Professional formation in Hong Kong: yin & yang in a free‐market economy?

Abstract

The relationship between the professional formation of beginning teachers, education reforms and Hong Kong’s free‐market economy is explored. An overview of educational change and then beginning teachers’ professional formation within the context of economic cycles provides a contextual background against which two research projects are contrasted. The first reports views of school managers who hire new teachers while the second reports the experiences of newly hired beginning teachers. Findings drawn from interview and questionnaire data show that where secondary school managers embrace traditional conceptions of professionalism, in contrast, beginning secondary teachers describe their reality as conforming to a different tradition. Despite the incongruity between these two views a resulting accommodation is achieved. This accommodation is discussed in terms of illustrating the ‘yin and yang’ of professional formation of beginning teachers in Hong Kong’s free‐market economy.