ENG-1989 — Page 171

EDUCATION

In addition to this training the department also provides three main support services for disabled trainees in the skills centres and in the technical institutes.

First, the Vocational Assessment Section assesses a disabled person's potential and provides guidance in the selection of a suitable vocational training course. The assessments are based on internationally-recognised test batteries, in addition to work samples which are designed to meet local industrial requirements. The main vocational assessment pro- grammes offered are a five-day one for all mildly mentally-disabled school leavers and an eight-week one for the more complex assessment cases.

Second, the Technical Aids and Resource Centre designs and makes about 40 different kinds of technical aids and adaptations to standard machinery each year for disabled workers or trainees. The aim is to improve their employment prospects and training attainments.

Third, the Inspectorate Unit gives advice to skills centres on administration, curriculum development, instructional methods and training standards. It also provides guidance and academic counselling to disabled students in the technical institutes.

The department's annual employment survey of disabled trainees completing full-time courses in technical institutes and skills centres showed that over 85 per cent of these leavers either obtained open employment or entered mainstream technical education.

The construction work for the new Tuen Mun Skills Centre for the Disabled is on schedule. The centre, which will open in September 1990 and cater for all categories of disabled persons, will provide 300 training places, of which 150 are residential.

Teacher Preparation

Four Colleges of Education Grantham, Northcote, Sir Robert Black and the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College (HKTTC) train non-graduate teachers for primary and secondary schools. All four colleges are directly financed and staffed by the government and administered by the department.

The three general colleges of education conduct initial full-time teacher education courses lasting two years for students with HKALE qualifications, and three years for students with HKCEE qualifications. Part-time in-service training courses of two or three years' duration are also offered to serving kindergarten, primary and secondary school teachers and to teachers of students with special educational needs. Retraining courses lasting seven or eight weeks are offered to teachers in primary and secondary schools, and part-time courses of 12 weeks to serving assistant kindergarten teachers.

The Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College provides courses for future teachers of technical subjects in secondary and prevocational schools. A three-year full-time course is open to secondary school leavers who have studied technical or commercial subjects. The college also offers in-service courses for teachers and lecturers in the technical institutes as well as a variety of short courses for instructors working with the handicapped, and for supervisors and instructors employed in industry.

All four colleges also offer a one-year full-time Advanced Course of Teacher Education in cultural, practical and technical subjects.

There were 1054 students in the three-year full-time course, 1 199 students in the two-year full-time course, 92 students in the Advanced Course of Teacher Education and a total of 2 222 students in the in-service training and retraining courses.

Financial assistance in the form of interest-free loans and maintenance grants is provided by the government for eligible students who are enrolled in full-time courses at the four colleges.

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