11.6
The Colleges of Education are to be responsible for the expanded 2 year in-service training course for kindergarten teachers (see Chapter 5) and additional staff for the Colleges will be required to carry out this function.
11.7
The costs of providing this additional staff for the Social Welfare Department and the Education Department are given in the Summary of Costs in Chapter 12.
The primary school inspection service
11.8
The major supporting service for primary education is the Inspection Service and this falls into two categories:
11.9
(a)
(b)
inspection by the Advisory Inspectorate which is mainly concerned with the quality of education in schools; and
inspection by the Schools Division Area Officers who are mainly concerned with the administration of schools.
The Advisory Inspectorate is responsible for curriculum development, informal in-service training, evaluation of educational materials, provision of audio-visual aids, educational research and the general qualitative inspection of schools.
11.10
Generally speaking, the Schools Division deals with such matters as the application of the Education Ordinance, Codes of Aid and other regulations affecting schools, and generally supervising the operation of the schools. does, however, at present also keep a general eye on teaching standards.
11.11
It
it
However, following a close look at inspection services generally, is now considered that it would be more convenient for all inspections of teaching standards to be carried out by the Advisory Inspectorate, if necessary restructuring the latter to carry out the additional duties.
11.12
The Schools Division is currently being reviewed and its functions and principles of staffing are being redefined, and it is not intended to make proposals here for any changes in this service.
11.13
At a review of the Advisory Inspectorate carried out in 1974, it was agreed that the staffing of the inspectorate should be based on the number of teaching periods taught in each subject in each type of school. In the case of primary school inspectors of Arts and Craft, Music and Physical Education, the proportion of inspectors to teaching periods was approximately the same as the proportion provided in secondary schools where each subject was treated in the same way. However, the proportion of inspectors to teaching periods for academic subjects in primary schools was only one-sixth of this ratio.
11.14 The difference in the proportion of inspectors in the specialist and academic subjects was intended to cater for the fact that academic subjects were covered by the Schools Division as well as the Advisory Inspectorate but as the former was not included in the 1974 review the actual contribution by the Schools Division was not calculated. Subsequent investigation has shown
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