| "No
matter how much student teachers have learnt about teaching,
they only really begin to learn to teach in the school.
It's like learning to drive a car - you only really
start to learn to drive when you get behind the steering
wheel and out on the road...If we want to produce good
teachers, we must place emphasis on how they learn in
the field." - Dr Lo Mun-ling, Head of the Centre
for the Development of School Partnership and Field
Experience.
A fundamental goal of the Institute is to ensure our
students get plenty of quality experience in the field.
Classrooms give student teachers the chance to practise
what they have learned and develop their skills. They
also give researchers the opportunity to observe and
develop strategies that address Hong Kong's changing
educational environment. The Institute is continually
honing and maximising classroom experiences, as it sets
ever-higher standards for teaching and learning.
Networking for reciprocal support
We have created a network of local kindergartens, primary
and secondary schools which give our student teachers
and academic staff access to authentic classroom settings.
We have also established our own teaching centres. The
relationship is two-way. The school staff help us to
produce quality teachers who can take on a leadership
role. We help schools and teachers to improve their
skills, and we demonstrate innovative teaching and learning
techniques.
A key player in this task is the new Centre for the
Development of School Partnership and Field Experience
(CDSPFE). The Centre was established under the Institute-School
Partnership Committee in September 2001 to improve the
quality of field experience offered through the Institute.
The Centre's first task has been to unify field experience
activities. Previously, these were organised by individual
Schools, centres or departments. Now they are co-ordinated
through CDSPFE, which is also working to enhance school
partnership and mentoring activities.
An early beneficiary of the Centre's work was the English
Department. Its students had previously been placed
in schools located far from each other, making it difficult
to supervise their field experience. The Centre worked
with the Department to identify clusters of neighbourhood
schools willing to take in large numbers of students.
It also ran mentoring workshops for the teaching staff
in those schools. As a result, English Department staff
now spend less time travelling between schools and more
time supervising students and supporting school teachers.
The student teachers on field experience have greater
opportunities to learn from their peers as well as from
the supporting teachers in the schools. All of that
adds up to a better quality field experience.
Towards consistency in field experience practices
Another of the Centre's goals is to have consistency
in all field experiences organised by the Institute.
An Institute Field Experience Handbook was produced
based on the latest research and wide consultations
with students, teachers, departments, Schools and field
experience co-ordinators. The Centre is now investigating
how best to introduce consistent practices for the assessment
of field experience so it can produce guidelines that
will apply Institute-wide. In both endeavours, the aim
is to offer guidance for the enhancement of quality.
The Handbook helps to provide support for the
extensive training activities carried out by the Centre.
Workshops and seminars are organised for students, academic
staff, school teachers and principals on different aspects
of field experience. For example, special one-month
courses on mentoring were organised for primary and
secondary school teachers in June and October 2002 respectively.
Training materials were also prepared on mentoring and
peer review practices.
|
