[ { "id": 211022, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1987", "page_number": 84, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "59\n\n30\n\nPope Hennessy. This was the Normal School, which was opened in Queen's Road East, Wanchai, on 12th September, 1881, under the headmastership of A.J. May, previously Acting Third Master at the Central School. Partly because Hennessy had not taken the precaution of gaining the prior approval of the Colonial Office in London, and partly because several members of the Education Commission then sitting to consider the elevation of the Central School to collegiate status were unconvinced of the necessity for separate provision of teacher education, the scheme failed. On the recommendation of Dr. George Bateson Wright, the Acting Inspector of Schools who, as Headmaster of the Central School, was normally in a state of dispute with the substantive Inspector, E.J. Eitel, the Wanchai Normal School was closed in October 1883. A.J. May returned to his ordinary teaching duties at the Central School, at first as merely an “extra-master” and, according to Gwenneth Stokes, “always very much on his dignity.”\n\n31\n\nAnd of the original 1881 intake of ten students, only two eventually became teachers. Meanwhile, the failure of the Normal School project led to a resumption of the pupil teacher scheme at the Central School. To avoid the problems faced earlier, first by Stewart and then by May, the revised pupil-teacher scheme gained additional stability by the requirement that each pupil-teacher articled had to deposit $100 with the Government Treasury. Further progress in the field of teacher education in Hong Kong was slow, the next major step being the establishment of “evening extension courses” in 1906, the formalization of these under the aegis of the newly established Technical Institute in 1907, the running of teacher education courses as a part of the Arts Faculty curriculum at the University of Hong Kong from 1916 onwards, and, finally, the establishment of the first permanent training college for teachers in Hong Kong in 1939.\n\n32\n\nAlthough the Normal School was shortlived and made only a minimal contribution to the teaching supply of Hong Kong schools, it was an interesting experiment. Comparable British colonies in Asia, the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States launched no such experiment to supply teachers capable of using English as the medium of instruction. Instead, for these colonies, a Select Committee of 1870 recommended reliance on", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211319, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 35, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "11\n\nQueen's College (then in Hollywood Road), the Government secondary school which is still situated on Hong Kong Island. In 1913, the Technical Institute entered [6] candidates for local examinations of whom 116 passed. Subjects included shorthand, sanitation, building construction and field surveying.\n\nThe development of technical education was slow. However, in 1926 the Salesian Fathers commenced classes in shoemaking, carpentry, tailoring, and printing; at about the same time, Taikoo Dockyard, situated at Quarry Bay, opened evening classes for their apprentices.\n\nIn 1903, a positive step was taken by the Government towards the development of technical education when a committee was formed to report on the possibility of introducing a system of practical education. This Committee, under the chairmanship of Sir William Hornell, made three main recommendations. These were the establishment of a junior technical school; the provision of evening classes for apprentices; and the commencement of full-time courses at a later date.\n\nAs a result, in 1932 the Junior Technical School was established, which was Government's first venture into full-time technical education. This secondary school provided a comparatively narrow four-year course designed mainly as pre-apprentice training for the engineering trades. In 1957, 'JTS', as it was usually known, moved from its accommodation in Queen's Road East (from 1974 to the time of writing this has been occupied by the Technical Teachers College) to the three-storey building in Wood Road vacated by the then Technical College. At the same time, the name (JTS) was changed to Victoria Technical School (VTS), and a phased conversion from a trade to a secondary school, albeit with some emphasis on non-vocational technical subjects, took place.\n\nFurther progress was made in 1935 when the Catholic Salesian Society founded the Aberdeen Trade School. This provided a general education, together with training considered comparable to an apprenticeship within an institution. The School was converted into a secondary technical school in the late 1950s. The author first visited this establishment in January 1955 and recalls the high standard of projects on display.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215160, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2000", "page_number": 256, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "216\n\nA Brief History of Technical Education in Hong Kong\n\nLion Rock. To give you an idea what it was like in the vicinity of the College: the Wan Chai streets and alleys seemed far more cluttered in those days with numerous bustling stalls and small shops. I could go to a barber's shop in the then narrow Tin Lok Lane, not far from Wood Road, and have a haircut, a shampoo, a shave, and a manicure for $2.70 (all dollars quoted in this paper are Hong Kong dollars). Being a generous chap, I gave a 30 cents tip. The College was quite hemmed in in those days, and the quadrangle, with teaching accommodation all around, only allowed for limited parking. Many teachers did not have cars then.\n\nStudents, however, still played basketball but under restrained conditions. They also played the Chinese game of ‘kicking the shuttlecock’, which I also enjoyed playing.\n\nThe Hong Kong Funeral Parlour was then just around the corner from the College. At various times during the day, brass bands leading funeral processions along the street would strike up tunes such as \"Abide With Me\", \"Polly Wolly Doodle All The Day\", and \"Yes, We Have No Bananas\". There was a small flower market close by. Even when the College moved to Hung Hom, in Kowloon, there was a funeral pavilion next door. This raised a certain amount of consternation regarding our feng shui, as relatives of staff fell sick. We had to rearrange our desks.\n\nAt the old Technical College in Wood Road, there was both a senior and a junior staff room, with about 10 of us teachers in each. Student-teacher contact hours varied from about 21 to 25 (or even more) a week, and our Principal insisted, at one time, that all classes had a short weekly test first thing every Monday morning. When I first arrived by ship on a four-year tour in the mid-1950s, in what was a rather colonial atmosphere, I was impressed by the students' ability in mathematics, science, and draughtsmanship. English was not up to the same standard. Metaphorically, students still did not step on the teacher's shadow.\n\nThere was sometimes talk by Chinese teachers of students being more receptive to Chinese methods of imparting knowledge, such as more dictating of...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215164, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2000", "page_number": 260, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "220\n\nA Brief History of Technical Education in Hong Kong\n\nSidney was also a good ‘cadger'. Most of the many donations made to technical education in his time were largely due to his determined efforts. He had worked as a radio officer on a ship in earlier life. Every Monday morning he would lead a small retinue of staff around the College on a formal inspection just as a captain does on board ship.\n\nI recall when a newly appointed Hong Kong University member of staff came to see him, about the setting up of a University Extra-Mural Department. Burt told him frankly it was a waste of money. 'The Technical College provides all the evening classes the Colony needs', he insisted.\n\nThe Director of Education wanted Burt to move into the Departmental Headquarters to oversee technical education but he preferred to do this while serving as incumbent Principal at the Technical College. Because of this inherent stubbornness the development of technical education was probably retarded. There was no 'Senior Education Officer (Technical Education)' post in Headquarters until 1967 and no 'Assistant Director (Technical Education)' post until 1972. But Hong Kong owes Sidney Burt a great deal for laying the foundations of technical education.\n\nBut moving on: the Principal and staff of the College had long felt that a second Government institution was needed which, although bolstered by some technician programmes, would concentrate on craft courses. This was why the Morrison Hill Technical Institute came into being in 1969. In fact there was a school of thought which believed that the first technical institute should run craft courses only, but, as things have since developed, it would have been an incorrect move. One of our more advanced pursuits at MHTI, in addition to technician education, was technical teacher training. This was transferred away in 1974 with the establishing of the Technical Teachers College.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215168, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2000", "page_number": 264, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "A Brief History of Technical Education in Hong Kong\n\nsystem. After all, most people have been to school and, therefore, many are instant experts.\n\nClaude Burgess, Colonial Secretary from 1958-1963, said that Hong Kong was a problem of people. Indeed one sometimes wonders how other countries' education systems would have fared if their populations had increased at the rate Hong Kong's has. Post-World War Two education started from a low base line, but by 1981, universal, compulsory, free education had been introduced.\n\nThe proof of the rice dumpling has to be in the eating, just as you judge an education system by the students who graduate. Many of those who studied technical education in Hong Kong have gone right to the top of their chosen fields. A few have graduated from the Polytechnic, or its predecessor the Technical College, and have become members of the Legislative or Executive Councils.\n\nTo achieve what we have, certainly in the old days when funds were restricted, there had to be a force of long-serving, dedicated teachers. Members of staff who gave stability and shape to the technical education scene, in spite of its limitations some of which have been noted in this brief paper.\n\nIf you cannot live with change Hong Kong is not the place to be. Certainly over the past half century the pace of change has been staggering. I cast my mind back to when we teachers were invited in 1956, by past building students, to a Chinese dinner in the woodwork workshop, at the old Technical College in Wood Road. They engaged outside caterers and the food was cooked in the corridor. The cost was around $100.00 per round, Chinese table seating 12 persons. Today, every New Year I am graciously invited by my past students, some of whom have already retired, to a Technical College/Polytechnic/Polytechnic University Ball at the Grand Hyatt. How things have changed! As you can see I still keep in touch with some of my old students, both locally and overseas, some of whom I taught over 40 years ago.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 } ]