IT IS INEVITABLE that Hong Kong should have strong links with the UK's premier teacher education institution. During the colonial era, high-flying young educators were dispatched to the Institute of Education, London University, for their post-graduate training. Alumni constitute a veritable who's who of Hong Kong education: Cheng Kai-ming, chair professor of education at the University of Hong Kong; HKU's Cheung Kwok-wah, the former chair of the Home School Co-operation Committee; Ruth Hayhoe, former director of the Hong Kong Institute of Education; and Law Hing Chung, principal of Pui Kiu College, being a small sample. Next week former students will get together to mark the 20th anniversary of their alumni association in Hong Kong and have invited Geoff Whitty, the current president, to join them. Professor Whitty's visit could not be more timely. He is an expert on teacher professionalism and he will be talking on that subject - at a time when at least one of his alumni is considering this issue deeply. Just as the UK has recently reviewed the role of the teacher, so is Hong Kong, in response to the discontent that spilt over to protest here this year. Dr Cheung is a key member of the working group that is taking part in that review. Professor Whitty will be giving a public lecture at City University next Saturday on the theme 'Towards a new teacher professionalism', which he describes as a global, rather than local, issue. He will make the case for teaching to be characterised by a new kind of collaboration. He will be joined by Professor Jan Blommaert, the institute's chair professor of languages, who is due to give a master class and lead a discussion forum on teaching English as a foreign language, at the British Council on Thursday. In an interview from London prior to his visit, Professor Whitty said: 'There are two types of professionalism in existence at the moment. The first is traditional professionalism in which teachers make decisions about education. The second is managerial professionalism in which teachers work to a government agenda about what they should do.' Neither, he said, was adequate. 'In modern societies neither teachers alone nor governments alone should take decisions about education. We have to find a way of including a range of additional stakeholders, including students, parents, employers, trade unions and other professional groups.' The latter included social workers and teaching assistants, for example. The UK had been moving in this direction, with the increasing use of teaching assistants in classrooms, either with teachers or without, a model piloted by Professor Whitty's institute before being taken up at national level. Professor Whitty also pointed to the children's agenda, which was looking at the needs of children in a more holistic way, with teachers working more closely with social workers and health-care workers, for example. 'The notion of teachers locked in their classrooms is no longer appropriate,' he said. 'The new professionalism needs to be a collaborative professionalism, working with others or even a democratic professionalism, which involves working more closely with the community and to the agenda of the community.' The driving force for this had been the growing integration between education and other aspects of society, both nationally and globally, and the fact that government attempts to drive education from the top had not been successful. Professor Whitty acknowledged that the national attempt to remodel the profession had not been wholly successful, and was hugely controversial. Although designed to ease shortages of teachers and reduce pressure, it had run into conflict with major teaching unions, which have objected to the transfer of any teaching responsibility to those with fewer qualifications, and from head teachers who say it has increased their workload. 'Its effects have not been universally positive,' he said. 'The most important thing to learn is that you need to take all stakeholders with you. It is better to work hard on that rather than go for a big launch of something that has incomplete support. 'The problem with the reforms is they tend to imply teachers can't be trusted. Teachers should not work in a vacuum; they should not be given complete licence. But they have got to be part of the decision making and the solution, rather than seen only as part of the problem.' As well as promoting collaboration over schooling in Britain, Professor Whitty is looking to build a new type of collaboration with educators overseas. Gone were the days when the institute was the provider of all knowledge for educators from the colonies, a one-way transfer of practices from Britain to its Hong Kong outpost. Although it still attracts a significant number of Hong Kong students, Professor Whitty is now looking to build on the growing two-way relations. During his visit he will meet leaders from the Education and Manpower Bureau, HKU and HKIEd. Discussions will be held over running joint programmes in Hong Kong, at doctoral level. 'We are now moving into a new era of partnerships, which is as it should be. Now it is a matter of sharing best practice, both ways,' he said, adding that he was interested in the scope of Hong Kong's reforms. Britain had stopped short of a major overhaul of senior secondary education, much to the regret of 'informed education opinion'. [But] 'if Hong Kong does go down that route, we could learn much from it,' he said. Just as teachers should not be blamed for the problems in education, Professor Whitty also defended the role of the institute, denying it should be blamed for any shortcomings of Hong Kong's education system. 'Obviously people bring influences, for good and bad,' he said. But the saturation level of its graduates here had not been that high, he said. 'The institute is a good place to come to get a balanced view of education,' he said. Professor Whitty will be giving his lecture Towards New Teacher Professionalism at Lecture Theatre 6, City University, next Saturday, 10.30am-12.30pm. For details, contact 2859 2525 or e-mail ulieosa.gmail.com Professor Blommaert's TOEFL master class will be held at the British Council on Thursday, 3.30pm to 6pm, followed by a discussion forum, 7pm-9pm. For details, visit www.educationuk.org.hk/COE.htm or e-mail enquries@britishcouncil.org.hk
