Since the 2009/10 academic year, The Education University of Hong Kong has been promoting research and school-based support schemes related to small class teaching. It has also undertaken various small class teaching courses and support schemes commissioned by the Education Bureau. These include the "Support Programme on Fostering Communities of Practice to Enhance Small Class Teaching" and "Workshop on Effective Strategies to Enhance Learning and Teaching in a Small Class Environment."
Six Guiding Principles of SCT
The significance of small class teaching (SCT) lies not only in the reduction of student numbers, but more importantly, in the enhancement of education quality. It provides students with a more favorable learning environment, making knowledge construction more effective. Teachers can also more easily provide appropriate care to students, thereby ensuring that every student receives more tailored nurturing in a small class setting. As early as the 2004/05 academic year, Prof. Maurice Galton from the University of Cambridge in the UK was invited by the Hong Kong Education Bureau to conduct a study on small-class teaching across 37 primary schools, which was completed in the 2008/09 academic year. Based on the findings, Prof. Galton recommended that teachers enhance the effectiveness of small class teaching according to six pedagogical principles:
- Clear statement of learning objectives
- Extended questioning during whole class discussion
- More active pupil participation
- Increased cooperation between pupils by working in pairs and groups
- Less use of corrective and more informing feedback
- More use of the assessment for learning approach
SCT Lesson Design Database
- P.1 Clothing and Colours
- P.2 Weather and Seasons
- P.3 Linking thoughts, values and feelings
- P.4 Stay fit
- P.5 Sick an Hurt
- P.6 Use the targer adjectives