EDUCATION
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Four international secondary schools were among the first participants in the Direct Subsidy Scheme, under which they receive recurrent grants from the Hong Kong Government.
Teacher Education
Four colleges of education offer pre-service professional training for non-graduate teachers in primary and secondary schools, as well as courses for serving primary, secondary and kindergarten teachers. Full time pre-service courses last for three years for those with HKCEE qualifications, and two years for those with two A-Levels. In October 1991, 2 452 trainees were enrolled in full-time courses and 2 439 in part-time or short courses. The colleges also offer refresher training courses for serving primary and secondary school teachers.
The University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong offer postgraduate certificate of education courses for graduates who are, or who wish to become, teachers. They also offer short courses for teachers covering areas like curriculum innovation, resource development, educational psychology, student guidance and counsel- ling, professional development of teachers, and educational administration.
The Institute of Language in Education (ILE) was set up in 1982 as a centre of excellence for training and research in all matters relating to language learning and teaching. It offers full-time in-service courses of language education for graduate and non-graduate primary and secondary teachers of Chinese and English; part-time courses and seminars to prepare teachers of Putonghua, and part-time courses on the use of Chinese in teaching specific subjects. During the year 624 teachers attended full-time courses, and 937 attended part-time courses. 108 course participants attended the summer immersion programme in the UK. The ILE's annual international conference in December on the theme of Achieving and Maintaining Quality in Language Teaching and Language Learning attracted 348 participants, with over 104 papers delivered.
In April, the British Council and the Hongkong Bank Language Development Fund donated funds to enable pre-service teacher trainees to attend a six-week summer immersion course in the UK to strengthen their English language skills and give them experience of living in a native-speaker environment. One hundred trainees taking English as an elective subject joined the course.
The four colleges and the ILE are run directly by the Education Department. The future of teacher education, including the future status of training institutions, was one of the matters considered during the year by the Education Commission, in preparation for its Report No. 5.
Support Services
Teaching and learning in the schools is backed up by a wide range of services, mostly provided or supported by the Education Department.
In December, consultants delivered the results of a three-month study to define the information needs of the school education programme, and to develop appropriate management information systems which would lead to greater efficiency in the department and schools.
The Advisory Inspectorate advises schools on curriculum, teaching methods and educational resources, and offers short courses, seminars and workshops for teachers. Its