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(vii) Oversea Education. In accordance with the suggestions made by this Committee, the first instalment of photographs of school activities had been included in the current number of Oversea Education. In response to the announcement of the competition for designs for a cover for Over- sea Education, which was also made in accordance with the suggestions of this Committee, more than eighty designs had been received from students in the educational institutions of the Colonial Empire. These were examined by a Committee composed, in accordance with his proposal, which was approved by the Committee, Sir William Rothenstein, Mr. Vischer, himself, and a representative of the Oxford University Press. Three designs had been selected for the award of the prizes offered from the funds of Oversea Education and by the Oxford University Press. The designs submitted by these three winners were on view in the Conference Room for the inspection of members of the Committee, whose views were invited on the desirability of accepting the design carrying the first prize as a substitute for the present cover of the journal. The designs that were selected for special consideration were also placed on the table, in case members might be interested in seeing them. Sir William Rothenstein's view, which was accepted by other members of the Selection Committee, was that the designs were full of interest and gave an encouraging idea of art progress, but with reference to the special purpose for which they were intended they did not as a whole show very great merit. The lettering was in most cases dis- appointing. The representative of the Oxford University Press thought that, from the technical point of view, there was no objection to acceptance of the winning design.
(c) The Official Secretary reported that Mr. Pickthorn had written expressing his regret at his inability to be present owing to ill-health.
8. (a) Secondary Education Policy in Hong Kong, (A.C.E.C. 34/38). —- MR. BURNEY said that the changes and reforms recommended in the Governor's despatch were a step in the right direction. There was a certain amount of criticism that he might be disposed to make in detail but he would not do so at the meeting.
The action recorded in paragraph (4) of the Governor's despatch was contrary, Mr. Burney believed, to the Committee's recommendation, for appointing special visiting instructors in physical training, because it meant waiting for the recruitment to the ordinary staff of teachers with the necessary qualifications. A beginning was better than nothing, but the plan should not be regarded as permanently acceptable. A fairly serious administrative difficulty arose in that a specialized instructor in physical training reached an age when he was no longer fit for his task sooner than teachers of other subjects. It was essential for an instructor to demonstrate and not merely stand and issue orders. When the ordinary teacher was too old to give physical training, he handed over this work to a younger colleague, and continued with his other work.
The prestige of the regular staff was greater than that of the visiting staff, and boys would naturally attach more importance to physical training if it were taught by someone whom they could regard as a leader.
MR. MAYHEW stated that there had been much discussion with Mr. Sayer about this point. Mr. Sayer had now retired. The paragraph under discussion, like the rest of the Report, indicated a new spirit. The Committee should take note of the hint given by the Governor at the end of the fourth paragraph that only when the teacher class began to be recruited from a generation which had learnt the science at school, would it be possible to expect that enough members of the regular staff of schools could become efficient teachers of physical training. On the last occasion on which a European officer for the English Secondary school work was required, the Government had asked for someone who would be competent to give instruction in physical training. Great difficulty had been experienced in finding someone who was properly qualified for this as well as qualified to teach the school subjects. Generally speaking, the Committee's recommendations were now receiving due attention.
MR. BURNEY pointed out that no mention was made of housecraft for girls and deprecated the omission of this subject from the curriculum.
DR. ESDAILE said that needlework was the nearest approach that had been made to housecraft.
DR. FIRTH considered that the details of the music curriculum were very vague. No hint was given of the difficulties encountered in introducing English music to the Chinese. He suggested that the Committee might ask that the teacher of music should have some knowledge of the general principles of Chinese music or be prepared to study Chinese music.
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In the course of the ensuing discussion it was mentioned that English music, as well as native music, had been satisfactorily cultivated at Achimota and amongst the Chinese in Malaya. A music master had been asked for in Hong Kong, one reason being that there were two important British schools which required attention.
DR. FIRTH said he had not meant to imply that African and English music were incompatible, but that it needed an exceptional type of man to teach the latter to the Chinese.
MR. MAYHEW said that creation of the post had not yet been sanctioned, but if it were, he was sure that the points raised by Dr. Firth would be borne in mind.
The report was accepted in the light of the foregoing discussion.
(b) Training of Teachers in Hong Kong (A.C.E.C. 44/38).--MR. BURNEY said that the Committee which had been appointed to consider this question was very necessary. The results of the existing system for the training of teachers were clearly unsatisfactory, and he regretted not having devoted as much time to this question as he had to other matters in Hong Kong a few years ago. The system envisaged for the future in the majority report followed more or less lines laid down in England for the training of teachers.
The first category of teachers mentioned was one employed almost exclusively in the Government English schools (i.e. schools in which English was the medium of instruction). He had heard from reliable sources when in Hong Kong that the University trained Chinese teacher was neither sufficiently educated nor efficiently trained for his work. He was inclined with Mr. Sayer to disagree with the view that a four-year course followed by a one-year course for a teacher's diploma was the shortest time in which the pick of the local intelligentsia could be trained as competent teachers; four years in all ought eventually to be sufficient. The suggestion that five years was a desirable time was an indication of the vicious circle which made it very difficult to introduce any effective reform. The first year of the under-graduates' course at the University was taken up in great part in so improving the students' English that they could follow courses of literature at University level in the University. They did not really begin University degree work until their second year. This was due to the unsatis- factory preparation in the Primary Schools and the poor English attainments of the Chinese teachers in the Secondary Schools. And this could not be mended until better educated and trained local teachers were available.
A beginning had already been made, owing to economic reasons, for a partial replacement of European teachers by Chinese teachers. No doubt this was a process which had to be continued but the more that policy was followed the more important became adequate training for Chinese teachers.
Teachers in the second category were Anglo-Chinese (non-graduated) teachers. They mainly staffed the Grant-in-Aid schools, as the latter could not afford to pay the salaries of graduate teachers. The arrangement proposed for training these teachers followed almost the same lines of the two-year training colleges in England. The difficulty would be, at first, at any rate, assuming that English would be the medium of instruction during the first course, that many of the students would begin their courses with an inadequate knowledge of the language. Some caution might be suggested to those responsible for drawing up the curriculum of the course, before the Government adopted uncritically the recommendations of the Memorandum which constituted Appendix I and seemed seriously to overload the course.
As regards the Vernacular teachers for rural schools (the third category), it was recommended that the example of Africa should be followed to a considerable extent. Mr. Sayer, in his Minority Report, doubted whether a system of training that was suitable for teachers who had to deal with African communities would be suitable, as he considered the Chinese more cultured than the Africans. From his somewhat inadequate acquaintance with the Chinese population on the mainland, he could not understand why a course based on a recognition of local social and economic needs, but following lines found effective in Africa, could not be usefully adopted.
The
No doubt improvement was needed in the system by which teachers for urban vernacular schools were recruited through classes in the evening institute. institution of a new training centre or centres in Hong Kong would be a great improvement. The various reforms recommended by the Committee would cost money, and, in the recent history of Hong Kong, there has been no great willingness, and perhaps no great ability, to find more money. Whether the most recent events of all were going to make that more easy in the future he could not tell.
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