16
teacher in the education system the 1977 Working Party on Senior
Secondary and Tertiary Education gave a great deal of thought to ways
in which the quality of the non-graduate teaching force could be improved,
it being generally felt that the then standard two-year initial training
courses provided by the government colleges of education were no longer
adequate for the type of teacher required in the future for a rapidly
expanding education system. Various possibilities were considered,
the eventual outcome being the proposal in the 1978 White Paper that the
training courses should be strengthened and restructured, the existing
basic course being replaced by a new three-year course, and a new type
of two-year course being provided for entrants with specified Advanced
Level qualifications. The need for improved initial training had been
felt for a long time, since the full-time course was barely long enough
to provide students with a balanced form of further education together
with the practical skills necessary for effective teaching, considering
that many had only HKCE qualifications and that for some, teaching was
not their first choice of career. Similarly, with only six contact hours
a week (excluding teaching supervised by college lecturers), the In-
Service Courses of Training for permitted teachers were manifestly
inadequate. It was also recommended that regular courses of refresher
training should be introduced for serving teachers who had already taken
a course of basic training but who needed to update their knowledge and
understanding of modern teaching methods.
Standards in the colleges of education and TTC
6.20
No recommendations were made by the 1977 Working Party on the
governance of the colleges of education and TTC but it was noted that
the School of Education of the University of Hong Kong considered that
the training of non-graduate teachers would be better served if the
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