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The Curriculum Development Institute today (July 18) released a booklet on the various professional development programmes for the 2003/04 school year to help school heads and teachers implement curriculum reform.

A spokesman for the Education and Manpower Bureau said the institute had been organising a wide range of teacher development programmes for years to tie in with the aims and the pace of curriculum reform.

"We are greatly encouraged by the keen participation of both school heads and teachers as well as the critical reflections they have expressed in the previous programmes," the spokesman said. "All these have given curriculum reform a promising outlook."

The new information booklet provides an overview of the upcoming programmes for the 2003/04 school year. "We hope that the booklet can help schools develop their own strategic plans for staff development after taking into consideration their teaching and learning time, the issue of staff deployment and their school-based curriculum development needs," the spokesman added.

Relevant information on the programmes is also available at the institute's website (http://cd.emb.gov.hk). Further details of each programme will also be uploaded by stages onto the Training Calendar of the bureau's website (http://www.emb.gov.hk). New programmes may be added in response to changing needs and circumstances.

The contents of the professional development programmes are wide-ranging, covering up-to-date curriculum development information, the experiences generated from research and development projects, action research, teaching and assessment.

Enquiries and comments can be made to the respective Key Learning Area Sections or to the Kindergarten and Primary Section (General Studies) of the Curriculum Development Institute.

End/Friday, July 18, 2003

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