SES holds a half-day workshop and familiarisation visit for SCNU delegation before the teachers’ ethics forum
A delegation from the South China Normal University (SCNU) visits the Department of Science and Environmental Studies (SES) on 16 October. Holding the banner in the front row, from left to right: Professor Keith Ho Wing-kei, Acting Head of SES; Professor Eric Tsang Po-keung, former head and Professor (Practice) of SES; Ms Ni Xi, Head of Student Work Unit, Division of Ideological and Political Work, Department of Education, Guangdong Province, and Mr Simon Chan, Director of Hong Kong Federation of Education Worker (HKFEW)’s TechEd Centre.
Besides teaching staff from SCNU, the delegation is composed of teachers, panel heads and principals who have received teacher education training at SCNU. These teachers, panel heads, and principals are now teaching at different middle schools and high schools from various cities of the Guangdong Province.
Professor Eric Tsang Po-keung, former head and Professor (Practice) of SES presents a souvenir to Ms Ni Xi, Head of Student Work Unit, Division of Ideological and Political Work, Department of Education, Guangdong Province.
Professor Keith Ho Wing-kei, right, Acting Head of SES, presents a souvenir to Mr Simon Chan from the Hong Kong Federation of Education Worker who helped coordinated the visit.
After the talks by Dr Bill Yeung and Ms Agnes Man, the SCNU delegation visits the Eco-Garden at the Taipo campus. Established in 2016, Eco-Garden facilitates the University’s development of environmental studies. The garden also serves as an outdoor classroom to enhance students’ knowledge and awareness of environmental protection.
EdUHK and South China Normal University (SCNU) co-organised the 5th Greater Bay Area Teachers' Ethics Forum on 21 October 2023 to discuss the development of teachers' professional ethics. Named “Teachers’ Professional Ethics under the High-quality Development of Education” this year, the forum attracted around 500 scholars, experts, principals, and teachers from Guangdong Province, Hong Kong, and Macao. Before the forum, a delegation from SCNU came to Hong Kong to visit Hong Kong Federation of Education Worker (HKFEW), local schools and EdUHK to understand our educational development. They also visited the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks to understand the development of frontier technologies in Hong Kong.
On 16 October 2023, the SCNU delegation visited the Department of Science and Environmental Studies (SES), and joined a half-day workshop and familiarisation tour arranged by the department. Professor Eric Tsang Po-keung, former head and Professor (Practice) of SES, and Professor Keith Ho Wing-kei, Acting Head of SES, represented the department to greet the delegation. After their welcome messages, Dr Bill Yeung Chi-ho, Associate Head (Research and Postgraduate Studies) of SES and Acting Associate Dean (Quality Assurance and Enhancement) of FLASS and Ms Agnes Man Mei-sum, Lecturer II from SES, talked about STEM education and environmental education respectively to around 50 guests from SCNU. A student of the Master of Arts in Education for Sustainability programme also shared her experiences of studying the programme.
Dr Bill Yeung says since 2017/18 academic years, SES has supported a total of 86 schools in Hong Kong to integrate self-directed learning with curriculum-oriented cross-disciplinary STEM education.
Ms Agnes Man Mei-sum highlights the three elements for a successful environmental education: awareness, attitude, and action. She also shares with the delegation how SES’s research projects like using food wastes for pond fish farming and using novel graphitic carbon nitride photocatalyst for environmental purification are contributing greatly to raising environmental quality.
At the workshop, Dr Bill Yeung said SES has been committed to developing STEM education in primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. “Since 2017/18 academic years, SES has supported a total of 86 schools in Hong Kong to integrate self-directed learning with curriculum-oriented cross-disciplinary STEM education. By organising seminars, professional development workshops, and providing teaching packs, SES has helped many teachers to better equip themselves with the latest knowledge in STEM education,” he said.
Dr Bill Yeung added that even though Hong Kong’s STEM education has achieved a few milestones after several years of development, it still faces a number of challenges including how to set measurable learning objectives and to design assessment measures for STEM education. “Looking forward, SES will continue to work together with local primary and secondary schools to develop a cross-disciplinary STEM education. It should be closely related to the formal curriculum and designed with a structure enabling step-by-step progress towards a long-term learning objective,” he said.
Ms Agnes Man Mei-sum reviewed how environmental education is developed in Hong Kong, and shared her view about the future of environmental education. She highlighted the three elements for a successful environmental education: awareness, attitude, and action. “These three successful factors are interlocked with each other. While sustainable development is based on environmental awareness, building it requires engaging our next generation in conservation acts. It is in turn through action that participants develop the correct attitude towards the environment,” she said.
Ms Man said that environmental education is a value education that aims at changing the attitude and priority of people. “On the research front, my colleagues at SES are aware that scientific innovations should improve the wellbeing of humanity, for example, through raising the quality of our environment. On the teaching front, SES strives to nurture our students with the right value and attitude towards the environment in the hope that when they become teachers or work in other fields after graduation, they can spread the passion of environmental education and protection to people around them,” she said.
Ms Ivory Hang Jingwen, a current student of the Master of Arts in Education for Sustainability programme, says internship experience helps students to identify which specific area of environmental education and protection work matches their interest and abilities the most.
Mr Liu Huajie represents the SCNU delegation to thank SES for its warm reception. Besides teaching staff from SCNU, the delegation is composed of teachers, panel heads, and principals from middle schools and high schools from various cities of Guangdong Province.
Ms Ivory Hang Jingwen, a current student of the Master of Arts in Education for Sustainability programme, said she appreciated the internship opportunities provided by the programme. “Through working as an intern, we observed how real-life environmental protection work is carried out. Environmental conservation is a big industry. The experience helped us identify which specific area of environmental education and protection work matches our interest and abilities the most,” she said.
Deputy Head of the delegation and a lecturer from the College of Teacher Education of SCNU, Mr Liu Huajie, represented the SCNU delegation to thank SES for their warm reception and praised Dr Yeung and Ms Man for their inspiring talks. “Their sharing not only reiterated the importance of environment education and STEM education, but also stimulated us to think about the importance of moral and value education,” Mr Liu said.
Council Chairman Dr David Wong Yau-kar
President Professor John Lee Chi-Kin
The 5th Greater Bay Area Forum on Teachers' Professional Ethics was jointly organised by EdUHK and SCNU, with guidance from the Department of Teacher Education of the Ministry of Education, the Office of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs of the Ministry of Education, the Department of Education of Guangdong Province and the Education Bureau of the HKSAR Government. In addition to around 500 scholars, experts, principals, and teachers from Guangdong Province, Hong Kong, and Macao who joined the forum in person on 21 October 2023, more than 50,000 Mainland educators participated online in parallel. The opening ceremony of the forum was jointly hosted by Dr Ren Youqun, the Director of the Department of Teacher Education of the Ministry of Education; Dr Choi Yuk-lin, the Secretary for Education; Dr Wang Binwei, the Secretary of the Communist Party of China at SCNU Committee and Dr David Wong Yau-kar, EdUHK’s Council Chairman.
When officiating the opening ceremony, Dr Wong said that the University was committed to cultivating professional educators through curriculum enhancements, organising forums, seminars and talks. Meanwhile, President Professor John Lee Chi-Kin delivered a keynote speech on cultivation of teachers’ professional ethics in the new era during the forum.
Dr Ren Youqun said at the forum that teachers have the responsibility to teach students to become a moral person. Besides teaching and doing research, teachers should display exemplary moral character and values. He added that the mainland authorities aim to raise the average educational levels of secondary school teachers on the mainland, and is confident that Hong Kong universities can provide training and courses for mainland teachers regarding this.
