Monday

What a great day! We were warmly welcomed by Ruth Gee, Director of the British Council Hong Kong and heard about the history of the transition between colonialism and Chinese rule -a 50 year transition period which has already seen many changes and parallel ecconomic, legal, governmental and other processes which run simultaneously in this period. It was interesting to hear about some of the work the British Council supports and facilitates. Their offices next to the British Consulate are not dissimilar to LT Scotland Optima Building -very high tech, bright and welcoming. Katherine Forrestier, Director of Education , Science and Society had given us a most comprehensive written briefing about education reform in Honk Kong prior to our arrival and talking to Katherine in person presented a great opportunity for us to as inumerable questions which her brief had raised for us. We felt very well prepared to meet our senior colleagues at the Education Bureau after mouth watering Dim Sum lunch at a nearby restaurant (I hope the photographs upload properly……..do check out the vast selection of culinary specialities our Hong Kong colleague, Terry Chau selected for us……..mouthwatering!).
Mr Tam, Principal Education Officer and his colleagues were so very welcoming -they told us about Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Tertiary education in Hong Kong and we were struck by the similarities in our curriculum reform aspirations and were keen to explore more where we found our approaches differed. Mr Tam and his colleagues felt as we did , that the exchange had very much been a two way process and we each had learned a great deal from the other. We gifted Mr Tam with a 3.5 kg printed version of CfE (we know that because that’s how much luggage allowance it took to bring it over!). Later learning about Teacher Education and in particular ‘probationary’ support was fascinating. Similar to our own approach but with less actual teaching hours in the year however, a very reflective, mentored approach to support which is looked upon as a CPD opportunity for both mentoree and mentor mirrored our own process. Continued teacher development is very much at the discretion of Hong Kong teachers (a number of whom have had no teacher training before taking up post). If a teacher has not undergone training by the end of 5 years teaching their salary is capped.
After our afternoon at the Education Bureau we went immediately back to the British Council as we had been invited to a reception for British Scholoarship students where we met many confident, successful and effective young people together with key colleagues from the host universities…….Joanne’s daughter may now have inadvertently secured a fashion design and international business placement for her third year at University. Now there’s a great by product of our visit! By this time we were close to passing out with tiredness from our long journey the previous day and the pain of sore hot feet combined with strappy sandals -not a good combination for this heat. However, fear not, after happy hour back at the hotel some of us had a second wind and hit the nearby shops for a few hours………we’ll compare notes on the booty bought in the morning when we meet at 8.30 to begin our second day of visits. Some folks, the early risers among us are either going for a swim in the rooftop pool or heading to Victoria Park across the road to participate in Tai Chi……..we hope the locals don’t mind if we join in!
Joanne
Update – 7.00 am Tai Chi watching in park… Jet Lag is a marvellous thing as sleep deprivation lets you see more in the morning than usual! There’s a park just minutes from the hotel and in the morning its packed – people playing basketball, lifting weights, jogging and doing Tai Chi. However the other thing to see at this time is all the young people on their way to school – they start early in the day here… There’s a senior school across the road from the hotel and there are children out and about there, taking part in PE from 7.00am onwards. Late nights too, they take part on a lots of after school study work and the lights were still on until lat in the evening.
Now today we’re also on the look out for “superstar” teacher names on the back of buses where we were told teachers are mentioned – after school study is an improtant part of education and adverts for teachers who assist in producing great results can be seen!
The city is full of many contrasts – 70% of Hong Kong is open space with 40% of that national parks. We are in Hong Kong Island and hope to visit Kowloon and the new territories at some point too. The Hong Kong environment has a very particular culture which can be felt everywhere. It’s an exciting and vibrant place to be.
Andrea
We’re off to see schools today and after yesterday’s briefings are looking forward to this.