How can the English Schools Foundation (ESF) win back the goodwill and trust that it lost in last year's bitterness, then show the way forward for international education in Hong Kong?
To be sure, the recent release of the foundation's best-ever A-level results is a good start. But it is going to take more than strong exam results to overcome last year's rancour. To borrow the words of one of the ESF's iconic figures, the British monarch, that was an annus horribilis during which teacher pay cuts sparked protests and threats of industrial action. All the while, parents were left wondering whether there was room for their children in the angry, protracted dispute between ESF faculty and administration.
But, as the stellar results in the British A-level and AS-level examinations show, students were never forgotten amid last year's ugliness. Still, no one in the city's English-speaking schools wants to see another year like that: it was bad for the ESF and Hong Kong in general.
Now that a new school year is beginning, bringing with it a fresh sense of rejuvenation, it is time to bury the hatchet. This means that ESF head Heather Du Quesnay should put her budget-cutting chopper away. She did what she was hired to do, but it has been painful. Now it is time to make peace. And while Ms Du Quesnay is growing into her role as an educational leader, there should be nary a nasty word emanating from the Association of Professional Teachers of ESF schools. Let us see no protests outside the ESF offices on Stubbs Road, no threats of strikes or slowdowns, and no internecine battles with the administration, in the media. Staff should just go to class and extra-curricular duties, and be good teachers, coaches and advisers. That is the best argument for a strong compensation package.
And while the teachers' association is watching its words, education chief Arthur Li Kwok-cheung could be far more generous with his. Instead of once again threatening to withdraw the foundation's subsidy this year, perhaps he could speak about the invaluable contribution the ESF has made to education in Hong Kong since it was founded in 1967.
True, the ESF is still struggling to shake off its post-colonial hangover, but the government should admit that Hong Kong needs the ESF as much as the foundation needs the city. If you ask around, it becomes immediately clear that the city requires more international school places for expatriates if it wants to retain its competitive edge.
