Perceived emotional intelligence and self-efficacy among Chinese secondary school teachers in Hong Kong

One hundred and fifty-eight secondary school teachers were assessed on their perceived emotional intelligence (Schutte et al., 1998) and general self-efficacy and self-efficacy toward helping others ( Schwarzer, 1993). An item factor analysis yielded four dimensions of perceived emotional intelligence, leading to the construction of four corresponding empirical scales. Teachers scored most highly on positive utilisation and emotional appraisal, followed by empathic sensitivity and positive regulation. Using the four components of perceived emotional intelligence as predictors of self-efficacy beliefs, positive regulation emerged as the significant predictor in predicting general self-efficacy whereas empathic sensitivity emerged as the significant predictor in predicting self-efficacy toward helping others. Implications of the findings for exploring the relationships between various components of perceived emotional intelligence and various specific self-efficacy beliefs for different groups of teachers and the need for further studies using longitudinal data are discussed.     

Counselling values and their relationships with self-efficacy among Chinese secondary school teachers in Hong Kong

Two-hundred-and-ninety-nine Chinese secondary school teachers in Hong Kong were assessed on their endorsement of counselling values using a 19-item self-report checklist, and on their perceived self-efficacy towards helping using the 10-item Schwarzer-Wegner scale. These teachers were found to share the same counselling values as counselling psychologists. They prized most highly the humanistic counsellor qualities, followed by counselling practice with a preventive, developmental and holistic perspective. Their relative endorsement of scientific values suggested that they were not resistant to the promotion of empirically supported and evidence-based treatment approaches. Teachers’ self-efficacy towards helping was also predictable from endorsing values related to interpersonal relationships and diversity in counselling practice. Implications of the findings for improved counselling training for teachers are discussed.     

An epidemiological study on work and family stress among Chinese in Hong Kong

Hong Kong, with a population of over six million in a modern city, has been shown to be a very stressful place to live in. However, epidemiological data from a big-scale study in this regard are lacking. The present territory-wide survey, from a sample representative of the general population, was aimed to investigate the work and family stress of Chinese adults in the community with respect to the impact on their psychological well-being. The psychosocial context was considered as an important source of stress. The results showed that coping with work demands and rearing children were reported as the highest stress responses. Moreover, workers in Hong Kong took an instrumental attitude, i.e., one emphasizing material rewards, in order to reduce the job stress arising from interpersonal conflicts in the workplace.     

Theoretical counselling orientations of teachers in Hong Kong

Thirty-seven Chinese teacher-counsellors in Hong Kong were assessed on their theoretical orientations using a 45-item self-report checklist at the beginning of their advanced training and at the end of a course on counselling theories. Based on their ratings on nine theoretical orientations, it could be inferred that the beliefs and values of these teachers were most congruent with those of the Person-Centred approach. With ratings above a cutoff score as endorsement, teachers were found to endorse more orientations in the post-course assessment, reflecting an increase in flexibility in approach. Despite the fact that teachers’ reported self-efficacy toward helping significantly increased in post-course assessment, teachers’ membership in low, medium, and high self-efficacy groups did not have any bearing on teachers’ changes in flexibility in approach or changes in primary approach. Implications of the findings for understanding teacher-counsellors’ process of finding an integrative approach personally meaningful for their future practice are discussed.     

Empowering school social work practices for positive youth development: Hong Kong experience

Empowerment has become a popular concept in working with adolescents in recent years. It challenges the deficit model of youth work and focuses on creating a facilitative climate in which young people can make maximum use of the opportunity to learn and grow. While many practitioners have adopted the empowerment approach in youth services, however, we know little about the possibilities for empowerment practice in the field of school social work. Based on the findings of a qualitative study conducted in Hong Kong, this paper explores how school social workers engage in different dimensions of empowerment: (1) the personal dimension in regard to how students recapture a sense of competence to meet life challenges and fight for their own benefits; (2) the school and community dimensions in regard to how practitioners collaborate with service users and partners to initiate constructive changes to school policies and strengthen the school-community partnership for student development; and (3) the institutional dimension in regard to how practitioners play the advocacy role in the education sector. The findings provide rich information for other youth workers, especially those who render service in the school setting, as they apply the empowerment approach in daily practice.     

Effective group work with delinquents in Hong Kong

The principle of matching services to needs suggests that group work would be most effective when it targets those most in need of the services--delinquents with low involvement with the family and high involvement with friends. Less time with the family indicates a greater need for conventional social control, while more time with friends may entail a greater need for learning social skills in order to resist delinquent peer influences. To address these needs, developmental group work is appropriate for delinquents identified by social workers. The effectiveness of services tend to be contingent upon the delinquents' relationship with family and friends. To test this hypothesis, the present study collected data from 190 delinquents in Hong Kong. It was found that developmental group activities were beneficial to delinquents who spent less time with family and/or more time with friends. For delinquents in general, developmental group activities were helpful in diminishing delinquency. Moreover, the help was significantly greater for delinquents who spent more time with friends.     

Chronic work stress and exhaustion is associated with higher allostastic load in female school teachers

Epidemiological studies have shown that chronic work stress or unfavourable psychosocial work conditions are prospectively associated with different adverse health outcomes. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to investigate the relationship between work-related chronic stress as well as exhaustion and a cumulative measure of physiological wear-and-tear called allostastic load (AL). AL could be a possible biological pathway for how chronic work stress and exhaustion lead to health impairments in the long run. As the teaching profession has been proposed to be a potentially high stressful occupation, chronic work stress (effort-reward-imbalance) and exhaustion were assessed in 104 female school teachers. AL was first analyzed according to McEwen's classical model comprised of ten parameters including cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulphate (DHEA-S), waist/hip-ratio (WHR), glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), total cholesterol/HDL-ratio, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Additionally it was extended to include tumor-necrosis-factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, D-dimer, percent-body-fat, triglycerides, and glucose levels. A substantial proportion of our sample was highly exhausted whereas relatively few teachers showed high effort-reward-imbalance. AL scores were significantly higher in women high on effort-reward-imbalance or suffering from exhaustion. Although all teachers had been in a good health status, chronic work stress as well as exhaustion appears to be associated with changes in a multi-system summary indicator of physiological risk.     

Attitudes of secondary school teachers towards prospective school counsellors

A test of attitudes to the place of counsellors in schools was administered to 100 teachers at secondary schools in Manchester. The attitudes were generally favourable, though there was evidence of considerable ignorance about the counsellor's role and also of doubts about confidentiality. More favourable attitudes tended to be held by arts teachers, teachers without children of their own, and teachers who had a degree but no further qualifications.     

Parents, teachers, and peers and early adolescent runaway in Hong Kong

Parental monitoring, teacher support, classmate support, and friend relationship presumably affect adolescents' runaway from home. According to social control theory, social control based on conventional social norms would prevent adolescent runaway, but association with friends may erode such control. This expectation appears to hold true in a sample of Grade 7 students in Hong Kong; parental monitoring and classmate support reduced runaway risk whereas friend relationship raised the risk. These findings emerged from a causal model that controlled for a latent predisposition that commonly affected parental monitoring, friend relationship, and runaway risk. Further analysis indicates that the preventive effect of parental monitoring was stronger on adolescents born on the Chinese mainland than in Hong Kong, and the effect of friend relationship was stronger on the Hong Kong born than the mainland born. Conceivably, a socially controlling culture bolsters the preventive effect of social control.     

A whole-school approach to guidance: Hong Kong teachers' perceptions

This qualitative study involving 30 teachers, followed by a survey of 895 teachers, investigated Hong Kong teachers' perception of a whole-school approach to guidance and its practice. Findings revealed that teachers perceived a whole-school approach as fostering student development and as a system of management. Teacher dedication, communication, and team spirit were considered as facilitating factors for its implementation. Findings also revealed an overall mismatch between teachers' beliefs about a whole-school approach and their perceived school reality, and that a wholeschool approach was not seen as practised in the majority of schools. There was a close relationship between schools' guidance focus and their implementation of a whole-school approach. Schools implementing a whole-school approach were considered to have both a preventive and developmental guidance focus and practice. Implications for the implementation of guidance are discussed.     

Reward allocation among Chinese high school students in Hong Kong

The present study examined the effects of personality and performance on reward allocation. The subjects were 89 Chinese senior high school students in Hong Kong. The results showed that the subjects would take into consideration the recipient's personality when they allocated reward to a relatively low performer. Personality factors were irrelevant, however, in the allocation of reward to a relatively high performer. Moreover, the subjects judged an allocation decision as more unfair when the allocation was intended to be a punishment for a worker with relatively low performance and a desirable personality than when the allocation was intended to be a reward for a relatively high performer.     

Suicidality among high school students in Hong Kong, SAR

Suicide is the leading cause of death in Hong Kong SAR for the youth aged 15-24. This study examined the prevalence of suicidality among secondary school students in Hong Kong using a representative, territory-wide sample of 2,586 students. Suicidal behaviors can be conceptualized as a spectrum of self-destructive behaviors. Cumulative logit model analysis indicated that a range of factors, such as unhappy family life, were associated with increasing levels of suicidality. Use of illicit drugs, inhalants, and tobacco differentiated attempters from ideators. The implications of the research findings are discussed.     

Grade differences in reading motivation among Hong Kong primary and secondary students

Background Most previous studies in Western societies have demonstrated a general decline in school motivation. However, it is not clear whether motivational decline occurs uniformly for all students. The moderating effects of individual and cultural differences on students' motivational decline need to be further explored. Aims This study aimed to examine the grade differences in students' reading motivation, including self‐efficacy, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and social motivation, in a Chinese educational context. Grade by gender and grade by school‐average achievement interactions were also checked to explore the role of individual differences in students' motivational changes. Sample A total of 1,794 students (860 boys and 934 girls) volunteered to take part in this study, of whom 648 were Grade 4–6 students from 11 primary schools, 627 were Grade 7–9 students from 12 junior secondary schools, and 519 Grade 10–11 students from 6 senior secondary schools. Method A Chinese version of the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (CRMQ) was administered to all participants during regular class periods by their teachers. Reliability analyses and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were first undertaken to assess the psychometric quality of the CRMQ. Then, multisample CFA was conducted to examine whether the factor structure of the CRMQ was equivalent across students at different grade levels. Grade differences in various reading motivation constructs as well as grade × gender and grade × school‐average achievement interactions were examined using multiple‐indicator‐multiple‐causes modelling. Results The findings of this study supported the reliability and the factor structure of the CRMQ in measuring the reading motivation of Chinese students at different grade levels. The factor pattern of the CRMQ was invariant across primary, junior secondary, and senior secondary students in multisample CFA. As far as the scores on the four reading motivation constructs were concerned, students scored most highly on intrinsic motivation, followed by self‐efficacy, extrinsic motivation, and social motivation. Significant grade differences were found in all reading motivation constructs whereas only a few grade by gender and grade by school‐average interactions were found. Conclusion Consistent with previous studies in Western countries, the findings suggest that motivational decline is also a common phenomenon among Chinese students in Hong Kong. In addition, the pattern of motivational differences is generally consistent among students with different genders and from schools with different achievement levels. The implications of these findings for understanding Chinese students' reading motivation and for planning effective reading instruction to enhance their motivation are discussed.     

Undergraduates' perceptions and evaluations of career guidance activities: A Hong Kong study

There have been several research studies in Britain and Australia into the usefulness of different career guidance activities. Similar issues are examined in a study of 493 undergraduates at City University of Hong Kong. The results demonstrate that the uses of counselling services have been perceived rather narrowly and instrumentally. Career guidance activities which are perceived as 'tools' for practical or immediate help have been under-utilised. The five most popular career guidance activities are characterised as being specific in content, information-based, externally focused, and structured in process. In examining the results within the context of Chinese culture, it is suggested that counselling processes which help the students engage in more self-exploration and self-discovery can be encouraged.     

Burnout syndrome in secondary school teachers: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Social Psychology of Education - Secondary school teachers are one of the occupational groups presenting the highest levels of sick leave due to stress in the workplace. This form of stress can...     

Rated satisfaction with salary and promotion by secondary school teachers in Transkei

Among 114 secondary school teachers there was no significant difference between the 55 who were satisfied with their salary and the 59 who were not, but the difference was significant between 37 who were satisfied with promotion and 73 who were not. There was no sex difference for either measure.     

Engagement of secondary school teachers in Namibia: Relational context effects

The aim of this study was to investigate relational antecedents of work engagement for secondary school teachers and to determine whether specific psychological conditions mediate the effects of relational factors on work engagement. A cross-sectional survey was used. The participants were 502 secondary school teachers in Namibia (females = 64.7%, Afrikaans-speaking = 49%). They completed the following measuring instruments: Co-worker and Supervisor Relationships Scales, Emotional Exhaustion Scale, Perceived Organizational Support Scale, Psychological Conditions Scale and the Work Engagement Scale. Data were analysed using Mplus 7.3. The results showed that low emotional exhaustion and high psychological meaningfulness and availability explained work engagement. Relational factors (i.e. co-worker relations, supervisor relations, and emotional exhaustion) influenced psychological meaningfulness and safety strongly, and psychological availability moderately. Supervisor relationships and emotional exhaustion indirectly influenced work engagement via psychological meaningfulness. Co-worker relationships and emotional exhaustion indirectly affected work engagement via psychological availability. The results provide support for a relational model of work engagement.     

农村中学教师工作满意度与社会支持的相关研究

通过采用采用斯佩克特工作满意度量表(JSS)和肖水源社会支持评定量表(SSRS)对200名农村中学教师进行调查,探讨农村中学教师的工作满意度现状及其与社会支持的关系,进而为农村中学教师的心理健康保健提供指导意义和理论依据。     

Contributions of moral education lectures and moral discussion in Hong Kong secondary schools

Moral education in the traditional form of classroom didactic lectures in secondary schools has been prevailing in Hong Kong since the initiation of moral education in the 1980s. However, such a traditional form has not received credit from research in the West. Instead, discussion of moral issues would be a more effective way of moral education than would didactic lectures. Because of the differential ways of moral education in Hong Kong, findings from other places can be subject to a test in Hong Kong. As such, this study employed panel data from 19,069 secondary school students in Hong Kong to analyze the impacts of moral education on moral commitment to sustain societal interests. Findings indicated a weak contribution of moral discussion and an even weaker contribution of moral education lectures to moral commitment. These findings therefore echo those in other places and suggest that real-life moral education contributes in the expected way, albeit weakly.     

香港道教界隆重举办第十届香港道教节

<正>3月29日下午,由香港道教联合会主办的第十届香港道教节在香港伊利沙伯体育馆隆重开幕。香港特区行政长官曾荫权、中央政府驻港联络办主任彭清华、国家宗教局局长王作安、中国道教协会会长任法融应邀担任主礼嘉宾。香港民政事务局局长曾德成,香港道教联合会主席汤伟奇,香港道教联合会会长黎显华、周铭,香港其他宗教的代表,以及来自海内外的道教界人士和各届嘉宾共2000余人参加了开幕式。曾荫权特首、王作安局长、任法融会长、汤伟奇主席分别在开幕式上致辞。