The Hong Kong primary school sector, emerging from the upheaval of various education reforms, should concentrate on developing the social and cultural competencies of students, instead of emphasizing intellectual development only, experts say.

Speaking at the first seminar of “Primary Education: Primary Matters 2008 Seminar Series” today, Professor Cheng Yin Cheong, Director of Centre for Institutional Research and Development at Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd), said that in the period of “post-education reform” in which more school places, smaller class sizes and greater school autonomy become available, emphasis should be on developing student’s core values, cultural understanding and learning motivation.

“To cope with the ongoing social changes, corresponding development must be made in primary education to cultivate students' social competence and contribute to their whole-person development. ‘Cultural DNA’ should be nurtured together with intellectual competence at the primary age,” he said.

Professor Cheng, who analyses the local education landscape within the context of a “bottleneck” theory, pointed out that following an extensive development of education, the tension of “bottleneck” issues has been partially released, which gives schools an opportunity to foster diversified programmes in culture, morality and values development.

Echoing Professor Cheng at the seminar, Professor David Galloway, Emeritus Professor, Durham University, pointed out that social and cognitive developments are linked. He said that the two aims of primary education, namely enhancement of cognitive competence and social competence, need to be more closely integrated.

While a high-quality teaching force is believed to be vital to the successful development of diversification, Hong Kong primary education is facing the challenge of attracting talented graduates to be teachers.

Professor Cheng cited a recent report on education by consulting firm McKinsey and Company, which found that teachers of the best performing education systems, such as those in South Korea and Finland, came from the top 5 or 10 percent of graduates, compared with the top 30 percent in Hong Kong.

“Raising the status and quality of teachers is the key to attracting top students. Creating a university of education will not only elevate the status of the teaching profession, but also contribute to raising the quality of education in Hong Kong. The repositioning of HKIEd as the Hong Kong University of Education, which will better reflect its status, will help enhance the attractiveness of teacher education to quality students,” he added.

Organised by HKIEd, the three-part seminar series is the first of its kind on primary education and serves as a platform for open and professional dialogue among policy makers, educators, practitioners and the general public on issues of common concern. The second and third seminars will be held in April and October this year.

~ Ends ~

(Please click the photo to get a higher resolution image)

	Professor David Galloway urges to develop children’s social and cognitive competence at their primary age.
	Professor Cheng Yin Cheong says high teaching quality is the key to developing diversification in primary education.

~ End ~