EDUCATION
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study on radio audiences. It has now launched a long-term project aimed at locating, annotating and, if funds are available, acquiring all Chinese journalism and com- munication materials published since the Ching Dynasty. The centre also has conducted a number of smaller research projects, including an Asia-wide study of the media's attitude towards women. For the past seven years, the Social Research Centre has been studying various aspects of social life in Hong Kong. These include new town planning and development, social causes of juvenile delinquency, housing problems, attitudes towards birth control, spatial economy of street-trading activities, urban religious behaviour, medical beliefs and health services, the ideology and organisation of small industries, and the impact of industrialisation on family life. The Centre for East Asian Studies is carrying out a Vietnamese historical sources project, along with other research projects on Japan and South-east Asia.
Teachers and Teacher Education
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In March, 1977, 37,961 full-time and part-time teachers were employed in government and registered day schools. They included 9,292 university graduates and 19,784 non- graduates qualified for teaching. A further 6,457 teachers were engaged in tutorial and evening classes.
Except for technical teacher training, teacher education is provided at the Education Department's three colleges of education Grantham, Northcote and Sir Robert Black. All three colleges offer two-year full-time courses designed to produce non- graduate teachers qualified to teach in primary schools and the lower forms of secondary schools. The colleges also have third-year courses aimed at raising the standards of teachers and preparing them to teach the new curriculum in junior secondary forms. In addition to various specialist subjects, these general third-year courses cover the whole range of academic subjects. Part-time courses also are pro- vided to train practising teachers. In September, 1977, there were 635 students in the two-year courses, 108 students in the third-year courses, 57 qualified teachers under- going retraining courses, and 1,418 trainees in in-service training courses.
Technical teacher training is provided at the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College, which also is administered by the Education Department. The college is temporarily housed in government primary school premises, but uses facilities at the Morrison Hill Technical Institute. The college trains technical teachers for secondary schools, prevocational schools and technical institutes. Several types of courses are offered. The one-year full-time course is intended for mature people who are well qualified and experienced in a technical field and who decide to take up technical teaching as a career. Generous grants are offered to attract suitable recruits from commerce and industry. The two-year full-time course accepts secondary technical school-leavers who have a genuine interest in, and a desire to serve, technical educa- tion.
The college also provides in-service courses of teacher training. In 1977-8, the college offered a two-year in-service course for teachers of technical subjects. This course serves to improve the techniques of teachers who have not received any formal teacher training. A supplementary third-year course prepares graduates of the general two-year course at the colleges of education to teach technical subjects. It gives both fresh graduates and serving teachers a further year of education and