CE commends teachers for sparing no effort in nurturing students
********************************************************

The following is issued on behalf of the Chief Executive's Award for Teaching Excellence Steering Committee:

     The Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, today (June 12) commended the winners of the Chief Executive's Award for Teaching Excellence (CEATE) (2011/2012) for their enthusiasm and professionalism.

     Speaking at the award presentation ceremony, Mr Tsang said the awardees gave Hong Kong's education a bright future, stressing that great teachers always gave their best for the students.
 
     This year's CEATE covers the Arts Education Key Learning Area, Pre-primary Education and Information Technology in Education. A total of 25 school teachers obtained awards from the Chief Executive, while 29 teachers received the Certificate of Merit from the Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen.

     Mr Tsang said the awardees in the Arts Education Key Learning Area helped students realise that art is an integral part of life. They encouraged students to explore their surroundings and draw inspiration from the community in their pursuit of artistic creativity.

     On Pre-primary Education, Mr Tsang noted that the teachers were effective in arousing students' curiosity. Through a wide range of integrated and happy learning experiences, they fostered balanced development of the children's cognitive, linguistic and aesthetic abilities.

     The Chief Executive commended the award recipients for Information Technology in Education on their success to incorporate information technology into the curriculum and diversified activities as well as their use of multimedia and interactive methods to motivate students to learn on their own initiative.

     Also speaking at the ceremony, the Chairman of the CEATE Steering Committee, Mr Duffy Wong, said, "The teaching philosophies and practices of these teachers are not only inspiring but also effective in providing a range of learning experiences for students and enhancing teaching effectiveness. These teaching practices are worthy of sharing with fellow teachers".

     Mr Wong said that 590 outstanding teachers have been awarded since the launch of CEATE. The CEATE Teachers Association, which comprises all the awarded teachers, has been actively building up different sharing and exchange platforms and promulgated exemplary teaching practices through demonstration lessons, seminars, e-Newsletters, sharing at teacher development days in schools, exchange visits to the Mainland and other different types of dissemination activities. Earlier this year, the Association also started contributing articles regularly to a newspaper column so as to share their teaching practices.

     Other officiating guests at today's presentation ceremony were Mr Suen; the Permanent Secretary for Education, Mrs Cherry Tse; the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications and the Chairman of the CEATE High-level Advisory Panel (2011/2012), Mr Cheung Pak-hong; the Chairman of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, Mr Eddie Ng; and the Chairman of the CEATE Assessment Working Group (2011/2012), Professor John Lee.

     This year's CEATE received 139 nominations. After assessment, 10 nominations (comprising 25 teachers) were selected for the Award for Teaching Excellence while 16 nominations (comprising 29 teachers) were presented with the Certificate of Merit.

     Assessment of nominations focused on teachers' performance in the four domains of professional competence, student development, professionalism and commitment to the community, and school development.

     The results of CEATE (2011/2012) are available on the CEATE website (www.ate.gov.hk). "CEATE - Reflection of Excellent Teachers", a special TVB programme comprising a 30-minute episode on exemplary teaching practices, will be broadcast on TVB Jade at 3.30pm on June 24 (Sunday).

     Sharing activities on excellent teaching practices will be rolled out in the coming school year. Details will be announced on the CEATE website.

     Nominations for CEATE (2012/2013) will be accepted from July 9 to October 5. It will cover Guidance and Discipline, Science Education Key Learning Area and the Technology Education Key Learning Area. Related details will be uploaded to the CEATE website on July 9.

Ends/Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Issued at HKT 15:31

NNNN