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Introduction
It is an honour for me to present this overview of the
Annual Report 2001-2002, the first since I became Director
of the Institute in April 2002. (Following the amendment
of The Hong Kong Institute of Education Ordinance in July
2002, the title of 'Director was changed to 'President'.)
The range of activities reported in subsequent chapters
depict the Institute's successful process of development
and improvement since its establishment only eight years
ago. This process has endeavoured to ensure that we educate
highly committed and professional teachers for Hong Kong
and equip them to excel in a rapidly changing local and
global context. I would like to focus on four themes that
reflect the distinctive nature of our work. These are:
the enhancement of teaching quality; working in partnership
with schools; promoting an international perspective;
and our focus on applied research.
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Quality assurance for teaching and
learning
The focus of this Report is on the Institute's concerted
efforts in building a culture that promotes quality teaching
and learning, which is central to our mission as a teacher
education institution. The Institute's vision, formulated
in 1997-98, is to nurture knowledgeable, caring and responsible
teachers who are able to excite the interest of every
student and to foster a culture of lifelong learning.
Our vision is closely linked with the Education Commission's
vision of schooling that promotes the enjoyment of learning,
creativity, excellence in communication and a high degree
of civic commitment.
Since September 2001, nearly half of all our students
have been studying at degree and postgraduate levels.
In the last four years, we have developed and validated
12 new programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate diploma
levels. A new degree programme was successfully validated
in the reporting year for implementation in September
2002, and there were four successful revalidation exercises
of our existing academic programmes. We are committed
to ensuring that academic standards are maintained. To
do this, we have in place rigorous quality assurance and
quality improvement mechanisms designed to ensure the
ongoing improvement of our programmes.
We continue to give strong emphasis to field experience
as a key element of teacher education. To this end we
established in 2001 a Centre for the Development of School
Partnership and Field Experience (CDSPFE) to strengthen
the role of field experience as a venue for student learning,
to coordinate research and development projects, prepare
school mentors, and to promote partnership with schools.
Other areas of focus include the strengthening of staff
and student rapport through personal tutorials, developing
performance indicators, outcomes assessment and monitoring
the delivery of a programme from inception to completion
of its modules with programme improvement as the objective.
The Institute is distinctive in placing considerable emphasis
on pastoral processes, productive staff-student interaction
and the holistic development of its student teachers through
a comprehensive non-formal curriculum.
Working in partnership with schools
Partnership with schools at all levels is of vital importance
to the HKIEd as schools are the authentic learning context
for our students and the future workplace of our graduates.
The CDSPFE plays a central and strategic role in enhancing
the quality and effectiveness of field experience, as
well as building a mutually benefiting partnership between
the Institute and schools. The Centre has established
a network of 77 schools that are now working actively
in partnership with the HKIEd. |
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