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Shirley Grundy Memorial Fund Knowledge Exchange Forum: Parents as learners - A new paradigm in parent education

14 Dec 2013

   Today the first HKU Faculty of Education Professor Shirley Grundy Memorial Fund Knowledge Exchange forum was held on December 14, 2013 (Saturday) at the Centennial Campus of the University of Hong Kong (HKU). The lecture theatre was packed with educators, school leaders, parent education practitioners and committee members of Parent-Teacher Associations.  The Dean of the Faculty of Education, Professor Stephen Andrews, delivered the welcome speech. 

The forum pondered on the necessity of parent education in Hong Kong in this day and age.  It raised the issue of whether schools have the duty of facilitating parents in fulfilling their roles as primary educators through parent education and discussed ways of moving forward.  

Dr. Pang Ming Fai, Associate Dean and Associate Professor, and Dr. Luis Go of the Faculty of Education expounded on their research findings on parental learning and introduced learners’ perspective to parent education.  They emphasized the necessity of regarding parents as learners to shift parent education from a consumer to a learner perspective. 

The lecture was followed by experience sharing. Mr. Barnabas Leung and his wife Shirley talked about parent education conducted by parents in Tak Sun Secondary School.  Mr. Leung is a school manager. Both are parent education leaders.

Mrs. Gloria Chan Leung Suk Ching, School Principal and Miss Tanny Lai Tan Man, Assistant Principal of Kau Yan School shared their experiences of parent education in the primary school and kindergarten. 

Both schools are partners in the University’s Faculty of Education - Professional Partnership School programme. There were lively discussions after the presentations. 

For media enquiries, please contact Dr. Pang Ming Fai at pangmf@hku.hk  or Dr. Luis Go at luisgo@hku.hk
   

from left to right:
Dr. Luis Go
Mrs. Tanny Yiu Lai Tan Man
Mrs. Gloria Chan Leung Suk Ching
Professor Stephen Andrews
Dr. Pang Ming Fai
Mrs. Shirley Leung
Mr. Barnabas Leung
Dr. Ida Mok