2021/2022 Newsletter No. 2

04/05/202205/05/2022 jack

4 May 2022

Table of Contents

1. Annual Conference 2022
2. Launching of Education Platform
3. Letter to the Chief Executive candidate
4. Here and Now – Food for Thought on Education
5. Letters to the Education Bureau (EDB)
6. Letter to the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA)
7. Survey on Applied Learning Courses
8. Happy Hour Forum

Dear Colleagues,

It has been some time since I last wrote to you, I wish you a smooth class resumption after the VERY Special Vacation. I am sending you our second Newsletter and hope you can take a break, sip a cup of coffee, and enjoy reading the news of HKAHSS.

Annual Conference 2022

This year, our Annual Conference will be held on 31^st May 2022 (Tuesday) afternoon in a hybrid mode. We are very pleased to have invited Mr. Eric Chan Sze- yuen (陳思源先生), the Chief Public Mission Officer of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited (香港數碼港管理有限公司首席公眾使命官), to conduct a keynote speech titled “Click &Tap: Inno Tech and Future Education”. We are also very pleased to have invited two I.T. and Education Practitioners, Mr. But Ho-ming (畢浩明先生) and Mr. Tony Kwok (郭庭軒先生), share with members on “Wow & Wonder: Practitioners’ Insight”. In the Conference, Ms. Lee Suet-ying (李雪英校長), the Co-convenor of the HKAHSS Adaptive Learning Platform Task Force, is going to give us a progress update. There will also be a forum for participants to exchange views with guest speakers.

You are cordially invited to join our Annual Conference. Please click HERE for more details and the programme. You may also simply click on the link (https://forms.gle/MsUhucvD6Wi5LYUv6) to enroll. We hope to see you there.

Launching of Education Platform

We are very excited to let you know that our Education Platform titled “Treading along the Education Path” was launched at the beginning of the new year. The website of the Platform is https://column.hkahss.edu.hk. This Education Platform is now open to all members. What you need to do is to register for a free account, then you can not only view the posts, but also submit articles as well as comments. It is a platform where we can have professional sharing and exchange and you should not miss it. Please simply click HERE to complete the simple procedures for free registration if you have not registered yet.

Letter to the Chief Executive candidate

The Executive Committee of the HKAHSS has written our concerns and opinions on education to the Chief Executive candidate for the next term of government’s consideration. Our letter titled “Hong Kong’s Education – Present Constraints and Future Prospects” has already been sent to Mr. John Lee’s campaign office on 14th April 2022 and is now accessible on our website. To read the letter, please click HERE .

Here and Now – Food for Thought on Education

Since the launch of the “Here and Now – Food for Thought on Education” column on our website in December 2020, we have published quite a number of education-related articles there. Below are the list of the articles available in the column and you are most welcome to click on the titles which interest you to read.

	Title	Date added
1.	The Chief Executive’s 2020 Policy Address: Soliloquy and Thoughts Aloud (Part 1) 2020年施政報告 – 喃喃自語？自問自答？（上篇）	2020-12-10
2.	The Chief Executive’s 2020 Policy Address: Soliloquy and Thoughts Aloud (Part 2) 2020年施政報告 – 喃喃自語？自問自答？（下篇）	2020-12-21
3.	STEM教育、未來的教育？	2021-01-08
4.	Our Views on “Optimising the Four Senior Secondary Core Subjects” (Part 1) 「優化高中四個核心科目」之我見（上篇）	2021-03-11
5.	Our Views on “Optimising the Four Senior Secondary Core Subjects” (Part 2) 「優化高中四個核心科目」之我見（下篇）	2021-03-16
6.	If CCTV is to be ‘introduced’ to the classrooms, will it ‘safequard’ or ‘impede’ students’ learning? 是「保障」還是你「窒礙」學生學習？假如將CCTV「引進」課室⋯⋯	2021-03-29
7.	Some Thoughts on Teachers’ Professional Status and Social Recognition 「教師專業」何去何從？	2021-05-31
8.	To Keep, Attract, Nurture and Respect our Talents – HKAHSS’s Recommendations of the Chief Executive Policy Address 2021 「保才、納才、育才、尊才」–香港中學校長會對2021施政報告的建議	2021-07-19
9.	Letter to the HKDSE 2022 Candidates – Are you still fine? 給2022香港中學文憑考試考生的信—你們還好嗎？	2022-03-22
10.	Letter to Candidate – 2022 Chief Executive Election “Hong Kong’s Education – Present Constraints and Future Prospects” 給2022年行政長官候選人的信「香港教育—今天的局限、明天的發展」	2022-04-14
11.	Who Should Participate in the Development of Teachers’ Professionalism? 「教師專業發展」誰來參與？	2022-04-25

Letters to the Education Bureau (EDB)

As the Chief Executive announced changes in school routine on 22^nd February 2022, the Executive Committee of the HKAHSS sent a letter to Mr. Kevin Yeung, the Secretary for Education (SED) on 23^rd February 2022 to express our pressing concerns including School Calendar Arrangement, Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) and Teacher Contract Issues.

Regarding the earlier commencement of summer holidays, the HKAHSS tried to collect your opinions on such arrangement in order to reflect your views to the EDB for its smooth implementation. On 23^rd February 2022, we received a total of 103 replies within 14 hours. Our Executive Committee summarized the opinions and sent another letter to Mr. Kevin Yeung (SED) on 24^th February 2022. Thank you so much for your unfailing support.

On 11^th April 2022, a letter was sent to Mr. Kevin Yeung (SED) to express our concerns regarding the changes to the Future Enhancement of the Implementation of the School Development & Accountability (SDA) Framework, including a shift in the focus of school year plans and schools must make reference to the seven learning goals; possible changes in the number of members or composition of the External School Review (ESR) team, and other initiatives such as publicizing the reports of ESR and Focus Inspection. As the ESR exercise has always been a high-stake exercise from the school’s point of view and one that has great impact on the planning and development of the school, we encouraged the Education Bureau to widely consult and thoroughly discuss with schools before its implementation.

Letter to the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA)

On 22^nd March 2022, our Executive Committee sent a letter to Professor Wei Xiangdong, the Secretary General of HKEAA, to express our concerns on the 2022 HKDSE arrangements.

Survey on Applied Learning Course

In the “Secondary Education Curriculum Guide” (2017), the Applied Learning (ApL) courses are one of the options suggested by the Education Bureau to enable schools to provide a broad and balanced curriculum with sufficient choices.

The HKAHSS has designed an online questionnaire and would like to solicit your help in order to understand the present situation, difficulties encountered and opinions of schools that offer ApL. All related concerns will be reflected to EDB for better curriculum planning and arrangements. The survey consists of two sessions. The Principal and the Co-ordinator of ApL from each school will complete a SEPARATE survey, which will take 5-10 mins. Please kindly complete both on or before 16^th May 2022 (Monday). Thank you!

Survey link for Principals: Link

Survey link for Co-ordinators of ApL: Link

Happy Hour Forum

To facilitate school leaders to review and rethink the design, development and implementation of their school curricula in response to “Optimizing the Four Senior Secondary Core Subjects” launched last year, we are organizing a Happy Hour Forum themed “From Optimizing the Four Core Subjects in Senior Secondary to Holistic Review of School Curriculum” （學校課程的全面檢視與再思：新高中課程優化）on 16th June 2022, from 3:45pm to 6:00pm. Principals, Vice-principals and curriculum leaders are welcome to join. This is a good opportunity for us share, exchange and rethink the design and implementation of the school curricula, the decision-making process and the curriculum initiatives. Do reserve your time to join the event. More details and enrolment method will be released in due course.

Thank you for reading our Newsletter. Please stay tuned for more HKAHSS news to come.

Pang Wai Lan Helena

Honorary Secretary

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