XN000022-1996-07-04 — Page 31

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Public briefing session on quality school education

Members of the public are invited to take part in a briefing session on July 13 (Saturday) to give their views on how to develop a quality culture in school education.

The briefing, to be held at Queen's College in Causeway Bay at 10 am, is one of the many sessions organised by the Education Commission during its six-week consultation to solicit public views on quality school education. The views expressed will form the basis of the Commission's Report No 7.

Similar briefing sessions have been organised for Legislative Councillors, principals, teachers, school councils and sponsors, advisory boards and committees and district board members in the last few weeks.

A spokesman for the Commission today (Thursday) reminded the public to forward their views before the consultation period ends on July 31.

"Their views will help ensure that the No 7 report contains concrete proposals which would address the genuine needs of the school community and the concerns of the public at large," the spokesman said.

To facilitate the public to consider the issue, the Commission's Task Group on School Quality and School Funding published a consultation pamphlet on the issue last month.

The pamphlet describes briefly the present school system, the roles of the key players in the system and the present funding arrangements.

It also identifies the main constraints of the system including the lack of flexibility and accountability in the funding and school management systems, the lack of appropriate indicators to assess the performance of schools, school sponsoring bodies, school management committees, principals and teachers, and the absence of incentives for schools to take initiatives and accept responsibility for the achievement of quality education.

The pamphlet proposes a new quality culture with clear goals and incentives for improvement, and invites views on:

goals and targets of quality school education;

ways to relate school funding to performance; and

the roles of key players in the school system and the relationship

between them.

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