Dr. Ellen Yuefeng Zhang presented via zoom a paper titled “Lateral entry teacher education in Hong Kong: Opportunities and challenges” at the 1st Dresden Conference on Lateral Entry and Second Career Teachers on 25 November 2020. The conference was organized by The Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) in Germany, a Partner Institution of EdUHK, from 24-26 November 2020, gathering 120 researchers and teacher educators from 16 countires. Presentations at the conference focused on recent challenges to teacher education around the world, including shortage of teachers, teacher attrition, mismatch and surplus, and explored collaborative strategies for further improvement, development and research in promote teacher education.
Dr Zhang’s presentation provided an overview of the development of Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) programmes in Hong Kong to provide alternatives for degree holders to become qualified teachers. It reviewed the curriculum design of PGDE programmes and discussed how PGDE programmes contributed to the enhancement of teacher qualification in Hong Kong over the past two decades. However, the recent teacher surplus due to the decreased birth rate in Hong Kong has brought challenges to the stability of teaching jobs. The presentation concluded with suggestions for coping with teacher surplus, including recudcing teaching workload, increasing the number of teachers and cutting the class sizes. The presentation started a discussion among the participants on the possibility, policies and challenges for surplus teachers to seek working opportunities in other regions or countries.
https://www.conftool.net/leteconference2020/index.php?page=submissions