Accordingly, it has decided to introduce, with effect from September 1980, a three-year course for students who enter a college of education with Certificate of Education qualifications. Students holding at least Grade E at the Advanced Level Examination in two subjects relevant to the main school curriculum may be admitted directly to a two-year college course, provided their language proficiency is adequate. All students who obtain the Teachers' Certificate under the new arrange- ments will be given the same incremental credit on entry to the teaching profession as applies at present to students completing the extended third year of the college course.
5.16 The Technical Teachers' College will introduce in September 1980 a three-year course for those who will teach technical subjects in schools. Practical experience of industrial applications of technical subjects will be provided as an integral part of the training programme. Mature students with industrial experience and technical qualifications who wish to teach in a technical institute will continue to receive a one-year full-time course of training. The existing two-year part-time training courses for serving teachers in technical institutes will also continue and similar courses for teachers of technical subjects serving in schools will be mounted as the need arises.
5.17 The levels of assistance under the student finance scheme for college of education students will be improved with effect from the 1979-80 academic year. It is proposed that the maximum maintenance grant should be set at $2000 per annum for full-time students at all stages of their initial training and the interest-free loan be raised to a maximum of $2400 per annum.
5.18
In-Service Courses of Training for Teachers (1.C.T.T.), which are designed to provide a basic training course for serving non-graduate teachers, will continue but, since demand for the primary courses has been rapidly declining in recent years, courses will be offered after 1979 only when circumstances warrant it. To enable suitable untrained teachers to undergo training, it is not intended to raise the minimum entrance qualifications or to vary the teaching service requirements for entry to any of the I.C.T.T. courses, but the secondary courses will be extended to three years for all entrants in 1980, with a corresponding adjustment of the entry point on the Certificated Masters/Mistresses scale. A wider choice of subjects will be made available in the secondary courses.
5.19 The expansion of senior secondary places will increase substantially the demand for graduate teachers. The Director of Education has recently completed a review of the require- ment for graduate teachers arising from the secondary school expansion programme. On the basis of present trends in the proportion of graduates entering teaching, and after allowing for the supply from overseas universities and for those graduates who are expected to come over to the public sector from private schools, he has concluded that sufficient graduates should be available, subject to a class size of 40 being maintained.
5.20
While it is not proposed to make post-graduate training obligatory, measures have been taken which will provide a strong inducement to those graduates who make teaching their permanent career to take a course of teacher training. It has been agreed with the Grant and Subsidised Schools Councils that new graduate entrants to the aided sector should be required to undertake a course of teacher training before they would be eligible for promotion, as is already required in the Government sector. A new scheme comprising a short, intensive full-time element, followed by part-time training in conjunction with teaching employment, has been introduced at the University of Hong Kong, in order to make teacher training more effective and more attractive to graduates. The Chinese University will continue to run both part-time courses and full-time pre-employment courses.
5.21 As proposed in the Green Paper, the Government will introduce regular courses of refresher training for serving teachers who have already taken a course of basic training but who
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