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Institute representatives attended the inauguration and declaration-signing ceremony of the Fair Trade Workplace Society (FTWS) held on World Fair Trade Day, 10 May 2008.

The Hong Kong Institute of Education is the first tertiary institution in Hong Kong to join the Society which supports fair trade. Showing our support for
the socially disadvantaged, we pledged to promote the use of fair trade products in all our department and office pantries, both for our own internal use and for guests and visitors.

In February this year, Institute representatives joined a group of more than 20 students from other tertiary institutions, visiting remote villages in Thailand in a project organised by a non-government organisation. During the tour, they visited fair trade co-ops, gaining firsthand experience from farmers, and from working in the fields themselves. Realising how fair trade can improve local livelihoods, the group organised an inter-varsity “Fair Trade Week” to promote fair trade upon their return.

Fair trade seeks to bring about greater justice in international trade through the building of partnerships. It contributes to sustainable development by ensuring reasonable returns and decent working conditions for farmers and workers in developing countries.
On 27 October, we launched a notebook loan programme for all full-time students on University Grants Committee funded programmes.  Each of these students can borrow a Lenovo IdeaPad Lite S10 netbook, free of charge, until the end of their studies.  The notebooks include a built-in web camera for video messaging and come equipped with Microsoft Windows XP.  All notebooks on loan are under warranty and a dedicated notebook support centre has also been set up on campus, to provide hardware and software maintenance services.
To promote lifelong learning, staff and students of the Department of Creative Arts and Physical Education organised the Community Arts and Sports School which provides educational activities through arts and sports for people of all ages (from children to retirees) in Hong Kong and South China during the summer holidays. The scheme not only provided “on-the-job” training for HKIEd students, but also promoted creative and innovative teaching strategies amongst teachers in the form of professional development courses and tailored activities for schools.

The Community Arts and Sports School ran 38 programmes in visual arts, music, drama and sports during the two months of July and August this year.
The third Hong Kong School Principals’ Conference 2008 was held on 29 May at the Institute’s Tai Po Campus. Professor Brian J. Caldwell, an internationally renowned scholar and keynote speaker at the Conference, shared his research findings on Australia, China, Britain, Finland, the US and Wales. He pointed out that to ensure success in school reforms and for them to reach international standards, school authorities need to coordinate concerns in education,
the economy and the community. They also need to find the right balance to ensure the best advantage for schools in four main capital resource areas – intellectual, social, spiritual and financial. School leaders must articulate a compelling vision with passion and adopt appropriate strategies to establish mutual trust with other stakeholders.

The theme for this year’s School Principals’ Conference was “New Synergies” and Mr Michael Suen, Secretary for Education, was invited to deliver a keynote address. Through special theme presentations and workshops, attendees voiced their views and discussed issues in three key areas – education policy, leadership, and learning and teaching. The Conference attracted around 1,000 principals and deputy principals from both primary and secondary schools, policy makers and educators.

On 4 July, the Variation for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning (VITAL) Annual Conference 2008 was held under the theme “Focus on one lesson but exceed beyond it”. At the Conference, the School Partnership and Field Experience Office (SPFEO) reported on its achievements in “lesson study” which was held in collaboration with 120 secondary, primary and special education schools. Several case studies were shared with participants
at the event, together with a demonstration of the “Lesson Study Online Discussion Forum” developed recently by the Office. This forum provides an online platform which enables acquisition of the latest findings and information on lesson study and provides an interactive exchange for all teachers and education researchers in Hong Kong.

 
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