Chapter 9 Supporting Measures (I): Enhancing the Teaching
learning culture for their teachers. Teachers should enhance their knowledge and skills as life-long learners so that they can continue their support to student learning.
9.4 Teacher education providers will also be encouraged to put due emphasis in their current pre-service and in-service courses on the NSS curriculum.
Support
9.5 Reform is seen as necessary if it is in line with the needs of students and the society. As professionals, teachers have recognised the need for developing life-long learning capability to equip themselves with the necessary competencies for the new curriculum, and for coping with stress and tensions which inevitably arise from change.
9.6 Leadership from the principal is a critical factor in managing multi-faceted change and maintaining dynamics in communication and collaboration with various parties including parents. In a knowledge-based society, schools will need to become learning organisations. This depends on the principal’s leadership to cultivate and sustain professional learning of teachers.
9.7 All relevant parties, in particular teachers, principals, vice-principals and career/student guidance teachers, need support to equip them for the reform.
9.8 During the 4 years of lead time from the publication of this Report up to the implementation of NSS, comprehensive professional development programmes and opportunities could be provided in phases and according to subject needs and the needs of schools and teachers.
9.9 While universities see it as part of their responsibilities to help, many professional and community organisations have also volunteered their expertise to help teachers and schools in one way or another as appropriate to their needs, such as social workers to help Liberal Studies teachers, NGOs to provide learning and teaching materials, medical professions to help teachers of SEN, business organisations to serve as teacher and student mentors in COS.
Concerns
9.10 There are concerns about when professional development programmes will start to prepare and support teachers. The adequacy of places for teachers and trainers, in particular for Liberal Studies, and quality of the professional development programmes are seen as important to ensure the success of the reform.
9.11 As regards the number of hours of professional development, the general concern is that 35-100 hours is not sufficient for Liberal Studies teachers. On the other hand, many secondary school teachers have already been trained and have possessed the generic competencies required of most subjects, e.g. group discussion, thinking skills, project learning. Hence, flexible choices should be provided for teachers at various stages of their career such as training tailored for beginning and expert teachers.
9.12 The feedback from principals/vice-principals about the time for arranging professional development programmes for teachers reveals a concern about releasing teachers during school hours. Suggestions are put forward in seminars and school visits regarding the possibility of providing supply teachers to support the block time day-release mode of intensive professional development, in particular for teachers of Liberal studies.
The Way Forward
9.13 The capability of teachers and principals to support the NSS can be enhanced in light of the necessary competencies and knowledge, knowledge of how teachers learn and also the best platforms or opportunities to develop the competencies.
The capability developed should collectively make impact at student, classroom, curriculum and school levels to realise the benefits of the new academic structure.
9.14 The professional competencies of teachers range from understanding the curricula and how students learn, mastering pedagogical approaches according
to learning needs, the curricula and teachers’ strengths, using learning and teaching resources flexibly to cater for learner differences, adopting assessment practices that promote learning and align with the curriculum and public assessment, and counselling and guidance techniques for students.
9.15 The competencies required of teachers are not confined to learning and teaching of students only since work and reforms in schools are multifaceted. Teachers and principals need to manage the complexity of changes, both internal and external to the schools, such as deploying human and funding resources, leading a subject/KLA department or a team of teachers in Liberal Studies, communicating and working with parents and community organisations.
9.16 In terms of efficiency only, most of the more theoretical professional knowledge and skills (knowledge for practice) can be acquired through courses and self-initiated reading. However, teachers should be given opportunities to put knowledge and theory into practice in order to internalise what has been learnt (knowledge in practice), as well as to adapt their practice to the context of their school and broader education reform settings which would ultimately become their own knowledge (knowledge of practice).
9.17 The following sections outline the planning and opportunities of professional development for teachers and principals.
Professional development opportunities for serving teachers and principals
9.18 Most teachers and principals implementing the NSS are serving practitioners.
The principles underpinning the design of the professional development programmes for them are as follows:
(a) It is assumed that most teachers and principals have formal professional qualifications and possessed generic competencies in learning and teaching, assessment, counselling of students, and in school management in the case of principals. When known competencies are involved in the programmes, the emphasis will be on applying these to a new context.
(b) Sufficient provision should be given in specific areas/subjects that are deemed new to all teachers and principals. These include understanding and interpreting various curricula and assessment.
(c) Programmes will be designed according to the different roles and responsibilities performed in schools, including curriculum leaders/panel chairmen, teachers, librarians, academic masters, vice-principals, principals and supervisors.
(d) Flexibility will be given to teachers to choose the components that they wish to study. Consultation questionnaires have been sent to schools to collect this information.
(e) Teachers will be encouraged to develop a professional development profile to reflect on the contents studied and on their capabilities in coping with the needs of NSS.
Programmes for principals and vice-principals
(f) A programme focused on the management of change at the school level will be provided for school leadership team, including all principals, vice-principals and school supervisors. This tailored course will cover qualities of leading change, understanding the purpose and design of the whole student programme, managing the migration and vertical continuity of school-based curriculum development (both curriculum and processes), flexibility in time-tabling, the provision of guidance to students on choices of studies rather than fitting students into time-table sets, human resource planning including professional preparation of all staff and coherence-making by using the school development plan. The intention is that the course will be flexibly adapted using smaller networks whenever possible as a delivery mode. School leaders will be involved in planning the development of this course to ensure that it meets their practical needs.
Programmes for teachers
(g) In the light of the responses gathered from the questionnaires to principals/vice-principals, sufficient places for professional development programme, including for example about 1,500 places for each of the two languages and Mathematics and 4,000 places for Liberal Studies, will be provided for teachers. In addition, some professional development programmes on some core elements will be topped up by 20% to ensure adequate support to teachers.
(h) With a few exceptions like Liberal Studies, there are four components of the programmes:
- Understanding and interpreting the curriculum - Assessing student learning
- Learning and teaching strategies - Enriching knowledge
The first two are core provisions for ALL teachers while the other two are optional.
(i) The programmes for specific subject teachers, in particular for those who might teach Liberal Studies, will generally commence in 2005/06 school year and will be provided progressively up to the year of implementation of NSS, and before SS2 and SS3 of the first cohort where timely advice is required such as for SBA and specific elective parts in particular subjects.
The courses will be repeated for new teachers.
(j) EMB plans to provide not less than 100 hours of training for all Liberal Studies teachers to help them acquire the basic knowledge and skills required for teaching the subject. Of these 100 hours, about 35 hours will be devoted to the mandatory component, while the remainder will be up to the discretion of teachers according to their needs. EMB will meet the level of demand from teachers and schools. Teachers are encouraged to
apply what they have learnt in their own teaching and reflect upon it.
(k) Section (E) of Chapter 5 has briefly reported how the teacher education programme is going to be developed for prospective COS teachers in schools. EMB is prepared to invest extra resources to broaden the teaching repertoire of teachers to facilitate the teaching of COS. We will make use of the 2nd stage of consultation on curriculum and assessment to collect more detailed data on the professional development needs of teachers when other supportive conditions for implementing “3+3+4” are known to them.
(l) There will also be professional development programmes that will address the provision of other learning experiences, a key part of the student programme can be structured and supported in schools. Seminars will also be provided for career masters/mistresses leading into NSS implementation.
(m) Different modes and timing of training such as seminars, workshops, courses, e-courses, reflective practice, sharing of experience and visits will be used in the professional development programmes to respond to the needs of professionals.
(n) Information on professional development programmes of the NSS will be regularly updated on the web.
9.19 Due consideration will be given to the design and recognition given to professional development programmes so that they can function as part of the continuous professional ladder of teachers and principals.
9.20 EMB recognises that targeted resources must be provided to schools for flexible deployment to support the professional development of teachers and school leaders (see Chapter 11).
Pre-service teacher education
9.21 Communication will be maintained with teacher education providers through regular liaison meetings and administrative mechanisms. Information will be given to all providers regularly to align their efforts in offering programmes in light of changing learning demands of students and society to ensure that quality teachers are available in schools.
9.22 EMB will work with teacher education providers to generate useful experiences as input to various teacher education programmes and to promote better understanding of the change processes involved in the new “3+3+4” reforms.
9.23 Support to the special education programmes in teacher education will be strengthened to better prepare teachers to cater for learner differences.
(B) Learning Communities
Concerns
9.24 There has been concern that the proposed professional development programmes have not fully addressed the contextual needs or the ways in which teachers learn.
The Way Forward
9.25 It is recognised that teachers learn from sharing experiences with one another, scaffolding upon different sources of knowledge and reflecting on their own work to build up their teaching repertoire. A lot of the experiences in reforming the NSS have to be generated together amongst the school sector, the Government and teacher education providers, and also be situated in specific regional, school and classroom contexts. Hence, enabling schools to run as a learning community, supporting a collaborative environment in schools and with outside parties, and using reflections to improve practice also enhance the teaching profession.
9.26 Teachers should be encouraged to benefit from different organisational settings such as collaborative opportunity in schools, team work to develop Liberal Studies, collaborative lesson preparation, the use of on-line platforms, and teacher/principal networks and inter-school network that suit their needs.
9.27 It is useful for schools to develop a staff development plan for the whole school each year and for a span of years, and, in line with it, a development plan for each individual staff member to facilitate the implementation of NSS. The course mentioned in para. 9.18 (f) for school leaders will include advice on this matter.
9.28 Schools can make use of the school-based support services provided by different Divisions of EMB, university-school partnership projects supported by the Education Development Fund, and other external facilitating agents deemed as appropriate for the teachers and schools.
(C) Teachers As Key Change Agents
Concerns
9.29 The impact of the changes on teacher workload needs to be addressed. The effect on teachers may be compounded by the introduction of a number of education initiatives, for example professional upgrading of language teachers, which require additional training on the part of teachers,
9.30 As the work of teachers makes a direct impact on achieving the desirable student learning which is the ultimate goal of NSS, measures are also necessary to address concerns about teacher image and trust.
The Way Forward
9.31 In order to give teachers the space to concentrate on preparing for the NSS reform, a training relief grant will be provided for principals to use flexibly to release teachers to take part in professional development programmes, both inside and outside school, by employing supply teachers or other supportive
staff to help out. Using all available resources and more flexible timetabling practices, principals can further support the autonomy of teachers in making individual development plans according to the school development and professional development plans.
9.32 Teachers need support in changing beliefs as they adopt changes. This will be achieved by enabling teachers to see the value of reform to students, harnessing and strengthening existing measures to ensure smooth operation, enhancing the understanding of parents and maintaining the co-operation between the principals and parents to give support to teachers and encouragement of a supportive culture in schools by the principal to facilitate professional collaboration among teachers.
9.33 We believe that boosting the morale and enhancing the image of teachers are crucial to NSS success, and that these may best be achieved through the use of (a) public relations strategies in recognising success; (b) publicity for good practices to boost motivation among teachers; and (c) raising the awareness of the principal in leading the creation in schools of a culture of learning and mutual support, accompanied by quality opportunities for professional development.
Chapter 10 Supporting Measures (II): Textbooks, Quality Learning and Teaching Resources
This chapter discusses measures to ensure the provision of quality textbooks and learning and teaching resources to support the new curriculum and assessment framework and to facilitate learning and teaching inside and outside classrooms.
Original proposal
10.1 The Main Document highlighted two major points concerning textbooks, and quality learning and teaching resources to support the implementation of the new curriculum.
(a) Publishers will be encouraged to develop textbooks. In areas where publishers have shown no inclination to write textbooks due to the assumed small demand, EMB will commission writers. The aim is to ensure that for subjects where deemed appropriate quality textbooks will be available before the year of implementation.
(b) Learning and teaching resources, guidelines and professional development programmes for teachers will be provided for subjects that require frequent updating and contemporary information rather than new textbooks.
Universities, professional and community organisations, and commercial producers will be invited to produce the materials and provide relevant professional development programmes.
Support
10.2 Quality textbooks have a positive role to play in helping students understand what they are expected to learn as well as the learning and teaching processes both inside and outside the classroom. Textbooks should provide the core elements of learning in KLAs and subjects recommended by CDC, develop critical and creative thinking and other generic skills in the learning resources
and activities provided, and open up space for students to further acquire and build up knowledge and enable teachers to develop students’ diverse learning skills.
10.3 Quality textbooks can also assist teachers in their work by consolidating in one place significant materials to support their planned scope and sequence of the learning consistent with the advice of the C&A Guide of each subject, but with the flexibility for teachers to cater for different needs of students.
10.4 Teachers should use quality textbooks flexibly in combination with other learning materials (e.g. different media, the natural environment, people, the Internet and other community resources) to enhance effective learning and achieve learning targets.
Concerns
10.5 The availability, readiness and quality of textbooks for the new curriculum are crucial ahead of time before implementation.
10.6 The price of textbooks should be lowered.
10.7 EMB should help to provide copyright-cleared learning materials and set up a
“Resources Sharing Centre” to promote Liberal Studies and COS.
The Way Forward
Availability of Quality Textbooks
10.8 Although textbooks are only one of many tools to bring about learning, use of quality textbooks can play an important role in effective classroom learning.
In order to ensure the supply of quality textbooks, the following measures will be explored:
(a) A multi-stage textbook review process, instead of the existing one-off textbook review, will facilitate improved alignment with the intentions of the curriculum. It aims to provide writers and publishers with more
frequent feedback and to identify problems or potential problems at a much earlier stage during the whole development process.
(b) In the case of subjects that have no publisher showing interest due to the assumed low demand in the market, textbook incentive schemes may be introduced to encourage publishers to develop suitable textbooks in some of these subjects, under EMB supervision.
(c) In parallel with the textbook incentive scheme, EMB will also initiate the development of a wide range of resources. These may include subject areas where a variety of sources of information and multi-media means rather than “texts” are better for learning and teaching. EMB may also consider publishing textbooks in certain subjects, either in parts or the whole, when it is found necessary.
Learning and Teaching Resources
10.9 Learning and Teaching resources should not be confined to textbooks, workbooks and audio-visual teaching aids, but also include worksheets, reference books, web-based learning materials, IT software, the Internet, the media, resources in the natural environment, people and libraries.
10.10 Teachers should make good use of other learning and teaching resources to bring real world problems/issues into the classroom and help students see the relevance of what they are learning and assist them to achieve a wider understanding of related issues.
10.11 In Liberal Studies, a web-based resource platform will be built up to serve teachers through on-going provision of learning and teaching resources covering all units in the subject from June 2005 onwards. There will be a wide variety of learning materials for teachers to use, mostly in the form of copyright-cleared research reports, case stories, individual life histories, and summaries of books/journals.
10.12 Schools will be encouraged to use subscribed electronic news more effectively in the learning process across curriculum subjects.
10.13 The existing platform of Hong Kong Education City (HKedCity) will be enhanced to promote the sharing of updated information and learning and teaching resources among teachers and with outside agencies, and to nurture a culture of collegial sharing and continuing professional development. For example, a platform will be constructed to enable NGOs and teachers to share information, knowledge and learning resources around Liberal Studies after mid-2005.
10.14 As the Internet is also a powerful base for self-learning and for the shared learning of teachers, there will also be improvement in the infrastructure of HKedCity to support the provision of web-based courses for teachers.
10.15 It is also worth reiterating that teacher-librarians, as information specialists should work closely with subject teachers to co-ordinate curriculum-related resources and to help develop information literacy among students.
Digital Resources/Internet
10.16 Learning is a knowledge construction process involving interaction among students, teachers, resources and the various environments in which learning takes place. Quality digital education resources (and other web-based resources) that require higher degree of interactivity will enable our students to become active learners. It could also have a powerful impact on student motivation and would cater for students with different learning styles.
10.17 In NSS, we hope to further integrate IT into the curriculum and the learning and teaching process. Teachers are encouraged to select quality e-educational products produced by EMB and other organisations (including those from overseas) for learning and teaching. Besides reducing teachers’ reliance on textbooks, advantages include lowering financial burden on parents and easier updating through electronic means.