The new semester has just started this week. Since the core subjects are rotated in alternative year, I have to take two subjects this semester, namely Current Issues in Ed Administration & Policy and Managing Change in Schools. 2 nights a week for a part time study is the equilibrium.

Most of the peers are school teachers (over 95%) which means I am the only one or two students who is not teaching in the full time job. I met a counseling officer in class which makes me so glad (forming a so-called 特別鉗). But having said that, the overall impression of the quality of faculty, curriculum design and peer exceeds my expectation. The latent benefit of being the minority in class is that I have much to learn from others and becoming more aware of the social and educational issues in Hong Kong.

Professional experience plus academic qualification equals to the credential of being a faculty member in tertiary education. Inevitably in the FED you would impose a higher expectation – they are teachers of the teachers. In Ed. Admin and Policy, the subject is divided into two parts, Policy (macro-level) and Administration (mirco-level) and is organized to be conducted by two faculty members. The subject coordinator, Dr. Lam is articulate and had organized the subject in a clear and easy-to-understand structure. She is precise in her teaching and eager to understand students’ underlying concerns everytime when they are raising a question. This makes a difference when one is delivering his/her teaching material one way versus in an interactive and engaging manner. I learn and at the same time feel the energy in the classroom.

Another faculty is a principal of 23 years, Dr. Cheung. Unlike many other senior management, he is intellectual and updated. He is willing to share his experience as the administrator in school and as a committee member of working groups/ task force. And you know a lot of key changes happened in the past 10 years, for instance, medium of instruction, school-based management & incorporated management committee, new senior secondary, small class teaching, inclusive education, teacher development, etc. which makes it utterly critical in education reforms in Hong Kong. Being in the roles that he is serving, he knows first-hand about the process of policy implementation to school level. At the same time he is able to relate the practice to theories which is an excellent fit to co-teach in this subject.

I took a message home by Dr. Cheung: Capacity, does not only refer to the credentials possessed by an individual, i.e. those qualification and professional experience one puts down in his/her CV, but attitude as well. I got a similar message from Howard Behar delivered in this book It’s Not About the Coffee: Leadership Principles from a Life at Starbucks. Some people work for their CV, instead of serving the company, community, or their own values. I was thinking we are over emphasizing the magic of CV. A right attitude is more difficult to acquire.