XN000022-1994-12-07 — Page 11

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"The Language Proficiency report attracted a lot of public attention and useful comments," she said.

"I hope this report will be debated seriously by educators and interested members of the public, so that the Commission can submit final recommendations to the Government in the full knowledge of public views."

Present quality monitoring activities

In describing current activities and procedures relating to quality, the report notes that the large financial and human resources now expended on monitoring schools could be targeted more effectively, to meet the needs of an education system which has changed greatly in recent years. For example:

Information gathered from inspections and other evaluation activities should feed back more systematically into policy-making, resource decisions and support services;

There should be more openness in the school system; and

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Not just schools, but all parts of the school education service teacher education, in- service development, curriculum development, teacher resource centres, school social work and other support services -- should be subject to regular evaluations.

"The present system is designed to ensure that schools operate at least to the minimum standard acceptable to the Director of Education," Dr Cheng said.

"But quality is about striving for the best possible standard. We believe that a new approach to school quality assurance at the system level can establish 'benchmarks' of quality and encourage all schools and teachers to strive for the best possible quality."

The new Quality Assurance Strategy