TNAG-1724-FCO40-2437-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 310

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as I

One of the original 59 teachers has resigned,

understand for personal reasons, so by February we expect 81

teachers to be working in 41 participating schools.

The pilot scheme is to be evaluated by procedures

Council in conjunction

with the

designed by the British

Education Department and the Hong Kong Examinations Authority.

These testing procedures are among the most rigorous used in

any language teaching scheme anywhere. They are being used,

first to measure the language achievements of the pupils taught

by the expatriate teachers; secondly, to assess the effect of

the scheme in increasing motivation and interest among the

pupils; and thirdly, to assess the contribution made by the

expatriate teachers to the general life of the school.

effect

The scheme has been in operation, for only five months,

so clearly it is still too soon

is still too soon to make any formal assessment

of its effectiveness. Despite some rather sensational reports

in the press, there have in £ad been fewer difficulties with

the sabeme

sebeme than might have been expected. In a few schools

there have been problems of class control, but such problems

also

are encountered by local teachers also, and discussions

A

held with the schools concerned

to find ways

are

to improve the

situation. Adaptation to the teaching environment in Hong Kong

has been easier for some teachers than for others, but problems

are discussed and the teachers are given professional support

in a variety of ways.