Examiner's Report

on the Ed.D Thesis of HO Ka Man Carman

Teacher is the core element of the development of education. Paying attention to

the Occupational Well-being of teachers not only reflects the respect and care for
teachers, but also plays an important role in improving the quality of education through
a deeper understanding of teachers' situation and putting forward corresponding
improvement measures. HO Ka Man Carman's this thesis, taking the ecosystem theory
as the theoretical perspective, specifically studies the Occupational Well-bewing of
preschool teachers in Hong Kong, which has both theoretical and practical significance.
The following are evaluation opinion for each parts of the thesis:
1. The title of the thesis is clear and standardized, which accurately summarized
the problems, theoretical perspectives, main content and innovation of the study.
2. The abstract part well explained the background, significance and innovation of
this study, introduced the research methods and implementation process, and briefly
mentioned the results and suggestions. Unfortunately, the substantive conclusions and
recommendations of this study have not been seen from the abstract.
3. The literature review is very solid and well written. In general, the content is
comprehensive, logical, detailed information and clear. The cited literature can reflect
the latest research progress in related fields, with a high level of quality. However, it is
also important to note that there is a duplication or crossover of substance in some parts
of the text. In addition, when discussing issues in this specific region of Hong Kong,
the literature should focus more on information directly related to Hong Kong itself.
4. The methodology and specific research methods adopted in the thesis are
suitable. Using objective sampling, the study sample is mainly employees from non-
profit educational institutions and institutions participating in Free quality kindergarten
education scheme (FQKES), covering a variety of institutional patterns and job
categories, which has certain representativeness. In Study 1, the questionnaire was used
to fully understand the overall appearance of Occupational well-being of preschool
teachers in Hong Kong. In particular, the design of two rounds of surveys was adopted
to analyze the potential influencing factors by comparing the pre-and post changes of
the respondents. The questionnaire tools were adapted from previous studies, with
reliability, validity and suitability. In Study 2 , in-depth interviews were used to analyze
the influencing factors of Occupational well-being of preschool teachers in Hong Kong
and integrate them into the framework of ecosystem theory. Data is handled properly.
5. In the results and analysis parts, two chapters were used to analyze the results
of Study 1 and Study 2 in detail. The quantitative data of the questionnaire survey is
clear, and the interpretation of the data is basically clear. The summary of the in-depth
interviews is clearly logical, and the interview records are appropriately quoted as
evidence. It is worth considering that since this study focuses on the specific region of
Hong Kong, it may be more enlightening if we can contact the relevant research results
of other scholars and properly analyze the situation of Hong Kong with the situation of
other regions to highlight the particularity of Hong Kong. In addition, if the analysis of
the interview can make use of the advantages of good quality research methods, deeply
explore the interviewees' personal experiences, tell good stories, and increase the
explanatory understanding of the interviewees, it may make the text more readable and
resonate easily.
6. In the conclusion and reflections parts, the reality and influencing factors of
preschool teachers' Occupational Well-being in Hong Kong are summarized from the
perspective of ecosystem theory, and some improvement suggestions are put forward
by citing the views of interviewees. The limitations of the study, such as the small
sample size and no Chronosystem involved, were also frankly reflected.
On the whole, the thesis has a clear goal, proper method, complete structure, strict
logic, clear order, accurate expression, standard format, and strong internal consistency.
To the questions raised by the study, namely, the status and influencing factors of the
Occupational Well-being of preschool teachers in Hong Kong, they were
comprehensively and effectively answered from the perspective of ecosystem theory.
Its research topic selection and method perspective are innovative, and the research
conclusions and suggestions are helpful to further enrich the theoretical understanding
of preschool teachers' Occupational well-bewing, and also have reference value for the
formulation of relevant reform policies.
There are also some places worth improving and discussing, if it can be corrected
or supplemented. It mainly includes: First, the accuracy of the text expression of some
parts. For example, on page 6, line 6, says "the following three questions", but only two
questions are listed, the third is not seen; in the first paragraph of page 92, "job burnout"
appears twice in the same sentence. Second, there are too many background statements
in the abstract, which fails to fully present the exact results, core views and conclusions
of the research, so it is necessary to further optimize them. The third is the repeated
crossover and inductive logic problems in the literature review part. For example, in
the fish bone chart on page 10, work pressure and burnout should be a state of subjective
and objective integration, it is more appropriate put at the fish head. This chart might
be optimized from external-internal factors, positive-negative factors, process-result
factors and other dimensions; Also, social support might be included in the definition
of Job resource, so the relationship between social support and Job resource is also
questionable. The fourth is the research method section, there should be an operational
definition of the core concept in this study, before compiling the questionnaire tool, and
this operational definition and constituent elements should be supported in the literature
review. In addition, is it necessary and possible to distinguish between the two different
conditions of "leaving the unit" and "leaving the industry"? Fifth, the research results
and data analysis part, on page 85, "community recognition" was put into the macro
system, it is not appropriate. Page 135, The effects of Commuting Time from home to
work and from work to home were just contrary. How to explain? Also, how to explain
the contradiction of increasing turnover tendency on page 142 and increasing
Commitment to Workplace on page 144 at the same time? In addition, have you
considered to use T tese or other ways to reflect the significance of the difference
between the results of two round questionnaires in study 1? It is necessary to analyze
the major changes in the same person within those 10 months. Sixth, in the final
conclusion and suggestion section, if we can compare the situation of Hong Kong with
other regions and summarize the particularity of Hong Kong, it may be better to respond
to the title. At the same time, in the conclusion part, if we can further optimize the chart
on page 88, integrating the confirmed factors and their correlation into structure model,
distinguishing positive factors, negative factors and possible intermediary factors, and
putting forward practical improvement suggestions based on the researcher's own
thinking (not just the opinions of respondents) , it must be of more theoretical
contribution and practical application value.
Limited to the examiner's own vision and knowledge, the above opinions may not
be completely correct. Just for reference. In the process of reviewing the thesis, the
examiner also benefited a lot. Thank you!