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On the one hand it is obviously wasteful and impracticable to duplicate the work of the English Schools; on the other, it must be remembered that Technical efficiency, unaccompanied by a reasonable knowledge of English, is useless as a means of securing promotion in Hong Kong as previously pointed out, many foremen in various engineering and Government workshops owe their position rather to their knowledge of English than to their mechanical ability.
In the case of the Junior Courses the teaching of English is regarded as of prime importance. There is very little duplication of the work of the English Schools, as the English taught at the Junior Technical School is at least half what may be described as "Technical"; in other words Junior Technical School English describes industrial machines and processes, and gives enough general English to enable its students to understand an ordinary conversation dealing with familiar objects.
As regards other courses, each one will require to be considered separately.
Marine Engineering:--The final examination for this course is held in English, part written, part oral. A course in Technical English will be essential, and whether or not the necessity for a general course will arise depends entirely on the type of student who comes forward. If the better educated type is attracted, as seems reasonable to expect, then the fact that most of the instruction must of necessity be in English may serve to give the student the requisite knowledge of Colloquial. It must be remembered that, during his 18 months at sea previous to sitting for his examination, the student will be compelled to use English in con- versation with his superior officers, so that it is not necessary to ensure that the full degree of proficiency is acquired during the School course.
Technical English can very well be taught by a Chinese University Teacher. It is probable that an Engineering Graduate would be most suitable for this work.
Colloquial could if necessary be taught by attaching an English master from one of the English schools for a few hours per week.
Building-Some Technical English will again be essential, but it is expected that day students will be fairly well grounded in general English. In this course there is no external examination, so that all that will be required is sufficient English to understand an Architect's drawings, schedules of quantities, etc. It is extremely doubtful whether it will be possible to teach sufficient English to enable a student to comprehend a complete specification and "conditions of contract' for a large job. A University Trained Teacher could do this work adequately after training in the School.
Automobile Repair :-For promotion in one of the larger firms in Hong Kong, English is essential. As many of the students will have little or no knowledge of English, it is suggested that, apart from names of parts and processes, the in- dividual be left at first to acquire his English by evening tuition. It is always Fossible, however, that, if students seem to be leaving without completing their course in order to start earning, it may be possible to hold the class together by offering a few hours' English per week, taught by a University Trained Teacher
(11) GENERAI. ADMINISTRATION.
Owing to the peculiarities of Technical Education, whereby the work in any school is split up into a number of more or less independent courses it is felt that, to have a separate Head for each school would not only lead complications and uneconomical working, but would be apt to lead to friction to unnecessary between the staffs responsible for the various courses.
It is considered that each department-in the first instance Junior, Engineering, and Building-should have a Chief Instructor as its lead. These Chief Instructors should be directly responsible for the teaching work in their own department, and
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should act directly under the Principal, Trade and Technical Schools. The latter should, for several years at least, be able to carry out all the administrative work required; by this means the Chief Instructors can devote practically the whole of their time to actual instructional work. One result of this arrangement, the im- portance of which cannot be overestimated during the years of initial development, is that the chain of responsibility between the Principal and the student is reduced to the shortest possible dimensions.
It is not considered desirable that any "Deputy Principal" be appointed at present but on such occasions as the Principal may be absent from the Colony the Senior Instructor in the Engineering Department, should be "Acting Principal".
(12) STAFF.
As will have been gathered from previous sections, the qualifications and duties of the Technical Staff will be quite apart from those of the Staff of any English School. For this reason it is considered essential that the Technical Staff should have its own official titles, scales of pay, and conditions of service, and that the Technical Staff should be regarded as one unit whose members should be liable for service in any department of the Technical and Trade Schools.
Official Titles-Differentiation between the English and Technical sides is best made by using, to describe the various appointments, those titles which are in universal use in Britain.
Three titles are in use:-
(a) Principal, as Head of the Institution.
(b) Lecturers, usually Graduates, whose work is in the main Post
Matriculation.
(c) Instructors, whose work is either confined to actual instruction in the
Shops, or whose lecture work is confined to elementary subjects.
(b) Lecturers :-It is not contemplated that any appointments in this grade will be made for a period of years, but if the Technical side achieves real success such appointments will require consideration. If the Marine Engineering and Building Course reach the standard aimed at, then these courses will be doing work which is actually in advance of the Matriculation courses; it follows that adequate status should be accorded to the teacher, if his enthusiasm is to be maintained.
Provision should be made whereby the status of Instructors should be review- ed when these reach the maximum salary of the Instructor's Scale; promotion to the higher grade should be dependent on the success of the individual instructor. the standard of the work he is called on to undertake, and his professional quali- fications. No scale of salary for this grade should be fixed meantime, but consider- ing that no Instructor can rise beyond Head of his own department a suitable maximum for Lecturers would be £800 with an addition of £50 for Heads of Departments. In assessing professional qualifications, the value of these must be A First Class assessed with reference to the work of the individual concerned. Board of Trade Certificate, or Corporate Membership of the Institutions of Civil, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineers, must be regarded as a qualification whose value is at least as high as the average B.A. Degree.
(c) Instructors-In the first instance all appointments will be made to this grade. Four European instructors will be required, two for the Department of Engineering and two for the Department of Building.
The Instructors in each department must between them have a sound working knowledge of each individual Tralde of their separate groups. The Engineering side must be familiar with fitting, turning, erection, smithwork, welding, brazing, general machine work, and repair and maintenance of steam, oil and electrical machinery.
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