Education and Transition to Work Studies

 

(1)  Education Research, Teacher Training and Liberal Studies

 

One theme in education research is how social and political values are fostered through education.

The Centre received funding support by the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme (PPR funding scheme) from the Research Grants Council for a study.  We examined the determinants of academic performance, especially the Liberal Studies subject, of the first batch of graduates from the new senior secondary curriculum.

 

Second, the Centre has been continually commissioned by the Education Bureau to conduct teacher training workshops and seminars in two series.  

From August 2011 to December 2012, we conducted 24 sessions of 6-hour training workshop, in which over 400 teachers of Liberal Studies from 98 secondary schools enrolled.  We further offered on-site consultancy service to schools in need of developing teaching resources and school-based assessment protocol.        A total of 22 schools had used the on-site support service.  The second series of training has started from February 2014, and is expected to finish by the end of 2015.

 

Third, the Centre had also offered professional development seminars on issues including globalization, Hong Kong society, customization of teaching materials, and assessment.  Some workshops in enhancing assessment techniques were in collaboration with Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA).  

We have also established two online learning platforms to provide repository of materials used in teacher training workshops and seminars.

 

(2)  Online Learning Platform

 

Globalization

 

Materials covered include 6 modules, 6 issues, and key concepts.

Website: http://globalization-cuhk.net

 

Independent Enquiry Study

 

The platform provides 4 lessons on how to guide students to finish their Independent Enquiry Study (IES).  The online learning repository provides both research knowledge and teaching skills for teacher reference.

Website: http://www.liberal-studies.net/ies

 

(3) School to Work Transition Studies

 

School to work transition is recently a major focus of research in life planning and career guidance.  

One strand is to uncover hidden patterns by analyzing population census data, and compare the effects of individual return to education among different generations.  

Our analysis of population census data confirms that degree holders indeed have highest return to education.  Female youth have got higher return to education for any stream of post-secondary study.  Male youth, however, only qualification from vocational post-secondary education can earn them higher return to education when comparing to secondary 5 qualification.

 

The Centre has been funded again by PPR to conduct a two-wave panel study of effects of career orientation, parental alignment and social strain on Hong Kong's senior high school students.  The first wave was finished in 2014, and the respondents will be surveyed again in mid-2015.

 

Another newly funded PPR project is to study the vocational-oriented education at senior secondary level in Hong Kong, and specifically Applied Learning programmes.  

The research output will help evaluate the effectiveness of vocational training to students in terms of their career orientation and life plan.  The project has already started in 2015, and is expected to complete in mid-2016.