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Following is a question by the Hon Ip Kin-yuen and a reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, in the Legislative Council today (March 26):
Question:
Quite a number of primary and secondary school teachers have relayed to me that due to an excessive number of teaching lessons and the need to cope with copious amounts of non-teaching work, they work excessively long hours and do not have adequate rest time. Such a situation not only affects teaching quality but also makes them unable to spare the time to take care of and provide counselling to individual students. These teachers opine that given the sound financial position of the Government at present and the ample supply of qualified teachers, the authorities should expeditiously implement measures to improve the class-teacher ratios of secondary and primary schools, and increase the number of permanent teaching posts in the teaching establishment, so as to relieve the problem of excessive workload of teachers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the criteria based on which the authorities set the existing class-teacher ratios of secondary and primary schools; whether they have assessed if such ratios need to be improved; if they have, of the assessment outcome and the improvement measures; if not, the reasons for that;
(2) given that the incumbent Chief Executive undertook in his election manifesto that he would "suitably increase the number of teachers, thereby enabling teachers to devote more time to students and to their own professional development", whether the authorities have conducted studies or reviews on the expansion of the teaching establishment, as well as drawn up relevant measures and timetable; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(3) as some members of the education sector have pointed out that at present, quite a number of young people aspiring to join the teaching profession can only be appointed on fixed-term contracts due to the lack of permanent teaching post vacancies, and there has been a persistent wastage of young teachers as they have not been provided with a stable working environment to give full play to their strength and expertise, whether the Education Bureau is concerned about such a situation and how the authorities will solve the succession problem of teaching manpower in future?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the Hon Member's question is as follows:
(1) When formulating policies concerning school resources, including teacher manpower, the Education Bureau actively listens to the sector's views, and considers the actual needs and resource priority. We strive to create an enabling environment for quality education.
To take the implementation of the New Senior Secondary (NSS) Academic Structure as an example, after extensive consultation with the sector in 2004 and 2005, we decided to revise the class-teacher ratios in the 2009/10 school year and further improved the ratio for senior secondary levels to two teachers per class starting from the 2012/13 school year. Cash grants, such as the Senior Secondary Curriculum Support Grant and Diversity Learning Grant, are also disbursed on a recurrent basis to support schools and teachers.
Regarding primary schools, as a result of our consultation with the sector, we have provided schools with additional teaching posts in the permanent staff establishment since the 2006/07 school year for the implementation of specialised teaching, hence increasing the class-teacher ratio of whole-day primary schools to 1.5 teachers per class. Posts of curriculum leaders were also created in the permanent staff establishment with effect from the 2007/08 school year. All these were the results achieved through our consultation with the sector.
In reviewing the manpower resources of schools, we have to look beyond the class-teacher ratios and take a holistic view on the resources and other support measures available, including the provision of additional regular teachers under various education policies and various cash grants for employing additional teaching staff. Based on their situations and development needs, schools can deploy these cash grants for employing additional teachers and supporting staff on top of the teaching staff establishment or procuring services to reduce the workload of their teachers.
As in the past, we will review schools' manpower and needs in a timely manner. To help schools implement poverty alleviation and other learning support initiatives, it has been announced in the 2014 Policy Address that starting from the 2014/15 school year, we will provide public sector primary schools with an additional recurrent grant equivalent to the salary of a Clerical Assistant to relieve the administrative workload of teachers. We will also provide the public sector schools operating senior secondary classes with an additional recurrent grant equivalent to the salary of a Graduate Master / Mistress to strengthen life planning education. These targeted support measures are introduced having regard to the sector's views.
(2) A number of important initiatives implemented by the Education Bureau in recent years, for instance, the small class teaching in primary schools and reduction of the number of students allocated per Secondary One (S1) class, have had a direct impact on relieving teachers' workload. The average student-teacher ratios of public sector secondary and primary schools have been lowered from 18.0:1 and 18.4:1 respectively in the 2005/06 school year to the estimated 13.8:1 and 14.2:1 respectively in the 2013/14 school year, and this is a relatively superior standard at the international level. Meanwhile, the unit costs for subsidised places in aided secondary and primary schools have increased by about 62% and 92% respectively, a growth from $33,340 and $24,640 in the 2005-06 financial year to $54,170 and $47,320 in the 2013-14 financial year. With continuously improving student-teacher ratios, teachers can devote more time to take care of students and pursue professional development. It is anticipated that student-teacher ratios will be lowered further when initiatives on small class teaching for primary schools and reduction of the number of students allocated per S1 class for secondary schools are gradually extended to classes in higher levels.
Furthermore, under the NSS curriculum, subjects are often taught in a flexible manner in subject groups. The average size of teaching groups for the majority of NSS subjects is maintained at 25 or below, which has significantly increased the opportunities for teachers to take care of individual students.
We will keep monitoring the schools' situation from time to time and improve the teacher manpower and resources according to actual needs as and when necessary. As committed at the meeting of the Panel on Education last June, I have conveyed the sector's concerns about teacher manpower to the Education Commission. The Commission has also discussed the issue at its meeting in February 2014 and will continue to follow up the matter.
(3) The Education Bureau has been very concerned about the supply and demand of teachers. We will take into account the changes in student population in the coming ten years and adjust the number of government-funded teacher education places, so as to maintain a balanced and stable supply and demand of teachers.
We have also been requesting schools to accord priority to employing teachers with teacher training. The data of recent years reveal that there are on average about 2 000 teachers leaving the profession each school year due to retirement, further studies or other personal reasons. The teaching vacancies thus arising are adequate for absorbing the newly graduated prospective teachers.
In response to the transient decline in secondary school student population in the coming few years, the Education Bureau has implemented a basket of targeted relief measures in the 2013/14 school year. These measures have effectively enabled the schools to retain teachers within the establishment, thus minimising the competition between the surplus teachers and prospective teachers for teaching posts. Furthermore, with the anticipated gradual increase in primary school student population and the implementation of small class teaching in primary schools, and the provision of additional resources by the Government in the next school year as announced in the Policy Address this year to strengthen the support for non-Chinese speaking students and life planning education and career guidance services, all these measures are conducive to the increase in the overall number of teaching posts for absorbing fresh graduates. As such, we anticipate that a normal turnover can be maintained in the teaching force as a whole in the coming few years.
In recent years, the number of young people joining the teaching profession has been steady, with nearly 90% of the newly joined teachers each year are at the average age of 29 or below, while 50% of these teachers are at the age of 25 or below. Besides, most of the serving teachers of primary schools belong to the 30 to 40 years old age group, whereas most secondary school teachers are evenly distributed in the various age groups from 25 to 45. As seen from these perspectives, there is no evidence showing a succession problem in the teaching force. As for work stability, about 90% of the secondary and primary school teachers are employed under the staff establishment. According to the information of the 2012/13 school year, 60% of the teachers employed under the staff establishment for 5 years or less are at the age of 27 or below. Overall speaking, teaching has remained a relatively stable profession.
Ends/Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Issued at HKT 15:14
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