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The Government treasured the learning experience of every student and had all along been working in close partnership with the education sector and other stakeholders to provide the next generation with good quality education, the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Professor Arthur K C Li, said today (February 14).
Professor Li was talking after meeting representatives of the Professional Teachers' Union (PTU) to exchange views on a number of educational issues including teachers' work.
"Teachers are core to the success of our education. We are grateful to our teachers for their contributions and we care for them. We note the opinions expressed by the education sector recently and shall work with the sector in mapping out the way forward."
Responding to requests from the PTU, Professor Li said the Education and Manpower Bureau was conducting a trial scheme for small class teaching in some schools to ensure that teachers could have the skills and master the pedagogy to bring out the best of small class teaching.
In fact, education bodies have different views on how to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. "They are unanimous in their view that instead of implementing small class teaching across the board, increasing the number of teachers and letting schools decide the size of study groups based on the demands of different subjects and students' needs is a better option as far as good teaching and learning is concerned," he said.
Professor Li added that declining student population over the years made it necessary for schools to consolidate their classes, which made it hard to avoid not having surplus teachers.
To minimise the impact on teachers, the bureau had been taking a number of measures including absorption of surplus teachers by school sponsoring bodies, allowing greater flexibility for schools in arranging job sharing for teachers and teachers applying for no-pay leave, posting information regarding job vacancies on the bureau's webpage as well as introducing the early retirement scheme for teachers.
"With the introduction of teaching by subject specialists in primary schools starting this school year, we will have to recruit as many as 900 teachers when the scheme is in full implementation by 2007-08," Professor Li said.
He praised teachers for their devotion to continuous learning. "All along, we have been providing free training and substitute teacher arrangements to facilitate teachers who pursue professional development courses to meet policy requirements. We will also introduce a paid study leave scheme on a trial basis starting the next school year for teachers to enjoy paid leave in pursuit of studies of their own choice."
"During the last few weeks, the Permanent Secretary and I have met a number of education bodies and teachers to learn more about their work. We understand that there are four perspectives to teachers' work-related pressure - the broad social environment, education policies, school administration and personal issues," he said.
He said the bureau would study how different education polices would best complement one another and the time-table for their smooth implementation. The bureau would also work with related bodies such as the Curriculum Development Council, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority and the working group on review of medium of instruction for secondary schools under the Education Commission.
"We shall also maintain a close working relationship with various school councils and offer advice on ways to improve school administration and resource allocation."
Meanwhile, the bureau would consolidate views expressed by teachers and forward them to the Committee on Teachers' Work chaired by Professor Edmond Ko for further studies.
Professor Li said the education reform aimed at better preparing the next generation for the global economy and economic restructuring. The blueprint for reforming our education system in 2000 was the consensus reached by the community following repeated consultations, not the decision of individual public officers."
"We are pleased to see the education reform making considerable headway over the past few years and winning the support of the community."
"While we shall maintain close contact with education bodies, we hope that the education sector and society at large would have the ultimate benefits of our students in their heart and collaborate with the Government, parents and other stakeholders in providing good quality education for our children.
Today's meeting was also attended by Deputy Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Cheng Man-yiu; Principal Assistant Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mrs Betty Ip; President of PTU, Mr Cheung Man-kwong, and Chairman of PTU's Senate, Mr Szeto Wah.
Ends/Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Issued at HKT 23:05
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