Hong Kong students' and teachers' beliefs on students' concerns and their causal explanation

This paper is based on research investigating Hong Kong Chinese teachers' and students' perceptions of junior secondary students' concerns and of the causes of students' difficulties. Responses from 2, 045 secondary students and 214 teachers revealed that both students and teachers had similar systems of beliefs about students' concerns and the causes of students' difficulties. As dimensions of most students' concerns, both groups referred to study and educational future; friendship; physical appearance; relationships at home, with peers and at school; and psychological well-being and maladjusted behaviour. Both groups in various degrees attributed students' difficulties to students themselves, the family, school or peers. Employing Moscovici's theory of social representation as a conceptual framework, the findings illustrated that students' concerns and causal attribution are social representations shared by both student and teacher groups. Mismatch between students' and teachers' perceptions was more a divergence of views than a disparity. Students' and teachers' different social identities and their protection of group self-esteem are offered as an explanation for the mismatch in perception.