Professionalization (Hong Kong Case)

It is of no doubt that the society has undergone unprecedented changes over the past few decades. People are becoming more and more concerned about education, from the demand for compulsory education to the quality of education. In order to cope with the rapid changes in the contemporary world and meet the challenges of the future society, the education system has also changed in order to produce what the society needs. For example, the Education Reform in the recent years no longer emphasize on the academic achievements of the students. More importantly, the aim of education should help students to achieve whole person development, as well as to engage in life-long learning (Education Commission, 2000).

Teachers, as the frontline workers in the field of education, are facing a lot of challenges because they are expected to change their roles in order to echo with the new requirements of the Education Reform that aims to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning. As a potential frontline worker in the field of education, it is very important for me to have a deep understanding about

It is believed that the quality of teachers is an important factor in achieving quality education. As a result, the government has put great effort on the professionalization of teachers, aiming to strengthen the professional status of teachers. The governments’ effort on launching different means to improve professional quality of teachers should be appreciated.

2. The concept of Teaching Profession, Professionalization, Professionalism

As the education system in Hong Kong emphasizes very much on academic achievements, not only strong competition among students, but also competition among schools, are commonly seen in Hong Kong. For example, school status is seen very important in the views of parents (who are hoping their children to get into elite schools), and schools heads (who are hoping to ensure the number of admissions each year). The banding of the school and the medium of instruction (preferably English) used determines the school status. Therefore, it is not surprising that some teachers believe that effective learning means students could meet achievement targets. However, students would lose their interests in learning when there is an over-emphasis on academic outcomes. Teachers thus are under the “double-lose” situation, as on the one hand they could not arouse students’ interests in learning, while on the other hand students who have lost interests in learning will result in poor results in their academic performance. Nowadays the Education Reform has advocated student-centred learning. However, whether this new strategy can be carried out successfully depends very much on the competency of the teachers in adopting such approach.

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