Section 3: Support for Schools
Target
In the course of implementing the education reform, schools and
teachers will inevitably face many challenges and problems. At present,
different sectors of the community are very willing to provide support
to schools and teachers to enhance the quality of education. Apart
from providing direct support to schools, the Government is also
promoting the co-operation between schools and other sectors so
as to enrich the learning experiences of students.
Last Year's Progress
(1)School-based
Support
- The Regional Education Offices (REOs) of the Education Department
are responsible for providing school-based support, including
offering schools advice and facilitating them in formulating and
implementing improvement measures.
- District networking activities have been organized according
to the needs of schools in different districts to disseminate
good practices and to establish a sharing culture among schools.
(2) Capacity Enhancement Grant
- To relieve the workload of teachers, the Government has, starting
from the 2000/01 school year, provided schools with the Capacity
Enhancement Grant. In the 2000/01 school year, each primary school
was provided $450,000 to $550,000 and each secondary school $250,000
to $300,000. Schools can make use of the grant to employ additional
staff or hire outside help so as to relieve teachers' workload,
thus enabling them to concentrate more on the education reform.
- In the 2000/01 school year, schools used the grant to employ
a total of 2,225 full-time and 2,806 part-time staff, and to hire
outside services. The feedback from many schools and teachers
was very positive. They generally considered that the grant had
helped to relieve the workload of teachers and had enhanced the
effectiveness of teaching and learning.
(3)Quality
Education Fund (QEF)
- The QEF has completed four rounds of grant allocation. A total
of 4,341 projects have been approved with funds amounting to $2.7
billion. Over 1,200 schools have benefited from the projects.
- In July 2001, adjudication for the Outstanding Schools Award
was completed. A total of 24 awards were conferred on 21 schools
selected from among 312 nominations.
- In 2001, the QEF organized a large-scale Projects Exposition
and a series of experience-sharing sessions to promote and disseminate
good practices and successful experiences generated from the QEF
projects.
(4) Parent Education and Home-School Co-operation
- The Steering Committee on Parent Education, comprising representatives
from the Education Department, the Department of Health and the
Social Welfare Department, as well as community members, is responsible
for developing implementation strategies for parent education,
monitoring the use of funds, and co-ordinating the work of different
government and non-government agencies on parent education.
- The Parent Education Implementation Team was set up in September
2001. It is responsible for the implementation of work relating
to parent education, including promotion and compilation of reference
materials as well as training of parent education workers.
- The Education Department also promotes the establishment of
a home-school co-operation culture through the Committee on Home-School
Co-operation.
(5) Support by Other Sectors
- Many different sectors in the community, with abundant resources
and talents, are well placed to provide support for schools to
enrich the learning experiences of students. The Board of Education
also provides advice on the development of a supportive network
for life-wide
learning. Moreover, the Education Department has actively
encouraged different government departments and other sectors
of the community to build up partnerships with schools so as to
provide students with diversified and enlightening learning experiences.
Please refer to Annex II for more details
on the progress in the above areas.
Tasks Ahead for the Coming Year
| (1) |
The Education Department will set work priorities in accordance
with the emphasis of the education policies, and strengthen
school-based support accordingly.
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| (2) |
With effect from the 2001/02 school year, the rate of the
Capacity Enhancement Grant for secondary schools has been increased
by 50% so as to further relieve the workload of teachers in
both teaching and non-teaching duties. For primary schools,
a series of measures to increase their manpower resources so
as to enhance the quality of teaching and learning will be implemented.
These include the provision of an additional graduate teacher
for a period of five years to assist in curriculum development,
the strengthening of guidance services for students and the
provision of Native-speaking English Teachers and English Language
Teaching Assistants. |
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| (3) |
In the 5th call for applications, the QEF will adopt a more
focused approach by accepting only applications from schools
and by setting restrictions on the number of applications submitted.
At the same time, the QEF is working on a long-term strategy
to ensure that the best practices generated from QEF projects
can be widely disseminated to the whole school sector. |
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| (4) |
For parent education, the emphasis will be placed on reaching
out to parents with special needs, or those parents who are
difficult to reach, and training parent education workers. |
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| (5) |
To enhance collaboration with other sectors, the Board of
Education will continue to provide advice on measures implemented
by the Education Department to promote life-wide learning through
a community support network. The Education Department will continue
to cooperate actively with different government departments
and non-government organizations. |
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