The Faculty reserves the right to cancel major subject(s) or course(s) based on admission and enrollment situation. The course list below is for reference only. The offering of courses varies from year to year.
The course aims to introduce the basic principles in curriculum development and practical classroom delivery skills in early childhood education (ECE). Aspects to be covered in the course include:
The course aims to introduce the key principles of early childhood education (ECE). Topics to be covered include:
This course is designed for students to understand the concept of creativity, its theories and the techniques of enhancing creativity, and how adults can facilitate young children’s creative expressions using different forms of arts. These forms comprise visual arts such as drawings and paintings, language arts such as poetry and picture books, expressive arts such as music and dance, as well as the integrated arts. The interrelated development of play, imagination and creativity through the arts is highlighted. Strategies to enhance creative expressions of young children in and outside the school context (i.e. kindergarten, home and community) are also discussed.
The course aims to introduce the characteristics, theories and practices of play as a teaching and learning strategy in ECE. Aspects to be covered in the course include:
This course provides an introduction to various organizational and management theories to early childhood education practitioners. The application of these theories and knowledge in early childhood education institutions will be illustrated in three levels: the social, school and individual level. First, rationales of accountability and quality assurance mechanism, data driven school improvement and matters in preparation for school self-evaluation and external review are examined. Second, the implementation of school-based management such as resource management, professional development of teachers and team building are discussed. Third, teacher professionalism and ways to equip early childhood practitioners with sufficient knowledge in order to fulfill their respective roles as school leaders or teacher leaders are presented. The course provides participants with conceptual knowledge in school management that serves as the basis of sustainable development of early childhood education institutions.
The course aims to help participants develop competency in working with families and communities for young children’s education. Special emphasis is placed upon the roles of parents in fostering children’s development, dynamics of the parents-teacher relationship, policies of home school collaboration under the current and local educational reform, and practices for enhancing home-school-community collaboration within the changing local and international context.
Professionalism is essential to practices of educators and there must be proper value orientations and solid ethical foundation for the teaching profession. This course covers issues related to law, professional ethics, values and conduct by providing an overview of professional standards for teachers in Hong Kong like T-standard+ and professional code. Case studies are used to examine the rights and responsibilities of teachers vis-a-vis other major stakeholders like students, employers, colleagues, parents/guardians, and to explicate the values and principles teachers can use to make ethical decisions and take ethical actions. Latest issues related to professional development such as education about constitutional order and national security are also addressed.
This course aims to introduce the main aspects of child development, including physical, cognitive, affective and social development, from birth to the eighth year of age. The development of various competencies in early childhood and the factors that affect the development will be illuminated with major developmental theories/perspectives and relevant empirical research. The course will also help students appreciate that a deep understanding of child development can inform the practice of early childhood education, such as how to identify and cater for the needs of individual children effectively and how to conduct child observation and assessment appropriately.
This course employs a cross-disciplinary perspective to introduce important issues in supporting young children with diverse needs in mainstream school settings. First, contemporary policies and available support for young children with diverse needs in preschools will be examined. Second, the developmental characteristics and basic principles of early identification will be addressed. Most importantly, evidence based interventions for young children with diverse needs, in particular, those with difficulties in cognitive, communication, early literacy, social, behavioral and emotional development will be discussed. The 3-tier support model and home-school collaboration will be emphasized in delivering the interventions for those children in needs.
This course enables students to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to plan and implement an effective movement program considered developmentally appropriate for preschool classrooms to support the development of physical literacy in young children. Students will be introduced to both theoretical and applied aspects of movement education for young children in different development stages, as well as being put through an interactive learning process to understand the current practices in evaluating motor behaviors of the early years. Students will also learn to identify creative and innovative solutions to support the development of physical literacy in young children using a range of fundamental movement skills (FMS) and rhythmic activities.
Teaching Practicum (TP) is an integral part of the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Early Childhood Education) Programme. It provides opportunities for students to put theory into classroom practice. In order to support students’ professional development, practicum supervision will be conducted by the Faculty’s TP supervisors during the TP period. TP supervisors will assess students through formative and summative assessment, taking into consideration students’ teaching performance as well as their professional behaviour and attitude.
The advancement of information and communication technology (ICT) provides teachers and students with new teaching and learning opportunities. This course aims to equip participants with both pedagogical knowledge and technical skills to integrate ICT into the process of teaching and learning of subject matter in primary education. More importantly, participants will learn how to integrate their technological, pedagogical and content knowledge with reference to students’ characteristics and school contexts to design ICT-enhanced lesson. The underlying thinking capacity that this course emphasizes is design thinking, which helps the participants to become a designer of learning environments.
This course is designed to engage participants in using children’s literature to promote language development of young children in pre-primary and junior primary sectors.
Apart from developing participants’ professionalism in children’s literature so that they will have a systematic and comprehensive knowledge of the basic literary theories and genres of children’s literature, this course also aims to enhance their appreciation of the range and depth of different kinds of children’s books, so as to establish their knowledge base of teaching activities and encourage them to develop young learners’ literacy skills through using children’s literature.
The course aims to introduce theories, characteristics, and practices of play as an integrated learning strategy for children. Aspects to be covered in the course include:
This course aims to help prospective teachers to gain an understanding of the Hong Kong education system in relation to their occupational well-being and working environment. It is designed to provide prospective teachers with analytical tools to comprehend and review educational policies and their implementation. Educational issues and policies in Hong Kong will be analyzed from an international-comparative perspective and a local concern for efficiency and equity. With a brief historical background, the empirical analysis of policies will begin with the 1982 Llewellyn Report and then extend to other educational policy papers and reports. Topics for analysis may include:
As instituted: “This course aims to help teachers to reflect on their own values and on the ways they teach values, especially moral values, in school. Among other important considerations, students are asked whether teachers should teach their own values in the classroom, and whether this is indeed inevitable. Taking education as a means aiming at nurturing human qualities for the sake of personal and social well-being, the course examines a range of values such as truth, beauty, goodness and sageness/saintliness as embodied in ‘whole-person education’. The course holds that education is unavoidably value-laden and that moral values form an important core of the aims of schooling. During the course students will discuss the nature of morality and a number of important approaches to moral education, and then compare these to other types of values education. Students will also be asked to reflect upon how they understand their own personal and professional development in relation to values and moral education and how to enact their various roles in the school.” Topics included please see the lecture outline.
This course is designed to help students reflect on the social context and education system which they have lived with. By applying the historical perspective, the course will explain the key features of education in different periods, and analyse the relations between the social development and the educational changes in Hong Kong since 19th century. It is intended to help them to have a broadened and more penetrating understanding the uniqueness of Hong Kong education.
This course provides an introduction to major theoretical orientations in understanding child development. The interplay of family, school and community as contexts of child development will be deliberated. The core of the course lies in different aspects of development (e.g., cognitive, moral, aesthetic, social, emotion and self) in childhood, which will be examined from both theoretical and applied perspectives. Special issues of current concern (e.g., gifted education and talent development; psychological disturbances and their intervention) will also be discussed.
This course introduces basic counseling skills for working with children in response to a variety of developmental and/or adjustment issues. Topics to be covered include: ways to build rapport with children, use of toys, art, music, drama, and other creative techniques to work with children with various abilities. Throughout the course, participants are expected to gain a better understanding of children’s feelings and needs, and to become more aware of the ways to respond to children that can facilitate the development of positive emotional relationship and improve behaviors which eventually allow more learning to take place. The roles of family and school in working with children will also be discussed.
This course aims to promote among teachers an interest and readiness for taking charge of their personal growth. It draws students’ attention to the significance of self-awareness, self-care, means to facilitate psychological and physical wellness, and a number of areas related to teachers’ personal growth. Through various class activities, sharing and discussion, students will be introduced issues/factors pertinent to self-care and personal growth, and different means to facilitate one’s psychological and physical wellness. Towards the end of the course, it is expected that students will be able to apply what they have learned to their daily life.
The Faculty reserves the right to cancel major subject(s) or course(s) based on admission and enrollment situation. The course list below is for reference only. The offering of courses varies from year to year. Please click here for the major subjects offered in 2024-25.
Micro-teaching is a part of the SCT (major) courses. It is a systematic scale-down training method in teaching, and is usually conducted in groups. The characteristics are:
The training is recorded, then played back for analysis. The trainee-teacher reteaches the same skill until it is mastered. Method of training depends on the instructor’s teaching principle.
This course aims to enhance participants’ understanding of Chinese Language teaching at primary level and to help them achieve quality teaching. Major topics covered include: the rationale and content of the primary curriculum, the theory and practice of children’s character learning, reading, listening, writing and speaking; the design of teaching units and lessons; language teaching strategies; design of diverse activities, and language assessment.
This course seeks to equip teachers of English Language with the skills necessary for future self-development in the face of changing theories of language and language teaching/learning by offering a foundation in both areas, together with practical experience of classroom teaching, action research, self evaluation and the design, implementation and evaluation of the language curriculum. The following topics are also covered:
This introductory course of primary mathematics pedagogy is designed to familiarise students with both the theoretical framework and the professional practice of becoming effective mathematics teachers. Through the notion of teachers as reflective practitioners, it will empower the participants with both the theoretical rigour and the passion for further professional development in their teaching career. More specifically, this course covers the following areas:
This course aims at equipping students with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes in teaching General Studies (GS) in primary schools. The course covers the following areas:
This course focuses on the following topics:
This course aims at equipping students with the necessary knowledge and skills to be an effective and qualified visual arts teacher or even a panel head in primary school. As a qualified visual arts teacher, they should be familiar with the present visual arts curriculum and hence they can tailor-make and provide school-based curriculum to different students.
According to the Education Bureau of HKSAR, primary education provides a balanced and diverse school education that helps students build up knowledge, values and skills for personal growth. This course aims to foster local primary PE teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and skills with regard to the planning, implementation and evaluation of an effective and complete PE program that is relevant to the school situation and suitable for the local primary school students of various ages, capabilities, and interest. The content of this course consists of:
For nurturing educators in the 21st century, this course prepares them to be all-rounder for adapting the ever-changing teaching environment nowadays.
This course provides a brief introduction to primary mathematics pedagogy. It is designed for students who are interested in mathematics learning and teaching. More specifically, this course covers the following areas:
This course aims at equipping students with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes in teaching General Studies (GS) in primary schools. The course covers the following areas:
This course seeks to equip the students with knowledge and techniques of theories of language and language teaching. The following topics are also covered: development of Hong Kong society and language planning, language and culture, Putonghua curriculum development, instructional materials development, teaching of listening, speaking, reading and writing, design of learning task, design and use of teaching tools, evaluation of Putonghua proficiency, etc. Student must reach satisfactory proficiency in Putonghua before taking the course.
This course focuses on the following topics:
This course aims at equipping students with the necessary knowledge and skills to be a qualified visual arts teacher in primary school. As a qualified visual arts teacher, they should be familiar with the present visual arts curriculum and hence they can tailor-make and provide school-based curriculum to different students.
This course aims at introducing the key concepts and techniques of curriculum development which involves designing, implementing and evaluating a curriculum. In order to help student teachers understand the present curriculum development situation in Hong Kong and identify ways of improving it, current issues in curriculum development in primary schools will be discussed.
Contrary to common belief, student activities are not “supplementary” to school curriculum. They comprise an indispensable part of the school curriculum and often a significant part of students’ memories of school life. As the Hong Kong school curriculum reforms, greater significance is focused on extra-curricular, academic, cross-curricular, integrated curricular and life-wide learning activities. Organizing student activities is an integral duty of educators nowadays, and it is a pre-requisite that they know how to design and implement student activities that are both safe and meaningful. This course aims to equip students with knowledge and skills required in design and implementation of student activities. The ultimate goal is to enhance both the processes and outcomes of student activities in the school curriculum and meet educational expectations on student learning through activities. Another aim is to heighten students’ awareness of safety and insurance issues in risk assessment through class activities.
Knowing well about different teaching strategies can facilitate teachers’ professional development and enhance the effectiveness of their classroom teaching. This course provides students an overview of diverse teaching strategies and pedagogical orientations, such as information-processing model, personal model, social interaction model, behavioral model, constructivist teaching and transformative pedagogy. This course also offers opportunities for students to critically reflect on their pedagogical orientations and the common practices in their real-life teaching experiences, and explore how to improve classroom teaching in local contexts.
The advancement of information and communication technology (ICT) provides teachers and students with new teaching and learning opportunities. This course aims to equip participants with both pedagogical knowledge and technical skills to integrate ICT into the process of teaching and learning of subject matter in primary education. More importantly, participants will learn how to integrate their technological, pedagogical and content knowledge with reference to students’ characteristics and school contexts to design ICT-enhanced lesson. The underlying thinking capacity that this course emphasizes is design thinking, which helps the participants to become a designer of learning environments.
Curriculum evaluation is concerned with collecting evidence to make judgments about the value and quality of curriculum plans, implementation processes and learning outcomes. This course aims to facilitate pre-service or in-service teachers to improve teaching through better evaluation of school curricula. Topics include:
This course is designed to engage participants in using children’s literature to promote language development of young children in pre-primary and junior primary sectors.
Apart from developing participants’ professionalism in children’s literature so that they will have a systematic and comprehensive knowledge of the basic literary theories and genres of children’s literature, this course also aims to enhance their appreciation of the range and depth of different kinds of children’s books, so as to establish their knowledge base of teaching activities and encourage them to develop young learners’ literacy skills through using children’s literature.
The course aims to introduce theories, characteristics, and practices of play as an integrated learning strategy for children. Aspects to be covered in the course include:
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics collectively. With its interdisciplinary nature, STEM is designed and developed to prepare students for the challenges that arise from rapid economic, scientific and technological developments in the 21st century global society. This course aims at equipping participants with both pedagogical knowledge and practical skills to design and implement STEM education in primary schools. Topics include STEM education related issues:
This course aims to train students in writing research papers. Students are required to do research projects on approved topics individually or in small groups under the supervision of a lecturer. (For part-time students only, and with permission of the Faculty.)
Schooling is an integral part of modern society. As active participants and contributors of this modern institution, teachers should have a thorough understanding of their roles in school organization and process of schooling. This course is designed to facilitate understanding of school organization and the nature of this process. It explores the nature of school organization and important dimensions of the schooling process from different perspectives:
This course aims to help prospective teachers to gain an understanding of the Hong Kong education system in relation to their occupational well-being and working environment. It is designed to provide prospective teachers with analytical tools to comprehend and review educational policies and their implementation. Educational issues and policies in Hong Kong will be analyzed from an international-comparative perspective and a local concern for efficiency and equity. With a brief historical background, the empirical analysis of policies will begin with the 1982 Llewellyn Report and then extend to other educational policy papers and reports. Topics for analysis may include:
This introductory course aims to explicate the philosophical, historical, social, psychological & pedagogical foundations of citizenship education, particularly in the five key domains of human rights, rule of law, democracy, nation-state, and globalization. Also, it serves to illuminate the limitations & possibilities of Hong Kong situations. The topics likely to be covered in the course are:
This course employs comparative approaches to analyze educational changes among Chinese societies. An emphasis is placed on the investigation of major reform issues in the Chinese Mainland and Taiwan, and includes reference to the developmental experiences of Macau. These issues are also of major interest to educational reformers in Hong Kong. The course will include the following topics:
By drawing insights from the reforms within and across societal contexts, the course aims to discern implications for the general reform movement as well as teaching and learning in Hong Kong.
As instituted: “This course aims to help teachers to reflect on their own values and on the ways they teach values, especially moral values, in school. Among other important considerations, students are asked whether teachers should teach their own values in the classroom, and whether this is indeed inevitable. Taking education as a means aiming at nurturing human qualities for the sake of personal and social well-being, the course examines a range of values such as truth, beauty, goodness and sageness/saintliness as embodied in ‘whole-person education’. The course holds that education is unavoidably value-laden and that moral values form an important core of the aims of schooling. During the course students will discuss the nature of morality and a number of important approaches to moral education, and then compare these to other types of values education. Students will also be asked to reflect upon how they understand their own personal and professional development in relation to values and moral education and how to enact their various roles in the school.” Topics included please see the lecture outline.
The school context in Hong Kong has become increasingly complicated. The social and policy environment after 1997 is exerting a great impact on education. Part of this impact is that teachers risk facing litigations or their rights being evaded if they are not careful and guarded enough in their daily school lives. In order to reduce these risks, this module will introduce some of the most significant legal issues that arise in primary and secondary schools and their implications for teachers. The module will: i) explore evolving legal standards on a variety of issues including employment, school safety, student discipline, student well-being, infringement of copyright, free speech, services for students with special education needs and non-Chinese learners, sexual harassment, and violence and bullying; ii) examine educational, political, ethical, and administrative questions that legal issues often generate; iii) draw on real cases and legal/policy dilemmas that teachers are facing; and iv) provide teachers with knowledge and skills they need to make sound decisions, advance important educational objectives, and minimize legal problems.
Teachers are expected to play an increasingly important role in the education reform process. Shifting expectations require teachers to have a firm understanding of how schools operate and how reforms affect their roles both in and outside of the classroom. To effectively reshape their work in line with growing expectations teachers must commit to career long professional development and consider strategies for maximizing their effectiveness, especially in terms of learning and teaching. This course is designed to help teachers to understand and shape their roles in a reform environment. In other words it aims to help teachers to become leaders of their own professionalism. It does this in two ways, first it helps teachers understand life in schools undergoing reform and the effect this can have on their professional life. Topics covered in this area include organizational culture, micropolitics, organizational behaviour and teacher leadership. The second thrust aims to nurture teacher awareness of their own professional growth and how they can maximize the latest opportunities available in this area. Topics covered in this area include models of teacher development, stages of professional development, mentorship and internship, teacher appraisal and teacher professionalism.
Nowadays people are bombarded with information from various sources of mass media. Mass media is also closely related to an array of social phenomena like popular culture, fashion, youth problems, consumer society, political mobilization, globalization, and so on. These topics also attract young people because of their relevance to their daily lives. Mass media plays an important role in contemporary societies and they are both subject and means of education. Governments and educators around the world have increasingly paid attention to media education and media literacy. Locally, these efforts have also realised into various curricular initiatives and a number of media education projects. To address the growing needs in this area, the course aims to equip learners with basic ideas about media literacy and media education. This is particularly relevant to teachers in subjects like General Studies and language learning, as well as whose working in citizenship, moral, and values education.
This course is designed to help students reflect on the social context and education system which they have lived with. By applying the historical perspective, the course will explain the key features of education in different periods, and analyse the relations between the social development and the educational changes in Hong Kong since 19th century. It is intended to help them to have a broadened and more penetrating understanding the uniqueness of Hong Kong education.
Professionalism is essential to practices of educators and there must be proper value orientations and solid ethical foundation for the teaching profession. This course covers issues related to law, professional ethics, values and conduct by providing an overview of professional standards for teachers in Hong Kong like T-standard+ and professional code. Case studies are used to examine the rights and responsibilities of teachers vis-a-vis other major stakeholders like students, employers, colleagues, parents/guardians, and to explicate the values and principles teachers can use to make ethical decisions and take ethical actions. Latest issues related to professional development such as education about constitutional order and national security are also addressed.
This course aims to train students in writing research papers. Students are required to do research projects on approved topics individually or in small groups under the supervision of a lecturer. (For part-time students only, and with permission of the Faculty.)
This course attempts to introduce psychological theories pertinent to the teaching of students in primary schools. With an emphasis on the application of theories in practice, the following topics are explored: Behavioral and cognitive theories of learning, memory and information processing, learning transfer, motivation, instructional objectives and effective learning environment.
This course provides an introduction to major theoretical orientations in understanding child development. The interplay of family, school and community as contexts of child development will be deliberated. The core of the course lies in different aspects of development (e.g., cognitive, moral, aesthetic, social, emotion and self) in childhood, which will be examined from both theoretical and applied perspectives. Special issues of current concern (e.g., gifted education and talent development; psychological disturbances and their intervention) will also be discussed.
This course aims to introduce to primary school teachers:
The counseling process as well as contemporary trends in the field will also be discussed.
The course is designed to familiarize students with both the theoretical and the practical aspects of classroom management and school discipline in primary schools. It also aims at assisting teachers to promote an optimum learning environment and to encourage the development of self-discipline among students. Topics include: organizational perspective of discipline, roles and functions of students discipline, group dynamics, needs & problems of contemporary students, contextual model of student discipline, student-teacher relationship, school rules and organization policies, coordination between discipline and guidance, home-school partnership and whole school approach of discipline.
This course employs a cross-disciplinary perspective to introduce important issues in supporting students with special educational needs (SEN) in integrated school settings. First, we examine contemporary policy changes and controversies in special education and integration. We then discuss basic principles of identification and education of exceptional children. Curriculum and instructional issues will be deliberated. In particular, the types of SEN covered are Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD), Intellectual Disability (ID), Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD), Physical Disability (PD), Visual Impairment (VI), Hearing Impairment (HI), Language Impairment (LI), and Giftedness and Talents (GT). Developmental characteristics and needs of these children in primary school years will be addressed, with a focus on enhancing teachers’ professional capacity in supporting them in the regular classroom.
The purpose of this course is to assist teacher to acquire knowledge of human sexuality, explore the sex education curriculum and methodology of sex education curriculum and methodology of sex education in primary school. Topics such as definition of human sexuality, the bio-psycho-social aspects of human sexuality, theories of psychosexual development, sex and gender, values and attitudes related to sex, interpersonal relationship, sexually transmitted diseases, prevention of child sexual abuse and self-protection of sexual abuse are discussed. In addition, implementation of sex education in primary school and school-home partnership in sex education are also investigated.
This course is designed to provide in-service or prospective school teachers with measurement theory and techniques for assessing educational achievements in school. Topics include
This course introduces basic counseling skills for working with children in response to a variety of developmental and/or adjustment issues. Topics to be covered include: ways to build rapport with children, use of toys, art, music, drama, and other creative techniques to work with children with various abilities. Throughout the course, participants are expected to gain a better understanding of children’s feelings and needs, and to become more aware of the ways to respond to children that can facilitate the development of positive emotional relationship and improve behaviors which eventually allow more learning to take place. The roles of family and school in working with children will also be discussed.
This course aims to train students in writing research papers. Students are required to do research projects on approved topics individually or in small groups under the supervision of a lecturer. (For part-time students only, and with permission of the Faculty)
Teaching Practicum (TP) is an integral part of the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Primary) Programme. It provides opportunities for students to put theory into classroom practice. In order to support students’ professional development, practicum supervision will be conducted by the Faculty’s TP supervisors during the TP period. TP supervisors will assess students through formative and summative assessment, taking into consideration students’ teaching performance as well as their professional behaviour and attitude.
The Faculty reserves the right to cancel major subject(s) or course(s) based on admission and enrollment situation. The course list below is for reference only. The offering of courses varies from year to year. Please click here for the major subjects offered in 2024-25.
Micro-teaching is a part of the SCT (major) courses. It is a systematic scale-down training method in teaching, and is usually conducted in groups. The characteristics are:
The training is recorded, then played back for analysis. The trainee-teacher reteaches the same skill until it is mastered. Method of training depends on the instructor’s teaching principle.
This course is designed to equip the students with essential techniques and knowledge in the teaching of Chinese Language. It will focus on the following topics:
This course seeks to equip teachers of English Language with the skills necessary for future self-development in the face of changing theories of language and language teaching/learning by offering a foundation in both areas, together with practical experience of classroom teaching, action research, self evaluation and the design, implementation and evaluation of the language curriculum. The following topics are also covered:
This course will first examine the value of learning history and then go on to discuss the objectives of teaching the subject in secondary schools. It will also explore areas including:
The course consists of lecture seminars, excursions and simulated teaching sessions. Emphasis will be put on assisting students in developing practical and feasible solutions to meet educational objectives.
This course will first examine the value of learning history and then go on to discuss the objectives of teaching the subject in secondary schools. It will also explore areas including:
The course consists of lecture seminars, excursions and simulated teaching sessions. Emphasis will be put on assisting students in developing practical and feasible solutions to meet educational objectives.
This course aims at helping teachers to understand more deeply the trends of geographical education and different kinds of curriculum design in geography, to learn how to adopt a student-centred approach and to use appropriate teaching strategies. The course content includes:
This course is designed for local secondary economics teachers. It aims at helping teachers to teach this subject effectively. Throughout the course particular attention is given to recent developments in the following areas:
This course is designed for mathematics teachers in secondary schools. It covers the following areas:
This course aims to equip participants with the appropriate pedagogical strategies and skills for effective teaching and learning of physics in secondary schools. Throughout the whole course, the participants will critically reflect on various issues related to physics education.
This course provides basic skills and knowledge of teaching chemistry in secondary schools. The content includes:
To examine the development and implementation of biology curricula in Hong Kong as well as in overseas countries (e.g. BSCS in the U.S. and the Nuffield Biology project in the U.K.); to formulate instructional goals and objectives for secondary school biology educational; and to devise instructional plans to achieve such goals. These plans include the use of classroom, lectures, laboratory experiments and outdoor field-trips. Contents include:
This course focuses on the following topics:
This course includes the following topics:
This course will focus on the following topics:
This course aims at equipping students with basic skill and knowledge in teaching Putonghua. The following topics are included:
This course consists of following: Curriculum and Teaching components to facilitate participants with better understanding about the curriculum design, teaching strategies and curriculum implementation of Citizenship and Social Development. It covers (i) curriculum objectives; (ii) background and future development of Citizenship and Social Development curriculum in Hong Kong; (iii) issue-based and other teaching and learning strategies; (iv) cultivation of high-order thinking; (v) development of teaching materials; (vi) classroom interaction and learning evaluation; (vii) extended learning; (viii) pedagogical methodologies (teaching designs, microteaching and practical teaching).
This course aims at equipping students with the necessary knowledge and skills to be a qualified visual arts teacher or even a panel head in secondary school. As a qualified visual arts teacher, they should be familiar with the present visual arts curriculum and hence they can tailor-make and provide school-based curriculum to different students.
This course provides basic teaching skills and pedagogical knowledge of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) subjects in secondary education. It includes
This course introduces students to principles, concepts and techniques of teaching Business, Accounting and Financial Studies (BAFS) at secondary schools. It aims at enabling students to integrate knowledge of teaching methodology and skills in practical teaching, subject curriculum and assessment. Through taking part in various learning tasks and classroom discussions and engaging in critical reflection, students will be encouraged to develop their personal theory of teaching.
See PGDE 5021 & 5121 for course description
With reference to the Citizenship and Social Development curriculum guide (New Senior Secondary Curriculum), this course is designed to provide opportunities for participants to acquire a basic understanding of the relationship between issue-based teaching and multidisciplinary learning, covering the following aspects: strategies for issue-based learning, development of teaching materials, classroom interaction and pedagogical methodologies, and assessment in this subject.
See PGDE 5022 & 5122 for course description
See PGDE 5023 & 5123 for course description
See PGDE 5003 & 5103 for course description
See PGDE 5004 & 5104 for course description
See PGDE 5005 & 5105 for course description
See PGDE 5006 & 5106 for course description
See PGDE 5008 & 5108 for course description
See PGDE 5009 & 5109 for course description
See PGDE 5010 & 5110 for course description
See PGDE 5011 & 5111 for course description
See PGDE 5014 & 5114 for course description
See PGDE 5015 & 5115 for course description
This course examines the theoretical foundation of the teaching of Integrated Science, exercises the experimental discovery teaching approach and synthesizes different instructional strategies in teaching science. The course covers:
See PGDE 5019 & 5119 for course description
Contrary to common belief, student activities are not “supplementary” to school curriculum. They comprise an indispensable part of the school curriculum and often a significant part of students’ memories of school life. As the Hong Kong school curriculum reforms, greater significance is focused on extra-curricular, academic, cross-curricular, integrated curricular and life-wide learning activities. Organizing student activities is an integral duty of educators nowadays, and it is a pre-requisite that they know how to design and implement student activities that are both safe and meaningful. This course aims to equip students with knowledge and skills required in design and implementation of student activities. The ultimate goal is to enhance both the processes and outcomes of student activities in the school curriculum and meet educational expectations on student learning through activities. Another aim is to heighten students’ awareness of safety and insurance issues in risk assessment through class activities.
This course aims at introducing the key concepts and techniques of curriculum development which involves designing, implementing and evaluating a curriculum. In order to help student teachers understand the present curriculum development situation in Hong Kong and identify ways of improving it, current issues in curriculum development in secondary schools will be discussed.
Assessment of student learning and evaluation of the quality of school curriculum are two interrelated professional responsibilities of every teacher. This course aims to facilitate pre-service or in-service teachers to improve instruction through better assessment of students and evaluation of their curricula. Topics include:
Knowing well about different teaching strategies can facilitate teachers’ professional development and enhance the effectiveness of their classroom teaching. This course provides students an overview of diverse teaching strategies and pedagogical orientations, such as information-processing model, personal model, social interaction model, behavioral model, constructivist teaching and transformative pedagogy. This course also offers opportunities for students to critically reflect on their pedagogical orientations and the common practices in their real-life teaching experiences, and explore how to improve classroom teaching in local contexts.
The advancement of information and communication technology (ICT) provides teachers and students with new teaching and learning opportunities. This course aims at equipping participants with both pedagogical knowledge and technical skills to integrate ICT into the process of teaching and learning in secondary education. Topics include:
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics collectively. With its interdisciplinary nature, STEM education fosters problem solving, innovation, creativity, invention and logical thinking, so as to develop students’ key competencies for the 21st century. This course aims at equipping participants with both pedagogical knowledge and practical skills to design and implement STEM education in secondary schools. Topics include:
This course aims to train students in writing research papers. Students are required to do research projects on approved topics individually or in small groups under the supervision of a lecturer. (For part-time students only, and with permission of the Faculty)
This course will focus on the following topics:
Schooling is an integral part of modern society. As active participants and contributors of this modern institution, teachers should have a thorough understanding of their roles in school organization and process of schooling. This course is designed to facilitate understanding of school organization and the nature of this process. It explores the nature of school organization and important dimensions of the schooling process from different perspectives:
This course aims to help perspective teachers to gain an understanding of the Hong Kong education system in relation to their occupational well being and working environment. It is designed to provide perspective teachers with analytical tools to comprehend and review educational policies and their implementation. Educational issues and policies in Hong Kong will be analyzed from an international-comparative perspective and a local concern for efficiency and equity. With a brief historical background, the empirical analysis of policies will begin with the 1982 Llewellyn Report and then extend to other educational policy papers and reports. Topics for analysis may include:
This course employs comparative approaches to analyze educational changes among Chinese societies. An emphasis is placed on the investigation of major reform issues in the Chinese Mainland and Taiwan, and includes reference to the developmental experiences of Macau. These issues are also of major interest to educational reformers in Hong Kong. The course will include the following topics:
By drawing insights from the reforms within and across societal contexts, the course aims to discern implications for the general reform movement as well as teaching and learning in Hong Kong.
As instituted: “This course aims to help teachers to reflect on their own values and on the ways they teach values, especially moral values, in school. Among other important considerations, students are asked whether teachers should teach their own values in the classroom, and whether this is indeed inevitable. Taking education as a means aiming at nurturing human qualities for the sake of personal and social well-being, the course examines a range of values such as truth, beauty, goodness and sageness/saintliness as embodied in ‘whole-person education’. The course holds that education is unavoidably value-laden and that moral values form an important core of the aims of schooling. During the course students will discuss the nature of morality and a number of important approaches to moral education, and then compare these to other types of values education. Students will also be asked to reflect upon how they understand their own personal and professional development in relation to values and moral education and how to enact their various roles in the school.” Topics included please see the lecture outline.
This introductory course aims to explicate the philosophical, historical, social, psychological & pedagogical foundations of citizenship education, particularly in the five key domains of human rights, rule of law, democracy, nation-state, and globalization. Also, it serves to illuminate the limitations & possibilities of Hong Kong situations. The topics likely to be covered in the course are
Teachers are expected to play an increasingly important role in the education reform process. Shifting expectations require teachers to have a firm understanding of how schools operate and how reforms affect their roles both in and outside of the classroom. To effectively reshape their work in line with growing expectations teachers must commit to career long professional development and consider strategies for maximizing their effectiveness, especially in terms of learning and teaching. This course is designed to help teachers to understand and shape their roles in a reform environment. In other words it aims to help teachers to become leaders of their own professionalism. It does this in two ways, first it helps teachers understand life in schools undergoing reform and the effect this can have on their professional life. Topics covered in this area include organizational culture, micropolitics, organizational behaviour and teacher leadership. The second thrust aims to nurture teacher awareness of their own professional growth and how they can maximize the latest opportunities available in this area. Topics covered in this area include models of teacher development, stages of professional development, mentorship and internship, teacher appraisal and teacher professionalism.
The school context in Hong Kong has become increasingly complicated. The social and policy environment after 1997 is exerting a great impact on education. Part of this impact is that teachers risk facing litigations or their rights being evaded if they are not careful and guarded enough in their daily school lives. In order to reduce these risks, this module will introduce some of the most significant legal issues that arise in primary and secondary schools and their implications for teachers. The module will: i) explore evolving legal standards on a variety of issues including employment, school safety, student discipline, student well-being, infringement of copyright, free speech, services for students with special education needs and non-Chinese learners, sexual harassment, and violence and bullying; ii) examine educational, political, ethical, and administrative questions that legal issues often generate; iii) draw on real cases and legal/policy dilemmas that teachers are facing; and iv) provide teachers with knowledge and skills they need to make sound decisions, advance important educational objectives, and minimize legal problems.
Nowadays people are bombarded with information from various sources of mass media. Mass media is also closely related to an array of social phenomena like popular culture, fashion, youth problems, consumer society, political mobilization, globalization, and so on. These topics also attract young people because of their relevance to their daily lives. Mass media plays an important role in contemporary societies and they are both subject and means of education. Governments and educators around the world have increasingly paid attention to media education and media literacy. Locally, these efforts have also realised into various curricular initiatives and a number of media education projects. To address the growing needs in this area, the course aims to equip learners with basic ideas about media literacy, informational and digital literacy, informational and media education. This is particularly relevant to teachers in subjects like Liberal Studies and language learning, as well as whose working in citizenship, moral, and values education.
This course is designed to help students reflect on the social context and education system which they have lived with. By applying the historical perspective, the course will explain the key features of education in different periods, and analyse the relations between the social development and the educational changes in Hong Kong since 19th century. It is intended to help them to have a broadened and more penetrating understanding the uniqueness of Hong Kong education.
The purpose of the course is to provide a comprehensive account of the relationship between home, school, and community for managing children’s learning diversity. The course aims to help teachers develop their competency in communicating and collaborating with families and communities for students with different learning needs. Special emphasis is placed upon better understanding of the roles of parents in school education, the dynamics of the parents-teacher trust relationship, and the effective practices of home school community collaboration under the current educational reform to enhance teachers’ inclusive attitude to manage children’s learning diversity and promote student engagement in learning and schooling.
This course provides an introductory survey of the links between education and economic development applied to the case of Hong Kong and Mainland China. The course starts with an overview of the current educational attainment and schooling investments across the world. This is followed by exploring the demand for human capital and educational investments aligned with economic development, public financing of education. Students will also be able to examine interactions between education and development from social and economic perspectives on other issues, including compulsory education reform, manpower planning and curriculum reform, gender gap in schooling, inequalities in education, education and demographic changes.
Professionalism is essential to practices of educators and there must be proper value orientations and solid ethical foundation for the teaching profession. This course covers issues related to law, professional ethics, values and conduct by providing an overview of professional standards for teachers in Hong Kong like T-standard+ and professional code. Case studies are used to examine the rights and responsibilities of teachers vis-a-vis other major stakeholders like students, employers, colleagues, parents/guardians, and to explicate the values and principles teachers can use to make ethical decisions and take ethical actions. Latest issues related to professional development such as education about constitutional order and national security are also addressed.
This course aims to familiarize students with major theories and practices in school improvement and school reform to enhance student learning in school. The course is designed for novice teachers to understand the critical role they play in school improvement. Students will critically examine how school culture, process and outcomes contribute to the holistic school improvement and effective student learning. Concepts and issues that are associated with school improvement will be addressed, such as understanding educational and school contexts, setting school improvement plans and priorities, building teacher capacity and effective practices in classroom setting for school improvement. A series of school improvement cases will be studied to facilitate student acquisition of practical issues and improvement strategies for schools.
Using the tripartite intrapersonal, interpersonal and transcendence competencies framework, this course aims to help students reflect on the meaning of life and examine the importance of physical, psychological and spiritual well-being in life. It will draw on philosophical, socio-cultural, psychological, pedagogical and religious sources, where relevant, to help students reflect on their attitudes towards life through their pursuit of meaning and exploration of ultimate concerns in life education. Students will also learn how to prepare themselves as teachers to help their future pupils cope with related issues in life education.
This course aims to train students in writing research papers. Students are required to do research projects on approved topics individually or in small groups under the supervision of a lecturer. (For part-time students only, and with permission of the Faculty.)
This course attempts to introduce psychological theories pertinent to the teaching of adolescents in secondary schools. With an emphasis on the application of theories in practice, the following topics are explored: behavioral and cognitive theories of learning, complex cognitive processes, biological basis of learning, motivation and affect, instruction and assessment design and classroom management.
This course aims to explore the context, nature and dynamics of adolescent development. The roles of family, school, and community in adolescent development will be highlighted. Moreover, teen subcultures will be examined as a key to understanding the psychological needs of adolescents. Current issues of major concern will also be discussed. Emphasis will be placed on students’ theoretical understanding of adolescent development in the social, emotional, cognitive, and moral domains, as well as their application of this knowledge in the school contexts.
This course intends to provide for secondary school teachers an overview of the basic concepts of school guidance and counselling and their applications in the secondary school setting. Topics include: social and psychological perspectives and the need for school guidance and counselling, basic principles of guidance, goals and objectives of school guidance and counselling, qualification, roles and function of professional counsellor and guidance teacher, basic theories of counselling, individual and group counselling, and other contemporary trends and issues in the local context. In addition, the whole school approach, the therapeutic conditions and the counselling process are also introduced.
This course is designed to provide in-service or prospective school teachers with measurement theory and techniques for assessing educational achievements in school. Topics include
The course is designed to familiarize students with both the theoretical and the practical aspects of classroom management and school discipline in secondary schools. It also aims at assisting teachers to promote an optimum learning environment and to encourage the development of self-discipline among students. Topics include: organizational perspective of discipline, group dynamics, management skills in context, student-teacher relationship, school rules and organization policies, coordination between discipline and guidance, home-school partnership and whole school discipline.
This course employs a cross-disciplinary perspective to introduce important issues in supporting adolescents with special educational needs (SEN) in integrated school settings. First, we examine contemporary policy changes and controversies in special education and integration. We then discuss basic principles of identification and education of exceptional SEN adolescents. Curriculum and instructional issues will be deliberated. In particular, the types of SEN covered are Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD), Intellectual Disability (ID), Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD), Physical Disability (PD), Visual Impairment (VI), Hearing Impairment (HI), Language Impairment (LI), and Giftedness and Talents (GT). Developmental characteristics and needs of these students in secondary school years will be addressed, with a focus on enhancing teachers’ professional capacity in supporting them in the regular classroom.
This course provides basic skills and knowledge of teaching sex education in secondary schools. Topics include: the need for sex education in secondary schools, definition and contemporary views on human sexuality, definition and scope of sex education, sex education and information, values, attitudes and behaviors related to sex, gender role and self-concept, relationship with self and others, friendship, courtship, marriage and family, social issues related to sex, sex education curriculum, ethical, sociocultural, psychological and physiological aspect of sex education, and implementation of sex education. Home-school partnership and parent education for sexual development are also explored.
This course aims to promote among teachers an interest and readiness for taking charge of their personal growth. It draws students’ attention to the significance of self-awareness, self-care, means to facilitate psychological and physical wellness, and a number of areas related to teachers’ personal growth. Through various class activities, sharing and discussion, students will be introduced issues/factors pertinent to self-care and personal growth, and different means to facilitate one’s psychological and physical wellness. Towards the end of the course, it is expected that students will be able to apply what they have learned to their daily life.
This course aims to train students in writing research papers. Students are required to do research projects on approved topics individually or in small groups under the supervision of a lecturer. (For part-time students only, and with permission of the Faculty)
Teaching Practicum (TP) is an integral part of the Postgraduate Diploma in Education Programme. It provides opportunities for students to put theory into classroom practice. In order to support students’ professional development, practicum supervision will be conducted by the Faculty’s TP supervisors during the TP period. TP supervisors will assess students through formative and summative assessment, taking into consideration students’ teaching performance as well as their professional behaviour and attitude.
