This research aims to determine whether the voucher scheme in Hong Kong would really increase professional development, and to see how the teachers will react to this change.
In Hong Kong, the voucher scheme requires the teachers to have a Certificate of Education before the year 2012 ends. Teachers will be obliged to learn and understand the new teaching techniques that would definitely increase the motivation and interests for learning of the children. In some researches, it is stated that in order for schools to have a good standard of teaching, the school management must support the teachers in acquiring better professional development.
Ever since the use of voucher system in promoting professional development, the pre-schools have already shown their objection to it. This probably shows that teachers are resistant to change and they still embrace their old ways of teaching. Using voucher in promoting new professional development means that the teachers of any given pre-school institution will be required not only to study and prepare for their lessons but to motivate their students as well. A voucher requires the teachers to spend more time revising their teaching techniques and methodologies and also, they have to work longer period with their co-teachers.
Few studies have been conducted to study the difficulties that teachers face because of the voucher system. This gives a rationale for this study. A qualitative approach was employed where a total of twelve teachers and four principals from the four kindergarten schools were asked to participate in the study. Two of those kindergartens have vouchers and the other two do not have vouchers. An in-depth group and individual interview with the participants were conducted in order to gather their views on the impact of the voucher scheme to educators and to measure their willingness when it comes to accepting a new form of professional development.
The result of the study show that the systematic divide between the non-profit-making kindergartens and the profit-making kindergartens does not extend to the perspectives of the teachers in these schools. In fact, there were more convergent than divergent views about the pre-primary education voucher scheme among the teachers from these schools. Many of the teachers believe that the voucher scheme is in fact a fair policy and that it could effectively improve teachers quality. However, there were also some negative comments which mostly revolved around the apprehension of older teachers over the influx of the young and qualified teachers. The non-profit-making kindergartens also complain about the additional work that the voucher scheme creates while teachers from the profit-making kindergartens feel that their development is at the mercy of the school principal. It is also interesting to note that there were significant proposals gathered in the interviews. One important improvement proposal is that since the ultimate beneficiary is the student who is in need of a well-rounded development, teacher development in the voucher scheme should also be well-rounded, that is, that it should encompass the following areas professional, academic, social, psychological, and even emotional. It was also proposed that teachers from profit-making kindergartens be provided with governmental allocation for their development. Lastly, it would be ideal that teachers be involved in the overall planning of the teachers development plan.
Chapter 1
Introduction
Early childhood education is one of the important aspects contributing to human development as it obviously lays the foundation for a childs later mental development (UNESCO, 2008). Over the years, states have therefore sought to implement variant systems of management to enhance greater efficiencies in their education systems. However, such processes have different impacts to the stakeholders in relation to the industry. This chapter of this study sets the stage of the later sections which explore the effects of Hong Kongs Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme on teachers professional development. The chapter brings out the problems being addressed in the study and outlines the overall aims and objectives the researcher seeks to establish. Besides, it provides a brief outline of the methodology used to generate and analyze the results in the later sections.
Background of the Study
Education is considered to be one of the most important aspects in human development as it is linked to the ability of an individual to establish a strong basis upon which later personality and pedagogic demands are based on (Walker Cheong, 1996). According to the Hong Kong Education Bureau (2008), Hong Kong pre-primary service has been strongly market driven where private institutions and individuals were the key driving forces on their efficacy in the country. However, this system came under intense pressure to raise the standards of education, as Sylva (2007) and Organization for Economic Development (OECD) (2009) point out. The pressure came from early childhood specialists who called for greater professionalism in the system not only to raise local standard, but to meet internationally recognized standards.l
Following the heightened pressure, the government introduced major reforms through the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme which sought to enhance higher levels of early childhood education. This would be achieved through some changes by subsidizing children at the pre-school age in the non-profit kindergartens. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (2007) claims that this system is better and operates in a three-fold model namely the following 1.) quality assurance anchored on self evaluation of the schools and external monitoring system to evaluate the schools progress 2.) achievement of the set goals by the scheme and lastly, 3.) maintenance of optimal performance of both the students and teachers. In addition, the system seeks to provide affordable and quality education to the three to six years children and also finally to support teachers for further professional development. By emphasizing on higher standards like a minimum of bachelors degree for the kindergarten principals, certificate for the teachers and effective subsidy to the children, it is apparent that the government seeks full involvement in early childhood education. Furthermore, it seeks to discourage independent kindergartens in Hong Kong while encouraging them to shift to non-profit-making kindergartens by 2011. Since the introduction of the preschool education voucher system, major complaints have persisted among the pre-school teachers themselves, the community, and the researchers fraternity on the efficacy that it can assimilate. Whereas some of them are considered to be far fetched as Leung (2009) argues, they are direct derivatives of human natures resistance to change. There is a need to focus on the extensive concerns for the professional developmental deficit for the teachers. The voucher system has been reported to generate great pressure to the teachers and deprive them off their morale through self evaluation systems and tedious work compared to the prior private pre-primary system. To add to that, it has often been reported that the voucher scheme has further reduced the teachers morale as it offers salaries which are far less compared to those they used to get in for-profit pre-primary schools (Yuen, 2007). Leslie (2009) argues that teachers dislike the certificates being required to upgrade them under since these teachers claim that the certificate now being required is indeed similar to what they have already attained. Education researchers indicate that for a system to be effective there is need to generate the necessary internal harmony between all the stakeholders as a major facet of generating acceptance in the new voucher scheme in Hong Kong (Donald, 2009 Bray et al, 2005 Vickers, 2003).
Research Aims and Objectives
The research was guided by the following objectives
To establish the major perceived impacts of the administration of the voucher scheme on teachers professional development.
To establish the major positive and negative effects on teachers professional development.
To generate recommendations for enhancing greater levels of pre-school teachers professional development in the region.
Research Method
To achieve the established objectives, teachers and principals were interviewed. Questionnaires were used as guide questions. To add to that, secondary information was also very crucial in understanding previous literature on teachers professional development and deriving further understanding on a theoretical plane. Secondary data were collected from books, journals, government records, internet and the local dailies.
Research Sample
This study took a strong focus on the pre-school teachers in the different schools that offered preschool education. By limiting the study to this population, it is indeed possible to generate strongly particularistic results with high viability owing to the fact that the teachers were the direct subjects of this study. Four kindergartens consisting of two private independent kindergartens and two non-profit-making kindergartens were selected from which one principal and three teachers from each of the kindergarten were chosen using purposive sampling method.
The teachers are considered to understand the problems arising from the voucher system having gained so much experience in their many years of teaching. The focus on Hong Kong will further enhance specificity in the achievement of the established aims and objectives.
Organization of Dissertation
The dissertation is organized in the following manner chapter two presents a review of literature on teachers professional development chapter three introduces the Hong Kong Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme. Chapter four provides a clear analysis of the method that was employed by during the study. Chapter five presents the results. Finally, the results are analyzed, conclusions made, and recommendations provided in the last chapter.
Chapter 2
Literature Review on Teachers Profession Development
Introduction
The purpose of this study is look into the teachers perceived impacts of the Hong Kong Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme on their professional development. Over the last few years most schools have showed increased efforts to enhance the professional skills of the teachers. However, the trainings were not enough and the government sought to improve teacher development effectively. According to Wong, Hon and Chiu (1997) teachers professional development is very important due to the role of the teachers in molding a nation, which is concretely effected in their role of providing the soundest foundation at the pre-school years.
This study explores the nature of the Hong Kong Pre-primary Education Voucher Schemes approach to teacher development. To generate the correct perspective on Hong Kongs pre- primary education voucher scheme as applied in the region, the chapter examines the models and theoretical perspectives on teachers development. This will be very critical in generating a holistic understanding on the new systems impacts and how it might be improved.
Professional Development
The definition of teacher development has been a highly contested topic owing to the vast impacts that result from its applications. However, a general consensus appears evident on its application which has been used to derive its meaning. The thesaurus of Educational Resources Information Centre defines professional development as the activities that enhance the growth of professional careers (Donald, 2009). These activities may include individual development, in-service education, continuing education, study groups, peer coaching or mentoring and curriculum writing. It can also be referred to as the sum total of informal and formal experiences of learning from the pre- service teacher education to retirement that is through out ones carrier (Fullan, 1991). According to Prostik (1996) teachers professional development refers to the improvement and promotion of skills as well as knowledge that is applied in their pedagogic duties. It therefore includes all the types of facilitating aspects that seek to further the teachers careers in their work. Prostik (1996) indicates that the efficacy of a teachers development program is entirely dependent on the ability to harmonize the development practices by involving all the stakeholders positively to achieve the targeted results. Most of the teachers professional development is based on further training where they are able to assimilate higher status compared to the one they are presently in. Sedlak (1987) points out that teachers development training should include aspects such as coaching, lesson studies, technical assistance, seminars, and communities of practice that enhance the ability of the teacher to relate correctly with the others, the students, administration, the and the society in molding the students.
A study by Fine (1994) stated that professional teachers development can not be viewed on a certain day of the school calendar instead, it must be incorporated as a daily part of the teachers life as educators.
Therefore all educators and also the school administrators need more time to participate in seminars, work in groups, conduct research, plan lessons, and learn from each other. This is because school change is not only a result of individual development but also organizational development.
Teachers development programs are not only year-long they ought to also be inclusive. The Holmes Group showed that this can be done through mutual deliberating on the challenges facing student learning, sharing teaching in schools, collaborating to research on the challenges of the education system and cooperation on the supervision of the prospective teachers and administrators (Holmes Group, 1986).
In addition to the role in training, the professional development of teachers serves to strengthen knowledge in schools and also the practices used by providing sites for research, inquiry, experimentation and evaluation and eventually identification of innovative and effective teaching practices. This was established through a research done in 1989 (Moller, 2007).
As such, teachers professional development may be narrow or it may be wide, as we have seen in these previous researches. Nevertheless, the point remains the same a development program aims to make teachers better teachers.
Influential Factors on Teachers Professional Development
Certain factors affect teachers professional development. That means, depending on the presence or absence or the quality of these factors, teachers professional development may either be facilitated or burdened. Thus, in the literature, we see for example how regulations may demand that teachers acquire more skills, and in such cases, professional development becomes a necessity to become a teacher. In other instances, we read of teachers not desiring to attend development seminars (Scheerens, 2009), and thus lack of motivation may also retard ones development as a teacher. In this section, we shall identify five factors that affect or influence teachers professional development.
Technological application
A broader definition considers the meaning of professional development in the present technology and it refers to professional development as a development that involves the use of technology in the fostering of teachers growth. By technological application, we refer to teacher development training that includes the informal and formal means of helping educators not only to learn additional teaching skills but to develop new and improved ideas on pedagogy and their own approaches and explore new understanding on the content and resources of use (Donald, 2009).
One great challenge is the need for continuous teacher training in technology upgrade, especially for information and communication technology (ICT) classroom applications. In a recent study, Scheerens report to the European Union (EU) showed that in China, Cyprus, England, Greece, and the Netherlands, there is a relatively high unmet need for technology-related teaching skills (2009, p. 209). At least 30 to 50 of teachers complain about this unmet need (Scheerens, 2009, p. 209) which affect the integration (or at least the immediate integration) of technology in their pedagogy. In this sense, technological application affects professional development.
Policy requirements
Policy requirements form one of the major factors that dictate the need for teachers professional development. In Hong Kong, Man, Ngar-man and Carmen (2007) indicate that the new voucher system that demands the early childhood education teachers to undergo further professional development is a government policy. This affects the type of professional development programs available, as well as the extent that teachers would need to push themselves to develop themselves as teachers. Different countries have different educational policies and different requirements set for teachers.
In Hong Kong for example, pre-primary school teachers are required to only have a Qualified Kindergarten Teacher (QKT) certificate, but are now required to have a Certificate in Early Childhood Education (CECE). In other countries such as Cyprus, Greece, and Italy, professional development is a definite obligation for newly appointed teachers (Scheerens, 2009, p. 203), but in France, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Sweden, teacher participation in development programs is optional (Scheerens, 2009, p. 203). If we were to look at these trends in these European countries, we could intuitively make a distinction about how this basic legislation has affected subsequent legislations on teacher development programs. Making the participation in developing programs ensures nation-wide homogeneity on certain teacher training courses, or seminars, etcetera. It also speaks of the different legal pressures it has on teachers themselves. Hong Kongs current requirement for CECE for Pre-primary Education teachers would obviously put pressure for teachers to attain such a developmental goal, within a specified time period.
Thus, the above discussion points to the crucial factor of policy in determining national pressure (or lack of it) in teachers professional development, and in the amount of policy pressure that teachers personally need to deal with. Now we turn to finances.
c.) Finances
According to Fine (1994), finances form a key influential factor that determines the affordability of further development. As indicated earlier, most of the teachers usually seek to improve their careers by seeking further studies in the form of certificates and degrees. However, this comes at a cost and the teachers must be able to meet the respective costs to get their objectives. Man et al. (2007) indicate that Hong Kong Voucher scheme for kindergarten was a major success due to the government being the main funding agency for the willing teachers. However, the notion of funds has been a source of controversy especially with reference to the emergence of the high costs that have been attached to training in institutions of higher learning.
Many examples globally demonstrate how funds influence teacher development programs. Developing and developed countries alike attest to the influence of funds in the provision of teacher development programs, in the sustainability of these provisions, and the possible burden for teachers who may lack funds to further improve themselves professionally. The example of Papua New Guinea shows how funds are needed to make teacher development sustainable (Lucas, 1996). The examples of the European Union countries demonstrate how in these countries, the affectivity of a development program is directly correlated to costs the most effective types of development are also those for which teachers are more likely to have had to pay the full or partial cost (Scheerens, 2009, p. 205). The reason for this correlation is yet to be explored, but clearly, the money factor is an important element that influences professional development.
Provision of enough funds can aid the teachers achieve professional training development. This should be established as a major incentive to encourage further development by the teachers. With the present economic status affecting all spheres of the globe negatively, the governments should seek to subsidize or fully sponsor development programs for the teachers, especially the most effective programs.
d.)Time
To effectively achieve the required development for the teachers, time factor becomes very critical. Taking into consideration that most of the teachers in early childhood education have families, their development demands special plans in terms of shifting away from home and preparing for the studies during the learning period. Whereas this may not necessarily be hard, the cumulative period for preparation and further training is very crucial. Thus time may have an immediate or mediate influence on teachers professional development. Again, literature demonstrates this as well.
In developing countries where teachers are overburdened with work load like Papua New Guinea, lack of time becomes one of the major obstacles to sustainable teacher development programs (Lucas, 1996). Too much workload makes teachers practically unavailable to attend to professional development activities. In some developed countries, the situation is not far from that of Papua New Guinea. Though countries such as Australia, Belgium, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States require teachers to attend developing programs for at least 5 days a year (Scheerens, 2009, p. 203), many teachers still dont get to use their privilege to use some of their work time for professional development activities due to lack of substitute teachers (Scheerens, 2009, p. 204). Thus again, time becomes a very important factor that influences teachers participation (or lack of it) in development activities.
e.) Motivation and incentives of teachers professional development
Another piece of research was launched to establish the relationship between teacher participation in the teachers professional development workshops and motivation. It established that a key issue that must be addressed is the motivation of teachers to participate in the teachers professional development workshops. Some teachers may ask for or seek out professional development programs but the vast majority of teachers do not see the necessity of these programs and are thus unmotivated to participate in such development programs (Keenan, 2002). Particularly teachers are adamant that their teaching practices and methods are appropriate and so are reluctant to change their teaching styles and habits and remain cautious of wasting time participating in these programs (Prostik, 1996).
Associated benefits as Fine (1994) points out form a major influential platform that dictates the willingness of the teachers to undergo the process of further training, as incentive factors if you will. Teachers professional development should be associated to the ability of the teachers to get promotions and better pay in their schools. However, this notion has been a major concern when governments shift from the private independent to non-profit making systems since the latter payments are usually lower especially in the developing countries (Donald and James, 2009). The trend in some European countries such as in Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Spain is to directly relate teachers professional development with salary increases.
Perhaps, the most important factor in promoting teachers professional development is the guarantee of better returns in their careers after they are through with their training. Fine (1994) indicates that if there is no link between development and better economic returns, the whole process may easily become futile. Fine (1994) further indicates that as a career, the teachers should be able to get better pay and therefore lead better lives. In the current highly capitalistic world, it is important to associate higher levels of teachers professional development with better pay to enhance creativity and innovation in training especially at early childhood education level. Thus, the link between economic motivation, incentives, and professional development is present, and in fact an important link that influences teachers development programs.
Models of teachers Professional Development
Donald and James (2009) proposed that teacher professional development can be divided into three wide categories.
Standardized teacher professional development
This category views professional development as having a conterminous orientation towards particular similar qualifications at various stages (Donald and James, 2009). Notably, the standardized teacher professional development is the most centralized technique which is most effective when used to disseminate information and skills among large population of teachers. Standardized involves workshops, training sessions and the model of scaled delivery cascade. It generally puts its focus on exploring new concepts and demonstrating and modelling of new skills (Donald James, 2009). As a centralized model, the Standardized Teacher Professional Development model makes sure that a certain benchmark is established in teachers professional development programs.
Site-based teacher professional development
This category involves the activities that promote development at the teachers practical areas of pedagogic skills application (Donald James, 2009). Thus, the site based category is an intensive learning technique used by groups of teachers from a particular school or region that promotes long term changes in methods used in giving instructions. It usually takes place in schools, teachers colleges or resource centres. Teachers work with the local or in other words in house facilitators to help them in the gradual process of learning, mastering pedagogy and acquiring content and technology skills.
Self directed teacher professional development
This approach involves an individual driven consideration mainly through personal values and belief for further development (Donald James, 2009). Thus self directed teacher professional development is an independent learning approach is sometimes initiated to the discretion of the learner by use of the available resources that usually encompass the use of the internet and the computers. In this method, teachers are involved in the initiation and designing of their own methods of self development. They are also encouraged to share materials and ideas and discuss the challenges they face and the solutions to these challenges. In most the educational systems however, the required levels are always set and only a few people seek to further develop professionally through self initiative (Gaible Burns, 2005).
Promoting Teachers Professional Development
As indicated earlier, the ability to conduct effective teacher professional development is entirely dependent on the cooperation of the stakeholders involved in the exercise. In this respect, the government should facilitate cooperation between the teachers, their respective kindergartens, and institutions of higher learning to foresee a smooth transition. It is worth noting that most of the teacher professional developments fail due to lack of this cooperation between the stakeholders. Fine (1994) argues that poor cohesion among the stakeholders generally operate on a reverse trajectory which may make the whole process to lack meaning. Of particular importance to note at this particular point is that stagnation in teachers development is likened to stalling a countrys development and therefore risking to a certain extent the future of the pre-school going children.
Summary
In this chapter, we have defined teachers professional development as essentially the promotion of skills and knowledge that are relevant in these teachers pedagogic duties. We have seen that in spite of the nuances that this definition may have, the bottom line goes back to the point that a teachers professional development refer to activities that aim to make teachers better teachers. After defining what teacher professional development means, we went on to go through the five factors that influence professional development. These five factors are the following 1.) technological application, 2.) policy requirements, 3.) finances, 4.) time, and 5.) motivations and incentives. Each of these factors can positively or negatively affect teacher development programs. They can also define or change how these development programs are implemented or available to teachers. Lastly, we went through the three models of teacher professional development according to Donald and James (2009). According to Donald and James, teacher professional development may either be 1.) standardized such that all teachers of a particular level receive a particular development program 2.) site-based which is more specific to a school or a region, and addresses particular areas of pedagogic skills application or 3.) self-directed where individual teachers are involved in their very own professional development. Next, we shall look into Hong Kongs Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme.
Chapter 3
The Hong Kong Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme
The ability of any government to operate the correct system in education forms the basis of its major developments. The Hong Kong Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme is a system that links the need to improve the teachers professional ability while improving the quality and accessibility of education to the children. It is from this consideration that this chapter seeks to evaluate the nature of the voucher system, its main features and its connection with teachers and professional training.
In the year 2000, the Hong Kong government established the need for improving its pre-primary schools mode of operations to raise the value and quality of education at the lower level. The Hong Kong Pre-primary Education Voucher System is therefore being viewed to possibly provide a better system of learning that has been established to replace the previous one which relied only on the private sector to determine the type of education that children ages three to six would have (Fung Lam, 2009). According to Donald and James (2009) the new system is a holistic model that seeks to underscore growth and development of the children from different dimensions. As Moller (2007) continues to say, the new system specifically gives reference to the professionals who are considered to have a major impact on the growth of the child.
Features of the Voucher System in Hong Kong
In 2007, Hong Kong launched its Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme with three well publicized unique features discriminating against private independent kindergartens, promoting teacher professional development, and limiting parents choice to only non-profit schools (Li, Sin Wong, Wang, 2010, p. 125). We shall be discussing the features of this voucher scheme in more detail, reserving the discussion on the features of the voucher scheme on teachers development in the second part of this paper.
The government has claimed time and again that the voucher system was designed with the sole purpose of improving and meeting the students interests (Sylva, 2007). This is because the scheme supports the professional teachers upgrading, lightens the parents financial obligations and improves the quality of education the students receives.
A school voucher is also called an education voucher and these are certificates given by the government to enable parents to pay their childrens education at a pre-primary school of their choice rather than at an assigned public school (Li et al. 2008). As such, a voucher is effectively a subsidy for parents for their very young children age three to six.
The government provides a voucher worth HK13,000 per year per child (the amount increases and is currently HK14,000 per year) to parents with children ages 3 -6 attending a non-profit-making pre-primary education. The voucher is set to increase to HK16,000 in school year 2011-2012 (Fung Lam, 2009, p. 158).
As such, the voucher scheme has effectively made a distinction between kindergarten schools that are for profit and non-profit kindergarten schools that qualify for the voucher scheme.
All kindergarten and nursery schools participating in the program are required to publicize the relevant information on their official website and to meet a certain set of standards through evaluation and inspection of quality. This is a requirement that ensures the facilitation of the process of selecting an early childhood teaching setting (Education Bureau, 2008).
The required relevant information includes the qualifications required, the experience required for one to qualify, school characteristics, salaries of the teachers, curriculum details, and facilities. It is believed that the momentum of developing and reforming early childhood education can be maintained since the system encourages free choice, tightening of regulatory measures, stimulating competition, increasing institutional transparency and upgrading the professional qualification of teachers (Education Bureau, 2006a).
By 2005 all kindergartens were supposed to have employed fully qualified teachers to be part of the staff, the number of which is calculated in terms of teacher student ratio, that is, one teacher to fifteen students. This is supposed to give teachers more time to give each student more focused attention (Sylva, 2007)
Leslie (2009) points out that the system also provided for clear evaluation and assessment of the operations through periodic inspections. Unlike before in private kindergartens where the assessment was based on institution demands, the voucher system sought to standardize the process through quality reviews for equity and greater harmony (Education Bureau, 2008). As a major platform for the operation of the voucher eligible school, it was expected that they conform to the government of Hong Kong Education Bureau standards for the pre-primary schools. This would not only seek to infer coterminous growth and development of children at the early years in Hong Kong, but guarantee effective latter growth for the students which is very critical for the region.
Another major structural facet for the systems operation is the need for cooperation among the parents teachers, professionals and other stakeholders to enhance easier solution of the problems related to early childhood education and therefore promote higher quality (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, 2007).
Features Related to Teachers Professional Development
In 2007 the implementation of the pre- primary voucher education scheme required the teachers qualifications to match the ones required by the policy within five years. This policy required teachers serving in kindergartens to obtain a certificate in early childhood education and qualify by the end of 2012. The policy also required the kindergarten principals to obtain a degree in early childhood education, one year experience and a certificate on the same before or within the first year of their appointment (Man et al. 2007).
The government provides support financially for all the teachers and principals in service for upgrading of their professional qualifications. In 2008, HK3,000 per year was the voucher allocation for teacher development, but is currently now set to HK2,000 per year (Fung Lam, 2009, p. 158). The subsidy for the development of teachers in the non- profit making kindergartens was supposed to be used in covering the expenditure of supporting the upgrading of principals as well as teachers including to reimburse the fees for the certificate and degree programs and the provision of development programs for school based teachers. Under the scheme, a total of two billion Hong Kong dollars were given by the government to support the system for teachers and principals development and pre-school children support (Education Bureau, 2008).
As such, the Hong Kong government gave the teachers a period lasting from 2007-2011 to undergo the necessary professional development under the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme as prerequisite for promoting better education at the preschool level.
The voucher scheme in Hong Kong requires that all teachers have Certificate of Education in Childhood Education qualification by the end of 2012. Following this consideration some teachers have already started pursuing professional qualifications at the degree levels. The first group of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong who have a degree in early childhood development is about to complete a professional development program (Wong, 2009).
This group of new teachers will have to bear the heavy responsibility of endeavouring the new innovative practices and synthesising of educational ideas from both the East and West and there has been a high expectation of this group of teachers to deliver (Leslie, 2009).
Acquiring a degree qualification is most probably the next possible reform direction (Leslie, 2009). However the question is whether these highly qualified teachers in-service or pre-service will be able to transform the existing teaching practices and advance the professionalism of the system and practices to another level (Wong, 1997).
Additionally, after its introduction, Hong Kongs Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme introduced new standards to the teachers at the pre-primary level as a factor of improving the local teaching standards (Man et al. 2007). The voucher system therefore requires involving the teachers who operated in the previous system in developing the correct improvement system for them to fit in the new reforms in terms of their qualifications and practical applications.
For the schools to work towards change, they need to support their teachers continuously with professional development. Teachers and other educators will need more time dedicated to test out the new ideas, assess their effectiveness, adjust the approach and strategies if the need arises and assess once more to ensure learning for all students is affected by the new approach and therefore create a meaningful learning for all students.
Connection between Teachers and Professional Training
According to Man et al. (2007), the connection between the Hong Kong pre-education voucher scheme and teachers professional training has been considered to be two fold from the teachers point of view, the new system is very beneficial to them as it advocates for their further development. Then, to promote the quality of education being offered to the children, the system provides for subsidies up to the year 201112 for the early childhood education (ECE) teachers and kindergartens principals. However this consideration has also been viewed to be controversial by some early childhood education teachers who claim to have some of the qualifications being sought for upgrading.
According to Sylva (2007), the voucher scheme emphasizes on equal pay for the teachers in early childhood education, but depending on their qualifications, it was seen as an interruption to the previously private system. This indicates that the higher the qualifications, the higher the pay. Besides, ensuring that all the teachers with the same qualifications get even payments, it supports the notion for further development as the key factor in moving up the ladder of payment. Previously, most of the private kindergartens offered higher payments to the teachers who worked in them (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, 2007).
Sylva (2007) continues to say that payment is linked more to the teachers perceptions as opposed to the professional services provision in their kindergartens. It is essential however for the government to seek better payment for the teachers if the system is to gain full acceptance. This standardization of pay according to the teachers achievement of policy requirements demonstrates how the factors of funds and policy have shaped and continues to shape the current voucher scheme. In this particular instance, we see the symbiotic relationship between funds and policy funds were used to a certain extent to enforce the policy on teacher professional development but the standardization of teacher professional development also gave way to the standardization of salaries.
Since teachers were required to achieve certifications within 2011, we also see how the element of time plays a big part in this drive to continuously improve pre-primary education. We have mentioned earlier that time contributes not only to structure but also the amount of pressure that teachers must take in the process of professionally developing themselves. The deadline set for teachers to acquire the proper certifications put pressure on teachers who still do not have these certifications, and automatically puts a screen to new teacher applicants to make sure that they have these qualifications the time they apply.
Because of the strong structure in the voucher system, motivation and incentive could be seen as sourced externally, that is, from the fact that salaries are commensurate to teacher professional development.
The element of technology can be seen in the drive of the voucher scheme for revising and maintaining certain pedagogies that teachers must learn and adapt to, to ensure the maintenance of high standard pre-primary education.
After all of these, it could be intuited that the standardized teacher professional development model seems immediately appropriate, though it must be brought as a challenge to incorporate the site-based and self-directed teacher professional development models as well.
Summary
In this chapter, we gave an overview of the Hong Kong Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme. We have also gone through the features of the scheme that affects teacher professional development. Lastly, we have shown how the five factors we talked about in Chapter 2 are reflected to influence and affect the teacher professional development programs in this voucher scheme.
Chapter Four
Methodology
Introduction
The validity and reliability of the study is largely dependent on the methods, techniques, and approaches that will be adopted in order to fulfill the goals and objectives of research. This chapter will present the methodology employed to conduct research including the research design, the research approach, data collection and analysis, and the validity and reliability of the study.
Research Questions
The limited number of related literature, which focused on understanding or determining the perceptions of teachers toward voucher schemes and how these schemes affect their career or professional development, has established the basis for this study. Thus, the goal of the study is to determine the perceptions of teachers toward voucher schemes, especially on how the voucher schemes affect career advancement. The study specifically aims to address the following research questions
What are the major differences between the new Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme and without the voucher scheme
viii) What are the positive and negative impacts of the Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme on the teachers professional development and how positively has the scheme affected the teachers professional development
xi) How can the Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme be enriched to promote more teachers professional development
Research Design
The literature review presented the different areas or issues related to the research questions. Professional development is a broad area that is affected by multiple factors which include experience, additional training, the nature of the professional setting and opportunities for professional development. Moreover, intervention by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government effectively implied a major overhaul of the educational system. Revamping the system will require the adoption of an experimental design wherein the input of the target population is sought in order to develop a critical understanding of the research issues and then formulate efficient policies or practices. To fulfill this particular goal, the research design was aligned with the nature of the problem and the objectives being sought ensuring that the research area is well addressed. Determining the input of the target population while considering the multiple factors affecting professional development, the necessity to arrive at certain policies that will guide government overhaul on the education system necessitate the implementation of a research design that is flexible which allows full inclusion of the multiple variables. Thus, a qualitative research design was implemented. The nature of the qualitative research design allows for the inclusion of multiple variables in data collection and analysis in a manner that their effects on the research area can be looked at from multiple dimensions. Furthermore, a qualitative research design allows for a critical understanding of the research problem, thus, effectively addressing all the key research issues. (Creswell, 2003)
The nature of the qualitative research design is flexibility or emergent rather than tightly prefigured the inquirer learns the best sites at which to learn about the central phenomenon of interest (Creswell, 2003, p. 181-182). The data collection procedure in qualitative research is also not restrained to a single method or technique, but rather allows the employment of multiple interactive instruments to obtain data. Multiple instruments, such as the survey and interview methods, were in the study in order to obtain comprehensive data. Qualitative research occurs in the natural environment, which meets the objectives of this study because there is a need to gather the input of a target population within the natural setting. (Creswell, 2003)
The target population in the study comprised principals and teachers who were asked to accomplish a survey questionnaire and participate in an interview. Owing to the high activity in learning environments, teachers were approached during their free time and requested for their input in research. Ethical measures in the request for subjects participation involved alerting the subjects that their input was on a voluntary basis and ensuring that they are well informed on the goals of the study.
Sampling
The target population was selected through purposive sampling from the list of schools in the Honk Kong Education Bureau. Purposive sampling pertains to a process of selecting target population of participants in the research that are intentionally selected to represent a predefined characteristic of trait (Cottrell McKenzie, 2010, p. 235). Purposive sampling was implemented by referring to the list of schools by the Hong Kong Education Bureau and selecting 2 schools that employ a voucher scheme under PEVS and 2 other schools that do not. Obtaining data from schools with and without voucher systems is expected to present the differences in professional development between teachers working for schools with and without voucher systems. Table 1 below shows the demographic information of the participants.
Table 1
Demographic Information of Participants
AgeYears of Teaching ExperienceGrade LevelEligibility for Voucher SchemeFemale23-3333-4343-Up1-56-1011-UpK1K2K3EligibleNot Eligible16646448333124
Permission from the four school principals was sought to conduct research. Purposive sampling was also applied to select 3 available teachers from each school who teach in three levels of kindergarten. The principal in each kindergarten was automatically included as a participant in the study and were asked to participate in the interview process. The principals were involved in the interview due to their perceived extensive knowledge and experience in the field. The administrative roles of the principals were also expected to contribute to the understanding of the voucher scheme, how it is implemented, and how it affects the performance and perceptions of their subordinates the teachers.
Instruments
Two kinds of instruments were constructed for this study, the questionnaire and the interview methods. A detailed discussion of the instruments including how they were administered or conducted will be covered in the next sections. The survey and interview questions were written in Chinese and English to ensure that the participants will understand the question and provide fitting responses. Some of the research questions from which the survey questionnaire and interview were copied from Wong Lis research paper. See Appendix A, B, and C for the three sections of the survey questionnaire, with Yes or No Questions and Multiple Choice Questions, open-ended questions in the interview. The questionnaires however, were not patterned after the Likert Scale since the questions were answerable by Yes or No, by multiple choice, and by sentences in the open-ended question. Adopting the Likert Scale was unnecessary and does not match the structure of the questionnaire. See Appendix, D, E, and F for the questions and responses of the participants during the interview.
Questionnaire
The questionnaires were designed to draw responses from the participants for the research questions. In the survey, there were four questions answerable by Yes or No while the rest were open ended questions. The open ended questions in the questionnaire were created in order to provide the participants the chance to justify or support their yes or no responses. The kinds of questions that were asked were based on the research objectives and questions. Since the goal of the study is to determine the perceptions of teachers toward the voucher scheme, the questions. The survey was designed simply in order to ensure readability and reduce complexity, prevent confusion, and accomplish data collection within the time allotted for it in the research. In order to present an organized and understandable essay, the questionnaire was divided into four sections. The first section was for the demographic details of the participants, the second section was the Yes or No questions, the third section was the multiple-choice questions, and fourth section was the open-ended questions.
Interview
Similarly, the interview questions were structured to draw responses from the participants that would address the research questions. Structuring the interview questions by aligning them with the research goals and questions was necessary to precisely suit the nature of the problem (Bennett, 2006). The interview questions were intended to determine the views and perspectives of teachers toward the new voucher schemes implemented in their respective schools. The interview is a semi-structured interview wherein the questions are parallel to the questions in the survey. The two data collection procedures were implemented in order to ensure that responses are valid and reliable, minimizing possible errors and inadequacies, as well as allowing accurate comparison among the responses of the participants in the survey questionnaire and the interview. Table 2 below shows the interview guide utilized to direct the interview process for organization and logical pacing.
INTERVIEW GUIDE
Hi, I am ________________ conducting a research data on the perceptions of teachers about the voucher scheme and how the scheme influences career growth and development. Thank you so much for participating in this interview. I assure you that your personal information will be kept confidential. Let us begin. Are you familiar with the voucher scheme
Are you eligible to be provided the voucher scheme
What is the voucher scheme
How does it contribute to your teaching experience
What are its contributions and disadvantages to your personal and professional life
The questions in the interview guide are some examples of the questions asked during the interview process.
Data Collection and Analysis
The questionnaires were given to the participants in March 2009 and the interview was in July 2009. Consent forms were sent to the participants prior to March 2009, when the self-administered questionnaires were distributed, as permission for their involvement in the survey and the interview. After the consent forms were received, the questionnaires were given to the participants. A pre-analysis of the responses was conducted after the accomplished questionnaires were obtained in order to determine the questions and scope of the succeeding interview. During the interview, the three teachers were simultaneously interviewed within 1 hour and 45 minutes in a conference room at a kindergarten together and the other teacher was interviewed within 45minutes separately. The principal was interviewed separately for 35 minutes in for different schools.
The data obtained through the survey was analyzed through the use of descriptive and inferential statistical tools. Descriptive statistics is concerned with the summarization of findings while inferential statistics is concerned with specific areas that are related to the research problem. Through descriptive statistics, the average perception of the participants was determined by calculating the mean. The employment of inferential statistics tested the significance of the Yes and No responses through the chi square hypothesis. The descriptive and inferential statistics were done through the use of the SPSS software. The participants responses in the open-ended questions will be analyzed through coding. Coding entails listed all responses to a similar question in a matrix or specific categories. The responses were synthesized or consolidated in order to arrive at a general response that represented all the answers of the participants. A narrative analysis was implemented to analyze and synthesize the responses of the participants during the interview. The responses during the interview yielded emerging trends, which were consequently compared with the results in the survey.
Chapter 5
Research Results
According to the school Principals and teachers that were interviewed, the Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme (PEVS) has had both negative and positive impacts on teachers especially in their professional development. In this chapter, the teachers and principals views given during interviews are presented in graphical as well as table form for clearer analysis and discussion in the next chapter. One of the data collection tools that was used in this research was the dichotomous questions (yes or no questions) (Cohen et al, 2007, p. 323). This type of question compels respondents to come off the fence on an issue (Cohen et al, 2007, p. 322). By breaking complex pieces of information to many dichotomous questions respondents can be led through, with a greater expectation of accuracy than would be achieved with a single question (Brace, 2004, p. 66).
As Kumar (2005) states, in an interview, the quality of interaction between an interviewer and interviewee is likely to affect the quality of the information obtained. The time spent with the teachers and principals trying to elaborate the importance of the research and the value their input would bring to the research field was crucial. Just like any interviews, the interviewees have to fully understand the research background so as to give their honest and critically thought through responses to the research. The interviews outcomes were positive and the data collected was critical in giving a full analysis of the research and the impact of PEVSs on the teachers professional development in Hong Kong.
The Teachers Principals Perceptions and Reactions to the Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme
In the study that was conducted, interviews carried out with various Principals and Teachers in both the Non-Profit Making Kindergartens (NPMKs) and the Private Individual Kindergartens (PIKs) reveal that there are still mixed views about the Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme (PEVS) implemented in Hong Kong. The following table outlines the responses obtained from the interviews with the Principals and Teachers in NPMKs and PIKs in Hong Kong.
i) Results of the YesNo Questions
This interview questions generated very interesting responses from the interviewees. The table below represents the results and responses obtained. Some questions have not been directly stated, just for the reason that some questions differed between the principals and teachers. However, the results are as presented in the table below
Table SEQ Table ARABIC 1 Questionnaire Study (Part A YesNo Questions)
The results of these interviews showed that there were varied views when it came even to the knowledge of the PEVS. While the NPMKs principals responded to say that they understood the requirements of the PEVS, the PIKs principals varied in their response as one of them gave an affirmative response and the other one showed a lack of understanding of the Scheme. While the two (2) NPMKs principals believed that the voucher would bring some change to their children, their colleagues in the PIKs differed with one (1) giving an affirmative answer and the other responding negatively to the question.
One of the NPMK principals felt that the voucher would have a positive impact on the children, the other principal felt differently and the PIKs principals could probably not be affirmative on this question since the vouchers were not in use in their kindergartens. In consideration of all 12 teachers in both NPMKs and PIKs, the results showed that the respondents had the following standpoints with reference to the voucher scheme. Altogether, all the teachers in both types of school believed that kindergartens should be supervised to ensure the standard of education. There are more teachers in the NPMKs and few teachers in the PIKs who believed they understood the requirements of the voucher scheme clearly. There are many teachers in both NPMKs and PIKs who believed that the practice of the voucher scheme will bring about changes on the children, were against the absence of pay scale, and subsidizing only non-profit making kindergartens in the long run. There are more teachers in the NPMKs and few teachers in the PIKs who believed that the impacts brought about by the voucher scheme on the childrens current school are positive and that the school can easily adapt to the changes brought about by the voucher scheme.
There are very few teachers both in the NPMKs and PIKs who believed that the government and education parties have provided adequate resources because majority teachers in both types of school did not believe so. Few teachers in the NPMKs and more teachers in the PIKs were against the limits on admission fee. Many teachers in the NPMKs and all teachers in the PIKs believed that kindergartens should maintain financial stability. Half of the teachers in NPMKs and few among the teachers in the PIKs believed that the voucher scheme is a fair policy. Few teachers in both types of school believed that the voucher scheme is important to the early childhood education in Hong Kong in the long run. Half of the teachers in both types of school believe that the voucher scheme can effectively increase the teaching quality of kindergartens. Few teachers in both types of school believe that the voucher scheme will force part of the PIKs to change into NPMKs or drive them out of business and that after the practice of the voucher scheme they will have more confidence in the operation of the kindergartens.
Many of the teachers in the NPMKs and all the teachers in the PIKs hope that Hong Kong can practice full early childhood education in the future. Based on these findings, it was implied that all the teachers and the principals who are the respondents of the study welcome the Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme otherwise referred to as the voucher scheme or simply the new scheme as the governments concrete step to the attainment of standard pre-school education achievable through close government supervision. This optimism is further supported by the indicated familiarity or understanding of the scheme as a policy that will boost the teaching quality of kindergartens and with the hope that Hong Kong will have an effective full early childhood education in the future following the implementation of the scheme.
In contrast to the optimism of the majority respondents, only few of the respondents insisted their confidence on the positive impact of the new scheme on the young children. Few respondents would like to believe that the schools can adapt to the changes resulting from the new scheme and that the new scheme is really important in the long run. The greater fear of the minority lies in the possible closing of business of kindergartens that are profit-makers should they be forced to join the non-profit-makers kind of kindergartens. Still few believed that the new scheme is fair. On the overall, the optimists pinned hope on the voucher scheme as one that will highly improve early childhood education in Hong Kong, far outweighed the pessimism of the few respondents as indicated by the majority positive responses that they hope Hong Kong can practice full early education in the future, that the voucher scheme will bring about changes in the children, and can effectively increase the teaching quality of kindergartens.
There are also doubts from the minority if the new scheme is really a fair policy, and worse, if the government can after all provide the necessary resources to keep the new scheme going. The finding indicated in the numerical answers was close to consistency that there were more respondents who believed in the many good expected outcomes from the new scheme. The mean indicated that on the overall, a little over the midpoint (50) of the scale, from zero to 100, 56.25 or rounded off to the nearest tenth is 60, the voucher scheme is appreciated rather than not. Quite similar, the median indicated that about half of the respondents were below the middle score of 50 similarly half of the respondents were above the middle score of 50.
Using logical judgment from the figures, this finding indicated that the scheme is almost equally appreciated and not appreciated based on the number of respondents. However, still based on the figures, obviously there are more of those who did appreciate the new scheme over those who did not.
ii.)The Open-ended Questions
The open-ended questions were used to give the interviewees an opportunity to analyze the questions and give
More of the views of the teachers and principals on Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme gave way to the further elaboration of the preceding yes-no questions. What influences do you think the voucher scheme will bring to the local early childhood education industry To the first sub question that required either a yes or no response that the voucher scheme will improve the quality of teaching and teachers and that they dont know, 2 of the principals in the NPMKs and 1 from the PIKs replied in the affirmative while the other principal in the PIKs replied in the negative. To the sub question that the ultimate goal of free early childhood education would be achieved, only 1 principal in the NPMKs said yes while the other principal in the NPMKs and both principals from the PIKs answered no.
Many teachers from the NPMKs and half of the teachers in the PIKs answered yes to the sub question that the voucher scheme will improve the quality of teaching and teachers. All teachers in the NPMKs and many teachers in the PIKs answered no, they dont know. Half of the teachers in the NPMKs and many teachers in the PIKs answered no to the sub question that the ultimate goal of free early childhood education would be achieved.
iii) Sponsorship of Principals and Teachers under PEVS
The following is a presentation of the responses of the respondents in four open-ended questions for the principals and teachers.
Principals
To the question Will you get sponsored under the PEVS to further your professional training in ECE Why the 2 principals in the NPMKs indicated they have taken the course being sponsored by PEVS. The 6 teachers in the NPMKs except one indicated that they will all be sponsored for the reason that their schools (being NPMKs) are under the PEVS. The teacher who answered no reasoned out that the voucher scheme is giving priority to Certificate of Education and not to the degree holders implying that they were a degree holder at the time of the interview.
One of the principals in the PIKs mentioned that because their school is a private one, they cannot get any sponsor for any professional training courses. The other principal mentioned that she has no need for it because she is not staying in local school. Two of the 6 teachers in the PIKs shared the same view with the first principal i.e. that their school is not under the school voucher scheme and therefore they will not get sponsored under the PEVS. One of them said that she has a sponsor because she can get one from the government. Another teacher said she has a sponsor. One more teacher said she can get a sponsor but she did not apply. The sixth teacher thinks about getting a sponsor but she does not know how to go about it.
iv) Professional Training in ECE under the PEVS Sponsorship
Will you further your professional training in ECE because of the PEVS sponsor Why was the question where both principals in the NPMKs showed interest to upgrade them professionally especially if they can be sponsored in other courses aside from what they have completed All 6 teachers in the NPMKs except one were all willing to further training in ECE primarily because there is a sponsor and there is no expense on their part. The teacher who answered no responded as such because she has completed a degree already.
One of the principals in the PIKs stated she will further her because the government is using its resources to support teachers training. The other principal was consistent stating that she is not staying in a local school and thus, finds the training not relevant to him. Three of the 6 teachers in the PIKs said they will further their professional training in ECE because of PEVS considering that the training is comparatively cheap. The other three who similarly said yes to the training gave one of the following reasons she has a sponsor, depends on the availability of time, and to be qualified in the field.
v) Preferred Professional Training in ECE
To the question Which professional training program in ECE in Hong Kong are you interested to enroll Why both principals who insinuated having finished Certificate of Education (CE) or Qualified Kindergarten Teacher (QKT) are waiting for further information so that they will decide which course they can pursue under PEVS. Of the 6 teachers, 3 are more interested in taking up master or postgraduate degrees 3 are interested in Bachelors degrees in ECE and one is already progressively studying taking up ECE. Only one of the teachers gave a reason to pursue training which is precisely that a higher education means a higher salary.
One of the 2 principals in the PIKs indicated favoring a master degree while the other is not interested in any because of a plan to move to an international school where ECE will not be necessary. One of the teachers in the PIKs is already taking up Bachelor of ECE 2 others want to take up Bachelors degree and another wanted CE because she has not finished the course yet. The rest of the teachers (3 of them) wanted to pursue a master degree.
vi) Beyond the Professional Training
To the question Will you continue in the field of ECE in Hong Kong after you achieve the above professional training Why the two principals had differing views. One of them responded that he does not really want to continue in the field because of the disproportionate high workload and low salary. Given the opportunity in other industries, this principal would change employment. However, the other principal wanted to stay in the field of ECE because this is where he attained his profession. All the 6 teachers pointed out their desire to stay in ECE even after the professional training. Four of them categorically stated their aspiration to contribute the knowledge and education they gained from the training. The rest of the teachers said that they will remain in ECE because with high qualification comes higher salary and that their training will not be useful in other industries.
One of the principals in the PIKs gave a positive response but has a preference for a different nature such as becoming a tutor on ECE in a university or college or else, work at the Education Department. The second principals response was if he went to finish the course, then she would continue in the field of ECE. All the 6 teachers in the PIKs were positive to continue in the field of ECE although two of them had misgivings on the low salary, older age, and the uncertainty whether to continue in the same school or not. Other teachers were willing to stay in the field of ECE because of their status, higher qualification, and the satisfaction they derive out of their job.
Based on the findings, it was implied that there were more teachers and principals who will get sponsorship for a professional training under the PEVS generally because it is free-of-charge and comparatively cheap. The few teachers and principals who answered they will not be able to get sponsorship alludes to their respective school affiliations being not under the PEVS or else because they have undertaken the training or an equivalent training. Based on the findings, the biggest number of teachers and principals wanted to pursue training in ECE based on one or a combination of the following reasons the teacher or principal has found a sponsor and that the government is spending for the training, the training is cheap, the training will enhance their qualifications, and that the training is necessary to work or stay on the job. The very few who said they will not continue with the training reasoned out that the particular training has already been undertaken or it does not become relevant to one who will leave childhood education job.
Majority of the respondents implied pursuing professional training program in ECE in Hong Kong and that they were particularly interested to enroll in ECE primarily because it is free as sponsored by PEVS. It appeared that one of the motivating factors in pursuing training by the respondents is the high salary that would necessarily come with higher qualification. Some of the respondents insinuated to rise to a higher position such as to become a principal later on. It also surfaced that training in ECE is not enough. There is a need to pursue higher education such as a masters degree in education or child psychology. The few respondents who gave their options in the ECE professional training of their interest, one of them has completed ECE and thus, becomes unnecessary in her case. Another respondent was already done with ECE and a masters degree. A respondent was pursuing already a bachelors degree which means having completed already the ECE course another was undecided which course to take still another was not interested to pursue training while insinuating a plan to move to an international school.
Based on the findings, majority of the respondents expressed categorically their intention to stay in the field after they shall have secured and completed the training in ECE. Some of them expressed desire to serve with their earnedenhanced knowledge in pre-school education as their own contribution in the field. There was an implied renewal of impetus from the respondents to come back to work in pre-school education brought about by the training in ECE both feeling more qualified and happy. It cannot also be discounted that there were teachers and principals who did not feel gratified by the low salary and thus, the insinuation to find say a tutorial job in ECE in the university or college or at the education department of Hong Kong. The same sentiment was espoused by few respondents to find other jobs on account of low salary that they alleged is not proportionate to the workload.
In Depth Interview with a Principal in an NPMK
The respondent in an in depth interview is a principal working in a non-profit making kindergarten. The interview with him revealed much information about the voucher scheme from his own perception. The principal conveyed his appreciation of the voucher scheme particularly on the area of teacher training in ECE. The interviewee stated his own understanding of the new scheme as one that aims first, to modify the quality of kindergarten and promote kindergarten teacher qualification. Second, the school voucher is for the parents on sponsor paying the kindergarten school fees for their children.
The following were drawn from the respondents responses
Overall, the Education Bureau was doing well in the professional development of teachers both in the NPMKs or PIKs in terms of qualification and skills upgrading as well as professionalism. However, this resulting upgrading or professionalize was not equated with an improved personal quality of the teachers. The respondent qualified his statement on the quality of professional development program for teachers that should include the personal development, the quality of the teachers self development. As we are aware, the professional development nowadays is just focused to earn a higher qualification. People just care about the academic sides the teachers do get higher qualification or more certificates diploma, etc. But I believe that the quality of the personal development and the mission of being a teacher are more important.
The interviewee continued to emphasize that teacher training that is constituted by learning the theories must see to the application of those theories inside the classroom. It is more important that teachers handle real life situation with young children. This suggested a concern for the outcome of the training under the sponsorship of the new scheme. Teachers enrich their skills and thus, emerge as more qualified teachers. However, the issue in the training is not just to acquire the skills or make the teachers academically qualified. More importantly, the attitude and the moral outlook in kindergarten education must be addressed so as to inculcate commitment in the teaching profession of young children. To this end, the respondent recommended that some workshops or trainings must be conducted to inculcate in the teachers the right attitude by understanding the underlying philosophy and mission of children education.
This principal did not believe that a teacher who has completed a high level training (i.e. Certificate of Education) meant that she can teach better than the one having only a Qualified Kindergarten Teacher (QKT). Again, the qualities of a good teacher are deemed more important than just a qualification gained from training. This respondent related an experience that he had with a teacher who got a certificate of education and was pursuing a bachelors degree in early childhood education at that time she was hired. Accordingly, upon this principals evaluation, the teacher was found wanting in practice. The principal continued saying that a teacher may keep on going up the ladder for higher education but it is not a guarantee of a good teacher in this field. An experienced classroom teacher, from the point of view of this principal, is far better than one who has just been trained in Certificate of Education (C.E.) but without experience.
In this situation also lies the difference between a pre-service and in-service training. The teacher who had been from a pre-service training may be stuffed with theories but not equally effective in the implementation of the theories in the classroom. On the other hand, the teacher who went into an in-service training is far better than the former upon his or her return in the classroom, he or she is better prepared with his or her acquired training. Besides, teachers who are products of pre-service trainings are new in the service unlike teachers who are already in the service and still attend in-service trainings. Training and belief in the teaching profession matter most in the field of childhood education. The interviewee also emphasized that evaluation must be carried out by the government not only to the kindergartens but to the teachers as well. Teachers evaluation must not be a task left to the schools (who could be subjective) the government should set its own norm of evaluation of teachers for objectivity reasons.
The new scheme was also believed to benefit the teachers in the three years for the training that they will gain and which will ultimately redound to the upgrading of their qualifications while kept abreast of the latest strategies in early childhood education. This principal prior to the implementation of the policy on the voucher scheme completed the required course, namely, a Certificate Course for Kindergarten Principal. This is an evidence of hisher sympathetic attachment to children education. It was implied that it was her personal initiative to pursue higher education to become more skillful and knowledgeable in pre-school education. She said, Before it was compulsory to take the Certificate Course for Kindergarten Principal, I had completed a similar course years ago. As I am working in this field, I need to polish myself on all areas too. Moreover, believing in the benefits and the skills development brought about by the voucher scheme that can cascade to the improvement of early childhood education, she has sent teachers to the Hong Kong Institute of Education for teacher training.
The principal expressed some concerns about the impact of the training with regard to the teachers. She was quoted having said that
Under the school voucher scheme, the government expects the school did a lot of paper work. The school needs to do self -evaluation and the Education Bureau will come for inspection, so lots of stuffs are required to be in document or record. As a result of the demand on the teachers for working on extra paper works while performing two other functions at the same time as a classroom teacher and a trainee in ECE, some teachers end up getting sick. The school, as a consequence, gets supply teachers (which is quite an expensive option), who are not as good as the regular teachers and when this happens, parents come to the school to complain. If it were possible that the voucher money would be given to this principal, she would like to use it to hire supply teachers so as to ease the workload of the teachers who were undergoing training.
A possible outcome of the teacher training as expressed by this principal was that schools may lose good teachers who are more experienced in teaching but who lack the required qualification under the new scheme in favor of hired new teachers who just completed the teachers professional development training. Furthermore, with pay scales not being followed by some kindergartens, many teachers leave the schools in the long run. With the pay scale, teachers expect salary increase yearly without the pay scale, they are not guaranteed a salary increase. In addition when they transfer to another kindergarten, they will begin with the usual starter salary. Without the pay scale and further compounded by increased workload, teachers are just hanging around to teach in the kindergartens while they keep their options open for prospective employment elsewhere.
It was suggested by this principal that government through the Education Bureau should apply the policies not too quick and rush. The requirements are highly taxing as they put pressure both on the teachers and the schools. As this respondent commented
The government wants the teachers to go for professional training and at the same time, the school needs to do self evaluation and the Education Bureau comes for inspection. Lots of paper work is needed during the time. All these come together and bring in pressure to the teachers. After all these inspection and self evaluations, the Education Bureau will put all the data on the internet and allow the public to access the data anytime. This brings in great pressure to the school.
The result was passing judgment by the parents and other stakeholders based on the available information on the website. Moreover, alluding to the gravity of the governments requirements, the principal stated that, since the start of the school self evaluation, we all get tired doing all those work. Once we get this done, another paper work is coming. When you get used to one format, then a new policy appears. The recommendations of this principal with particular reference to the teachers professional development are worth noting. Aside from attaining higher educational qualifications in the teaching profession, the training should necessarily include the element of moral education perceived as beneficial to both the teachers and to the students including the lecturers and tutors in institutes or universities. The principal was quoted saying Also more moral education is needed as it is very important to the teachers and to the students This is even more important than just teaching teachers on teaching skills. Even the lecture or tutor in the institute or university offering the professional teachers training courses, they also need to have a clear picture on what is early childhood education.
The Group Interview with Three (3) Teachers
The following was a result of a group interview with three of the respondents. The data that emerged from the group discussion elucidated information that served to supplement all the other opinions earlier presented. The discussion included the perceived understanding by the interviewees of the school voucher scheme, the raised points, comments and concerns about the scheme, and recommendations aimed as much as possible to address the issues and controversies brought about by the new scheme.
All three interviewees evidenced an ability to carry on a discussion about the voucher scheme as they understood it. The three interviewees, it must be noted, were teachers from the two types of school Y is a teacher working in an NPMK, S and C are teachers working in PIKs. For ease of understanding with regard to the respective affiliations of the participants, Y is identified as Y (NPMK), S as S (PIK) and C as (PIK). C (PIK) thought that the government wants to control the quality of kindergartens in Hong Kong. Her analysis stated The government is giving the school a small amount of money, but can have a bit of control to the kindergarten, so day by day, the government can have the power to control all the kindergartens by the end. I believe thats one of the reasons having the school voucher scheme.
S (PIK) pointed out that under the scheme, parents can put their kids in non-profit making kindergarten so (they) can get the school voucher scheme sponsor. Responding to the statement, Y (NMPK) retorted that while parents are able to save money through the scheme, the parents will have fewer choices on choosing kindergarten because they can only choose from the schools that are covered by the voucher scheme. They are however in agreement that the scheme helps the teachers finish the required course.
C (PIK) asked why only the nonprofit making kindergartens can have the school voucher scheme. S (PIK) wished that every child should be supported by the government regardless of the school chosen for his or her pre-school education by remarking that,
Actually, what I mean is every child should be sponsored by the government. If the government is sponsoring the same shouldnt be just on sponsoring to non-profit making kindergarten, but should sponsor the private independent kindergarten. The child is also Hong Kong born. The respondent obviously alludes to the idea that every child should have equal access to any kindergarten as they are all citizens of Hong Kong. Y (NPMK) wished that pre-school education can be included in the free education in Hong Kong as it is with the primary and senior schools. On a positive note, S (PIK) said I think that the strategy is good. It is just a matter of how the school arranges this voucher scheme to benefit the teachers. I think this is even more important. It is not saying the school voucher scheme can help the teachers or not, it is the matter that different schools have different policies.
The teachers came into focus in the discussion on account of their condition or plight in relation to their respective principals and schools under the new scheme. Some teachers were benefited some were not. According to Y (NPMK), for her who finished the course before the school voucher scheme policy like herself, she thinks she may not at all benefit from it. Initially, based on her brief story, while she worked with a non-profit kindergarten, the program came later after she has completed the required course using her own money. Even at a time when she was working with another non-profit kindergarten, she asked to be sent to take the Certificate Course for Kindergarten Principal to allow reimbursement under the scheme later on. But, she was refused by her school principal simply because that principal has not yet taken the course. According to her, when she proceeded to do her masters degree upon acceptance, she spent her own money for the course.
In addition, the respondents indicated that the school decides on the pay scales they are not following the government pay scales. In this case, the government pay scales do not at all serve any purpose. The salaries of the teachers are at the pleasure of the school regardless of their qualifications. As a consequence, many good teachers leave the schools in search of higher salaries elsewhere. Moreover, some teachers opt to work in PIKs because of lighter workload compared to the NPMKs. Non-profit making government-sponsored kindergartens put great demand on paper works in compliance to the numerous documents required by the government as its own way of monitoring and keeping watch of standards.
Closely tied up with the kindergarten teachers under the voucher scheme is the pursuance of their professional development. S (PIK) raised some insights that there are teachers who had been long in service and are not anymore willing to pursue professional development for one reason or another. S (PIK) gave some of the reasons that many teachers do not want to pursue any further study in early children education (older) age, family, the belief that the school will not fire them and that after all their salary will remain the same. Moreover, she suggested that the school must find ways to motivate them to go on training for at least two benefits after completion while they remain in their schools, they shall have gained improvement and if they should move out of the school, they have qualifications they can bring to a new job. Another suggestion she made was to plan individually for teacher professional development. She strongly suggested that while the plans are made by the school board of directors, the teachers must be involved in the planning to identify and address their specific needs.
The school poses as a conceivable problem to the teachers while it has its own problems in relation to the new scheme. They became highly bureaucratic through the board of directors andor the principals who have the power to authorize or not a teacher to go to training. Sometimes, the favored ones are those who are authorized to go on training. S (PIK) shared supporting the practice of favoritism that, we are all paying to study in another institute because if we wait for the school to approve us to go for the training, that will take ages. It is good to have school voucher scheme, but how to help the teachers directly on teachers professional development or helping the school on teachers training that needs to be considered.
The schools are confronted with various problems of returning teachers after completing professional development training or degree. A conceivable reason for the school administrations reluctance to send teachers on training, Y (NPMK) gathered from a principal that if the teacher undergoes the training, after graduation, the school must raise his or her salary as a result. There are instances where teachers leave the school after completing a course. How to keep them in the school is a problem of management and management skills. On the other hand, when new teachers are hired, they lack the experience and training that the older teachers have. The related story by Y (NPMK) is a case in point. Some 80 percent of the teaching force in a school left altogether after on the third year after they were all trained in a practicum in Taiwan. Other new teachers ostensibly assume themselves to become principals right away after completing their course.
Teachers prefer to work in non-profit making kindergartens and not in for-profit kindergartens, because the former is their gateway to be sponsored for teacher training courses. This leaves the private independent kindergarten teachers uncertain to benefit from any teacher training which further result into the difficulty of hiring teachers. The interviewees have some observations in the point of view of the government. Y (NPMK) believed that government undermined kindergarten teachers saying that, It is because to the government, they have a concept that kindergarten teachers are still only having a Form 5 level or having a QKT, they didnt realize lots of teachers had a much higher qualification already.
It is perceived by the interviewees that the scheme and the government for that matter are only interested in raising the qualifications of the teachers. There are respondents who signified their intention in pursuing professional development not to serve the pre-school industry but to work elsewhere with wider options. S (PIK), for one stated, I want to complete a Ph D so that I can work in another industry. The speedy change of policies by the government is something that the schools and teachers can hardly cope with aside from the absence of at least consultation with the teachers who are implementers of any new strategy in the field. The requirements are perceived to be many and before the schools get used to using the prescribed forms, new requirements pour in either outdating the former or adding to what already are required.
It was deduced from the interviewees that they wished that free education in Hong Kong be expanded to include kindergarten and that teachers can also enjoy the same pay scales as the primary and high school teachers. Primary and high school teachers salaries scales remained the same even if they transferred to another school. Among the kindergarten teachers, a newcomer will always start with the starters salary. It was suggested as a good idea to set the starting salary for teachers in kindergarten and scaled to provide room for salary increases to be based on some definite criteria.
Teachers professional development is prized but lacked the heart and commitment when it comes to the new pre-service trained teachers. They are found to be unlike those teachers who served long years in teaching but who still desire to be trained. Professional training, it was suggested by Y (NPMK), should include the important aspects of commitment and an internalized appreciation of and passion for teaching children in kindergarten. The training should also consider not limiting it to a degree level but should necessarily include pursuing graduate program such as a masters degree. It is believed that the concept of the new scheme is good but may not meet its objectives considering these teachers development circumstances.
Summary
This chapter presented the results of the survey questionnaires and the interviews conducted to find the answers to the research questions in this study. The information strengthened and revealed important insights problems and prospects - of the situation of kindergarten education in Hong Kong under the PEVS. A summary of the study and the interpretation of the results will be discussed in the next chapter as well as implications and recommendations for action and future research.
Chapter 6
Results Discussion
Introduction
This chapter presents a discussion of the findings derived from the interviews and tries to give tentative answers to the research questions stated at the beginning of the research. Included as well are recommendations for action and suggestions for future research.
The Major Differences between the schools that have Pre- Primary Education Voucher Scheme and those without the voucher scheme
From the study, its easy to note that not only is the school environment different between the NPMKs and PIKs. With the Pre- Primary Education Voucher Scheme in NPMKs, the educational environment seems to be a little more relaxed as most teachers readily accept the scheme as part of their systems and as a tool they can use to develop themselves career wise. The environment in NPMKs with the PEVS implemented can be deemed as more friendly to the parents and students as much pressure seems to have been lifted from the parents hence making them more and more receptive of the teaching professions. Through the PEVS, the government can also not only monitor the schools resources allocation and usage, but they can monitor the funding to ensure that all learners are well catered for financially. This then means that the burden of paying school fees can be lifted from the parents and the time they would have spent looking for money to pay for their childrens schooling can be used in investing in other activities in and out of the schools.
Irrespective of the above advantages, its noteworthy that accountability in NPMKs could be lower than in PIKs meaning that money may be wasted in the NPMKs and not so much go to waste in the PIK. With the NPMKs since the funding may not be coming directly to profit the schools, it may be wasted by the schools management who may feel that even though they waste the funds, they can always be funded again. However, with the PIKs, profitability is key hence their accountability policies and practices may be a little strict.
Difference in responses from respondents in Pre- Primary Education Voucher Scheme Schools and those without the voucher scheme
Interestingly, the divide between the two types of school NPMKs and PIKs was not too evident in the views of the principals and teachers who were the participants in the study in equal numbers. There were more convergent views rather than the divergent views on the questions that were asked of them. All of the participants coming both from NPMKs and PIKs were unanimous in saying that the kindergartens should be supervised to ensure the standard of education. This alludes to the idea that it is through the close supervision by the government that the program is more likely to succeed. Many of them believed that the voucher scheme is not a fair policy. They are also positive that the voucher scheme can effectively increase the teaching quality of kindergartens. Altogether, they believed that Hong Kong can practice full early childhood education in the future. This reaction is prompted by the ongoing increased teacher training.
The averages of the marks that they have given to the scheme at 55.00, 56.66, 35, and 62.50 resulted in an overall average of 52.25. This indicated that their view is somewhere in the middle which further showed that the participants highly appreciate the changes that the voucher scheme brought among other things. This is moreover indicative of an increasing understanding of the voucher scheme in the long run. A logical deduction from the numerical result showed that there are in fact more participants who appreciated the new scheme over those who did not. A few among them insinuated cynicism of the voucher scheme particularly on the concern if government can after all provide the necessary resources to keep the voucher scheme going.
The Positive and Negative Impact of the School Voucher Scheme to the Teachers Professional Development
Positive Impact
It is still held that teachers and principals in the NPMKs perceive more positive aspects of the voucher scheme compared to their counterparts in the PIKs. The Education Bureau is doing its own share of the responsibility in seeing to the professional development of the teachers in the NPMKs and PIKs. The capabilities of the teachers are further reinforced through the training. However, there are also expressed misgivings about teacher training despite the acquisition of a degree or higher qualification. While there are teachers who are academically trained, they lack the commitment, the passion, and the heart for teaching young children.
Graduates of the teacher training are perceived to display superiority over the other teachers to the extent that those who stayed and served so well for long years were being undermined. This is a consequence of a higher degree that is expected to be matched by a higher salary scale. There are teachers who prefer to work in NMPKs to be sponsored for the teacher training courses. As a result, PIKs find difficulty in replacing transferring teachers. This leaves the PIKs in wonder if they should ever benefit from the voucher scheme. On the other hand, there are teachers in the NPMKs who do not have the motivation to apply for sponsorship for the training given the idea that their salaries will not be raised even after acquiring a degree or completing the training. Research, time and again, has concurred that training that is updating is one way to earning more knowledge and skills and thereby makes one become more effective in his or her field.
The PEVS impact on parents cannot go unnoticed. In many instances, the financial burden imposed on parents when it comes to their childrens education can be taxing. However, with the PEVS, the burden of having to pay for the childrens fees is lightened and parents can then use the money for other causes such as enhancing the living conditions of their children and family. Money saved by parents from non-payment of the kindergarten fees can be put into other use. Children can be given better opportunities to learn other things such as extra music lessons, or develop their other skills such as singing. In other instances or cases, parents can make a saving to make investments and in the end it may lead to the development of better learning.
When it comes to the teachers development, in some cases, parents relieved from paying for the childrens kindergarten, can make contributions to better learning systems. In many instances, PEVS can lead to better management of school systems if better regulation and accountability systems are implemented. In Hong Kong, teachers in NPMKs are able to get a boost into the educational system that would be able to boost their educational levels and hence their professional development. This means that the teachers would be able to provide better educational support to the children in the kindergartens. This on the other hand can lead to relieve from the parents responsibility to emphasize and spend a lot of time in education or home-schooling the children. The parents on the other hand can then provide much needed support to the teachers in their professional development.
Negative Impact
There is apprehension that there will be an influx of teachers who just completed the teachers professional development training. This poses as a threat to the older ones who had been in the kindergartens for so long and equipped with experience. There is possibility that those who are more experienced but who lack the required qualification under the voucher scheme may be replaced by the qualified ones by virtue of the teachers professional development training. The concern for the quick and rush compliance to the policies of the Education Bureau puts pressure on the schools and teachers to cope with the self-evaluation and inspections conducted by the Bureau. The flowing in of paper works saddles the teachers who are supposed to be in the training and teaching at the same time.
The new scheme makes NPMKs complain of difficulties encountered due to increased workloads and work-related stress. PIKs teachers fall under the mercy of their school principal whether they can pursue a teacher training or not at all. There are cases where the teachers themselves proceed to take the required course at their own expense. In this aspect, it was recommended that all kindergarten teachers should be sponsored regardless of their school affiliation and without necessarily passing through the nomination or approval of their own school. After all, it was argued, the teachers professional development training is funded not by the schools but by the government.
Some of the teachers in the PIKs experience low job satisfaction and low morale on account of the low salary but overloaded curricula. For some teachers who are willing to pursue the teachers training even outside of school hours, they are not permitted by their school. There were teachers who were indifferent to train in ECE because they believed that their long years of experience in teaching were good enough for them. When it comes to training, some form of motivation must be set in place to entice those who need the training to apply for it.
How to Enrich the Teachers Professional Development
There were significant propositions to enrich the teachers professional development. The quality of teacher training must necessarily include a comprehensive understanding of the philosophy underlying early childhood education. It is contended that development is not only the acquisition of pedagogical techniques or rising to some standards but more than anything, it must live up to the challenge to be able to harmoniously intertwine research-basedtested techniques and strategies with moral values, dedication and genuine commitment to the students. While the current teacher development focus may be on the academic angle, it has to be noted that the ultimate goal is not only to get the best skills from the teachers but to have students that would be efficiently and effectively trained and catered for academically.
The ultimate beneficiary in any educational effort is the child or student thus, the need for a balance between qualification and moral values. It should include the personal development of the teachers that imbibes moral values and the passion for teaching young children. The theories and strategies are necessary tools in teaching but the love for the profession and the children must be inculcated at the highest level to become effective teachers in the kindergartens. Teacher development under the PEVS should encompass the complete areas of development professional, academic, social, psychological, and even emotional.
Professional development is one key area that the PEVS has been a boost in that the teachers are able to go back to training to get advanced training in the areas of their choice. In some cases, the teachers are able to attain degree level training which would not be obviously attained by the teachers individually using their own savings. The scheme has been a great tool for teachers to use in their professional development. Providing the backbone for educational development, acquisition of knowledge and skills essential to the teachers development in their careers PEVS has been termed as one of the best educational programs in the country.
The teachers professional development training could include procedures that would accommodate graduate program at least to the masters degree level and not limited to a degree level only. It would also offer better results if the teachers in the PIKs could also be availed a monthly allocation to cater for the educational expenses if at all they cannot be absorbed into the PEVS. In addition to the Board of Directors of each school, the teachers must be involved in the overall planning for teachers professional development plan. This way, they have a stake in the plan and they can input their own needs in consideration of their interests and abilities. The plan must be flexible to make it more relevant whenever necessary. Related to the plan and training, the time needed by the teachers to cope with teaching and training must be dealt with proportionately so that no responsibility of the teachers is compromised.
There is a definite need to standardize the qualifications of kindergarten teachers just as primary and high school teachers are standardized. In some cases, the principal in the respective schools may not be requested to undergo further or continual training. However, if mandatory measures are taken to ensure that all staff members in schools are trained under the PEVS. This will not only make them academically qualified but they will better understand their teachers who are attending teacher training as well. In addition, as principals, they ought to be higher in degree if possible than their teachers.
In Hong Kong, the voucher scheme requires the teachers to have a Certificate of Education before the year 2012 ends. Teachers will be obliged to learn and understand the new teaching techniques that would definitely increase the motivation and interests for learning of the children. In some researches, it is stated that in order for schools to have a good standard of teaching, the school management must support the teachers in acquiring better professional development.
Ever since the use of voucher system in promoting professional development, the pre-schools have already shown their objection to it. This probably shows that teachers are resistant to change and they still embrace their old ways of teaching. Using voucher in promoting new professional development means that the teachers of any given pre-school institution will be required not only to study and prepare for their lessons but to motivate their students as well. A voucher requires the teachers to spend more time revising their teaching techniques and methodologies and also, they have to work longer period with their co-teachers.
Few studies have been conducted to study the difficulties that teachers face because of the voucher system. This gives a rationale for this study. A qualitative approach was employed where a total of twelve teachers and four principals from the four kindergarten schools were asked to participate in the study. Two of those kindergartens have vouchers and the other two do not have vouchers. An in-depth group and individual interview with the participants were conducted in order to gather their views on the impact of the voucher scheme to educators and to measure their willingness when it comes to accepting a new form of professional development.
The result of the study show that the systematic divide between the non-profit-making kindergartens and the profit-making kindergartens does not extend to the perspectives of the teachers in these schools. In fact, there were more convergent than divergent views about the pre-primary education voucher scheme among the teachers from these schools. Many of the teachers believe that the voucher scheme is in fact a fair policy and that it could effectively improve teachers quality. However, there were also some negative comments which mostly revolved around the apprehension of older teachers over the influx of the young and qualified teachers. The non-profit-making kindergartens also complain about the additional work that the voucher scheme creates while teachers from the profit-making kindergartens feel that their development is at the mercy of the school principal. It is also interesting to note that there were significant proposals gathered in the interviews. One important improvement proposal is that since the ultimate beneficiary is the student who is in need of a well-rounded development, teacher development in the voucher scheme should also be well-rounded, that is, that it should encompass the following areas professional, academic, social, psychological, and even emotional. It was also proposed that teachers from profit-making kindergartens be provided with governmental allocation for their development. Lastly, it would be ideal that teachers be involved in the overall planning of the teachers development plan.
Chapter 1
Introduction
Early childhood education is one of the important aspects contributing to human development as it obviously lays the foundation for a childs later mental development (UNESCO, 2008). Over the years, states have therefore sought to implement variant systems of management to enhance greater efficiencies in their education systems. However, such processes have different impacts to the stakeholders in relation to the industry. This chapter of this study sets the stage of the later sections which explore the effects of Hong Kongs Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme on teachers professional development. The chapter brings out the problems being addressed in the study and outlines the overall aims and objectives the researcher seeks to establish. Besides, it provides a brief outline of the methodology used to generate and analyze the results in the later sections.
Background of the Study
Education is considered to be one of the most important aspects in human development as it is linked to the ability of an individual to establish a strong basis upon which later personality and pedagogic demands are based on (Walker Cheong, 1996). According to the Hong Kong Education Bureau (2008), Hong Kong pre-primary service has been strongly market driven where private institutions and individuals were the key driving forces on their efficacy in the country. However, this system came under intense pressure to raise the standards of education, as Sylva (2007) and Organization for Economic Development (OECD) (2009) point out. The pressure came from early childhood specialists who called for greater professionalism in the system not only to raise local standard, but to meet internationally recognized standards.l
Following the heightened pressure, the government introduced major reforms through the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme which sought to enhance higher levels of early childhood education. This would be achieved through some changes by subsidizing children at the pre-school age in the non-profit kindergartens. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (2007) claims that this system is better and operates in a three-fold model namely the following 1.) quality assurance anchored on self evaluation of the schools and external monitoring system to evaluate the schools progress 2.) achievement of the set goals by the scheme and lastly, 3.) maintenance of optimal performance of both the students and teachers. In addition, the system seeks to provide affordable and quality education to the three to six years children and also finally to support teachers for further professional development. By emphasizing on higher standards like a minimum of bachelors degree for the kindergarten principals, certificate for the teachers and effective subsidy to the children, it is apparent that the government seeks full involvement in early childhood education. Furthermore, it seeks to discourage independent kindergartens in Hong Kong while encouraging them to shift to non-profit-making kindergartens by 2011. Since the introduction of the preschool education voucher system, major complaints have persisted among the pre-school teachers themselves, the community, and the researchers fraternity on the efficacy that it can assimilate. Whereas some of them are considered to be far fetched as Leung (2009) argues, they are direct derivatives of human natures resistance to change. There is a need to focus on the extensive concerns for the professional developmental deficit for the teachers. The voucher system has been reported to generate great pressure to the teachers and deprive them off their morale through self evaluation systems and tedious work compared to the prior private pre-primary system. To add to that, it has often been reported that the voucher scheme has further reduced the teachers morale as it offers salaries which are far less compared to those they used to get in for-profit pre-primary schools (Yuen, 2007). Leslie (2009) argues that teachers dislike the certificates being required to upgrade them under since these teachers claim that the certificate now being required is indeed similar to what they have already attained. Education researchers indicate that for a system to be effective there is need to generate the necessary internal harmony between all the stakeholders as a major facet of generating acceptance in the new voucher scheme in Hong Kong (Donald, 2009 Bray et al, 2005 Vickers, 2003).
Research Aims and Objectives
The research was guided by the following objectives
To establish the major perceived impacts of the administration of the voucher scheme on teachers professional development.
To establish the major positive and negative effects on teachers professional development.
To generate recommendations for enhancing greater levels of pre-school teachers professional development in the region.
Research Method
To achieve the established objectives, teachers and principals were interviewed. Questionnaires were used as guide questions. To add to that, secondary information was also very crucial in understanding previous literature on teachers professional development and deriving further understanding on a theoretical plane. Secondary data were collected from books, journals, government records, internet and the local dailies.
Research Sample
This study took a strong focus on the pre-school teachers in the different schools that offered preschool education. By limiting the study to this population, it is indeed possible to generate strongly particularistic results with high viability owing to the fact that the teachers were the direct subjects of this study. Four kindergartens consisting of two private independent kindergartens and two non-profit-making kindergartens were selected from which one principal and three teachers from each of the kindergarten were chosen using purposive sampling method.
The teachers are considered to understand the problems arising from the voucher system having gained so much experience in their many years of teaching. The focus on Hong Kong will further enhance specificity in the achievement of the established aims and objectives.
Organization of Dissertation
The dissertation is organized in the following manner chapter two presents a review of literature on teachers professional development chapter three introduces the Hong Kong Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme. Chapter four provides a clear analysis of the method that was employed by during the study. Chapter five presents the results. Finally, the results are analyzed, conclusions made, and recommendations provided in the last chapter.
Chapter 2
Literature Review on Teachers Profession Development
Introduction
The purpose of this study is look into the teachers perceived impacts of the Hong Kong Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme on their professional development. Over the last few years most schools have showed increased efforts to enhance the professional skills of the teachers. However, the trainings were not enough and the government sought to improve teacher development effectively. According to Wong, Hon and Chiu (1997) teachers professional development is very important due to the role of the teachers in molding a nation, which is concretely effected in their role of providing the soundest foundation at the pre-school years.
This study explores the nature of the Hong Kong Pre-primary Education Voucher Schemes approach to teacher development. To generate the correct perspective on Hong Kongs pre- primary education voucher scheme as applied in the region, the chapter examines the models and theoretical perspectives on teachers development. This will be very critical in generating a holistic understanding on the new systems impacts and how it might be improved.
Professional Development
The definition of teacher development has been a highly contested topic owing to the vast impacts that result from its applications. However, a general consensus appears evident on its application which has been used to derive its meaning. The thesaurus of Educational Resources Information Centre defines professional development as the activities that enhance the growth of professional careers (Donald, 2009). These activities may include individual development, in-service education, continuing education, study groups, peer coaching or mentoring and curriculum writing. It can also be referred to as the sum total of informal and formal experiences of learning from the pre- service teacher education to retirement that is through out ones carrier (Fullan, 1991). According to Prostik (1996) teachers professional development refers to the improvement and promotion of skills as well as knowledge that is applied in their pedagogic duties. It therefore includes all the types of facilitating aspects that seek to further the teachers careers in their work. Prostik (1996) indicates that the efficacy of a teachers development program is entirely dependent on the ability to harmonize the development practices by involving all the stakeholders positively to achieve the targeted results. Most of the teachers professional development is based on further training where they are able to assimilate higher status compared to the one they are presently in. Sedlak (1987) points out that teachers development training should include aspects such as coaching, lesson studies, technical assistance, seminars, and communities of practice that enhance the ability of the teacher to relate correctly with the others, the students, administration, the and the society in molding the students.
A study by Fine (1994) stated that professional teachers development can not be viewed on a certain day of the school calendar instead, it must be incorporated as a daily part of the teachers life as educators.
Therefore all educators and also the school administrators need more time to participate in seminars, work in groups, conduct research, plan lessons, and learn from each other. This is because school change is not only a result of individual development but also organizational development.
Teachers development programs are not only year-long they ought to also be inclusive. The Holmes Group showed that this can be done through mutual deliberating on the challenges facing student learning, sharing teaching in schools, collaborating to research on the challenges of the education system and cooperation on the supervision of the prospective teachers and administrators (Holmes Group, 1986).
In addition to the role in training, the professional development of teachers serves to strengthen knowledge in schools and also the practices used by providing sites for research, inquiry, experimentation and evaluation and eventually identification of innovative and effective teaching practices. This was established through a research done in 1989 (Moller, 2007).
As such, teachers professional development may be narrow or it may be wide, as we have seen in these previous researches. Nevertheless, the point remains the same a development program aims to make teachers better teachers.
Influential Factors on Teachers Professional Development
Certain factors affect teachers professional development. That means, depending on the presence or absence or the quality of these factors, teachers professional development may either be facilitated or burdened. Thus, in the literature, we see for example how regulations may demand that teachers acquire more skills, and in such cases, professional development becomes a necessity to become a teacher. In other instances, we read of teachers not desiring to attend development seminars (Scheerens, 2009), and thus lack of motivation may also retard ones development as a teacher. In this section, we shall identify five factors that affect or influence teachers professional development.
Technological application
A broader definition considers the meaning of professional development in the present technology and it refers to professional development as a development that involves the use of technology in the fostering of teachers growth. By technological application, we refer to teacher development training that includes the informal and formal means of helping educators not only to learn additional teaching skills but to develop new and improved ideas on pedagogy and their own approaches and explore new understanding on the content and resources of use (Donald, 2009).
One great challenge is the need for continuous teacher training in technology upgrade, especially for information and communication technology (ICT) classroom applications. In a recent study, Scheerens report to the European Union (EU) showed that in China, Cyprus, England, Greece, and the Netherlands, there is a relatively high unmet need for technology-related teaching skills (2009, p. 209). At least 30 to 50 of teachers complain about this unmet need (Scheerens, 2009, p. 209) which affect the integration (or at least the immediate integration) of technology in their pedagogy. In this sense, technological application affects professional development.
Policy requirements
Policy requirements form one of the major factors that dictate the need for teachers professional development. In Hong Kong, Man, Ngar-man and Carmen (2007) indicate that the new voucher system that demands the early childhood education teachers to undergo further professional development is a government policy. This affects the type of professional development programs available, as well as the extent that teachers would need to push themselves to develop themselves as teachers. Different countries have different educational policies and different requirements set for teachers.
In Hong Kong for example, pre-primary school teachers are required to only have a Qualified Kindergarten Teacher (QKT) certificate, but are now required to have a Certificate in Early Childhood Education (CECE). In other countries such as Cyprus, Greece, and Italy, professional development is a definite obligation for newly appointed teachers (Scheerens, 2009, p. 203), but in France, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Sweden, teacher participation in development programs is optional (Scheerens, 2009, p. 203). If we were to look at these trends in these European countries, we could intuitively make a distinction about how this basic legislation has affected subsequent legislations on teacher development programs. Making the participation in developing programs ensures nation-wide homogeneity on certain teacher training courses, or seminars, etcetera. It also speaks of the different legal pressures it has on teachers themselves. Hong Kongs current requirement for CECE for Pre-primary Education teachers would obviously put pressure for teachers to attain such a developmental goal, within a specified time period.
Thus, the above discussion points to the crucial factor of policy in determining national pressure (or lack of it) in teachers professional development, and in the amount of policy pressure that teachers personally need to deal with. Now we turn to finances.
c.) Finances
According to Fine (1994), finances form a key influential factor that determines the affordability of further development. As indicated earlier, most of the teachers usually seek to improve their careers by seeking further studies in the form of certificates and degrees. However, this comes at a cost and the teachers must be able to meet the respective costs to get their objectives. Man et al. (2007) indicate that Hong Kong Voucher scheme for kindergarten was a major success due to the government being the main funding agency for the willing teachers. However, the notion of funds has been a source of controversy especially with reference to the emergence of the high costs that have been attached to training in institutions of higher learning.
Many examples globally demonstrate how funds influence teacher development programs. Developing and developed countries alike attest to the influence of funds in the provision of teacher development programs, in the sustainability of these provisions, and the possible burden for teachers who may lack funds to further improve themselves professionally. The example of Papua New Guinea shows how funds are needed to make teacher development sustainable (Lucas, 1996). The examples of the European Union countries demonstrate how in these countries, the affectivity of a development program is directly correlated to costs the most effective types of development are also those for which teachers are more likely to have had to pay the full or partial cost (Scheerens, 2009, p. 205). The reason for this correlation is yet to be explored, but clearly, the money factor is an important element that influences professional development.
Provision of enough funds can aid the teachers achieve professional training development. This should be established as a major incentive to encourage further development by the teachers. With the present economic status affecting all spheres of the globe negatively, the governments should seek to subsidize or fully sponsor development programs for the teachers, especially the most effective programs.
d.)Time
To effectively achieve the required development for the teachers, time factor becomes very critical. Taking into consideration that most of the teachers in early childhood education have families, their development demands special plans in terms of shifting away from home and preparing for the studies during the learning period. Whereas this may not necessarily be hard, the cumulative period for preparation and further training is very crucial. Thus time may have an immediate or mediate influence on teachers professional development. Again, literature demonstrates this as well.
In developing countries where teachers are overburdened with work load like Papua New Guinea, lack of time becomes one of the major obstacles to sustainable teacher development programs (Lucas, 1996). Too much workload makes teachers practically unavailable to attend to professional development activities. In some developed countries, the situation is not far from that of Papua New Guinea. Though countries such as Australia, Belgium, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States require teachers to attend developing programs for at least 5 days a year (Scheerens, 2009, p. 203), many teachers still dont get to use their privilege to use some of their work time for professional development activities due to lack of substitute teachers (Scheerens, 2009, p. 204). Thus again, time becomes a very important factor that influences teachers participation (or lack of it) in development activities.
e.) Motivation and incentives of teachers professional development
Another piece of research was launched to establish the relationship between teacher participation in the teachers professional development workshops and motivation. It established that a key issue that must be addressed is the motivation of teachers to participate in the teachers professional development workshops. Some teachers may ask for or seek out professional development programs but the vast majority of teachers do not see the necessity of these programs and are thus unmotivated to participate in such development programs (Keenan, 2002). Particularly teachers are adamant that their teaching practices and methods are appropriate and so are reluctant to change their teaching styles and habits and remain cautious of wasting time participating in these programs (Prostik, 1996).
Associated benefits as Fine (1994) points out form a major influential platform that dictates the willingness of the teachers to undergo the process of further training, as incentive factors if you will. Teachers professional development should be associated to the ability of the teachers to get promotions and better pay in their schools. However, this notion has been a major concern when governments shift from the private independent to non-profit making systems since the latter payments are usually lower especially in the developing countries (Donald and James, 2009). The trend in some European countries such as in Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Spain is to directly relate teachers professional development with salary increases.
Perhaps, the most important factor in promoting teachers professional development is the guarantee of better returns in their careers after they are through with their training. Fine (1994) indicates that if there is no link between development and better economic returns, the whole process may easily become futile. Fine (1994) further indicates that as a career, the teachers should be able to get better pay and therefore lead better lives. In the current highly capitalistic world, it is important to associate higher levels of teachers professional development with better pay to enhance creativity and innovation in training especially at early childhood education level. Thus, the link between economic motivation, incentives, and professional development is present, and in fact an important link that influences teachers development programs.
Models of teachers Professional Development
Donald and James (2009) proposed that teacher professional development can be divided into three wide categories.
Standardized teacher professional development
This category views professional development as having a conterminous orientation towards particular similar qualifications at various stages (Donald and James, 2009). Notably, the standardized teacher professional development is the most centralized technique which is most effective when used to disseminate information and skills among large population of teachers. Standardized involves workshops, training sessions and the model of scaled delivery cascade. It generally puts its focus on exploring new concepts and demonstrating and modelling of new skills (Donald James, 2009). As a centralized model, the Standardized Teacher Professional Development model makes sure that a certain benchmark is established in teachers professional development programs.
Site-based teacher professional development
This category involves the activities that promote development at the teachers practical areas of pedagogic skills application (Donald James, 2009). Thus, the site based category is an intensive learning technique used by groups of teachers from a particular school or region that promotes long term changes in methods used in giving instructions. It usually takes place in schools, teachers colleges or resource centres. Teachers work with the local or in other words in house facilitators to help them in the gradual process of learning, mastering pedagogy and acquiring content and technology skills.
Self directed teacher professional development
This approach involves an individual driven consideration mainly through personal values and belief for further development (Donald James, 2009). Thus self directed teacher professional development is an independent learning approach is sometimes initiated to the discretion of the learner by use of the available resources that usually encompass the use of the internet and the computers. In this method, teachers are involved in the initiation and designing of their own methods of self development. They are also encouraged to share materials and ideas and discuss the challenges they face and the solutions to these challenges. In most the educational systems however, the required levels are always set and only a few people seek to further develop professionally through self initiative (Gaible Burns, 2005).
Promoting Teachers Professional Development
As indicated earlier, the ability to conduct effective teacher professional development is entirely dependent on the cooperation of the stakeholders involved in the exercise. In this respect, the government should facilitate cooperation between the teachers, their respective kindergartens, and institutions of higher learning to foresee a smooth transition. It is worth noting that most of the teacher professional developments fail due to lack of this cooperation between the stakeholders. Fine (1994) argues that poor cohesion among the stakeholders generally operate on a reverse trajectory which may make the whole process to lack meaning. Of particular importance to note at this particular point is that stagnation in teachers development is likened to stalling a countrys development and therefore risking to a certain extent the future of the pre-school going children.
Summary
In this chapter, we have defined teachers professional development as essentially the promotion of skills and knowledge that are relevant in these teachers pedagogic duties. We have seen that in spite of the nuances that this definition may have, the bottom line goes back to the point that a teachers professional development refer to activities that aim to make teachers better teachers. After defining what teacher professional development means, we went on to go through the five factors that influence professional development. These five factors are the following 1.) technological application, 2.) policy requirements, 3.) finances, 4.) time, and 5.) motivations and incentives. Each of these factors can positively or negatively affect teacher development programs. They can also define or change how these development programs are implemented or available to teachers. Lastly, we went through the three models of teacher professional development according to Donald and James (2009). According to Donald and James, teacher professional development may either be 1.) standardized such that all teachers of a particular level receive a particular development program 2.) site-based which is more specific to a school or a region, and addresses particular areas of pedagogic skills application or 3.) self-directed where individual teachers are involved in their very own professional development. Next, we shall look into Hong Kongs Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme.
Chapter 3
The Hong Kong Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme
The ability of any government to operate the correct system in education forms the basis of its major developments. The Hong Kong Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme is a system that links the need to improve the teachers professional ability while improving the quality and accessibility of education to the children. It is from this consideration that this chapter seeks to evaluate the nature of the voucher system, its main features and its connection with teachers and professional training.
In the year 2000, the Hong Kong government established the need for improving its pre-primary schools mode of operations to raise the value and quality of education at the lower level. The Hong Kong Pre-primary Education Voucher System is therefore being viewed to possibly provide a better system of learning that has been established to replace the previous one which relied only on the private sector to determine the type of education that children ages three to six would have (Fung Lam, 2009). According to Donald and James (2009) the new system is a holistic model that seeks to underscore growth and development of the children from different dimensions. As Moller (2007) continues to say, the new system specifically gives reference to the professionals who are considered to have a major impact on the growth of the child.
Features of the Voucher System in Hong Kong
In 2007, Hong Kong launched its Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme with three well publicized unique features discriminating against private independent kindergartens, promoting teacher professional development, and limiting parents choice to only non-profit schools (Li, Sin Wong, Wang, 2010, p. 125). We shall be discussing the features of this voucher scheme in more detail, reserving the discussion on the features of the voucher scheme on teachers development in the second part of this paper.
The government has claimed time and again that the voucher system was designed with the sole purpose of improving and meeting the students interests (Sylva, 2007). This is because the scheme supports the professional teachers upgrading, lightens the parents financial obligations and improves the quality of education the students receives.
A school voucher is also called an education voucher and these are certificates given by the government to enable parents to pay their childrens education at a pre-primary school of their choice rather than at an assigned public school (Li et al. 2008). As such, a voucher is effectively a subsidy for parents for their very young children age three to six.
The government provides a voucher worth HK13,000 per year per child (the amount increases and is currently HK14,000 per year) to parents with children ages 3 -6 attending a non-profit-making pre-primary education. The voucher is set to increase to HK16,000 in school year 2011-2012 (Fung Lam, 2009, p. 158).
As such, the voucher scheme has effectively made a distinction between kindergarten schools that are for profit and non-profit kindergarten schools that qualify for the voucher scheme.
All kindergarten and nursery schools participating in the program are required to publicize the relevant information on their official website and to meet a certain set of standards through evaluation and inspection of quality. This is a requirement that ensures the facilitation of the process of selecting an early childhood teaching setting (Education Bureau, 2008).
The required relevant information includes the qualifications required, the experience required for one to qualify, school characteristics, salaries of the teachers, curriculum details, and facilities. It is believed that the momentum of developing and reforming early childhood education can be maintained since the system encourages free choice, tightening of regulatory measures, stimulating competition, increasing institutional transparency and upgrading the professional qualification of teachers (Education Bureau, 2006a).
By 2005 all kindergartens were supposed to have employed fully qualified teachers to be part of the staff, the number of which is calculated in terms of teacher student ratio, that is, one teacher to fifteen students. This is supposed to give teachers more time to give each student more focused attention (Sylva, 2007)
Leslie (2009) points out that the system also provided for clear evaluation and assessment of the operations through periodic inspections. Unlike before in private kindergartens where the assessment was based on institution demands, the voucher system sought to standardize the process through quality reviews for equity and greater harmony (Education Bureau, 2008). As a major platform for the operation of the voucher eligible school, it was expected that they conform to the government of Hong Kong Education Bureau standards for the pre-primary schools. This would not only seek to infer coterminous growth and development of children at the early years in Hong Kong, but guarantee effective latter growth for the students which is very critical for the region.
Another major structural facet for the systems operation is the need for cooperation among the parents teachers, professionals and other stakeholders to enhance easier solution of the problems related to early childhood education and therefore promote higher quality (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, 2007).
Features Related to Teachers Professional Development
In 2007 the implementation of the pre- primary voucher education scheme required the teachers qualifications to match the ones required by the policy within five years. This policy required teachers serving in kindergartens to obtain a certificate in early childhood education and qualify by the end of 2012. The policy also required the kindergarten principals to obtain a degree in early childhood education, one year experience and a certificate on the same before or within the first year of their appointment (Man et al. 2007).
The government provides support financially for all the teachers and principals in service for upgrading of their professional qualifications. In 2008, HK3,000 per year was the voucher allocation for teacher development, but is currently now set to HK2,000 per year (Fung Lam, 2009, p. 158). The subsidy for the development of teachers in the non- profit making kindergartens was supposed to be used in covering the expenditure of supporting the upgrading of principals as well as teachers including to reimburse the fees for the certificate and degree programs and the provision of development programs for school based teachers. Under the scheme, a total of two billion Hong Kong dollars were given by the government to support the system for teachers and principals development and pre-school children support (Education Bureau, 2008).
As such, the Hong Kong government gave the teachers a period lasting from 2007-2011 to undergo the necessary professional development under the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme as prerequisite for promoting better education at the preschool level.
The voucher scheme in Hong Kong requires that all teachers have Certificate of Education in Childhood Education qualification by the end of 2012. Following this consideration some teachers have already started pursuing professional qualifications at the degree levels. The first group of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong who have a degree in early childhood development is about to complete a professional development program (Wong, 2009).
This group of new teachers will have to bear the heavy responsibility of endeavouring the new innovative practices and synthesising of educational ideas from both the East and West and there has been a high expectation of this group of teachers to deliver (Leslie, 2009).
Acquiring a degree qualification is most probably the next possible reform direction (Leslie, 2009). However the question is whether these highly qualified teachers in-service or pre-service will be able to transform the existing teaching practices and advance the professionalism of the system and practices to another level (Wong, 1997).
Additionally, after its introduction, Hong Kongs Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme introduced new standards to the teachers at the pre-primary level as a factor of improving the local teaching standards (Man et al. 2007). The voucher system therefore requires involving the teachers who operated in the previous system in developing the correct improvement system for them to fit in the new reforms in terms of their qualifications and practical applications.
For the schools to work towards change, they need to support their teachers continuously with professional development. Teachers and other educators will need more time dedicated to test out the new ideas, assess their effectiveness, adjust the approach and strategies if the need arises and assess once more to ensure learning for all students is affected by the new approach and therefore create a meaningful learning for all students.
Connection between Teachers and Professional Training
According to Man et al. (2007), the connection between the Hong Kong pre-education voucher scheme and teachers professional training has been considered to be two fold from the teachers point of view, the new system is very beneficial to them as it advocates for their further development. Then, to promote the quality of education being offered to the children, the system provides for subsidies up to the year 201112 for the early childhood education (ECE) teachers and kindergartens principals. However this consideration has also been viewed to be controversial by some early childhood education teachers who claim to have some of the qualifications being sought for upgrading.
According to Sylva (2007), the voucher scheme emphasizes on equal pay for the teachers in early childhood education, but depending on their qualifications, it was seen as an interruption to the previously private system. This indicates that the higher the qualifications, the higher the pay. Besides, ensuring that all the teachers with the same qualifications get even payments, it supports the notion for further development as the key factor in moving up the ladder of payment. Previously, most of the private kindergartens offered higher payments to the teachers who worked in them (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, 2007).
Sylva (2007) continues to say that payment is linked more to the teachers perceptions as opposed to the professional services provision in their kindergartens. It is essential however for the government to seek better payment for the teachers if the system is to gain full acceptance. This standardization of pay according to the teachers achievement of policy requirements demonstrates how the factors of funds and policy have shaped and continues to shape the current voucher scheme. In this particular instance, we see the symbiotic relationship between funds and policy funds were used to a certain extent to enforce the policy on teacher professional development but the standardization of teacher professional development also gave way to the standardization of salaries.
Since teachers were required to achieve certifications within 2011, we also see how the element of time plays a big part in this drive to continuously improve pre-primary education. We have mentioned earlier that time contributes not only to structure but also the amount of pressure that teachers must take in the process of professionally developing themselves. The deadline set for teachers to acquire the proper certifications put pressure on teachers who still do not have these certifications, and automatically puts a screen to new teacher applicants to make sure that they have these qualifications the time they apply.
Because of the strong structure in the voucher system, motivation and incentive could be seen as sourced externally, that is, from the fact that salaries are commensurate to teacher professional development.
The element of technology can be seen in the drive of the voucher scheme for revising and maintaining certain pedagogies that teachers must learn and adapt to, to ensure the maintenance of high standard pre-primary education.
After all of these, it could be intuited that the standardized teacher professional development model seems immediately appropriate, though it must be brought as a challenge to incorporate the site-based and self-directed teacher professional development models as well.
Summary
In this chapter, we gave an overview of the Hong Kong Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme. We have also gone through the features of the scheme that affects teacher professional development. Lastly, we have shown how the five factors we talked about in Chapter 2 are reflected to influence and affect the teacher professional development programs in this voucher scheme.
Chapter Four
Methodology
Introduction
The validity and reliability of the study is largely dependent on the methods, techniques, and approaches that will be adopted in order to fulfill the goals and objectives of research. This chapter will present the methodology employed to conduct research including the research design, the research approach, data collection and analysis, and the validity and reliability of the study.
Research Questions
The limited number of related literature, which focused on understanding or determining the perceptions of teachers toward voucher schemes and how these schemes affect their career or professional development, has established the basis for this study. Thus, the goal of the study is to determine the perceptions of teachers toward voucher schemes, especially on how the voucher schemes affect career advancement. The study specifically aims to address the following research questions
What are the major differences between the new Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme and without the voucher scheme
viii) What are the positive and negative impacts of the Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme on the teachers professional development and how positively has the scheme affected the teachers professional development
xi) How can the Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme be enriched to promote more teachers professional development
Research Design
The literature review presented the different areas or issues related to the research questions. Professional development is a broad area that is affected by multiple factors which include experience, additional training, the nature of the professional setting and opportunities for professional development. Moreover, intervention by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government effectively implied a major overhaul of the educational system. Revamping the system will require the adoption of an experimental design wherein the input of the target population is sought in order to develop a critical understanding of the research issues and then formulate efficient policies or practices. To fulfill this particular goal, the research design was aligned with the nature of the problem and the objectives being sought ensuring that the research area is well addressed. Determining the input of the target population while considering the multiple factors affecting professional development, the necessity to arrive at certain policies that will guide government overhaul on the education system necessitate the implementation of a research design that is flexible which allows full inclusion of the multiple variables. Thus, a qualitative research design was implemented. The nature of the qualitative research design allows for the inclusion of multiple variables in data collection and analysis in a manner that their effects on the research area can be looked at from multiple dimensions. Furthermore, a qualitative research design allows for a critical understanding of the research problem, thus, effectively addressing all the key research issues. (Creswell, 2003)
The nature of the qualitative research design is flexibility or emergent rather than tightly prefigured the inquirer learns the best sites at which to learn about the central phenomenon of interest (Creswell, 2003, p. 181-182). The data collection procedure in qualitative research is also not restrained to a single method or technique, but rather allows the employment of multiple interactive instruments to obtain data. Multiple instruments, such as the survey and interview methods, were in the study in order to obtain comprehensive data. Qualitative research occurs in the natural environment, which meets the objectives of this study because there is a need to gather the input of a target population within the natural setting. (Creswell, 2003)
The target population in the study comprised principals and teachers who were asked to accomplish a survey questionnaire and participate in an interview. Owing to the high activity in learning environments, teachers were approached during their free time and requested for their input in research. Ethical measures in the request for subjects participation involved alerting the subjects that their input was on a voluntary basis and ensuring that they are well informed on the goals of the study.
Sampling
The target population was selected through purposive sampling from the list of schools in the Honk Kong Education Bureau. Purposive sampling pertains to a process of selecting target population of participants in the research that are intentionally selected to represent a predefined characteristic of trait (Cottrell McKenzie, 2010, p. 235). Purposive sampling was implemented by referring to the list of schools by the Hong Kong Education Bureau and selecting 2 schools that employ a voucher scheme under PEVS and 2 other schools that do not. Obtaining data from schools with and without voucher systems is expected to present the differences in professional development between teachers working for schools with and without voucher systems. Table 1 below shows the demographic information of the participants.
Table 1
Demographic Information of Participants
AgeYears of Teaching ExperienceGrade LevelEligibility for Voucher SchemeFemale23-3333-4343-Up1-56-1011-UpK1K2K3EligibleNot Eligible16646448333124
Permission from the four school principals was sought to conduct research. Purposive sampling was also applied to select 3 available teachers from each school who teach in three levels of kindergarten. The principal in each kindergarten was automatically included as a participant in the study and were asked to participate in the interview process. The principals were involved in the interview due to their perceived extensive knowledge and experience in the field. The administrative roles of the principals were also expected to contribute to the understanding of the voucher scheme, how it is implemented, and how it affects the performance and perceptions of their subordinates the teachers.
Instruments
Two kinds of instruments were constructed for this study, the questionnaire and the interview methods. A detailed discussion of the instruments including how they were administered or conducted will be covered in the next sections. The survey and interview questions were written in Chinese and English to ensure that the participants will understand the question and provide fitting responses. Some of the research questions from which the survey questionnaire and interview were copied from Wong Lis research paper. See Appendix A, B, and C for the three sections of the survey questionnaire, with Yes or No Questions and Multiple Choice Questions, open-ended questions in the interview. The questionnaires however, were not patterned after the Likert Scale since the questions were answerable by Yes or No, by multiple choice, and by sentences in the open-ended question. Adopting the Likert Scale was unnecessary and does not match the structure of the questionnaire. See Appendix, D, E, and F for the questions and responses of the participants during the interview.
Questionnaire
The questionnaires were designed to draw responses from the participants for the research questions. In the survey, there were four questions answerable by Yes or No while the rest were open ended questions. The open ended questions in the questionnaire were created in order to provide the participants the chance to justify or support their yes or no responses. The kinds of questions that were asked were based on the research objectives and questions. Since the goal of the study is to determine the perceptions of teachers toward the voucher scheme, the questions. The survey was designed simply in order to ensure readability and reduce complexity, prevent confusion, and accomplish data collection within the time allotted for it in the research. In order to present an organized and understandable essay, the questionnaire was divided into four sections. The first section was for the demographic details of the participants, the second section was the Yes or No questions, the third section was the multiple-choice questions, and fourth section was the open-ended questions.
Interview
Similarly, the interview questions were structured to draw responses from the participants that would address the research questions. Structuring the interview questions by aligning them with the research goals and questions was necessary to precisely suit the nature of the problem (Bennett, 2006). The interview questions were intended to determine the views and perspectives of teachers toward the new voucher schemes implemented in their respective schools. The interview is a semi-structured interview wherein the questions are parallel to the questions in the survey. The two data collection procedures were implemented in order to ensure that responses are valid and reliable, minimizing possible errors and inadequacies, as well as allowing accurate comparison among the responses of the participants in the survey questionnaire and the interview. Table 2 below shows the interview guide utilized to direct the interview process for organization and logical pacing.
INTERVIEW GUIDE
Hi, I am ________________ conducting a research data on the perceptions of teachers about the voucher scheme and how the scheme influences career growth and development. Thank you so much for participating in this interview. I assure you that your personal information will be kept confidential. Let us begin. Are you familiar with the voucher scheme
Are you eligible to be provided the voucher scheme
What is the voucher scheme
How does it contribute to your teaching experience
What are its contributions and disadvantages to your personal and professional life
The questions in the interview guide are some examples of the questions asked during the interview process.
Data Collection and Analysis
The questionnaires were given to the participants in March 2009 and the interview was in July 2009. Consent forms were sent to the participants prior to March 2009, when the self-administered questionnaires were distributed, as permission for their involvement in the survey and the interview. After the consent forms were received, the questionnaires were given to the participants. A pre-analysis of the responses was conducted after the accomplished questionnaires were obtained in order to determine the questions and scope of the succeeding interview. During the interview, the three teachers were simultaneously interviewed within 1 hour and 45 minutes in a conference room at a kindergarten together and the other teacher was interviewed within 45minutes separately. The principal was interviewed separately for 35 minutes in for different schools.
The data obtained through the survey was analyzed through the use of descriptive and inferential statistical tools. Descriptive statistics is concerned with the summarization of findings while inferential statistics is concerned with specific areas that are related to the research problem. Through descriptive statistics, the average perception of the participants was determined by calculating the mean. The employment of inferential statistics tested the significance of the Yes and No responses through the chi square hypothesis. The descriptive and inferential statistics were done through the use of the SPSS software. The participants responses in the open-ended questions will be analyzed through coding. Coding entails listed all responses to a similar question in a matrix or specific categories. The responses were synthesized or consolidated in order to arrive at a general response that represented all the answers of the participants. A narrative analysis was implemented to analyze and synthesize the responses of the participants during the interview. The responses during the interview yielded emerging trends, which were consequently compared with the results in the survey.
Chapter 5
Research Results
According to the school Principals and teachers that were interviewed, the Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme (PEVS) has had both negative and positive impacts on teachers especially in their professional development. In this chapter, the teachers and principals views given during interviews are presented in graphical as well as table form for clearer analysis and discussion in the next chapter. One of the data collection tools that was used in this research was the dichotomous questions (yes or no questions) (Cohen et al, 2007, p. 323). This type of question compels respondents to come off the fence on an issue (Cohen et al, 2007, p. 322). By breaking complex pieces of information to many dichotomous questions respondents can be led through, with a greater expectation of accuracy than would be achieved with a single question (Brace, 2004, p. 66).
As Kumar (2005) states, in an interview, the quality of interaction between an interviewer and interviewee is likely to affect the quality of the information obtained. The time spent with the teachers and principals trying to elaborate the importance of the research and the value their input would bring to the research field was crucial. Just like any interviews, the interviewees have to fully understand the research background so as to give their honest and critically thought through responses to the research. The interviews outcomes were positive and the data collected was critical in giving a full analysis of the research and the impact of PEVSs on the teachers professional development in Hong Kong.
The Teachers Principals Perceptions and Reactions to the Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme
In the study that was conducted, interviews carried out with various Principals and Teachers in both the Non-Profit Making Kindergartens (NPMKs) and the Private Individual Kindergartens (PIKs) reveal that there are still mixed views about the Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme (PEVS) implemented in Hong Kong. The following table outlines the responses obtained from the interviews with the Principals and Teachers in NPMKs and PIKs in Hong Kong.
i) Results of the YesNo Questions
This interview questions generated very interesting responses from the interviewees. The table below represents the results and responses obtained. Some questions have not been directly stated, just for the reason that some questions differed between the principals and teachers. However, the results are as presented in the table below
Table SEQ Table ARABIC 1 Questionnaire Study (Part A YesNo Questions)
The results of these interviews showed that there were varied views when it came even to the knowledge of the PEVS. While the NPMKs principals responded to say that they understood the requirements of the PEVS, the PIKs principals varied in their response as one of them gave an affirmative response and the other one showed a lack of understanding of the Scheme. While the two (2) NPMKs principals believed that the voucher would bring some change to their children, their colleagues in the PIKs differed with one (1) giving an affirmative answer and the other responding negatively to the question.
One of the NPMK principals felt that the voucher would have a positive impact on the children, the other principal felt differently and the PIKs principals could probably not be affirmative on this question since the vouchers were not in use in their kindergartens. In consideration of all 12 teachers in both NPMKs and PIKs, the results showed that the respondents had the following standpoints with reference to the voucher scheme. Altogether, all the teachers in both types of school believed that kindergartens should be supervised to ensure the standard of education. There are more teachers in the NPMKs and few teachers in the PIKs who believed they understood the requirements of the voucher scheme clearly. There are many teachers in both NPMKs and PIKs who believed that the practice of the voucher scheme will bring about changes on the children, were against the absence of pay scale, and subsidizing only non-profit making kindergartens in the long run. There are more teachers in the NPMKs and few teachers in the PIKs who believed that the impacts brought about by the voucher scheme on the childrens current school are positive and that the school can easily adapt to the changes brought about by the voucher scheme.
There are very few teachers both in the NPMKs and PIKs who believed that the government and education parties have provided adequate resources because majority teachers in both types of school did not believe so. Few teachers in the NPMKs and more teachers in the PIKs were against the limits on admission fee. Many teachers in the NPMKs and all teachers in the PIKs believed that kindergartens should maintain financial stability. Half of the teachers in NPMKs and few among the teachers in the PIKs believed that the voucher scheme is a fair policy. Few teachers in both types of school believed that the voucher scheme is important to the early childhood education in Hong Kong in the long run. Half of the teachers in both types of school believe that the voucher scheme can effectively increase the teaching quality of kindergartens. Few teachers in both types of school believe that the voucher scheme will force part of the PIKs to change into NPMKs or drive them out of business and that after the practice of the voucher scheme they will have more confidence in the operation of the kindergartens.
Many of the teachers in the NPMKs and all the teachers in the PIKs hope that Hong Kong can practice full early childhood education in the future. Based on these findings, it was implied that all the teachers and the principals who are the respondents of the study welcome the Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme otherwise referred to as the voucher scheme or simply the new scheme as the governments concrete step to the attainment of standard pre-school education achievable through close government supervision. This optimism is further supported by the indicated familiarity or understanding of the scheme as a policy that will boost the teaching quality of kindergartens and with the hope that Hong Kong will have an effective full early childhood education in the future following the implementation of the scheme.
In contrast to the optimism of the majority respondents, only few of the respondents insisted their confidence on the positive impact of the new scheme on the young children. Few respondents would like to believe that the schools can adapt to the changes resulting from the new scheme and that the new scheme is really important in the long run. The greater fear of the minority lies in the possible closing of business of kindergartens that are profit-makers should they be forced to join the non-profit-makers kind of kindergartens. Still few believed that the new scheme is fair. On the overall, the optimists pinned hope on the voucher scheme as one that will highly improve early childhood education in Hong Kong, far outweighed the pessimism of the few respondents as indicated by the majority positive responses that they hope Hong Kong can practice full early education in the future, that the voucher scheme will bring about changes in the children, and can effectively increase the teaching quality of kindergartens.
There are also doubts from the minority if the new scheme is really a fair policy, and worse, if the government can after all provide the necessary resources to keep the new scheme going. The finding indicated in the numerical answers was close to consistency that there were more respondents who believed in the many good expected outcomes from the new scheme. The mean indicated that on the overall, a little over the midpoint (50) of the scale, from zero to 100, 56.25 or rounded off to the nearest tenth is 60, the voucher scheme is appreciated rather than not. Quite similar, the median indicated that about half of the respondents were below the middle score of 50 similarly half of the respondents were above the middle score of 50.
Using logical judgment from the figures, this finding indicated that the scheme is almost equally appreciated and not appreciated based on the number of respondents. However, still based on the figures, obviously there are more of those who did appreciate the new scheme over those who did not.
ii.)The Open-ended Questions
The open-ended questions were used to give the interviewees an opportunity to analyze the questions and give
More of the views of the teachers and principals on Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme gave way to the further elaboration of the preceding yes-no questions. What influences do you think the voucher scheme will bring to the local early childhood education industry To the first sub question that required either a yes or no response that the voucher scheme will improve the quality of teaching and teachers and that they dont know, 2 of the principals in the NPMKs and 1 from the PIKs replied in the affirmative while the other principal in the PIKs replied in the negative. To the sub question that the ultimate goal of free early childhood education would be achieved, only 1 principal in the NPMKs said yes while the other principal in the NPMKs and both principals from the PIKs answered no.
Many teachers from the NPMKs and half of the teachers in the PIKs answered yes to the sub question that the voucher scheme will improve the quality of teaching and teachers. All teachers in the NPMKs and many teachers in the PIKs answered no, they dont know. Half of the teachers in the NPMKs and many teachers in the PIKs answered no to the sub question that the ultimate goal of free early childhood education would be achieved.
iii) Sponsorship of Principals and Teachers under PEVS
The following is a presentation of the responses of the respondents in four open-ended questions for the principals and teachers.
Principals
To the question Will you get sponsored under the PEVS to further your professional training in ECE Why the 2 principals in the NPMKs indicated they have taken the course being sponsored by PEVS. The 6 teachers in the NPMKs except one indicated that they will all be sponsored for the reason that their schools (being NPMKs) are under the PEVS. The teacher who answered no reasoned out that the voucher scheme is giving priority to Certificate of Education and not to the degree holders implying that they were a degree holder at the time of the interview.
One of the principals in the PIKs mentioned that because their school is a private one, they cannot get any sponsor for any professional training courses. The other principal mentioned that she has no need for it because she is not staying in local school. Two of the 6 teachers in the PIKs shared the same view with the first principal i.e. that their school is not under the school voucher scheme and therefore they will not get sponsored under the PEVS. One of them said that she has a sponsor because she can get one from the government. Another teacher said she has a sponsor. One more teacher said she can get a sponsor but she did not apply. The sixth teacher thinks about getting a sponsor but she does not know how to go about it.
iv) Professional Training in ECE under the PEVS Sponsorship
Will you further your professional training in ECE because of the PEVS sponsor Why was the question where both principals in the NPMKs showed interest to upgrade them professionally especially if they can be sponsored in other courses aside from what they have completed All 6 teachers in the NPMKs except one were all willing to further training in ECE primarily because there is a sponsor and there is no expense on their part. The teacher who answered no responded as such because she has completed a degree already.
One of the principals in the PIKs stated she will further her because the government is using its resources to support teachers training. The other principal was consistent stating that she is not staying in a local school and thus, finds the training not relevant to him. Three of the 6 teachers in the PIKs said they will further their professional training in ECE because of PEVS considering that the training is comparatively cheap. The other three who similarly said yes to the training gave one of the following reasons she has a sponsor, depends on the availability of time, and to be qualified in the field.
v) Preferred Professional Training in ECE
To the question Which professional training program in ECE in Hong Kong are you interested to enroll Why both principals who insinuated having finished Certificate of Education (CE) or Qualified Kindergarten Teacher (QKT) are waiting for further information so that they will decide which course they can pursue under PEVS. Of the 6 teachers, 3 are more interested in taking up master or postgraduate degrees 3 are interested in Bachelors degrees in ECE and one is already progressively studying taking up ECE. Only one of the teachers gave a reason to pursue training which is precisely that a higher education means a higher salary.
One of the 2 principals in the PIKs indicated favoring a master degree while the other is not interested in any because of a plan to move to an international school where ECE will not be necessary. One of the teachers in the PIKs is already taking up Bachelor of ECE 2 others want to take up Bachelors degree and another wanted CE because she has not finished the course yet. The rest of the teachers (3 of them) wanted to pursue a master degree.
vi) Beyond the Professional Training
To the question Will you continue in the field of ECE in Hong Kong after you achieve the above professional training Why the two principals had differing views. One of them responded that he does not really want to continue in the field because of the disproportionate high workload and low salary. Given the opportunity in other industries, this principal would change employment. However, the other principal wanted to stay in the field of ECE because this is where he attained his profession. All the 6 teachers pointed out their desire to stay in ECE even after the professional training. Four of them categorically stated their aspiration to contribute the knowledge and education they gained from the training. The rest of the teachers said that they will remain in ECE because with high qualification comes higher salary and that their training will not be useful in other industries.
One of the principals in the PIKs gave a positive response but has a preference for a different nature such as becoming a tutor on ECE in a university or college or else, work at the Education Department. The second principals response was if he went to finish the course, then she would continue in the field of ECE. All the 6 teachers in the PIKs were positive to continue in the field of ECE although two of them had misgivings on the low salary, older age, and the uncertainty whether to continue in the same school or not. Other teachers were willing to stay in the field of ECE because of their status, higher qualification, and the satisfaction they derive out of their job.
Based on the findings, it was implied that there were more teachers and principals who will get sponsorship for a professional training under the PEVS generally because it is free-of-charge and comparatively cheap. The few teachers and principals who answered they will not be able to get sponsorship alludes to their respective school affiliations being not under the PEVS or else because they have undertaken the training or an equivalent training. Based on the findings, the biggest number of teachers and principals wanted to pursue training in ECE based on one or a combination of the following reasons the teacher or principal has found a sponsor and that the government is spending for the training, the training is cheap, the training will enhance their qualifications, and that the training is necessary to work or stay on the job. The very few who said they will not continue with the training reasoned out that the particular training has already been undertaken or it does not become relevant to one who will leave childhood education job.
Majority of the respondents implied pursuing professional training program in ECE in Hong Kong and that they were particularly interested to enroll in ECE primarily because it is free as sponsored by PEVS. It appeared that one of the motivating factors in pursuing training by the respondents is the high salary that would necessarily come with higher qualification. Some of the respondents insinuated to rise to a higher position such as to become a principal later on. It also surfaced that training in ECE is not enough. There is a need to pursue higher education such as a masters degree in education or child psychology. The few respondents who gave their options in the ECE professional training of their interest, one of them has completed ECE and thus, becomes unnecessary in her case. Another respondent was already done with ECE and a masters degree. A respondent was pursuing already a bachelors degree which means having completed already the ECE course another was undecided which course to take still another was not interested to pursue training while insinuating a plan to move to an international school.
Based on the findings, majority of the respondents expressed categorically their intention to stay in the field after they shall have secured and completed the training in ECE. Some of them expressed desire to serve with their earnedenhanced knowledge in pre-school education as their own contribution in the field. There was an implied renewal of impetus from the respondents to come back to work in pre-school education brought about by the training in ECE both feeling more qualified and happy. It cannot also be discounted that there were teachers and principals who did not feel gratified by the low salary and thus, the insinuation to find say a tutorial job in ECE in the university or college or at the education department of Hong Kong. The same sentiment was espoused by few respondents to find other jobs on account of low salary that they alleged is not proportionate to the workload.
In Depth Interview with a Principal in an NPMK
The respondent in an in depth interview is a principal working in a non-profit making kindergarten. The interview with him revealed much information about the voucher scheme from his own perception. The principal conveyed his appreciation of the voucher scheme particularly on the area of teacher training in ECE. The interviewee stated his own understanding of the new scheme as one that aims first, to modify the quality of kindergarten and promote kindergarten teacher qualification. Second, the school voucher is for the parents on sponsor paying the kindergarten school fees for their children.
The following were drawn from the respondents responses
Overall, the Education Bureau was doing well in the professional development of teachers both in the NPMKs or PIKs in terms of qualification and skills upgrading as well as professionalism. However, this resulting upgrading or professionalize was not equated with an improved personal quality of the teachers. The respondent qualified his statement on the quality of professional development program for teachers that should include the personal development, the quality of the teachers self development. As we are aware, the professional development nowadays is just focused to earn a higher qualification. People just care about the academic sides the teachers do get higher qualification or more certificates diploma, etc. But I believe that the quality of the personal development and the mission of being a teacher are more important.
The interviewee continued to emphasize that teacher training that is constituted by learning the theories must see to the application of those theories inside the classroom. It is more important that teachers handle real life situation with young children. This suggested a concern for the outcome of the training under the sponsorship of the new scheme. Teachers enrich their skills and thus, emerge as more qualified teachers. However, the issue in the training is not just to acquire the skills or make the teachers academically qualified. More importantly, the attitude and the moral outlook in kindergarten education must be addressed so as to inculcate commitment in the teaching profession of young children. To this end, the respondent recommended that some workshops or trainings must be conducted to inculcate in the teachers the right attitude by understanding the underlying philosophy and mission of children education.
This principal did not believe that a teacher who has completed a high level training (i.e. Certificate of Education) meant that she can teach better than the one having only a Qualified Kindergarten Teacher (QKT). Again, the qualities of a good teacher are deemed more important than just a qualification gained from training. This respondent related an experience that he had with a teacher who got a certificate of education and was pursuing a bachelors degree in early childhood education at that time she was hired. Accordingly, upon this principals evaluation, the teacher was found wanting in practice. The principal continued saying that a teacher may keep on going up the ladder for higher education but it is not a guarantee of a good teacher in this field. An experienced classroom teacher, from the point of view of this principal, is far better than one who has just been trained in Certificate of Education (C.E.) but without experience.
In this situation also lies the difference between a pre-service and in-service training. The teacher who had been from a pre-service training may be stuffed with theories but not equally effective in the implementation of the theories in the classroom. On the other hand, the teacher who went into an in-service training is far better than the former upon his or her return in the classroom, he or she is better prepared with his or her acquired training. Besides, teachers who are products of pre-service trainings are new in the service unlike teachers who are already in the service and still attend in-service trainings. Training and belief in the teaching profession matter most in the field of childhood education. The interviewee also emphasized that evaluation must be carried out by the government not only to the kindergartens but to the teachers as well. Teachers evaluation must not be a task left to the schools (who could be subjective) the government should set its own norm of evaluation of teachers for objectivity reasons.
The new scheme was also believed to benefit the teachers in the three years for the training that they will gain and which will ultimately redound to the upgrading of their qualifications while kept abreast of the latest strategies in early childhood education. This principal prior to the implementation of the policy on the voucher scheme completed the required course, namely, a Certificate Course for Kindergarten Principal. This is an evidence of hisher sympathetic attachment to children education. It was implied that it was her personal initiative to pursue higher education to become more skillful and knowledgeable in pre-school education. She said, Before it was compulsory to take the Certificate Course for Kindergarten Principal, I had completed a similar course years ago. As I am working in this field, I need to polish myself on all areas too. Moreover, believing in the benefits and the skills development brought about by the voucher scheme that can cascade to the improvement of early childhood education, she has sent teachers to the Hong Kong Institute of Education for teacher training.
The principal expressed some concerns about the impact of the training with regard to the teachers. She was quoted having said that
Under the school voucher scheme, the government expects the school did a lot of paper work. The school needs to do self -evaluation and the Education Bureau will come for inspection, so lots of stuffs are required to be in document or record. As a result of the demand on the teachers for working on extra paper works while performing two other functions at the same time as a classroom teacher and a trainee in ECE, some teachers end up getting sick. The school, as a consequence, gets supply teachers (which is quite an expensive option), who are not as good as the regular teachers and when this happens, parents come to the school to complain. If it were possible that the voucher money would be given to this principal, she would like to use it to hire supply teachers so as to ease the workload of the teachers who were undergoing training.
A possible outcome of the teacher training as expressed by this principal was that schools may lose good teachers who are more experienced in teaching but who lack the required qualification under the new scheme in favor of hired new teachers who just completed the teachers professional development training. Furthermore, with pay scales not being followed by some kindergartens, many teachers leave the schools in the long run. With the pay scale, teachers expect salary increase yearly without the pay scale, they are not guaranteed a salary increase. In addition when they transfer to another kindergarten, they will begin with the usual starter salary. Without the pay scale and further compounded by increased workload, teachers are just hanging around to teach in the kindergartens while they keep their options open for prospective employment elsewhere.
It was suggested by this principal that government through the Education Bureau should apply the policies not too quick and rush. The requirements are highly taxing as they put pressure both on the teachers and the schools. As this respondent commented
The government wants the teachers to go for professional training and at the same time, the school needs to do self evaluation and the Education Bureau comes for inspection. Lots of paper work is needed during the time. All these come together and bring in pressure to the teachers. After all these inspection and self evaluations, the Education Bureau will put all the data on the internet and allow the public to access the data anytime. This brings in great pressure to the school.
The result was passing judgment by the parents and other stakeholders based on the available information on the website. Moreover, alluding to the gravity of the governments requirements, the principal stated that, since the start of the school self evaluation, we all get tired doing all those work. Once we get this done, another paper work is coming. When you get used to one format, then a new policy appears. The recommendations of this principal with particular reference to the teachers professional development are worth noting. Aside from attaining higher educational qualifications in the teaching profession, the training should necessarily include the element of moral education perceived as beneficial to both the teachers and to the students including the lecturers and tutors in institutes or universities. The principal was quoted saying Also more moral education is needed as it is very important to the teachers and to the students This is even more important than just teaching teachers on teaching skills. Even the lecture or tutor in the institute or university offering the professional teachers training courses, they also need to have a clear picture on what is early childhood education.
The Group Interview with Three (3) Teachers
The following was a result of a group interview with three of the respondents. The data that emerged from the group discussion elucidated information that served to supplement all the other opinions earlier presented. The discussion included the perceived understanding by the interviewees of the school voucher scheme, the raised points, comments and concerns about the scheme, and recommendations aimed as much as possible to address the issues and controversies brought about by the new scheme.
All three interviewees evidenced an ability to carry on a discussion about the voucher scheme as they understood it. The three interviewees, it must be noted, were teachers from the two types of school Y is a teacher working in an NPMK, S and C are teachers working in PIKs. For ease of understanding with regard to the respective affiliations of the participants, Y is identified as Y (NPMK), S as S (PIK) and C as (PIK). C (PIK) thought that the government wants to control the quality of kindergartens in Hong Kong. Her analysis stated The government is giving the school a small amount of money, but can have a bit of control to the kindergarten, so day by day, the government can have the power to control all the kindergartens by the end. I believe thats one of the reasons having the school voucher scheme.
S (PIK) pointed out that under the scheme, parents can put their kids in non-profit making kindergarten so (they) can get the school voucher scheme sponsor. Responding to the statement, Y (NMPK) retorted that while parents are able to save money through the scheme, the parents will have fewer choices on choosing kindergarten because they can only choose from the schools that are covered by the voucher scheme. They are however in agreement that the scheme helps the teachers finish the required course.
C (PIK) asked why only the nonprofit making kindergartens can have the school voucher scheme. S (PIK) wished that every child should be supported by the government regardless of the school chosen for his or her pre-school education by remarking that,
Actually, what I mean is every child should be sponsored by the government. If the government is sponsoring the same shouldnt be just on sponsoring to non-profit making kindergarten, but should sponsor the private independent kindergarten. The child is also Hong Kong born. The respondent obviously alludes to the idea that every child should have equal access to any kindergarten as they are all citizens of Hong Kong. Y (NPMK) wished that pre-school education can be included in the free education in Hong Kong as it is with the primary and senior schools. On a positive note, S (PIK) said I think that the strategy is good. It is just a matter of how the school arranges this voucher scheme to benefit the teachers. I think this is even more important. It is not saying the school voucher scheme can help the teachers or not, it is the matter that different schools have different policies.
The teachers came into focus in the discussion on account of their condition or plight in relation to their respective principals and schools under the new scheme. Some teachers were benefited some were not. According to Y (NPMK), for her who finished the course before the school voucher scheme policy like herself, she thinks she may not at all benefit from it. Initially, based on her brief story, while she worked with a non-profit kindergarten, the program came later after she has completed the required course using her own money. Even at a time when she was working with another non-profit kindergarten, she asked to be sent to take the Certificate Course for Kindergarten Principal to allow reimbursement under the scheme later on. But, she was refused by her school principal simply because that principal has not yet taken the course. According to her, when she proceeded to do her masters degree upon acceptance, she spent her own money for the course.
In addition, the respondents indicated that the school decides on the pay scales they are not following the government pay scales. In this case, the government pay scales do not at all serve any purpose. The salaries of the teachers are at the pleasure of the school regardless of their qualifications. As a consequence, many good teachers leave the schools in search of higher salaries elsewhere. Moreover, some teachers opt to work in PIKs because of lighter workload compared to the NPMKs. Non-profit making government-sponsored kindergartens put great demand on paper works in compliance to the numerous documents required by the government as its own way of monitoring and keeping watch of standards.
Closely tied up with the kindergarten teachers under the voucher scheme is the pursuance of their professional development. S (PIK) raised some insights that there are teachers who had been long in service and are not anymore willing to pursue professional development for one reason or another. S (PIK) gave some of the reasons that many teachers do not want to pursue any further study in early children education (older) age, family, the belief that the school will not fire them and that after all their salary will remain the same. Moreover, she suggested that the school must find ways to motivate them to go on training for at least two benefits after completion while they remain in their schools, they shall have gained improvement and if they should move out of the school, they have qualifications they can bring to a new job. Another suggestion she made was to plan individually for teacher professional development. She strongly suggested that while the plans are made by the school board of directors, the teachers must be involved in the planning to identify and address their specific needs.
The school poses as a conceivable problem to the teachers while it has its own problems in relation to the new scheme. They became highly bureaucratic through the board of directors andor the principals who have the power to authorize or not a teacher to go to training. Sometimes, the favored ones are those who are authorized to go on training. S (PIK) shared supporting the practice of favoritism that, we are all paying to study in another institute because if we wait for the school to approve us to go for the training, that will take ages. It is good to have school voucher scheme, but how to help the teachers directly on teachers professional development or helping the school on teachers training that needs to be considered.
The schools are confronted with various problems of returning teachers after completing professional development training or degree. A conceivable reason for the school administrations reluctance to send teachers on training, Y (NPMK) gathered from a principal that if the teacher undergoes the training, after graduation, the school must raise his or her salary as a result. There are instances where teachers leave the school after completing a course. How to keep them in the school is a problem of management and management skills. On the other hand, when new teachers are hired, they lack the experience and training that the older teachers have. The related story by Y (NPMK) is a case in point. Some 80 percent of the teaching force in a school left altogether after on the third year after they were all trained in a practicum in Taiwan. Other new teachers ostensibly assume themselves to become principals right away after completing their course.
Teachers prefer to work in non-profit making kindergartens and not in for-profit kindergartens, because the former is their gateway to be sponsored for teacher training courses. This leaves the private independent kindergarten teachers uncertain to benefit from any teacher training which further result into the difficulty of hiring teachers. The interviewees have some observations in the point of view of the government. Y (NPMK) believed that government undermined kindergarten teachers saying that, It is because to the government, they have a concept that kindergarten teachers are still only having a Form 5 level or having a QKT, they didnt realize lots of teachers had a much higher qualification already.
It is perceived by the interviewees that the scheme and the government for that matter are only interested in raising the qualifications of the teachers. There are respondents who signified their intention in pursuing professional development not to serve the pre-school industry but to work elsewhere with wider options. S (PIK), for one stated, I want to complete a Ph D so that I can work in another industry. The speedy change of policies by the government is something that the schools and teachers can hardly cope with aside from the absence of at least consultation with the teachers who are implementers of any new strategy in the field. The requirements are perceived to be many and before the schools get used to using the prescribed forms, new requirements pour in either outdating the former or adding to what already are required.
It was deduced from the interviewees that they wished that free education in Hong Kong be expanded to include kindergarten and that teachers can also enjoy the same pay scales as the primary and high school teachers. Primary and high school teachers salaries scales remained the same even if they transferred to another school. Among the kindergarten teachers, a newcomer will always start with the starters salary. It was suggested as a good idea to set the starting salary for teachers in kindergarten and scaled to provide room for salary increases to be based on some definite criteria.
Teachers professional development is prized but lacked the heart and commitment when it comes to the new pre-service trained teachers. They are found to be unlike those teachers who served long years in teaching but who still desire to be trained. Professional training, it was suggested by Y (NPMK), should include the important aspects of commitment and an internalized appreciation of and passion for teaching children in kindergarten. The training should also consider not limiting it to a degree level but should necessarily include pursuing graduate program such as a masters degree. It is believed that the concept of the new scheme is good but may not meet its objectives considering these teachers development circumstances.
Summary
This chapter presented the results of the survey questionnaires and the interviews conducted to find the answers to the research questions in this study. The information strengthened and revealed important insights problems and prospects - of the situation of kindergarten education in Hong Kong under the PEVS. A summary of the study and the interpretation of the results will be discussed in the next chapter as well as implications and recommendations for action and future research.
Chapter 6
Results Discussion
Introduction
This chapter presents a discussion of the findings derived from the interviews and tries to give tentative answers to the research questions stated at the beginning of the research. Included as well are recommendations for action and suggestions for future research.
The Major Differences between the schools that have Pre- Primary Education Voucher Scheme and those without the voucher scheme
From the study, its easy to note that not only is the school environment different between the NPMKs and PIKs. With the Pre- Primary Education Voucher Scheme in NPMKs, the educational environment seems to be a little more relaxed as most teachers readily accept the scheme as part of their systems and as a tool they can use to develop themselves career wise. The environment in NPMKs with the PEVS implemented can be deemed as more friendly to the parents and students as much pressure seems to have been lifted from the parents hence making them more and more receptive of the teaching professions. Through the PEVS, the government can also not only monitor the schools resources allocation and usage, but they can monitor the funding to ensure that all learners are well catered for financially. This then means that the burden of paying school fees can be lifted from the parents and the time they would have spent looking for money to pay for their childrens schooling can be used in investing in other activities in and out of the schools.
Irrespective of the above advantages, its noteworthy that accountability in NPMKs could be lower than in PIKs meaning that money may be wasted in the NPMKs and not so much go to waste in the PIK. With the NPMKs since the funding may not be coming directly to profit the schools, it may be wasted by the schools management who may feel that even though they waste the funds, they can always be funded again. However, with the PIKs, profitability is key hence their accountability policies and practices may be a little strict.
Difference in responses from respondents in Pre- Primary Education Voucher Scheme Schools and those without the voucher scheme
Interestingly, the divide between the two types of school NPMKs and PIKs was not too evident in the views of the principals and teachers who were the participants in the study in equal numbers. There were more convergent views rather than the divergent views on the questions that were asked of them. All of the participants coming both from NPMKs and PIKs were unanimous in saying that the kindergartens should be supervised to ensure the standard of education. This alludes to the idea that it is through the close supervision by the government that the program is more likely to succeed. Many of them believed that the voucher scheme is not a fair policy. They are also positive that the voucher scheme can effectively increase the teaching quality of kindergartens. Altogether, they believed that Hong Kong can practice full early childhood education in the future. This reaction is prompted by the ongoing increased teacher training.
The averages of the marks that they have given to the scheme at 55.00, 56.66, 35, and 62.50 resulted in an overall average of 52.25. This indicated that their view is somewhere in the middle which further showed that the participants highly appreciate the changes that the voucher scheme brought among other things. This is moreover indicative of an increasing understanding of the voucher scheme in the long run. A logical deduction from the numerical result showed that there are in fact more participants who appreciated the new scheme over those who did not. A few among them insinuated cynicism of the voucher scheme particularly on the concern if government can after all provide the necessary resources to keep the voucher scheme going.
The Positive and Negative Impact of the School Voucher Scheme to the Teachers Professional Development
Positive Impact
It is still held that teachers and principals in the NPMKs perceive more positive aspects of the voucher scheme compared to their counterparts in the PIKs. The Education Bureau is doing its own share of the responsibility in seeing to the professional development of the teachers in the NPMKs and PIKs. The capabilities of the teachers are further reinforced through the training. However, there are also expressed misgivings about teacher training despite the acquisition of a degree or higher qualification. While there are teachers who are academically trained, they lack the commitment, the passion, and the heart for teaching young children.
Graduates of the teacher training are perceived to display superiority over the other teachers to the extent that those who stayed and served so well for long years were being undermined. This is a consequence of a higher degree that is expected to be matched by a higher salary scale. There are teachers who prefer to work in NMPKs to be sponsored for the teacher training courses. As a result, PIKs find difficulty in replacing transferring teachers. This leaves the PIKs in wonder if they should ever benefit from the voucher scheme. On the other hand, there are teachers in the NPMKs who do not have the motivation to apply for sponsorship for the training given the idea that their salaries will not be raised even after acquiring a degree or completing the training. Research, time and again, has concurred that training that is updating is one way to earning more knowledge and skills and thereby makes one become more effective in his or her field.
The PEVS impact on parents cannot go unnoticed. In many instances, the financial burden imposed on parents when it comes to their childrens education can be taxing. However, with the PEVS, the burden of having to pay for the childrens fees is lightened and parents can then use the money for other causes such as enhancing the living conditions of their children and family. Money saved by parents from non-payment of the kindergarten fees can be put into other use. Children can be given better opportunities to learn other things such as extra music lessons, or develop their other skills such as singing. In other instances or cases, parents can make a saving to make investments and in the end it may lead to the development of better learning.
When it comes to the teachers development, in some cases, parents relieved from paying for the childrens kindergarten, can make contributions to better learning systems. In many instances, PEVS can lead to better management of school systems if better regulation and accountability systems are implemented. In Hong Kong, teachers in NPMKs are able to get a boost into the educational system that would be able to boost their educational levels and hence their professional development. This means that the teachers would be able to provide better educational support to the children in the kindergartens. This on the other hand can lead to relieve from the parents responsibility to emphasize and spend a lot of time in education or home-schooling the children. The parents on the other hand can then provide much needed support to the teachers in their professional development.
Negative Impact
There is apprehension that there will be an influx of teachers who just completed the teachers professional development training. This poses as a threat to the older ones who had been in the kindergartens for so long and equipped with experience. There is possibility that those who are more experienced but who lack the required qualification under the voucher scheme may be replaced by the qualified ones by virtue of the teachers professional development training. The concern for the quick and rush compliance to the policies of the Education Bureau puts pressure on the schools and teachers to cope with the self-evaluation and inspections conducted by the Bureau. The flowing in of paper works saddles the teachers who are supposed to be in the training and teaching at the same time.
The new scheme makes NPMKs complain of difficulties encountered due to increased workloads and work-related stress. PIKs teachers fall under the mercy of their school principal whether they can pursue a teacher training or not at all. There are cases where the teachers themselves proceed to take the required course at their own expense. In this aspect, it was recommended that all kindergarten teachers should be sponsored regardless of their school affiliation and without necessarily passing through the nomination or approval of their own school. After all, it was argued, the teachers professional development training is funded not by the schools but by the government.
Some of the teachers in the PIKs experience low job satisfaction and low morale on account of the low salary but overloaded curricula. For some teachers who are willing to pursue the teachers training even outside of school hours, they are not permitted by their school. There were teachers who were indifferent to train in ECE because they believed that their long years of experience in teaching were good enough for them. When it comes to training, some form of motivation must be set in place to entice those who need the training to apply for it.
How to Enrich the Teachers Professional Development
There were significant propositions to enrich the teachers professional development. The quality of teacher training must necessarily include a comprehensive understanding of the philosophy underlying early childhood education. It is contended that development is not only the acquisition of pedagogical techniques or rising to some standards but more than anything, it must live up to the challenge to be able to harmoniously intertwine research-basedtested techniques and strategies with moral values, dedication and genuine commitment to the students. While the current teacher development focus may be on the academic angle, it has to be noted that the ultimate goal is not only to get the best skills from the teachers but to have students that would be efficiently and effectively trained and catered for academically.
The ultimate beneficiary in any educational effort is the child or student thus, the need for a balance between qualification and moral values. It should include the personal development of the teachers that imbibes moral values and the passion for teaching young children. The theories and strategies are necessary tools in teaching but the love for the profession and the children must be inculcated at the highest level to become effective teachers in the kindergartens. Teacher development under the PEVS should encompass the complete areas of development professional, academic, social, psychological, and even emotional.
Professional development is one key area that the PEVS has been a boost in that the teachers are able to go back to training to get advanced training in the areas of their choice. In some cases, the teachers are able to attain degree level training which would not be obviously attained by the teachers individually using their own savings. The scheme has been a great tool for teachers to use in their professional development. Providing the backbone for educational development, acquisition of knowledge and skills essential to the teachers development in their careers PEVS has been termed as one of the best educational programs in the country.
The teachers professional development training could include procedures that would accommodate graduate program at least to the masters degree level and not limited to a degree level only. It would also offer better results if the teachers in the PIKs could also be availed a monthly allocation to cater for the educational expenses if at all they cannot be absorbed into the PEVS. In addition to the Board of Directors of each school, the teachers must be involved in the overall planning for teachers professional development plan. This way, they have a stake in the plan and they can input their own needs in consideration of their interests and abilities. The plan must be flexible to make it more relevant whenever necessary. Related to the plan and training, the time needed by the teachers to cope with teaching and training must be dealt with proportionately so that no responsibility of the teachers is compromised.
There is a definite need to standardize the qualifications of kindergarten teachers just as primary and high school teachers are standardized. In some cases, the principal in the respective schools may not be requested to undergo further or continual training. However, if mandatory measures are taken to ensure that all staff members in schools are trained under the PEVS. This will not only make them academically qualified but they will better understand their teachers who are attending teacher training as well. In addition, as principals, they ought to be higher in degree if possible than their teachers.
