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The Secretary for Education (SED), Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, today (March 30, Banff time) attended the International Summit on the Teaching Profession 2015 in Canada and had exchanges with education ministers from around the world.
Mr Ng led a Hong Kong delegation to participate in the three-day Summit, which is being jointly held by the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada, the Learning Partnership, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and Education International. Today was the last day of his visit.
This year, the Summit chose "Implementing Highly Effective Teacher Policy and Practice" as its theme, inviting education ministers and leaders of teachers' unions from countries and regions with high-performing or rapidly improving education systems to join experts for interaction and exchanges.
Mr Ng told the Summit that this year Hong Kong would see significant development in terms of education, including the release of recommendations by the Committee on Free Kindergarten Education, the announcement of the New Academic Structure Mid-term Review proposals by the Government, and the promulgation of the progress report by the Committee on Professional Development of Teachers and Principals (COTAP).
"In order to put education initiatives into place smoothly and successfully, the professional and effective participation of a quality teaching force, including principals and teachers, is indispensable," he added.
"In this connection, the Government has accorded great importance to the professional development and training of principals and teachers. In 2013, we upgraded the former Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications to COTAP to extend its coverage to from teachers to principals.
"COTAP will release its first progress report in April 2015. Afterwards, it will hold briefing sessions for the school sector, teacher education institutes, educational bodies, parents to solicit their feedbacks on the way forward as suggested in the report. It is expected that through such professional exchanges with the stakeholder groups, the professional development strategy for teachers and principals could be further improved."
Prior to the Summit, Mr Ng attended a reception held by the organisers, where he took the opportunity to exchange views with education ministers from all over the world on education issues of mutual concern.
During the course of the Summit, Mr Ng also held informal meetings with Canadian education officials, namely the Minister of Education of British Columbia, Mr Peter Fassbender; and the Minister of Education of Alberta, Mr Gordon Dirks. They discussed a wide range of education issues including education reform, student assessments and professional development for principals and teachers.
Mr Ng also met with the Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD, Mr Stefan Kapferer, and the Director of the Directorate for Education and Skills of the OECD, Mr Andreas Schleicher, on the latest developments of the organisation's student assessment programme.
Joining Mr Ng in attending the Summit were the Principal Assistant Secretary for Education (Professional Development and Training), Mr Benjamin Yung; Vice-Chairperson of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers and Principal of Fukien Secondary School (Siu Sai Wan), Dr Choi Yuk-lin; and Political Assistant to the SED, Mr Jeff Sze. They will return to Hong Kong on April 1.
Ends/Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Issued at HKT 12:18
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