Facilitation of Grace Tutors' Pre-service Teacher Mentorship Programme (PTM)
Overview
PTM offers holistic learning, experimental and networking opportunities under the guidance of experienced and established educators or leaders across different professions. The program can be in full time or part-time basis, depending on the participants’ availability but the length of participation has to be at least 3 to 6 months. In this holistic program, participants are to design, teach and evaluate courses to students from various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds at different levels.
Throughout the program, each mentee is paired with a mentor. Regular meetings will be held and casual gatherings are also encouraged. The mentors will advise mentees on career and life planning. In addition, mentees will also be offered talks and seminars by experienced educators on professional issues, such as pedagogies for SEN students. In order to further broaden the networks and vision of mentees, general meetings, which include multiple pairs of mentors and mentees, will also be held for discussion and reflection on their performance.
Exposure to multiple groups of students
Education is often highly relevant to the society’s social structure. With the implementation of inclusive education and the growing number of NCSs, schools nowadays are culturally, ethnically, academically and socioeconomically diverse, which leads to the students’ diverse learning needs. Therefore, catering for students’ diverse learning needs becomes a major concern in the education field. To address this trend, it is compulsory for the participants to be exposed to courses with 1) non-Chinese students, 2) students with SENs, 3) students with educational needs 4) new immigrants, 5) visually impaired students and 6) working-class students. Participants will be able to work with students at different levels, ranging from kindergarten to senior secondary, in order to gain a wider perspective on the education system in Hong Kong.
Duties of the participants
The program provides a comprehensive experience, where the participants are to design, coordinate, teach and evaluate courses at different levels. Throughout the process, the participants will gain knowledge on areas including 1) curriculum planning, 2) classroom teaching, 3) course coordination and administration , 4) communication and collaboration with parents and constant reflection and refinement with leading educators and mentors.
In each course, the duty of each participant begins with curriculum development, where the participant has to design level-appropriate curriculums and teaching materials. At the same time or after, the participants are to coordinate with parties involved, such as schools, ethnic communities or non-government organizations on the details of the courses. Following the preparatory tasks, participants will adopt proper pedagogies to teach the class, which will be reflected on at midway and at the end of the courses. At the end of each lesson, the participants will discuss with the students’ parents, based on whose comments the participants will modify their teaching accordingly. Throughout each course, the mentors will provide insights and advice, and mentees will adjust correspondingly.