Bulletin Summer‧Autumn 1991

The School of Education Becomes a Faculty Fo rma tive Years Established in 1965, the School o f Education was the University's first professional school for training graduate teachers. During its early years, the School's mission was simply to provide a one-year Diploma-in-Education course to train university graduates to become pro fessional teachers at the senior secondary level. It was run on a very small scale in rented premises in downtown Kowloon, with only a handful o f lecturers and some 20 students. Only a dozen courses were offered. Steady Grow th In the mid-1970s, secondary education in Hong Kong underwent rapid expansion. Local educational authorities began to place more emphasis on the professionalization o f teachers. University graduates teaching in secondary schools were required to obtain a Diploma-in-Education before they could be con­ sidered fully-qualified and eligible for promotion. Hence, the social demand for postgraduate teacher training increased tremendously. There was also an emerging need for more educational researchers. The School o f Education responded to such needs by expanding, diversifying and upgrading its curriculum and facilities. It moved into Sha Tin in 1973 and operated in classrooms and offices on the Chung Chi campus. In the same year, a new programme leading to the Master of Arts in Education was offered. In 1978 when the Hong Kong Government for­ mulated its development plans for senior secondary and tertiary education, the School already had some 15 full-time lecturers, and about 500 students, who were enrolled respectively in the one-year full-time diploma, two-year part-time in-service diploma, and the Master of Arts (Education) programmes. In the years that followed, the School continued to develop in accordance with plans outlined by the government to meet societal needs. A ll through the first 20 years of its existence, the School of Education functioned rather independently, first as a unit directly placed under the University Senate, and follow ing a major reorganization of the University in 1976-77, as a separate division within the Graduate School. However, while the staff and students of the School were inevitably M l members of the University, the School itself was different from other academic units in that it did not have a faculty board or a departmental board o f studies. Nor was there any elected representation from the School in the academic and administrative structure o f the University. A Pe riod o f Change In 1987-88, therefore, the teaching staff o f the School unanimously adopted a resolution requesting the University to reorganize the School into a faculty with three departments, viz., Educational Psychology, Curriculum and Instruction, and Educational Adm in­ istration and Policy. The University Senate accepted the proposal in principle, and further resolved to transfer to the School the Physical Education Unit, which had been in charge of undergraduate physical education, to facilitate the development o f research and professional training in that discipline. In 1988-89, teaching staff o f the School elected from among themselves the director of the School for the first time. Other aspects o f the reorganization were also realized step by step. As o f 1991-92, the School has formally been reconstituted as the Faculty of Education, with a newly elected dean, Dr. Leslie N.K. Lo. It has finally attained equal status with the faculties o f arts, science, social science, business administration, and medicine. W ithin the faculty, there are four departments: Educational Psychology, Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Adm inis­ tration and Policy, and Physical Education. The first three departments report, through the two Boards of Studies in Education (one for Academic Programmes and the other for Professional Programmes), to the Faculty Board o f Education and the Senate. Reorganization Complete A t the start of the 1991-92 academic year, the newly reorganized Faculty of Education has a teaching staff force o f 60, and a student enrolment of over 800, who are pursuing different programmes o f studies leading to the D iploma-in Education (three pro grammes), the Master's degree (by coursework and thesis or by coursework only, in eight specializa­ tions), the doctoral degree (three specializations), or NEWFACULTIES 10