July 3-7, 2014
Date :
3/7-6/7
Organizer :
Guidance and Discipline Section of Education Bureau
Schools/Centres Visited:
Shanghai Student (Mental Health) Development Centre
Shanghai Jian Ping Experimental Middle School
Dac Hang Town Elementary School of Baoshan District
Gezhi High School
Participants:
Ms Lancy TAM
Mr Man LI
In the past, the pursuit of academic excellence seemed to be the sole objective of the schools in Shanghai. In recent years, educators in Shanghai are more aware of the importance that a healthy body and balanced emotional state are essential in teenage development. Shanghai Student (Mental Health) Development Centre is the new initiative proposed and implemented by Shanghai Health and Education Committee in 2012. The Centre serves as a multidisciplinary hub for education, medical and welfare expertise to provide services to teenagers as well as their parents in need. In 2014, 6 high schools in Shanghai are funded to build a school-based health centre with the support from the Shanghai Normal University. All teaching staff are trained with basic counseling related concepts and skills. In the centre, students’ individual needs are addressed through guidance and counseling with the aid of centre’s facilities and trained teachers and counselors. In three years’ time, all 17 districts in Shanghai will develop a district-based health center to further extend the service network. As a counselor and teacher, I am glad to see the Shanghai government is adopting a whole-person approach in education development and putting more support and resources to cater for the psychological needs of the teenagers.
On 5 and 6 July, Lancy and I attended the 2nd International Conference on School Guidance in the Chinese Communities. I am honoured to deliver a presentation with the title of “The quality of an outstanding guidance and discipline teacher – Hong Kong Contest” in the parallel session in the conference. An excellent Indicator for teaching practices of guidance and discipline teachers were introduced. The Indicators, which were used as reference in assessing nominations for the Chief Executive’s Award for Teaching Excellence (CEATE) (2012/2013), have been formulated and structured in a way that reflects the complexities of teachers’ work and the diverse nature of teachers’ competencies. Educators from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Macau, Taiwan and Japan were able to exchange views in the Q and A session. It was found that an effective implementation of a student-oriented and whole school approach to guidance and discipline; and provide appropriate school-based curriculum and learning programmes to develop students’ positive values, attitudes and behaviour for whole-person development are shared essential elements to outstanding guidance and discipline teachers. It was certainly a fruitful experience for me, the insights gained from the dialogues with different educators further consolidate my belief that sparing no effort to encourage all teachers and students to jointly establish an accommodating school environment with a harmonious, inclusive culture to foster students’ growth and development is the key to whole-person education.
