TNAG-1072-FCO40-1322-Policy-of-the-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-1981 — Page 146

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14.8

It is the experience of Council that the most beneficial teaching occurs when a staff member is actively committed to the subject matter he is teaching. It is the custom in tertiary education for staff to both devise, lecture and examine their subject, and Council considers this to be a more successful way of ensuring the staff member's involvement in the subject matter he is teaching than if he is instructed to follow a prescribed syllabus.

14.9 Council has also found it highly desirable for courses to

have clearly expressed aims and for the staff to have been involved in their formulation so that the aims for the course are those with which they are in accord and to which they can orient the content and teaching method of that part of the course for which they are responsible.

14.10 Members have encountered the Polytechnic and the College

at two different stages of course development. The Baptist College has just completed an overall review of their course structure and content moving from a four year programme to a 2-2-1 structure. The Polytechnic on the other hand has had no recent change in courses; and the new Head of Department, who has now been in post for two years is looking to the opportunity for a substantial revision and restructuring of the existing courses in the near future.

14.11 Members have gained the impression of a difference of mood and character in the two departments. They have been quite disappointed to find that despite the recent reorganisation of the Civil courses there is no evidence that the Baptist College staff have designed the courses against specific educational aims, or that there is a consensus of view among the staff as to what the Senior Diploma and the Honours Diploma are trying to achieve.

14.12 In the Polytechnic there is an enthusiasm by staff in the

development of their subject, in the teaching of the course, in the devising of practical work and projects which augur well for the health of the course. This sense was missing from the encounters with the Baptist College staff.

14.13 Members are disappointed that there appears to be no

opportunity or encouragement for the staff in the department to engage on academic discussion whether on the professional aspects of the discipline or on the development of the course. For example the external examiner to the course Prof. Isaac has made a number of pertinent observations about the weaknesses on the course and helpful suggestions for its development, but although some of the points have been taken up, others remain as relevant now as when first made in 1975 and the staff as a whole are unaware of the issues.