Media

School-University Partnerships Symposium 2018
Meeting the needs of the community and schools

12 Jun 2018

 

Teacher Learning and Teaching in the Age of STREAM - PARTNERSHIP FOR ALL

The Faculty of Education (the Faculty) of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) organised the School-University Partnerships Symposium 2018 (the Symposium) on June 12, 2018 to celebrate and share the success of different levels of partnership with local schools such as teacher education, research, and professional support.

In the opening, Professor A. Lin Goodwin, Dean of the Faculty stressed the Faculty’s concerted effort to be responsive to community and schools’ needs, to focus on leadership and collaboration, as well as to link local and global partners as the future directions in strengthening, deepening and extending school-university partnerships. She attributed the 7^th rank of the Faculty in the QS World University Rankings in 2018 and the 4^th in the Times Higher Education (THE) University Subject Ranking for Education 2018 partly to the long partnerships built with schools and the education community.

Officiating at the Symposium, the Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, said that the success of teacher education and the promotion of STEM or STREAM education hinge on the collaboration among different stakeholders. He appreciated the Symposium as an ideal opportunity for key stakeholders to establish professional networks through sharing experiences and exploring related issues. 

The theme of the symposium this year is “Teacher Learning and Teaching in the Age of STREAM - PARTNERSHIP FOR ALL”.  STREAM is an acronym derived from STEM which represents the disciplines of Science, Technology, Reading & wRiting, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. This clearly signals that the focus is not simply on the content of the sciences and technology, but on integrated teaching and curriculum, student-centeredness in instruction and curriculum design, and the flexible, interdisciplinary and creative mindsets that STEM and STREAM can foster, especially among teachers.

Professor John Williams, Professor of Education and the Director of Graduate Research in the School of Education at Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia gave a keynote on effective teaching and learning in STEM.

Mrs Chua-Lim Yen Ching, Executive Director, Academy of Singapore Teachers and Deputy Director-General of Education (Professional Development), Ministry of Education, Singapore shared for the second time in HKU in this year, the Singapore journey of building a culture that promotes joy of learning, teacher ownership and teacher leadership. 

Five partnership schools below collaborated with the Faculty in conducting interactive workshops, sharing products of partnership from University-School Support Programme (USP) projects, and showcasing teaching and learning in the Age of STREAM:

• Aldrich Bay Government Primary School
• HKMA David Li Kwok Po College
• Shak Chung Shan Memorial Catholic Primary School
• SKH St Mary's Church Mok Hing Yiu College
• St Edward’s Catholic Primary School

The symposium ended with a closing remarked delivered by Dr Tammy Kwan, former Assistant Dean in School-University Partnerships of the Faculty, elaborated and expanded the meaning of the term “PARTNERSHIPS” into Professionalism, Attitude, Responsibility, Target, Nurturing, Empowerment, Reflections, Sustainability, Humility, Interaction, Participation and Symbiosis.

The Symposium was attended by more than 300 participants, including government officials, Chairmen of Education Commission and School Councils, School Principals, representatives from NGOs, teachers and university students.

The symposium was sponsored by the Tin Ka Ping Foundation. The year 2018 marks the 100^th birthday of Dr Tin Ka Ping. The Tin Ka Ping Foundation supports the School-University Partnerships Symposium on “Teacher Learning and Teaching in the Age of STREAM - PARTNERSHIP FOR ALL” in acknowledgement of Dr Tin’s high valuation of education and caring about teachers' development.

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Emily Cheung, Senior Manager (Development and Communications), Faculty of Education, HKU (Tel: 3917 4270 / email: emchy@hku.hk). Please visit http://web.edu.hku.hk/press to view the e-version of the press release and photos.