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Education

Management of Schools

The Education Ordinance regulates school education services. Schools must comply with its provisions, including subsidiary legislation on the registration of schools, teachers and managers, health and safety requirements, fees and charges and teacher qualifications.

To implement school-based management, aided schools are devolved with considerable autonomy and funding flexibility. In return, they have to be more transparent and accountable in their operation and include all key stakeholders in their governance structure, including representatives of the school sponsoring body, the principal, elected teachers, parents and alumni, and independent members.

In July, the Task Force on School-based Management Policy submitted its report putting forward 27 recommendations to improve the quality of school governance, strengthen the administration capabilities of schools in ways that would unleash the capacity for teachers and principals, and enhance the participation of major stakeholders in school governance. The government accepted all the recommendations and started rolling out measures implementing these recommendations from 2019-20, including the provision of additional resources to schools to strengthen their administrative support and reduce the administrative work of teachers and principals so that they could focus more on teaching and taking better care of students.

The School Development and Accountability Framework fosters sustained school development through school self-evaluation, complemented by external school reviews which provide schools with suggestions for improvement.

Professional Development of Educators

Teachers

The Committee on Professional Development of Teachers and Principals advises the bureau on policies and measures relating to the professional development of the teaching profession at different career stages and provides a platform for professional sharing, collaboration and networking.

The Chief Executive's Award for Teaching Excellence, organised by the bureau, recognises accomplished teachers and fosters a culture of excellence in the teaching profession. In 2018-19, awards and certificates of merit were presented to 30 teachers.

The Hong Kong Teachers' Centre organises conferences and other events to promote the continuing professional development of teachers.

The non-statutory Council on Professional Conduct in Education advises the government on measures to promote professional conduct in education and on alleged misconduct cases involving educators that are lodged with the council.

The Task Force on Professional Development of Teachers submitted its final report to the government in March. The government accepted its recommendations, which included

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