Poking Choi | The Chinese University of Hong Kong (original) (raw)

Papers by Poking Choi

Research paper thumbnail of The rise of women leadership in Hong Kong’s primary schools: Is it a case of celebration

Research paper thumbnail of How Do Chinese College Students Define Sexual Harassment?

Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 1995

This study aimed to delineate the definitions of sexual harassment and their relation with variou... more This study aimed to delineate the definitions of sexual harassment and their relation with various subject characteristics. Results showed that Chinese students demonstrated a high level of consensus in regarding overt unwelcome physical contact and coercive sexuality as sexual harassment. Only a small percentage of the students classified sexist and misogynistic behaviors, pressure for dates, and unsolicited disclosure of personal and emotional feelings as sexually harassing. Factor analyses indicated that faculty-student sexual harassment was composed of three factors: sexual coercion, physical seduction, and gender harassment. Peer sexual harassment, on the other hand, included four factors: sexual coercion, physical seduction, nonphysical seduction, and gender harassment. Individuals' intolerance toward sexual harassment was related to their support for gender equality and flexible gender roles. Compared to men, women had broader definitions of sexual harassment and were les...

Research paper thumbnail of A critical evaluation of education reforms in Hong Kong: Counting our losses to economic globalisation

International Studies in Sociology of Education, 2005

Not long after the political transition in 1997, Hong Kong witnessed a spate of top-down educatio... more Not long after the political transition in 1997, Hong Kong witnessed a spate of top-down education reforms that had been conceived within the neoliberal ideology of economic globalization. Neoliberalism is particularly pervasive here, because of the under-development of representative politics and of critical, social democratic discourse in society. This paper examines how education has been shortchanged by these reforms that dovetail with various processes arising form neoliberalism. These processes include: privatization, managerialism and performativity within the schools, as well as standardization and surveillance in the curriculum. While teachers experience subjection to a new form of governmental discipline, society as a whole suffers from increasing polarization in education provision. The re-invention of a humanist education agenda is urgently called for, but, unfortunately, this is fraught with great difficulties.

Research paper thumbnail of Contextualising the career pathways of women principals in Hong Kong: a critical examination

Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 2014

The fields of gender and educational leadership have been enriched recently by analyses of nation... more The fields of gender and educational leadership have been enriched recently by analyses of national case studies from non-western contexts. By contextualising women’s career development, these studies highlight the importance of including experiences other than those generated from Anglo-American-Australian contexts, thus broadening our knowledge base for more nuanced theorisation in the field. This paper contributes a close examination of the career histories of eight female primary school principals in Hong Kong. Our analyses identify a range of facilitators, including the expansion of promotion opportunities, strong values placed on education and training, professional encouragement and support and help in relieving family responsibilities. Valuable these factors may be, but we argue that they are incidental, informal, familial and individual, and incur the costs of burn-out and guilt. The discussion not only underlines the significance of case study and cultural and contextual specificities, it also provides a nuanced understanding of Chinese patriarchy.

Research paper thumbnail of Sexual harassment of Chinese college students

Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1996

Sexual harassment of Chinese college students with a focus on their awareness, experiences, respo... more Sexual harassment of Chinese college students with a focus on their awareness, experiences, responses, and expectations of institutional intervention to the problem was examined. 358 male and 491 female Chinese college students in Hong Kong participated. There were no gender differences in students' awareness of the phenomenon. Students' own experiences were less frequent than what they had heard about sexual harassment. Peer harassment occurred twice as frequently as faculty harassment. Compared to men, twice as many women said they had been sexually harassed. About one in four women students experienced various forms of sexual harassment and 1% were coerced into sexual activities during their college years by either teachers or peers. Students typically avoided and ignored the harassers and felt that the university should take up active roles in combating the problem. Comparisons with U.S. studies suggested that Chinese college students had a lower awareness and experience level in sexual harassment than U.S. students.

Research paper thumbnail of A Critical Evaluation of Education Reforms in Hong Kong: counting our losses to economic globalisation

Not long after the political transition in 1997, Hong Kong witnessed a spate of top-down educatio... more Not long after the political transition in 1997, Hong Kong witnessed a spate of top-down education reforms that had been conceived within the neoliberal ideology of economic globalisation. Neoliberalism is particularly pervasive here, because of the underdevelopment of representative politics and of critical, social democratic discourse in society. This article examines how education has been shortchanged by these reforms that dovetail with various processes arising from neoliberalism. These processes include privatisation, managerialism and performativity within the schools, as well as standardisation and surveillance in the curriculum. While teachers experience subjection to a new form of governmental discipline, society as a whole suffers from increasing polarisation in education provision. The reinvention of a humanist education agenda is urgently called for but, unfortunately, this is fraught with great difficulties.

Research paper thumbnail of The rise of women leadership in Hong Kong’s primary schools: Is it a case of celebration

Research paper thumbnail of How Do Chinese College Students Define Sexual Harassment?

Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 1995

This study aimed to delineate the definitions of sexual harassment and their relation with variou... more This study aimed to delineate the definitions of sexual harassment and their relation with various subject characteristics. Results showed that Chinese students demonstrated a high level of consensus in regarding overt unwelcome physical contact and coercive sexuality as sexual harassment. Only a small percentage of the students classified sexist and misogynistic behaviors, pressure for dates, and unsolicited disclosure of personal and emotional feelings as sexually harassing. Factor analyses indicated that faculty-student sexual harassment was composed of three factors: sexual coercion, physical seduction, and gender harassment. Peer sexual harassment, on the other hand, included four factors: sexual coercion, physical seduction, nonphysical seduction, and gender harassment. Individuals' intolerance toward sexual harassment was related to their support for gender equality and flexible gender roles. Compared to men, women had broader definitions of sexual harassment and were les...

Research paper thumbnail of A critical evaluation of education reforms in Hong Kong: Counting our losses to economic globalisation

International Studies in Sociology of Education, 2005

Not long after the political transition in 1997, Hong Kong witnessed a spate of top-down educatio... more Not long after the political transition in 1997, Hong Kong witnessed a spate of top-down education reforms that had been conceived within the neoliberal ideology of economic globalization. Neoliberalism is particularly pervasive here, because of the under-development of representative politics and of critical, social democratic discourse in society. This paper examines how education has been shortchanged by these reforms that dovetail with various processes arising form neoliberalism. These processes include: privatization, managerialism and performativity within the schools, as well as standardization and surveillance in the curriculum. While teachers experience subjection to a new form of governmental discipline, society as a whole suffers from increasing polarization in education provision. The re-invention of a humanist education agenda is urgently called for, but, unfortunately, this is fraught with great difficulties.

Research paper thumbnail of Contextualising the career pathways of women principals in Hong Kong: a critical examination

Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 2014

The fields of gender and educational leadership have been enriched recently by analyses of nation... more The fields of gender and educational leadership have been enriched recently by analyses of national case studies from non-western contexts. By contextualising women’s career development, these studies highlight the importance of including experiences other than those generated from Anglo-American-Australian contexts, thus broadening our knowledge base for more nuanced theorisation in the field. This paper contributes a close examination of the career histories of eight female primary school principals in Hong Kong. Our analyses identify a range of facilitators, including the expansion of promotion opportunities, strong values placed on education and training, professional encouragement and support and help in relieving family responsibilities. Valuable these factors may be, but we argue that they are incidental, informal, familial and individual, and incur the costs of burn-out and guilt. The discussion not only underlines the significance of case study and cultural and contextual specificities, it also provides a nuanced understanding of Chinese patriarchy.

Research paper thumbnail of Sexual harassment of Chinese college students

Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1996

Sexual harassment of Chinese college students with a focus on their awareness, experiences, respo... more Sexual harassment of Chinese college students with a focus on their awareness, experiences, responses, and expectations of institutional intervention to the problem was examined. 358 male and 491 female Chinese college students in Hong Kong participated. There were no gender differences in students' awareness of the phenomenon. Students' own experiences were less frequent than what they had heard about sexual harassment. Peer harassment occurred twice as frequently as faculty harassment. Compared to men, twice as many women said they had been sexually harassed. About one in four women students experienced various forms of sexual harassment and 1% were coerced into sexual activities during their college years by either teachers or peers. Students typically avoided and ignored the harassers and felt that the university should take up active roles in combating the problem. Comparisons with U.S. studies suggested that Chinese college students had a lower awareness and experience level in sexual harassment than U.S. students.

Research paper thumbnail of A Critical Evaluation of Education Reforms in Hong Kong: counting our losses to economic globalisation

Not long after the political transition in 1997, Hong Kong witnessed a spate of top-down educatio... more Not long after the political transition in 1997, Hong Kong witnessed a spate of top-down education reforms that had been conceived within the neoliberal ideology of economic globalisation. Neoliberalism is particularly pervasive here, because of the underdevelopment of representative politics and of critical, social democratic discourse in society. This article examines how education has been shortchanged by these reforms that dovetail with various processes arising from neoliberalism. These processes include privatisation, managerialism and performativity within the schools, as well as standardisation and surveillance in the curriculum. While teachers experience subjection to a new form of governmental discipline, society as a whole suffers from increasing polarisation in education provision. The reinvention of a humanist education agenda is urgently called for but, unfortunately, this is fraught with great difficulties.