Modes of Support

(1) On-site Support

The support team will conduct regular school visits based on schools’ development and needs, engage in professional collaborative activities such as collaborative lesson planning, lesson observations, and post-lesson discussions with teachers, as well as collaborating with the teaching team to review and develop the school curriculum in accordance with the Hong Kong School Curriculum Framework.

Schools must appoint curriculum leaders to lead the teaching team’s participation in professional support services; to be responsible for liaising with the relevant support officer and making specific arrangements for the support service. Schools have to consider their development pace and objectives of curriculum development to decide on the number of members (about 3-8) of the core teaching team.

Schools need to organise regular meetings to ensure teachers are fully engaged in activities including discussions on curriculum development, collaborative lesson planning, lesson observations and post-lesson discussions as well as reviewing student learning outcomes, thereby strengthening collaboration and communication among teachers. Support officers will participate in various sessions and provide feedback to facilitate the professional development of teachers.

In addition to developing the school curriculum, the teaching team should also actively participate in inter-school professional development activities to share and promote effective practices and resources so as to foster professional exchanges among schools.

(2) Learning Community

Support officers will establish a professional platform that encourages curriculum leaders from participating schools to share their experiences, views and insights on topics of mutual concern, exploring effective learning and teaching strategies with a view to facilitating professional exchanges among schools and enhancing teachers’ professional capacity.

Participating schools must appoint a coordinating teacher to liaise with the support team and arrange teachers to participate in related collaborative and professional development activities.

Schools arrange regular internal meetings led by curriculum leaders participating in this support service to discuss how to promote school curriculum development in close alignment with curriculum initiatives. Support officers will work closely with the curriculum leaders and provide feedback to further enhance their professional capacity.

(3) Points to note

To make the best use of the school-based support services, participating schools are expected to:

• allow support officers to collect materials including video clips and photographs of learning activities, teachers’ reflection and student work during the support period for professional discussion
• share their successful experiences in school curriculum development and the learning and teaching materials developed under collaboration (The copyright of these materials will be co-owned by the Education Bureau (EDB) and the schools concerned. The Education Bureau also reserves the right to compile and refine the materials before disseminating them for educational purposes)
• should comply with relevant laws, such as compliance with the Copyright Ordinance in developing school-based curriculum and learning and teaching materials