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EDUCATION
approved policies, and the need for new or modified policies relating to education in schools. Its members include the chairmen of advisory and executive bodies concerned with the school system: the Curriculum Development Council; the Private Schools Review Committee; and advisory committees on home-school co-operation, school guidance and support services, school administration and finance, and school allocation systems. Other members include a representative of the teaching constituency and persons experienced in kindergartens, special schools, school administration, vocational training, tertiary education, business and the professions. Two government officials sit on the board: the Director of Education as the vice-chairman, and the Deputy Secretary for Education and Manpower.
The Curriculum Development Council
The council is appointed by the Governor to advise the government, through the Director of Education, on curriculum matters. Its members include educators, employers and parents.
During the year, the council continued to consolidate syllabus development, conduct research on curriculum issues, develop school-based curricula and help in developing the Target Oriented Curriculum. Curriculum guides, which aim to ensure that subject syllabuses are developed in compatible directions, were produced for each educational level, and were issued to schools.
Curriculum Development Institute
The institute, set up in 1992 as a new division of the Education Department, is staffed by both civil servants and educationists drawn from outside the civil service. This ensures a regular infusion of new ideas to sustain the creativity and innovation needed for good curriculum development, while enabling the institute to draw on the practical experience of its civil service members.
The institute is responsible for developing curricula and helping schools to implement curriculum policies and innovations. It provides a secretariat for the Curriculum Development Council, and conducts research, experimentation and evaluation in curriculum planning. A major part of its work during the year was to develop the Target Oriented Curriculum (TOC), formerly known as the Teaching Targets and Target-Related Assessment. The TOC is a major and long-term curriculum reform, requiring substantial changes in the approach to teaching and assessment, as well as the commitment and co-operation of all educators. A curriculum framework for the TOC was developed; learning targets for Chinese, English and mathematics were identified; a pilot scheme was conducted in 20 primary schools; and reference and resource materials connected with the TOC were issued to schools. The institute also provided advice and assistance to other schools which were evaluating the TOC in 1993-94.
During the year, the institute issued updated curriculum guides and subject syllabuses, and developed resource materials. Circulars on the teaching of different subjects were issued to secondary schools to suggest ways to make learning more pleasurable and effective, and seminars on this topic were held for teachers. Guidelines on school homework were also issued. To find ways to reduce the weight of school bags, the institute held meetings with publishers' associations to see how textbooks could be made smaller and lighter, and guidelines on school bags were issued to schools.