TNAG-0795-FCO40-999-Policy-of-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-1978 — Page 147

9. The colleges of education

9.1

The colleges of education (including the Technical Teachers' College) are among several institutions whose prime purpose is to prepare students to enter a particular profession. The schools of nursing perform a similar function. While the planning of student intake to such institutions and the content of courses is undertaken by reference to the needs of the profession, such courses do extend the student's education and are thus legitimately considered as part of tertiary education. The Government has considered the possibility of associating them more closely by providing a common foundation year before the student would be required to make a vocational choice between teaching, nursing or social work. However, the organisational problems would be formidable and, moreover, such a development would appear to have been pre-empted for the immediate future by the decision to locate the Institute of Social Work Training in the Polytechnic. In these circumstances this chapter will discuss only developments affecting the colleges of education.

9.2

Over the coming years the teaching profession will need a good supply of new entrants with a high standard of general education and who have been trained thoroughly in modern teaching methods. This need arises from the expanded secondary education system and also from the new curriculum in both primary and secondary schools. As more students proceed to sixth form education, it will be necessary for the colleges to raise their entrance standards if the calibre of new entrants to the profession is not to decline.

If a common sixth form examination were to be introduced at a later date, it might be appropriate to redefine the entrance qualifications in terms of passes in this examination. Corresponding improvements would be made to the admission standards for the part-time courses for untrained serving teachers (ICTT).

9.3

Government intends that, as well as raising the standards of entry for the basic course of professional training, the provision of pre-service and in-service training should be extended, by lengthening the basic training course from two to three years duration and by introducing systematic arrangements for refresher training for serving teachers.

9.4

Third-year courses in a variety of subjects in the secondary curriculum have already been made available on a selective basis to students on the basic full-time course.

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