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Apprenticeship Scheme

EDUCATION

The Apprenticeship Ordinance provides a legal framework for the training of craftsmen and technicians. It requires an employer to enter into a contract of apprenticeship when engaging a person aged between 14 and 18 in one of the 42 designated trades specified in the ordinance, unless that person has completed an apprenticeship in the trade. The contract must be registered with the Director of Technical Education and Industrial Training. Contracts for apprentices engaged in non-designated trades or for apprentices aged over 18 engaged in designated trades may also be registered voluntarily with the director.

The Apprenticeship Section of the Technical Education and Industrial Training Department is responsible for administering the ordinance. Its duties include advising and assisting employers in the training and employment of apprentices, ensuring that the training is properly carried out, helping to resolve disputes arising out of registered contracts, and co-operating with educational institutes to ensure that apprentices receive the necessary complementary technical education. Courses of instruction for apprentices, normally on a part-time day-release basis, are provided at the Hong Kong Polytechnic and the technical institutes.

Apprenticeship contracts registered in 1984 totalled 3 600, of which 800 were for non-designated trades. These contracts covered 2 900 craft apprentices and 700 technician apprentices. By the end of the year, 8 500 apprentices were being trained in accordance with the ordinance.

Vocational Training for the Disabled

Development of vocational training, vocational assessment and technical aids and resource services continued to make steady progress. The total number of vocational training places in both government and subvented centres stood at 616, while the number of people who had completed vocational assessment totalled 200.

Special tutorial classes for disabled students attending full-time and part-time courses at technical institutes continued to be offered. In response to increased demand from disabled persons, the Technical Aids and Resource Centre completed some 40 projects on special aids and machine adaptations during the year. The production of videotaped learning programmes for disabled students at technical institutes and trainees at the skills centre commenced with the installation of a studio in the centre in May. This is considered beneficial especially to persons with hearing impairment or low reading ability.

The introduction of a modular training approach to subvented vocational training centres was among the steps taken to improve the quality of training. Guidelines for the operation and administration of residential facilities in vocational training centres have been prepared and incorporated into a Standard of Practice.

Teacher Education

Grantham,

General teacher education is provided at the three Colleges of Education Northcote and Sir Robert Black - and at the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College, all run by the Education Department.

The three Colleges of Education offer a two-year full-time course of initial training to students with the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination qualifications and a three-year full-time course of initial training to students with the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination qualifications. The Colleges of Education also conduct in-service courses, including the Advanced Course of Teacher Education, part-time courses for teachers of kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, and courses for teachers of students with