Course List

Course Description

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:
( 1 ) Learning and teaching principles of learning areas;
( 2 ) Principles and key concepts underpinning the design, implementation, and evaluation of ECE curriculum;
( 3 )  Planning developmentally appropriate learning experiences;
( 4 ) Skills in delivering quality learning experiences for young children;
( 5 ) Assessing the learning of young children; and
( 6 ) Adaptation to school life (transition from home to school) and interface between preschool and primary school.

The course aims to introduce the key principles of early childhood education (ECE). Topics to be covered include:
( 1 ) basic principles and theories of ECE;
( 2 ) social and cultural factors influencing ECE;
( 3 ) ECE approaches: Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP), inquiry-based learning, thematic approach, play-based curriculum, project, integrated curriculum, and High/Scope;
( 4 ) contemporary ECE issues in Hong Kong; and
( 5 ) professional roles of early childhood educators.

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.

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.

Teaching Practice (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:
( 1 ) characteristics of play;
( 2 ) theories and practices of play;
( 3 ) play as an integrated learning strategy for young children’s language, cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development;
( 4 ) play environment and resources;
( 5 ) assessing children's learning and development in play; and
( 6 ) teachers’ role in play.

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:
(1) the school system and the curriculum;
(2) allocation, selection and examination;
(3) technical and vocational education;
(4) quality in school,
(5) gender and class differentials in education; and
(6) teacher education and qualification.

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 teacher 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/ saintlness 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.