The opportunities for English teaching in Hong Kong are multifarious, with the profession enthusiastically pursued by both locals and expatriates. Although English teaching remains popular for those keen to work in the field of education, Hong Kong's position as an international financial centre, combined with fierce competition between university applicants and prospective job-seekers, has increased the demand for high-calibre language education.
Facing immense pressure to deliver quality language instruction from students and parents, English teachers remain highly overworked, leaving little time to evaluate existing syllabuses or devise effective teaching strategies. The vicious cycle of heavy workloads, preceded by poor English standards of some teachers, have been perceived as problematic issues in Hong Kong for some time.
Recognising the growing need for teacher training, the Education Bureau has approved a series of recommendations by the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research to enhance the quality of language instruction in Hong Kong. The current framework requires new teachers of Chinese and English language subjects to have completed a first, or higher, degree in a relevant major, in addition to teacher training, in order to satisfy the Education Bureau's requirements.
Those without the appropriate qualifications are expected to acquire the relevant skills by enrolling in one of several training programmes designed to help teachers achieve the necessary competence for teaching excellence. Within three to five years of joining the profession, teachers may have to pursue, for example, the Postgraduate Diploma or Certificate in Education, majoring in the relevant language subject, enrol in a postgraduate programme of subject knowledge or pursue a bachelor's degree in education, depending on the academic qualifications they already possess.
'From the government's point of view, I think they realised at some point that many teachers were asked to teach English even though they were not originally trained to teach English,' explained Agnes Lam Shun-ling, associate professor and acting director of the University of Hong Kong's English Centre. 'They thought it would be good for serving teachers, or new teachers, to be well versed in two areas: the subject knowledge of English - the linguistic system, how people learn and use languages - and also how to teach language, the pedagogical aspects of curriculum design and classroom interaction.'
The postgraduate diploma in English studies and the master's of arts in applied linguistics are among the variety of programmes offered by the university's English Centre. Both degrees are part-time programmes recognised by the Education Bureau, and allow students to cultivate a deeper understanding of English as a system, or as applied to language teaching. The MA in Applied Linguistics targets the theoretical and practical aspects of teaching English, while the postgraduate diploma in English Studies focuses largely on the knowledge and use of English.
The MA has attracted applicants from primary, secondary and tertiary school teachers, to speech therapists, editors, book publishers, German-, French- and Japanese-language teachers, journalists and curriculum designers from the Education Bureau. Dr Lam said the appeal of the programme lay in the exchange of ideas relevant to improving approaches to teaching.