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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1983

MEASURES TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF EDUCATION

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THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT HAD SPENT CONSIDERABLE EFFORT AND RESOURCES IN THE PAST FEW YEARS IN IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF HONG KONG'S EDUCATION, THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, MR MICHAEL LEUNG, SAID TODAY (SATURDAY).

SPEAKING AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF A SEMINAR ON TEACHING METHODS ORGANISED BY THE HONG KONG TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION AT

PUI CHING MIDDLE SCHOOL, MR LEUNG SAID THAT THE QUALITY ENHANCEMENT MEASURES FELL INTO THREE MAIN AREAS,

THESE AREAS ARE THE PROVISION OF A BETTER SCHOOLING ENVIRONMENT, THE ALLOCATION OF ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AND THE UPGRADING OF THE QUALITY OF TEACHING.

HE SAID THAT WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF THE PRIMARY ONE ADMISSION SYSTEM THIS YEAR, THE MAXIMUM SIZE OF PRIMARY CLASSES HAD BEGUN TO BE REDUCED, LEVEL BY LEVEL, TO 40 IN THE CASE OF ORDINARY CLASSES AND 35 IN THE CASE OF CLASSES ADOPTING THE ACTIVITY APPROACH.

ALONG WITH THIS, THE TEACHER-TO-CLASS RATIO IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS HAS BEEN IMPROVED FROM 1.1 TO 1 TO 1.2 TO 1 IN SEPTEMBER LAST YEAR, MAINLY TO ENABLE TEACHERS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS TO DEVOTE MORE TIME TO REMEDIAL TEACHING.

APART FROM MORE TEACHERS, PRIMARY SCHOOLS HAVE ALSO PROVIDED WITH MORE RESOURCES OF OTHER KINDS.

CAPITATION AND TEXTBOOK GRANTS HAD BEEN INCREASED, MORE AUDIO-VISUAL TEACHING AIDS PROVIDED AND A PILOT CLASS-LIBRARY SCHEME STARTED, MR LEUNG NOTED.

IN THE SECONDARY SECTOR, HE SAID THAT IN SEPTEMBER 1982, EACH STANDARD-SIZE SECONDARY SCHOOL IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR WAS PROVIDED WITH TWO ADDITIONAL GRADUATE TEACHERS IN ORDER TO STRENGTHEN REMEDIAL TEACHING IN CHINESE AND ENGLISH.

A THIRD GRADUATE TEACHER HAS BEEN PROVIDED FROM SEPTEMBER THIS YEAR AND TWO OTHER NON-GRADUATE TEACHERS WILL BE ADDED AS SOON AS THE COLLEGES OF EDUCATION HAVE TRAINED ENOUGH TEACHERS.

+THESE ADDITIONAL TEACHERS ARE INTENDED TO STRENGTHEN REMEDIAL TEACHING, COUNSELLING AND GUIDANCE AND EXTRA-CURRICULAR AND COMMUNITY-INVOLVEMENT ACTIVITIES, MR LEUNG SAID.

IN THE UPGRADING OF TEACHING QUALITY, HE SAID THAT BESIDES A SERIES OF SEMINARS AND REFRESHER COURSES FOR TEACHERS, THE INSTITUTE OF LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION, OPENED LAST YEAR, HAD RETRAINED 200 TEACHERS OF CHINESE AND ENGLISH IN 1982/83 AND WOULD DOUBLE ITS INTAKE THIS YEAR.

THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT HAD ALSO RUN A SERIES OF TRAINING COURSES FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL HEADS TO FAMILIARISE THEM WITH UP-TO-DATE TECHNIQUES ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION, HE SAID.

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