Arrived

So after a long flight we arrived yesterday. We arrived about four in the afternoon Hong Kong time. A little sleepy and worse for the wear but here nonetheless! Yesterday evening time for a bite to eat and now better rested we have a busy day ahead. We will be met this morning by Terry Chau from the British Council and will meet Ruth Gee the Director of the British Council Hong Kong for orientation and greeting. In the afternoon we will be going to the Education Bureau to be briefed on the Hong Kong education system and curriculum development. As in Scotland Hong Kong is at the moment in the midst of major educational reform. Interestingly one of my favourite writers Michael Fullan is seen here also as a leader in thinking and assistance in leading change within education.
We will be meeting with Mr K C Tam the principal education officer and other attendees include MrS Chan Siu Suk-Fan the external liason senior education officer and Ms Sarah Ngai K C chief curriculum development officer for Kindergarten and Primary. We will later have a briefing in teacher development by Ms Y S Chan chief professional development officer and will meet with Mr Cheung Pak Hong chairman of ACTEQ and Principal of Munsang College. After that we will be attending an evening event at the British Council with a reception by Scholarship for Excellence.
During our meal yesterday we met a lovely family who were celebrating an eighteenth birthday. What a small world…. the lady had previously worked with some of those we are meeting with today. What struck us all was how engaging and keen to speak with us the young man was. CfE principles in action!
During our meal we seemed to be there for some time, nearing the end of the marathon we thought after about 15 courses it was finished and asked for the bill – only to discover there four more “small” courses to go – noodles, crispy duck, buns, cake and finally a whole water melon each – luckily that was a slight misinterpretation – a whole slice just….Some of us walked back to walk off the meal, others on their last legs from flight opted for the taxi option. After a good night’s sleep , bright eyed and bushy tailed for today!

Hong Kong Education System

The Education Bureau website contains a very helpful overview of the Hong Kong Education system. For further information on the OECD programme for international student assessment visit their site which details the most recent reports on  all participating countries. Those of us going next week are spending some time briefing ourselves on relevant information on the education system. Information on the weather is here on the Hong Kong Observatory site. Lot of interesting information there too – with increasing numbers of schools joining the site and fascinating real time photos. We’ve been gathering some small mindings to take with us, and its always great to see what others help you with and provide from postcards, pens, keyrings etc to a beautiful quaich bowl which New Lanarkshire Limited provided, celebrating the Internation Children’s games to be held in Lanarkshire in 2011. The tunnocks tea cakes and chocolate logs may become a bit squished on the way,but no-one from Lanarkshire can visit abroad without paying a nod to Bothwell’s finest!