In many countries across the Asia Pacific region, people are adapting to the new demographic shift, but there is nonetheless much concern. This book documents the various educational approaches rendered by both public and private sectors to enable elderly individuals in their own countries to re-engage in society more inclusively, to stay longer…

Despite a rapid growth at compulsory education stage in Hong Kong, ethnic minority students are the least represented in local tertiary institutions. This study critically evaluates the effectiveness of government support policies and practices for boosting the capacity of marginalised members of minority community to accessing university.…

Using multicultural education as a lens, this article details the discursive formation of Hong Kong's linguistic landscape with a focus on policy arrangements around teaching Chinese as a second language for non-Chinese ethnic minorities since the early 2000s. We pose two research questions: What are the identifiable policy trends in education for…

In this article, factors contributing to the poor perceptions and inferior status of vocational education in Hong Kong are discussed. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is employed as the methodology in examining the discursive construction of vocational education in the policy context. A total of five policy documents published between 1970 and…

Few studies have investigated the causal spillover effects of compulsory education on children's siblings. Using a regression discontinuity method, I find that Hong Kong's 1971 free compulsory primary education policy reduced the dropout probability for the eldest siblings of full policy beneficiaries, especially for children in low-income…

The World Bank's focus on foundational skills requires that issues of language and Language of Instruction be brought to the forefront of education policy discussions. Poor Language of Instruction policies harm learning, access, equity, cost-effectiveness, and inclusion. Yet nearly 37% of students in low- and middle-income countries are taught in…

Enormous variation exists among nations and regions in their inclusive education provisions. In addition to comparisons based on policy documents and figures, in-depth and contextually grounded comparative studies involving qualitative data based on stakeholder experiences are needed, especially between western and Asian regions or nations where…

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) has been constructed as a new site for educational, sociocultural, political, and economic investment. Coupled with such a growing and popular recognition of ECEC as a significant period of children's learning and development are critical issues concerning accountability, affordability, and accessibility…

In describing the current status of the education of new Chinese immigrant children (NCIC) in Hong Kong and to provide data useful for designing new policies, this article highlights the region's rise of new Chinese immigrants and the characteristics of the NCIC. Challenges to improve access to and equity in education in Hong Kong, overall quality…

This article examines the role of language policies in mediating access and equity in education. By examining a range of research and case studies on language policies, the authors explore how educational language policies serve as a central gatekeeper to education itself, as well as to quality education that may fundamentally depend on language…

Hong Kong has moved from elite to mass post-secondary education in a very short space of time and at little cost to the Government. Most of this spectacular expansion in participation has come through enrolments in 2 year associate degrees in recently founded community colleges, which have self-financing status. The achievement has been clouded by…

This paper critically analyses how the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region has tackled the issue of preschool quality over the past 30 years. Although early childhood education is not part of the publicly funded education system, there is almost universal preschool attendance among three to six year olds. The government…

Examines Hong Kong's educational system following reversion to the jurisdiction of mainland China in 1997. Presents an overview of the education system, education and schooling in a post-colonial context, school curriculum reform, improving student assessment mechanisms, enhancing access and equity, improving teacher education and professionalism,…

To help resolve the language of instruction dilemma in Hong Kong schools, this paper examines the hypothetical effect of government, business, and university language policy and practice on individuals' choice of intructional medium. While government policy has always allowed schools and students to choose either Chinese or English, most have…

During the 1970s, the Hong Kong government declared elementary and lower secondary schooling to be free and compulsory and increased funding at all levels. Analysis of census data on birth cohorts in their upper teens in 1971-86 found increasing educational attainment over time and decreasing effects on educational attainment of parent income and…