Six FLASS students win awards at the Eleventh Hong Kong Outstanding Prospective Teachers Award competition

Six students from FLASS won one gold medal, one silver medal, one bronze medal, and three merit awards at “The Eleventh Hong Kong Outstanding Prospective Teachers Award” competition. Among them, Ms Amy Tsang Shuk-ting, a fifth-year student of the Bachelor of Education (Honours) (Business, Accounting and Financial Studies) (BEd(BAFS)) programme from the Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies (SSPS), won the gold award. Twenty-one EdUHK students, FLASS students included, have been named recipients of the award, grabbing six gold, three silver, three bronze, and nine merit awards.

“I congratulate all awardees from FLASS on their remarkable performance throughout the competition. All awardees needed to go through several rounds of selection interview and gave a classroom demonstration to the judging panel. During the process, they have demonstrated exceptional skills and sincerity in teaching. I hope they will continue to acquire new knowledge, hone their teaching skills and keep their passion for teaching. When they enter the teaching profession, they will be well prepared to make impact on the next generation and contribute to society,” said Dean of FLASS Professor Li Wai-keung.

Gold award winner Ms Amy Tsang was jointly nominated by Dr Eric Law Kim-fai, Dr Ray Lee Kwok-wai, and BEd(BAFS) programme coordinator Dr Amanda Chu Man-ying from SSPS. She thanks them for their nomination and support throughout the selection process. Inspired by her studies at EdUHK, she believes in the importance of thinking from the student’s perspective. “Dewey’s emphasis on experiential learning greatly inspired me. He advocated that teachers should change their traditional role as a knowledge provider. They should instead act as a guide to help children learn from real-life experiences. As a believer in student-centred approach, knowing how to empower students to take the lead in learning is always my prime concern when designing a curriculum,” she said.

The aspiring BAFS teacher sees herself as an inspirational co-constructor of knowledge who helps students reach their potential. “It is paramount that the needs of students with different learning abilities are addressed in the classroom. To achieve this, I often divide students into strong and weak groups. Students with higher learning abilities are asked to design questions related to various accounting topics, take up the role of group leaders, and answer questions from classmates. By doing so, students with higher abilities can further gain knowledge and learn more deeply about the topics. At the same time, students with lower abilities are more motivated and have more opportunities to ask questions. This is what I mean by students taking the lead in learning,” Amy said.

Hong Kong New Generation Cultural Association and the Hong Kong Prospective Teachers Association co-organised “The Eleventh Hong Kong Outstanding Prospective Teachers Award” competition from December 2023 to March 2024. The judging panel of the competition consisted of education professionals from various universities, principals from secondary schools, primary schools, and kindergartens. The panel reviewed the performance of nominees according to five criteria: “vision”, “self-cultivation”, “enthusiasm and mission for education”, “social commitment”, and “teaching competence”.

After several rounds of evaluation, 10 gold, 10 silver, 10 bronze and 18 merit award winners were shortlisted by the panel for this year’s competition. An awards presentation ceremony was held on 16 March 2024 where gold award winners were given a cash prize of HK$5,000, while bronze and silver award winners were awarded HK$3,000 and HK$1,000 respectively. All awardees were given an award certificate.

The organisers hope that the “Hong Kong Outstanding Prospective Teachers Award” will encourage prospective teachers from different higher institutions to pursue their dreams in education and continuously improve upon their professional competence. The event also aims to encourage prospective teachers to learn from their peers and seniors and support each other in their professional pursuits. As they do, they will naturally build a larger learning community and work together to promote the development of education, benefiting our society.

Full list of FLASS awardees: