The Development of Teacher Quality in an Age of Accountability The Case of Hong Kong Francis Cheung The Hong Kong Institute of Education 14 December 2002

Education Reform for quality schooling in Hong Kong

Major Thrust to Successful Education/ Curriculum Reform  Quality of teachers

Importance of making teaching and learning purposeful Teachers’ competence in setting expectation of student learning Conveying expectation of learning to students and parents

Teachers’ competence in linking expectations to teaching and learning activities Teachers’ competence in reflecting upon their effectiveness in achieving their set expectations for students Reflection  Learning  Action

Some policy level initiatives in facilitating the development of a quality teaching force Setting students’ basic competence for core subjects – Chinese, English and Mathematics Outstanding School Award  Student Attainment Domain Proposed “Chief Executive’s Award for Teaching Excellence”

Restructuring professional upgrading courses for teachers Development of an infrastructure for mentoring Development of the professional career ladder of teachers

Developing teacher’s professional practices through SAW What is Schools Around the World (SAW)? A professional teacher development program initiated by the Council for Basic Education (CBE) of the United States in 1999 To understand what constitutes "world class" standards and works by giving teachers the opportunity to examine and reflect upon their teaching practice via the analysis of student work Partner nations/regions: Australia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Portugal, United Kingdom, and United States

Developing teacher’s professional practices through SAW Objectives of SAW Opening up teachers’ horizon in professional practices Creating of invaluable opportunities for teachers world-wide to have professional discussions on the same subject – facilitate action learning of teachers Creating a strong international professional teachers’ network to facilitate professional development

The HK SAW Professional Development Initiatives for Teachers 1. Professional Development Activities 2.Curriculum Development Initiatives in 8 primary and 3 secondary SAW schoolsCurriculum Development Initiatives in 8 primary and 3 secondary SAW schools 3.4 Science Teaching CD-ROMs4 Science Teaching CD-ROMs 4.Local & International Web SitesLocal & International Web Sites 5.SAW Bulletin/PublicationSAW Bulletin/Publication

1.Professional Development Activities 111 SAW teachers Setting expectation of students’ work Analysis of student work – reflection through international discourse in the SAW Academy for Teaching Excellence Learning from SAW and formulation of future actions

36 SAW schools Extend to all the teachers in SAW schools How SAW experience could facilitate project learning and creativity development Over 100 Non-SAW schools Promoting the SAW activities to non-SAW schools by conducting 11 workshops

: 6 primary and 1 secondary schools : 7 primary and 3 secondary schools Teaching packages Resource supports to schools Workshop on the development of pedagogy through SAW experience Professional discourse among teachers 2.Curriculum Development Initiatives

3.4 Science Teaching CD-ROMs

4. Local & International Web Sites International web site Local web site Database of student work collected from partner nations/regions (~170 cases) Database of local student work (~70 cases) International collaboration and discussion forum Periodically updated short articles on science teaching Multimedia science teaching resources

5. SAW Bulletin/Publication SAW Bulletin is a focused and organized presentation of the student work of SAW with different themes to provide continuous support to local SAW teachers on science teaching. Developing alternative forms of students' work in science - raising students' active learning ability To compile all of the SAW bulletins published during the main study so as to share with local teachers the experience of science teaching in different countries