Opinion | Teacher development policies need to be more ambitious

The continuing professional development policies for teachers and principals have been in practice for more than a decade. They allow schools to enjoy three paid days for staff development each academic year. Teachers and principals also have to undertake professional development in three-year cycles, each one contributing 150 hours of relevant activities.

The hours were introduced as soft targets at the policy launch stage to reduce teacher resistance, and have remained so. Most educators are now more conscious of the need for professional development, and many have taken paer in talks, workshops, advanced studies and training programmes.

Some even chalk up more professional development hours than is necessary. The policy's framework has been firmly established, but the question remains: does it have the life and spirit to drive it further forward?

Recently, the advisory committee on teacher education and teacher qualifications (ACTEQ) has been allowed by the Education Bureau to morph and expand into a new committee, called the committee on professional development of teachers and principals. This has the added function of looking after principals' development. It is a sound strategy to establish such a continuum of professional development for school educators, but efforts are needed to invigorate it.

If schools simply go through the routine of organising staff development days every year without invoking the spirit of professional development, or just organise them for cosmetic purposes, the days will be a waste of public money.

Furthermore, if quality professional development programmes are in short supply, cynicism will set in and the policies will become hollow.