the way for fostering and promoting the development and process of internationalization in universities. So far, few empirical studies have been conducted to study the intercultural sensitivity of students ab...

The purpose of the study is to examine Hong Kong teachers’ perceptions of distributed leadership. Data were collected from six primary schools with a total of 155 teachers responding to a self-developed survey. Descriptive, reliability, MANOVA and Chi-Square data analyses were done with the application of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences...

Previous studies used quantitative studies to examine teachers’ perceptions of leadership. Few studies also attempted to examine teachers’ perceptions of the implementation of curriculum projects. Yet they mostly focused on ‘what’ rather than ‘how’ leadership is practiced in the process of curriculum development. This exploratory case study thus ai...

Facing diverse needs of students, learning and teaching mathematics is a big challenge to teachers. Differentiated instruction is regarded as the most effective strategy to meet the needs of all students. Evidence indicated that differentiated instruction enables students to learn mathematics effectively. Teaching beliefs play a role in affecting a...

Differentiated instruction (DI) is nothing new and is believed to be an effective research-based strategy to cater for learner diversity. Differentiation involves finding multiple ways to structure a lesson so that each student is provided with an opportunity to work at a moderately challenging level. Previous studies, however, found that teachers...

Differentiated instruction (DI) is nothing new and commonly recognized as one of the most effective ways to cater to learner diversity. DI has been promoted in educational policies in different countries. It is essential to prepare pre-service teachers for catering to the diverse needs of students in pre-service teacher education. Yet there is a la...

Differentiated instruction has been widely promoted in catering for learner diversity in different educational settings. Recent Hong Kong curriculum reform has highlighted differentiated instruction as an approach to cater to learner diversity (CDC, 2009). This study explores teachers' perceptions of differentiated instruction in two Hong Kong seco...

Catering for learner diversity is one of the key areas in the recent educational reform in Hong Kong. Pre-service teacher education acts as a fundamental way to equip pre-service teachers ready for accommodating diverse learning needs and to build up pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy. The purpose of the study is to examine prospective teachers’ t...

Distributed leadership provides a theoretically-grounded framework with which to examine leadership practice. The concept ‘distributed leadership’ is relatively new and still lacks a widely-accepted definition. Research in higher education, at the same time, has found shared or dispersed forms of leadership, rather than hierarchical leadership, are...