Our faculty conducts high quality research that addresses educational, social and policy issues of global significance.
We promote innovation through Research Themes and Centres. Each of the themes impacts on the work of teachers, school leaders and other school employees, and is felt within families and communities more broadly. Each has policy, practical, pedagogical, curricular, ethical, philosophical, economic, psychological and social dimensions, hence each can benefit from interdisciplinary approaches that propose solutions to pressing problems.
This theme researches: teacher shortages in developing sectors/countries; teacher and principal burnout and attrition; decline in the teaching workforce; international partnerships for education workforce development; mental health issues affecting the education workforce; education policy and curriculum reform and its impact on teaching and school leadership; teacher preparation for addressing loss of educational gains due to the COVID-19 pandemic; academic attrition and higher education workforce shortages.
Project: Building teacher educators’ capacity to innovate teaching and assessment through new technologies
Team Leader: Dr Zhihong WAN, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
UNESCO Sustainable Development Goal(s):
Publications:
Wan, Z. H., So, W. M. W., & Zhan, Y. (2023). Investigating the effects of design-based stem learning on primary students’ stem creativity and epistemic beliefs. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 21, 87-108. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-023-10370-1
Zhan, Y., Yan, Z., Wan, Z. H., Wang, X., Zeng, Y., Yang, M., & Yang, L. (2023). Effects of online peer assessment on higher‐order thinking: A meta‐analysis. British Journal of Educational Technology, 54(4), 817-835. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13310
Zhan, Y., Wan, Z. H., & Sun, D. (2022). Online formative peer feedback in Chinese contexts at the tertiary Level: A critical review on its design, impacts and influencing factors. Computers & Education, 176, 104341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2021.104341
Competitive Grant Projects:
Unpacking the Dynamics of the Agency of Young STEM Makers: A Cross-sequential Study Combined with Mixed-methods Design, Research Grants Council
Developing e-Content for STEM Robotics Education: Using Learning Management System to Promote Blended Learning Model and Content Sharing, Education Bureau of HKSARG
Investigating Primary School Teachers’ E-assessment Practices, Intentions and Influencing Factors in the New Normal: Implications for Developing E-assessment Policy, Policy Unit of HKSARG
Project: Teacher well-being literacy in the GBA and beyond: Drivers, measure, and outcomes
Team Leader: Prof Junjun CHEN, Department of Education Policy and Leadership
Chen, J., Zhang, L., Li, X., Li, Y., Xu, W., & Yan, Z. (2023). The multidimensional teacher well-being: A mixed-methods approach. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2023.2282483
Chen, J., Li, X., Hallinger, P., & Lee, J. C-K. (2023). Looking back and ahead: A bibliometric review of research on principal well-being, 1960 – 2022. Educational Management Administration & Leadership. https://doi.org/10.1177/17411432231190
Competitive Grant Projects:
The missing link: Principal well-being literacy and its drivers and outcomes, General Research Fund, Research Grants Council, $613,585, 01/01/2024-31/12/2025, Co-Is, Allan Walker, Phil Riley, Lindsay Oades.
Principal resilience and its influential occupational drivers in Hong Kong: Developing and validating the Principal Resilience Inventory, Research Grants Council
Investigating the occupational well-being of Hong Kong school principals and influential psychosocial risk factors: A mixed-methods approach Research Grants Council
This theme researches: parent-school communication and conflict; Competing interests between parents and schools (e.g., parental demands regarding rights/religious freedoms that would lead to exclusion/discrimination in school communities); the nature and purpose of schooling and curriculum and parents’ roles in relation to these; parental engagement in school governance; engaging parents in culturally diverse schools and communities; non-normative families and education; school engagement with adoptive, foster and non-custodial parents; the role of schools in supporting at risk children and families; engaging with parents affected by family violence; the impact of Covid-19 on parents and children’s learning support.
Project: Parent and community engagement in supporting academic and non-academic learning beyond the classroom among underprivileged young learners
Team Leader: Dr Dan LIN, Department of Psychology
UNESCO Sustainable Development Goal(s):
Publications:
Yung, K. W. H., & Zeng, C. (2022). Parentocracy within meritocracy: Parental perspective on lecture-style English private tutoring in Hong Kong. Language and Education, 36(4), 378-394. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2021.1981924
Cheung, S. K., Kwan, J. L. Y., Li, Z. Y., Chan, Y. Y., & Kwan, K. T. (2023). Parents’ epistemological beliefs, home practices, children’s early numeracy interest and abilities. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 65, 13-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2023.05.005
Pan, D. J., & Lin, D. (2023). Cognitive–linguistic skills explain Chinese reading comprehension within and beyond the simple view of reading in Hong Kong kindergarteners. Language Learning, 73(1), 126-160. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12515
Competitive Grant Projects:
Impact of fee-free supplementary tutoring in English on underprivileged secondary students’ L2 motivational selves in Hong Kong: A longitudinal narrative inquiry, Research Grants Council
Home numeracy and early math learning, Research Grants Council
Learning in the digital age: Online storybook intervention in reading development, Research Grants Council
This theme researches: equity of access and participation; inclusive educational practices in schools and classrooms; inclusive curriculum and pedagogy; multiculturalism and diverse community values and practices; bullying, conflict and violence in schools; social and environmental impacts on children’s cognitive development; multidimensional poverty and education; impact of gender-based and family violence on schooling; schools’ duty of care for LGBTQI+ students, families and staff; decolonisation of the curriculum; fair access to higher education; equity, diversity and inclusivity in higher education; academic ethics and patronage.
Project: The attitudes of higher education leaders towards equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI): The role of emerging technologies
Team Leader: Dr Miron BHOWMIK, Department of Education Policy and Leadership
UNESCO Sustainable Development Goal(s):
Publications:
Bhowmik, M. K., Walker, A., & Bryant, D. (2023). Reconceptualizing inclusive leadership to address diversity in schools. Multicultural Education Review.https://doi.org/10.1080/2005615X.2023.2250713
Bhowmik, M. K. (2021). A qualitative inquiry of acculturation experiences of minoritised youth in Hong Kong. Curriculum Perspectives, 41, 131-141. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-021-00141-9
Bhowmik, M. K., Cheung R. Y. M., & Hue, M. T. (2018). Acculturative Stress and Coping Strategies among Mainland Chinese University Students in Hong Kong: A Qualitative Inquiry. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 88(5), 550-562. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000338
Competitive Grant Projects:
Ethnic Minorities and Hong Kong's Current Protests: Non-Chinese "Hongkonger" Communities and Their Values, Policy Unit of HKSARG
This theme researches: Child/youth mental health issues such as depression, stress and anxiety during Covid-19; child/youth suicide and suicide prevention; educational factors associated with children’s mental health issues; child/youth grief and loss; child safety and wellbeing; child displacement and trauma due to global conflict, child labour and trafficking; learning after trauma.
Project: Well-being among youth: Socioecological perspectives
Team Leader: Dr Liman LI, Department of Psychology
UNESCO Sustainable Development Goal(s):
Publications:
Ho, H. C. Y., Poon, K. T., Chan, K. K. S., Cheung, S. K., Datu, J. A. D., & Tse, A. C. Y. (2023). Promoting preservice teachers’ psychological and pedagogical competencies for online learning & teaching: The T.E.A.C.H. program. Computers & Education, 195, 104725. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2023.104725
Lou, N. M., & Li, L. M. W. (2023). The mindsets × societal norm effect across 78 cultures: Growth mindsets are linked to performance weakly and well-being negatively in societies with fixed-mindset norms. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 134-152. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12544
Jiang, D., Lay, J. C., & Fung, H. H. (2024). Older adults experience better affective well-being in solitude: The moderating role of goal for conflict de-escalation. Applied Psychology:Health and Well-being, Online Advance Publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12533
Competitive Grant Projects:
Workplace mistreatment of Hong Kong secondary school teachers: A longitudinal study of depletion, commitment, and preoccupation mechanisms, Research Grants Council
Watch One’s Step: The Effect of Objectification on Conspiracy Beliefs (2022-2024), Research Grants Council
