62
EDUCATION
work involves frequent visits to schools by specialist advisory inspectors, the develop- ment of advisory services and facilities, and the provision of courses, seminars and workshops for practising teachers. It also involves the evaluation of textbooks and other instructional materials, educational research and guidance, and curriculum development. Close liaison with other bodies, such as the various local examination authorities, is maintained by the Advisory Inspectorate.
During the year, particular attention was paid to the quality of Chinese language teaching by the recently-established Chinese Language Teaching Centre. Like its counterpart, the English Language Teaching Centre, this centre is mainly concerned with the provision of refresher courses for teachers and the production of teaching materials designed to stimulate a more lively approach to language teaching than is usual with traditional methods.
The Advisory Inspectorate gave full support in 1974 to the various public campaigns organised by the government, by encouraging as many schools as possible to participate. A keynote of the campaigns was the active role children played, setting an example to the rest of the community.
In the important area of curriculum development, the pilot scheme in integrated science was extended to Form II in participating schools, evaluation of the work completed in Form I indicating successful progress. The Curriculum Development Editorial Board published the first in a series of occasional pamphlets designed to stimulate interest in selected aspects of curriculum work. Other curriculum proj- ects included experiments in the teaching of integrated social studies in secondary schools (with 'population' as the unifying theme), and an exploration of the relation- ship between art and mathematics. The organisation, supervision and evaluation of all curriculum projects initiated by the Education Department is the responsibility of the Advisory Inspectorate, working in close collaboration with the appropriate curriculum development committees. The formulation and realisation of educational objectives reflecting the needs of the community are the continuing responsibility of the Curriculum Development Committee, of which the Advisory Inspectorate is the professional executive arm.
Visual Education Centre
The Visual Education Centre of the Education Department houses a large collection of media resources, including more than 10,000 items of films, loop films, filmstrips, slides, photographs, recorded tapes, discs and transparencies for overhead projectors. The centre also offers a support service to schools and produces slide sets, photographs and loop films for use in schools and to support curriculum develop- ment. The quarterly audio-visual news bulletin, which in its revised format now includes photographs, is also distributed to schools.
A large number of teachers and visitors from schools and other organisations have visited the media production services unit since its inception in a Kowloon government primary school building last summer to provide facilities for teachers to produce their own resource materials to suit specific needs.