The changing role of teachers: Enhancing development in the teaching profession through the Learning Centre Scheme

The Learning Centre (LC) Scheme is a collaborative project between the Education and Manpower Bureau, a primary school, a secondary school, and the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) for facilitating the implementation of the recent education reform in various key learning areas. The LC teachers need to take up the role of cascading good practices in curriculum and pedagogical changes through working with other teachers in workshops and outreach school-based support. The LCs work with the HKIEd, which provides mentoring and consultancy services, and evaluates the project. The LC scheme is structured into three phases: the initial phase in leadership or teacher development understanding, the implementation phase, and the evaluation phase. Using structured interviews, the authors identified the professional development that the LC teachers experienced in the initial phase of the scheme, and the support and/or facilitating conditions they hope to obtain in later phases. The findings suggest that support from the funding allocation, the school administration and the HKIEd are essential for the success of the scheme. This support helped the LC teachers realize a new perspective in understanding learning and teaching from the standpoint of a teacher educator, and consider how to facilitate other teachers’ teaching by adopting innovative approaches. The chapter concludes with recommendations for further support and future directions of development of the scheme. Copyright © 2008 The Chinese University Press, Hong Kong Institute of Educational Research.