Professor Ho Sau Lan

Professor and Head of Department

Areas of expertise

About

Professor Ho Sau Lan leads the Department of Early Childhood Education and teaches on the Bachelor of Education (Honours) in Early Childhood Education. Her work looks at how play-based pedagogy is actually enacted in Hong Kong kindergarten classrooms, and at what teachers need in order to sustain it once a project ends.

She has led school-based development programmes with local kindergartens and childcare centres, and supervises research students working on early literacy and numeracy, curriculum quality and the transition from kindergarten to primary one.

Publications

  • Ho, S.L. (2022). Sustaining play-based pedagogy beyond the pilot: a study of Hong Kong kindergartens. Early Childhood Education Journal (Asia-Pacific), 19(2), 145-162.
  • Ho, S.L., & Tsang, M.L. (2023). Early literacy and numeracy in the kindergarten curriculum: teacher perspectives. Journal of Early Childhood Research and Practice, 11(1), 40-58.
  • Ho, S.L. (2024). The transition from kindergarten to primary one: what curriculum continuity requires. Asia-Pacific Journal of Curriculum Studies, 16(3), 201-219.
  • Ho, S.L., & Lam, S.W. (2021). Play, self-regulation and early learning outcomes: a joint study of Hong Kong kindergartens. Early Years Education Review, 13(2), 98-115.
  • Ho, S.L. (2025). School-based curriculum development in early childhood settings: findings from a three-year programme. Early Childhood Education Journal (Asia-Pacific), 22(1), 55-73.