- 01-17-2011, 11:08 AM #81Registered User
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I agree that there are some terrible teachers who have the qualifications, and I have had a few of them when I was in school. They made me hate subjects that I previously loved because they quite clearly did not have the passion for it and I certainly would not want that for my children. My son's teacher is fabulous, she has been teaching for a long time and is still passionate about it. She knows my son very well and he loves going to school and is doing very well (as well as a 6 year old can!).
- 01-17-2011, 11:40 AM #82
i don't see how that makes a difference...we are planning on moving to canada in about 5 yrs, too.
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- 01-17-2011, 11:52 AM #83Registered User
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I've been reading this with interest as I'm looking into schools myself.
Your analogy about Doctors doesn't necessarily ring true as if I'm looking for a Doctor/Dentist/Health Practitioner, I always put a lot of weight on how long the individual has been in practice. You would not necessarily go and see an inexperienced pediatrician just because he's got degrees & certificates coming out of his ears, you will want to know that they have experience too.
The qualifications as you say are a minimum requirement but is, in my opinion, there as a guide to helping you making an informed choice.
- 01-17-2011, 11:56 AM #84Registered User
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It was a decision that we made before we moved here. My son started his education in the UK and we wanted him to continue on the same path while here, so that when we return he can slot back in to his class with relative ease.
Also, the move here was quite a transition for him and we did not want to make it more difficult for him but putting him into a government school where he would struggle to understand what was being taught and also may have struggled in the playground during break time etc. I was not comfortable being in a situation where I could not help him with his homework etc.
Also, the fact that your husband is local and can quite easily help your children, converse easily with teachers etc puts you an an advantage with government schools. This was not an option for us at the time.
- 01-17-2011, 12:04 PM #85Registered User
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I agree that the qualification is not the only thing that needs to be looked at, but it is definitely a minimum requirement as far as I am concerned.
You would not trust a doctor who was practicing for 15 years but yet had never been qualified. I feel the same about teachers.
If I was not happy with my son's teacher (even with qualifications) I would do something about it but I would never have put my son in to his school if the teacher was not qualified in the first place.
I see a lot of people here who struggle to get a job when they come here (their husband/wife has good job and they are bored) and they cannot speak cantonese. The first suggestion is always "do you speak English? why not get a job teaching?" This does not mean they would be good teachers and they may not have passion for it either. The fact that people feel that because the can speak the language they should somehow be qualified to teach it is beyond my comprehension.
- 01-17-2011, 12:09 PM #86Registered User
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Exactly. Also, you have to remember that in Hong Kong, pieces of paper count for a lot. If you've ever had to register for anything official in HK (i.e. go through immigration, apply for university courses, apply to work in a civil service position) they really do want to see all of your certificates back to the "beginning of time." In many cases your work experience and life experience are not even taken into account--most of the time they don't want to see any paperwork having to do with experience--only education/qualifications.
In the case of civil service jobs (for example the EDB NET Scheme) they only want to see evidence of the number of years you've worked so they can establish your pay rate on the salary scale--not to determine if you're in any way qualified--this is established after you're hired for the position, not before.
And the education system here in HK is completely exam-focused and more times than not, students are taught and learn by rote so they are literally cramming their minds with information only to regurgitate it on an exam--and whether they have any real practical ability is debatable. Whether they even remember what they've written on the exam is also debatable. So, the good students who make the grade and end up in whatever profession don't necessarily have what it takes to be good in that profession--they were just really good at memorizing information. This exam system was originally designed literally hundreds of years ago (with the imperial exams) to weed out people for civil service jobs--and what's most important in civil service is following protocol and not stepping out of line (i.e. looking for people who are really good at stamping papers)--not people who are innovative and can adapt and change and meet the needs of diverse students.
You'll find for many of the teachers in Hong Kong that the profession is what is called in Chinese "an iron rice bowl"--once you're in you're somewhat set for life so many teachers (up until the recent threat of lay-offs and closures of schools because of falling enrollment) sit back and coast through--they follow protocol, stamp those papers but whether or not they are actually inspiring and teaching their students is unclear.“Many women have described their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a
spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware …
To such a woman childbirth is a monument of joy within her memory.
She turns to it in thought to seek again an ecstasy which passed too soon.”
~ Grantly Dick-Read (Childbirth Without Fear)
Mother of Two
JMW, boy, born November 29, 2007, 9:43 pm, USA
MJW, girl, born March 17, 2011, 4:14 pm, HK
- 01-17-2011, 12:26 PM #87Registered User
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My son's school certainly is not as you have described above. They do enquiry based learning and he has never had to memorise anything. His teacher recently contacted me for a meeting to discuss my son's development. This worried me a little as I thought there may be something wrong. It turns out that because he is left handed (me too!) she was concerned about the way in which she was teaching him to write and was just wanted to have my input into it. During this discussion she pointed out that when he was concentrating and she was at the top of the class she was noticing a slight turn in his eye (something we had not noticed). We took him to see an optician and it turns out he needed glasses. This was not something we would have ever noticed as he was reading fine and was not getting headaches etc so we were very thankful to the teacher for this.
I am very happy with my son's teacher and she is passionate, caring and good at her job. The qualifications are not the only thing I looked at when choosing a school, but they were my minimum requirements.
- 01-17-2011, 12:28 PM #88Registered User
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“Many women have described their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a
spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware …
To such a woman childbirth is a monument of joy within her memory.
She turns to it in thought to seek again an ecstasy which passed too soon.”
~ Grantly Dick-Read (Childbirth Without Fear)
Mother of Two
JMW, boy, born November 29, 2007, 9:43 pm, USA
MJW, girl, born March 17, 2011, 4:14 pm, HK
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