Wishy-washy report misses stress reality
If ever there was a case of a wasted opportunity, the much-awaited final report from The Committee on Teachers' Work is it.
There was much anticipation that after 10 months of research and consultation, the document would make practical recommendations on cutting teachers' stress.
We said in this column back in February last year that if the committee was to come up with ideas to resolve the heavy workload on teachers, it would have to think imaginatively, drawing on experiences near and far. It has failed to do so.
Instead of making practical recommendations, the report - released during the Christmas break - talks in the most general and wishy-washy way about 'strengthening mutual trust, minimising uncertainties, redirecting time to the core business of teaching, enhancing the capacity of school leaders and teachers, and leveraging community support and respect for the profession'.
Chairman of Hong Kong Policy Concern Organisation Mervyn Cheung Man-ping calls it 'a whitewash' and chairman of the Aided Primary schools Heads' Council Alex Cheung Chi-hung describes the report as superficial. Even the most cursory of comparisons with a similar undertaking in Britain four years ago shows why.
Rather than offer up philosophical niceties, the UK review, 'Raising Standards and Tackling Workload: a National Agreement', made far-reaching practical and sometimes controversial recommendations that in effect redefined the role of teachers in England and Wales.
The government set an average working week target of 45 hours in place of the de facto 52, blamed for driving teachers out of the profession, and proposed new contracts that guaranteed 10 per cent of teaching time for planning, preparation and assessment.
In addition, many non-teaching duties were transferred to support staff.
It's all very well to say that Hong Kong teachers should be able to 'redirect time to the core business of teaching', but how?
The HK report suggests that schools should operate a 'school-based mechanism to regularly examine non-teaching tasks ... redirecting tasks that could be better handled by administrative and/or support staff'. This does not go far enough when there is a culture of teachers often being directed to carry out administrative jobs by principals.
On the question of stress itself, the report says teachers should 'improve ... their ability to manage change and take care of their overall wellness'. That's tantamount to saying teachers are responsible for their own stress, the implication being that they have been unable to manage it in the past.
It's unacceptable to 'spin positively' and paper over the cracks. This report should have identified the nature of the cracks and proposed hardline, practical solutions.
'This report should have identified the cracks and proposed solutions'
