XN000022-1994-12-07 — Page 12

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The report notes that educational quality depends on the commitment and capabilities of individual educators and schools. To encourage and develop good ideas from schools and teachers, the report says, Hong Kong needs a quality assurance framework which gives maximum encouragement and minimum hindrance to the exercise of professional judgment and skills, while providing the public with clear evidence of achievements in individual schools and across the whole system.

"Our strategy is based on four goals, four principles, and three components," said Dr Cheng. The four goals are to:

Foster the commitment and competence of all school educators in striving for the highest possible quality;

Monitor quality in schools and their support services independently of other organisations;

Provide policy-makers and educators with information on which to base decisions; and

Provide accurate and impartial assessments of current achievements, and what is being done to improve on those achievements.

The four principles are:

Transparency - to meet the growing public demand for more information about education quality;

Respect for professionalism

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to encourage initiatives arising from

schools themselves;

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Enhancement of existing strengths to build on best practice already found in our schools;

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Efficiency to achieve the maximum impact with an economical use of professional manpower and the least disruption to existing services.