Jockey Club Primary visit

On the Tuesday we visited Jockey Club Primary which was also situated in the new territories and set within the same campus as the kindergarten and college. We met with a teacher there Miss Chung who had taught there for 7 years. She had a BEd (4 year course) and had majored in English and her minor was in Chinese and General Studies. During her time  studying she went to England for 8 weeks immersion in the language to assist in her English major. There are also immersion programmes at college in mainland China..

The primary was established in 2002. There is an induction programme for newly trained teachers within the establishment. The challenges in the school were things like the high expectations of attainment from society and from parents, the time needed for teacher co-planning. The teacher day began at around 7.30, the school day ends at 3.30 then the teachers plan and more time for planning is always needed. She felt she would like additional time set within the timetable for collaborative work between teachers. Teachers can leave the establishment at 4.30 but many stay much later. The school has joined several programmes to assist in the educational reform programme. Everything can’t be done at once so the principal and school board choose the focus. The Ed Bureau give the school lots of autonomy and the schools implement their policies. Within the school a lot of work had been done on cultivating an atmosphere for improving reading. Next session they would be carrying out work to look at small class teaching. They had already held workshops on how to teach small classes (approx 25 pupils). They use positive behaviour strategies and always try to talk and encourage the children. Society is changing with increasing numbers of parents with less time at home due to work commitments. Additional support needs are met within class with some setting for eg English. Miss Chang is currently completing an MA at a part time college course two evenings a week after school. The school encourages professional development. There is a professional development committee and the school writes a development plan. Parents volunteer and help with eg library books. The PTA recently held a parent picnic with the children and parents and also fundraise. No pupil council yet but on agenda. The school is externally reviewed by the Education bureau and this was done previously about three years ago – similar to HMIe and assists in self evaluation. We also toured the school – and met with the principal. A few photos below give a flavour.

 

Kindergarten Visit

On Tuesday 19th May we visited the Hong Kong Institute of Education HSBC Early Childhood Learning Centre where the principal is Mrs Edith Leung Yuk Ian. The Kindergarten is within the wide college campus area as is a primary. Its situated in the new territories.

The principal works there part time as she  also works training Hong Kong Teachers. We saw a video befre our walk round which the establishment has produced about the activities and learning which take place. Funding source is the Hong Kong Bank Foundation. There are 160 children attending with a mix of full and part time places. The nursery istelf contributes to training of nursery and teaching staff in Hong Kong. Their mission is to put into place innovative teaching. There is a strong emphasis on developing good reading habits, lots of work is undertaken with the children on questioning, exploration of their learning experiences. There’s an emphasis on developing problem solving skills for instance through a recent topic on bamboo where the children were involved in a variety of problem solving experiences. The children have learning portfolios and teacher assessment is recorded with detailed progress an online databank is used by staff to assist in this recording.

There was a creative corridor where there were areas for children to experience creativity through play and where their work was exhibited. They were promoting emphasising cultural experience and also doing much on the arts. Some lovely shadow play was done using ohps and large screens with the children creating shadow drama etc. There was a parents resource centre, PTA and volunteer parents involved. They had been working in the library recently sorting, organising the lending library. Parents could view what the children were doing through two way mirrors and CCTv systems within the nursery and this was used to assist in reporting on progress to parents – a group fo partnes would observe the children at play and then meet with the principal and teachers to discuss the progress of the children, share, communicate and teachers would also model ways of playing with the children. It was felt this classroom observation and discussion with the parents was psositive and the parents found it helped them work with the nursery and with their children. Lots of outdoor play going on with a planting/cultivation site, big sandpit, cycling track, outdoor playground and a picnic area. There was also a multi functional playground area where children were involved in water play and also where they could try ceramic art work. The nursery had a large children’s library and older children would read stories to younger ones there. There was a chef on site who cooked healthy snacks and lunches. The children had a soft toy playmate called Zippy who helped with social and emotional wellbeing – something liek persona dolls. Toddlers were learning basic living skills – a big seated buggy was used for walks. The little ones were getting onsite toilet training.

The principal is a lecturer who has been seconded. The teaching staff have their BEds or are training for one. Staff had made several visits abroad to see good practice and to share and learn.

The centre has opportunitities for student teachers ti work there and volunteer. Its seen as being a very open training centre. They feel they have a clear emphasis on developing and nurturing early childhood theory and practice.

British Council

We were really pleased on the Monday evening to be invited along to an event at the British Council to celebrate the Scholarship for Excellence students who had been studying in Hong Kong for a year. Lots of information about this opportunity on their website. The 2009 application period seems to now be over however this flyer gives an idea of the opportuntities for those looking at this in a year’s time http://www.educationuk.org.hk/partnership/E-flyer.pdf. Several of the students spoke about their experiences and it had clearly been of benefit to those involved.

Food

Looking at some of our photographs there seem to be an inordinate amount of pictures of food… Here are just a few – really enjoying the one of John who struggling with noodles and chopsticks was being assisted by a waitress with a pair of scissors! Come to think of it John seems to be involved in most of the food photos, not that I’m saying he enjoyed the food or anything…

And here’s our delegation in all our glory, sleep deprived, overheated and too full of food…

Meeting with Education Bureau on Day 1

Some photos here from out visit on the Monday to the British Council.

OOn the Monday we also had a meeting with Education Bureau officials, so see some images from there too

 

This included a briefing on Hong Kong education system and curriculum development – Mr K C Tam, Principal Education Officer, Mrs CHAN Siu Suk-fan, Senior Education Officer (External Liaison), Ms Sarah NGAI K C, Chief Curriculum Development Officer (Kindergarten & Primary)

A briefing on teacher development by Ms Y S CHAN, Chief Professional Development Officer (Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualification [ACTEQ] & Professional Development)

A meeting and discussion with Mr CHEUNG Pak-hong, Chairman of ACTEQ and Principal, Munsang College (Hong Kong Island)

We were briefed on the new secondary system (NSS), curriculumn reform and teacher education partnership. Full details can be found on the Bureau’s website.

Our CfE approaches and Hong Kong’s reform approaches are both centred around the young person. Hong Kong have 7 learning goals we have 4 capacities. There are many similarities with the new Hong Kong model and Scotland’s model. The key learning areas for the Curriculum Framework’s Basic Education (P1 to S3) are Chinese Language Ed, English Language Ed, Personal, Social and Humanities, Science Ed, Tech Ed, Arts Ed, PE and Genral Studies. Involved are generic skills, values and attitudes and 5 essential learning experiences. There is a stress on balance and these balanced considerations involve reflecting on desirability v feasibility, short term v long term, localisation v globalisation, academic/social curriculum goals v economic curriculum goals, central curriculum v school based curriculum.

4 key tasks are stressed – reading to learn, project learning, IT for interactive learning and Moral/Civic education. Through the 7 learning goals of the curriculum they discussed a triangle diagram called the golden trinity and these are the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. A key emphasis is placed in developing and building teacher capacity – in the development of students, the development of teachers and in school development. There is also an emphasis on tripartite partnership between schools, the education bureau and tertiary institutions. This helps schools, colleges and universities have an understanding of each other. Universities are working collaboratively on research work looking at teacher development, learning etc. There is also an emphasis on three guiding principles – capacity building, relationship building and culture building. The strength of teachers continues to be built upon with active capacity building involvement.

Chan Siu Suk Fan talked about background information on the reforms and also some of the very similar issues we encounter – for instance workload issues in times of change. The policiea re very clear and where they are moving and the message is very much don’t muddy the water by doing uneccesary things – build on strengths and improve any areas of development. Many workshops are being carried out on the how of curriculum building and design. Leadership is seen as the key to continuous improvement

Variation and Learning Studies

During our visit to the  Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) where we met with Dr KO Po-yuk, Associate Professor and Dr Priscilla LO, Lecturer from School Partnership and Field Experience Office (SPFEO) they explained their learning study model. Key references for this are:

1)     Marton, F. & Booth, S.P. (1997). Learning and awareness. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates.

 

2)     Marton, F. & Morris, P. (eds.), P. (2002). What matters? Discovering critical conditions of classroom learning. Goteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.

 

3) (2004).  

Ference Marton, Amy Tsui, Pakey Pui Man Chick, Po Youk Ko, Ling Lo, Ida Ah Chee Mok, Dorothy Fung Ping Ng, Ming Fai Pang, Wing Yan Pong, Ulla Runesson

Classroom Discourse   

and the Space of Learning, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

 

4)      Lo, M.L., Pong, W.Y. & Chik., P. M. P. (Eds) (2005). For Each and Everyone – Catering for Individual Differences through Learning Study. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

 

Other references:

http://www.ied.edu.hk/spfeo/Prof_LO/publication.htm

http://www.ied.edu.hk/spfeo/Prof_LO/presentation.htm

http://www.ied.edu.hk/spfeo/resources_e.html

This was of particular interest to several of us and may be something we can adapt and investigate further in some of our authorities. Attached here is a cut and paste from the website documentation which gives an overview of the approach.Background on Learning Study Project