Beijing Study Tour –Beijing Normal University, 23-29 December 2016
EDUC’s students and academic who returned from the recent Study Tour to BNU gained insights into education policies and practices; school management and teaching and learning in disadvantaged schools. The study tour to Beijing was aimed at offering participants knowledge of educational practices and management, adding a practical component to the EDUC degree offered at Hong Kong Baptist University and building international education relations. This study tour emerged following a collaborative project jointly organized by our department and the Hong Kong and Macao Affair Office of the Beijing Normal University with the sponsorship of the Education Bureau “Subsidy Scheme for Professional Study Courses for Student Teachers”.
This sojourn to Beijing proved to be an eye-opening experience for participants who found the tour beneficial for their professional development. The experience is a definite asset to the students in widening their horizons as well as to go in line with the HKBU’s whole-personal development philosophy. With the participation of students from BNU in this study tour, it has been an invaluable opportunity for students from Hong Kong and Mainland China to exchange their knowledge, lifestyle, culture and expectation in the teaching profession. From a learning perspective, our students benefited in that opportunities arose for the sharing of ideas and for practicing their teaching skills in different school settings.
This study tour would not have been so successfully held without the zealous participation of the EDUC students and the BNU students, warm hospitality by our partner university (Beijing Normal University) and support of staff from the three partnering offices.
This brief report closes with one student group’s feedback:
“We have learnt much more about Beijing after this tour. Our teaching experience at the three local schools has impresses us the most, as the children were… enthusiastic and wiling to learn…we found that the difference between a high rank school in the city and a local private school by the countryside is really noticeable, which had us ponder on the issue of educational equality and social mobility.”