HKIEd - Press Release

The Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) will confer honorary doctorates on two distinguished educators in recognition of their contribution to and leadership in education in the context of the 21 st century.

They are: Dr Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University School of Education and Rev Peter Newbery, Executive Director of Youth Outreach, Hong Kong.

The Honourable Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, GBM, Chief Executive of the HKSAR, will be presiding over the Institute’s 12th Graduation Ceremony to be held on 28 November 2006 (Tuesday) at the HKIEd Tai Po campus and he will confer honorary degrees on them.

Eminent education scholar contributes to sweeping policy changes

Dr Linda Darling-Hammond
~ Doctor of Education, honoris causa

Dr Linda Darling-Hammond, currently Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education and Co-Director of School Redesign Network at Stanford University School of Education, has contributed immensely to scholarly debates of broad issues of education and teacher education policy and practice. Her research, teaching and policy work focus on issues of school restructuring, teacher education, and educational equity.

She is commended for her exceptional accomplishment in critical and analytical research in education and her deep engagement in policy work and other efforts to redesign schools in the United States so that they focus more effectively on learning.

Between 1994 and 2001, Dr Darling-Hammond served as executive director of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, a blue-ribbon panel whose 1996 report, "What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future," provided a blueprint for transforming education to guarantee all children access to high quality teaching. The Commission’s work led to sweeping policy changes affecting teaching and schooling at all levels and ongoing reforms in the preparation of professional teachers.

Dr Darling-Hammond has been deeply engaged in efforts to redesign schools and to prepare teachers. As Chair of New York State's Council on Curriculum and Assessment, she helped to fashion a comprehensive school reform plan for the state that developed learning standards and curriculum frameworks for more challenging learning goals linked to professional development for teachers and greater equity for students. As Chair of the Model Standards Committee of the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC), she helped to develop licensing standards for beginning teachers that reflect changing landscapes leading to new thinking about the necessary attributes of new teachers.

Dr Darling-Hammond is author or editor of 13 books and more than 200 journal articles, book chapters and monographs on issues of policy and practice. She is past president of the American Educational Research Association and a member of the National Academy of Education. She has served on many national advisory boards, including the White House Advisory Panel's Resource Group for the National Education Goals, boards of directors for Recruiting New Teachers, and the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education.

Dr Darling-Hammond received her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University in 1973, and her doctorate in urban education from Temple University in 1978. In addition to leadership and educator awards, she has received honorary degrees from the Claremont Graduate School, Cleveland State University, Temple University, the University of Oslo, the University of Redlands and the University of Toronto.

Caring Educator reaches out to marginalised youths

Rev Peter Newbery, MH
~ Doctor of Education, honoris causa

Rev Peter Newbery, Founder and Executive Director of Youth Outreach, has been on the forefront of youth counselling and outreach. He dedicated his close-to-40 years of services in Hong Kong to helping and educating marginalised youths.

He is commended for his pivotal role in the establishment and operation of Youth Outreach, a dynamic youth services cum crisis intervention centre, and his significant and exemplary contributions to youth work and education.

Born in Manchester, England, Peter Newbery came to Hong Kong in 1967. With training in psychology and counselling, he soon focused his attention on troubled youths and gained experience in school counselling work and in correctional services. He was ordained a priest in 1975. He served as a Chaplain to Vietnamese refugees and eventually became a full-time Prison Chaplain.

In 1990, Rev Newbery was appointed by the Salesian Order to initiate and run a crisis centre for youth. In 1991, he founded Youth Outreach as a non-government crisis intervention centre, starting with a hostel for boys and opening a similar centre for girls in 1992. A donated van is used for an innovative all-night project to search for the homeless, runaways and others at risk on the streets.

The majority of the “runaways” are truants or dropouts from school who are experiencing the uncertainties of adolescence. Recognising failure in school is often the onset of a delinquent sub-culture, Rev Newbery emphasises the need to help them re-enter the education system and return to some form of regular and non-deviant life-style. Youth Outreach provides services to over 10,000 young people per year and has a success rate of 90%.

Rev Newbery has earned worldwide and local recognitions for his distinguished contributions to youth work. Among the awards he received are the Badge of Honour from the Queen of England in 1992; the Medal of Honour from the Government of teh Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 1998; the title “Servitor Pacis” (Servant of Peace) from the United Nations Path to Peace Foundation in 1999; and the Annual Leader of the Year Award (Public Affairs category) from Sing Tao Daily/ The Standard in 2004.

He was appointed by the Education and Manpower Bureau as a member of the Task Force on Continuing Development and Employment-related Training for Youth in 2006. He teaches at local universities and has published widely on topics related to education and counselling for delinquent students.