25
in particular, too little attention is paid by the schools to overall
curriculum development and to the role of senior teachers, which in
many cases is limited to a concern with managerial details. A properly
organised induction system for newly-qualified teachers, with selected
senior staff members assuming specific responsibilities for such teachers
in conjunction with the colleges of education and schools of education,
could do much to improve the situation. This was considered as an option
by the 1977 Working Party on Senior Secondary and Tertiary Education, but
in view of the limited resources available for the improvement of teacher
education and the need to limit change to manageable proportions the
possibility of an induction system was discarded in favour of the more
urgent need to improve initial training courses in the colleges.
6.30
The pressure on teachers to conform is particularly strong in
the private sector where economic considerations may have to override
educational principles when the two are in conflict.
Training for school heads
6.31
An area of teacher education to which greater attention is
now being paid by the Education Department is training for school heads.
As the 1980 Green Paper points out, the initial training courses provided
by the colleges of education are not intended to train students to be
heads of schools (because, save for a few exceptions among ICTT students,
they are unlikely to become heads until a long time after they have
completed their training). In-service training for heads is at present
provided by seminars organised by the Schools Division of the Education
Department. These are well received and provide valuable opportunities
for an exchange of views on various professional and administrative
matters among heads themselves and also between the heads and the
Education Department to the benefit of both sides. But as this training
-