Appointment of unqualified teacher

Under no circumstances should a person unable to satisfy the minimum qualifications required for entry to the teaching profession be considered for appointment except with strong justifications. In such cases, the SMC has to obtain the prior approval of PSEd.

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1. Starting from the 2019/20 school year, under the implementation of all-graduate teaching force policy, all non-graduate regular teachers in the approved teaching staff establishment currently appointed in aided schools holding a local bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) who are willing to shoulder the duties of graduate teachers may be regraded as graduate teachers in the corresponding rank. All the necessary procedures for regrading should be completed before the effective date, including the approval by the SMC. Under normal circumstances, there should be no retrospective effect for the date of regrading.

2. Regarding the details of all-graduate teaching force policy in aided schools, please refer to EDBC011/2019 “An All-Graduate Teaching Force in Aided Schools”.

3. The SMC should use the form for regrading to inform the Funds Section of the EDB of the school’s decision on granting approval for the teachers’ regrading applications so as to facilitate the adjustment of the teachers’ salary particulars.

Schools should also assess the teachers’ salary particulars in accordance with the principles detailed in the Guide to Salary Assessment for Aided Secondary/

Primary Schools. The regrading form should be copied to the respective District School Development Section. Schools may access the relevant form on the

“Appointment Matters” webpage. Appendix 6 details the procedures for regrading in primary schools, and similar procedures can be adopted for secondary schools.

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1. The SMC of an aided school is responsible for the appointment of non-teaching staff in accordance with the provisions of the COA. The appointment of specialists in aided secondary schools, primary schools and special schools should also comply with the qualifications, job requirements, staff establishment, salary scales and conditions of appointment laid down in the COA. Appendix 2 gives a summary of the various non-teaching posts in aided schools.

2. To ensure that the job applicants have met the appointment requirements for selection purposes, schools should also follow paragraphs 2a to 2e of Section 7.2.1 above with prudence when employing non-teaching staff.

3. Schools in receipt of the Administration Grant/ Revised Administration Grant can use the Grant flexibly to employ administrative staff, workshop attendants and janitors to meet their specific needs. For example, they can employ staff or contract out the cleaning or clerical duties, decide on the offer of full-time or part-time appointment and determine the staff remuneration.

4. Schools in receipt of the Revised Administration Grant pay the actual salary of their clerical staff through the Salaries Grant and the salary of the janitor staff through the Revised Administration Grant. Clerical staff paid out of the Salaries Grant includes the grades of Assistant Clerical Officer and Clerical Assistant.

Schools should refer to the conditions of appointment and salary scale stipulated in the COA. In principle, the aforesaid clerical staff would be awarded incremental

credits for relevant experience paid under the Administration Grant/ Salaries Grant in aided schools upon transfer without a break in service. Schools are allowed to use the Revised Administration Grant flexibly to employ janitor staff, contract out services and/ or employ extra clerical staff to meet their specific needs.

5. Administration Grant and the Revised Administration Grant are calculated as follows :

Administration Grant (per annum)

(No. of clerical staff per approved establishment for the current school year x mid-point salary of the clerical staff + No. of janitor staff per approved establishment for the current school year x maximum point salary of the janitor staff) x 12

Revised Administration Grant (per annum)

No. of janitor staff per approved establishment for the current school year x maximum point salary of the janitor staff x 12

6. The provision of the Revised Administration Grant is a transitional measure. In the long run, it is expected that schools would pay the salaries of both clerical and janitor staff through the Administration Grant. Hence, schools which have opted for the Revised Administration Grant may opt for the Administration Grant if they prefer so. The option once exercised in favour of the Administration Grant is final and irrevocable.

7. Schools are requested to keep a separate ledger account named “Administration Grant/ Revised Administration Grant Account” to reflect all income and expenditure chargeable to it. The Administration Grant and the Revised Administration Grant have been included in the constituent grants under the Operating Expenses Block Grant (OEBG) with effect from the 2000/01 school year and the Expanded Operating Expenses Block Grant (EOEBG) starting from the 2005/06 school year. Please refer to the reference materials of OEBG/ EOEBG on the EDB webpage for details.

8. The proforma statement of the OEBG/ EOEBG is attached to the relevant Circular Memorandum on submission of annual accounts by aided schools. The completed proforma should be forwarded to the Audit Section of this Bureau together with the Audited Accounts by the date specified in the Circular Memorandum.

9. Provision of School-based Educational Psychologists in Aided Primary and Secondary Schools

a. As recommended by the “Education Commission Report No. 4”, the former Education Department had created 12 Educational Psychologists (EP) posts in the aided sector since 1993/94 under the Schools Support Scheme (SSS) to allow major sponsoring bodies of aided secondary schools operating a minimum of 6 schools to employ school-based EPs for providing psychological services according to the following scale:

No. of aided secondary schools operated by the same sponsor

Provision of EPs

6 - 10 0.5

11 -15 1.0

16 - 20 1.5

21 - 25 2.0

b. To step up support for schools in catering for students’ diverse educational needs, the EDB has started to extend progressively the provision of School-based Educational Psychology Service (SBEPS) by creating new EP posts in aided primary and secondary schools, starting from the 2008/09 school year. School sponsoring bodies (SSBs) are invited to apply for these EP posts to provide SBEPS to schools assigned by the Bureau. The SSBs previously awarded EP posts under SSS shall pool together all EP resources under SSS and SBEPS to serve all schools assigned. This can allow all secondary schools under SSS be simultaneously improved with more frequent EP visits, enhanced professional supervision and better service coordination.

c. From the 2016/17 school year, all aided primary and secondary schools have been provided with SBEPS. The EDB has also progressively created more new EP posts in aided primary and secondary schools with comparatively large number of students with special educational needs for provision of Enhanced SBEPS.

d. The SSB awarded EP post is to arrange a ‘base school’ under its sponsorship to employ the EP as a member of its non-teaching specialist staff and to provide SBEPS for schools assigned by the Bureau. The ‘base school’ shall work jointly with the SSB to oversee and monitor the staffing matters of the EP, such as appointment and promotion in accordance with the principles set out in the COA.

e. For the above-mentioned SBEPS, EPs will support school development at the school system, teacher support and student support levels through regular school visits. General duties of EP are laid down in the COA. Where possible, the facilities listed below should be made available in schools where the EP is stationed on designated days:

 interviewing room for individual assessment/counselling or other consultation work; and

 other amenities in school e.g. a filing cabinet with lock, computer, printing facilities and stationery.

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1. As regards promotion and acting appointment, the responsibilities of the SMC are:

a. to define clearly and make known the distribution of responsible posts, including the delineation of duties in accordance with the organization structure of the school;

b. to ensure a fair distribution of workload;

c. to set requirements on top of the minimum requirements to meet schools’ needs as necessary;

d. to select suitable candidates to take up the responsible posts with reference to the respective selection criteria;

e. to ensure the fulfilment of training requirements for promotion by teachers;

f. to complete all the necessary procedures before the effective date, including the approval by the SMC (under normal circumstances, there should be no retrospective effect for the date of promotion and acting appointment);

g. to approve acting appointments and promotions of laboratory technicians and specialist staff;

h. to provide for reversion and change of responsible posts; and i. to put in place an appeal mechanism to handle staff queries.

2. For aided schools to make arrangement for acting appointment and granting of acting allowance, the SMCs are required to observe the rules set out in the relevant COA and EDBC008/2004 “Acting Appointment and Acting Allowance”. If a principal/teacher on acting appointment is granted leave or absence for more than 3 consecutive days which affects the calculation of the qualifying period and/or involves the forfeiture of acting allowance, the SMC is required to notify the EDB for calculation of the qualifying period and the acting allowance.

3. Please refer to Section 7.3 for more details on principles and procedures of staff selection. For general principles of promotion, acting appointment and regrading of teachers/ specialists in aided schools, please refer to EDBC030/2000

“Promotion, Acting Appointment, Regrading of Teachers/ Specialists and Passage over Efficiency Bar of Specialist Staff in Aided Schools” and EDBC036/2001

“Provision of One Additional Senior Teacher Post in Aided Primary Schools”.

4. Please refer to para. 15 -17 and Annex 4 of EDBC006/2020 “Implementation of the Recommendations of the Task Force on Professional Development of Teachers” for details of the training requirements for promotion of teachers in aided schools.

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1. The SMC has to draw up guidelines and procedures governing the appointment and promotion of teachers. Selection of staff must be determined solely on the basis of merit and ability assessed according to a set of criteria relevant to the requirements of the work to be performed. All selection exercises (including appointments and promotions) should be handled by a selection panel, the role of which is to assess the relative suitability of applicants and to make recommendations on the applicants who best meet the criteria. A checklist on staff recruitment procedures and a flow chart on promotion and acting appointment are at Appendices 3, 4 & 5.

2. The basic principles and some key features of an effective selection system are highlighted below to facilitate the formulation of school policies and procedures.

a. Fairness and transparency

 Formal selection procedures should be set up under the principles of fairness and transparency.

 All vacancies should either be advertised in the press, or circulated by internal circulars (for promotions and acting appointments of serving staff only) as appropriate. Information in the advertisement should be gender-neutral and discrimination-free (including race, religion, sex, marital status, pregnancy, disability, family status, etc.). The number of vacant posts for appointment, acting appointment or promotion should be made known to applicants.

 Selection procedures for appointment, acting appointment and promotion (such as any arrangement for written assessment, number of interviews and the time for the announcement of result(s)), should be clearly understood by applicants and should be made known to parties concerned. Any deviation from the specified procedures should be justified and approved by the SMC.

 Applicants who meet the stipulated minimum requirements should be given equal opportunity for selection.

 If the school has a well-established appraisal system, the candidates’ performance appraisal reports over a specified period may also be taken into account in promotion exercises.

 An independent selection panel should be appointed to consider all applications.

 Applicants should be assessed according to predetermined criteria and specified procedures. A standard form should be used to record assessments made by individual panel members. Assessment criteria relevant to the work to be performed, whether for shortlisting applicants or assessment purposes, must be free from bias and discrimination in terms of disability, sex, marital status,

pregnancy, etc. The criteria must be documented and made available to all applicants.

b. Documentation

 The composition and deliberations of the selection panel should be properly documented and recorded on an assessment form. All personal data must be handled with care in accordance with the requirements of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance. In case of doubt, schools may consult the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD).

 Schools should note that the assessment record will be subject to data access by the individuals concerned after the completion of the selection exercise. Hence, the reasons for recommending or not recommending applicants should be noted clearly on the assessment form.

 It is also preferable for separate records to be kept of the individual assessment and overall recommendations. The panel’s comparison of the relative merits of individual candidates and the recommendations made by the panel should be classified “restricted”. Decisions of the SMC should also be properly documented. Please refer to Appendix 8 for the period suggested for the retention of such data.

c. Review

 The SMC may have to appoint an independent review panel on an ad hoc basis to handle any complaint made by unsuccessful applicants. The review should also be documented.

 The SMC also needs to conduct regular overall reviews of the selection criteria and procedures in adequate consultation with the staff concerned. For the sake of fairness, the composition of the review panel should differ from the selection panel.

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a. To ensure that decisions are made objectively, the shortlisting and interviewing of applicants should not be conducted by one person.

b. For impartiality in decision-making, the selection panel should comprise a good representation of stakeholders. It is also essential to include professionals familiar with the job requirements of the vacant post.

c. For recruiting staff other than the school head, it is recommended that the panel should comprise the following members:

 an SMC member other than the school head

 the school head

 a senior teacher of the respective subject such as the Head of the History Panel for the recruitment of history teachers, or a senior administrative staff, depending on the nature of the post to be filled

d. For recruiting the school head, the SMC should consider appointing a panel comprising representatives of the following stakeholders:

 the school sponsoring body

 parents of students at the school

 independent persons

 alumni

e. An EDB representative may also join the panel as an observer upon invitation or when PSEd considers this necessary.

f. The membership of all selection panels should be approved by the SMC and communicated to all parties concerned.