For discussion
FCR(97-98)4
on 18 April 1997

ITEM FOR FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 40 - EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
Subhead 700 General other non-recurrent

Members are invited to approve a commitment of $45,816,000 for providing a one-off induction grant to schools joining the School Management Initiative scheme as from the 1997-98 school year.

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PROBLEM
PROPOSAL
JUSTIFICATION
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
BACKGROUND INFORMATION

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PROBLEM

Schools need resources to conduct initiation programmes to inform school managers, teachers and parents of their roles in adopting the School Management Initiative (SMI) scheme.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Education (D of E) proposes to provide a one-off induction grant of $2,000 per operating class for schools joining the SMI scheme as from the 1997-98 school year to conduct initiation programmes for the implementation of the scheme.

JUSTIFICATION

3. Government has a commitment to improving school management to ensure quality education in Hong Kong. The SMI scheme provides a management framework which helps raise the standards of learning and quality of education in schools through participatory decision-making, systematic planning and evaluation of school activities and effective use of resources. To encourage more aided schools to participate in the scheme, the D of E has to provide adequate professional support and additional financial resources to schools to adapt to the management change.

4. At present, the Education Department organises seminars/workshops for schools on general SMI topics relating to basic concepts and practices and conducts school-based training for individual schools on request. However, experience shows that this arrangement of holding central training courses by the Education Department cannot meet the individual needs of all schools and the demand for school-based training is becoming too great to be met by the department. To supplement existing training, D of E proposes to introduce a school-based initiation programme to help schools prepare for the implementation^{1 of SMI and to help school personnel understand their roles within a school-based management framework. Depending on the individual needs of the schools, the programme may include visits to exemplary schools and school-based workshops on specific topics such as vision building, change of roles of key players including teachers and parents, strategic planning etc. D of E proposes to provide financial assistance to schools in the form of a one-off induction grant. The grant will be at a level of $2,000 per operating class as the Task Group on Review of SMI Implementation proposed and the Education Commission Report of the Working Group on Education Standards issued in December 1994 recommended2. The grant will cover trainers’ fees, printing costs, travelling expenses for school visits and other miscellaneous expenses arising from activities involving the whole school.}

¹ We form the Task Group on Review of SMI Implementation under the Advisory Committee on SMI in September 1995 to review SMI and to map out the strategies for promotion of the scheme to all public sector schools.

² Section 5.32 of the Report recommended that we gave a one-off school-based management project grant at a level of not less than $2,000 per operation class for schools to initiate internal preparation for management reform.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

5. The estimated cost of the proposal is $45,816,000, made up as follows -

6. We estimate that about one-third of the 909 schools will join the scheme each year starting from the 1997-98 school year and the estimated cashflow for the implementation of the proposal is as follows -

7. The proposal will have no impact on the fees and charges for services provided by the Education Department.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

8. The SMI arose out of a Public Sector Reform review of roles and responsibilities in the school education programme in 1991. At present, all the 83 government schools have joined the SMI scheme. However, of the 1 117 aided schools, only 208 have joined the scheme.

9. The Advisory Committee on SMI which advises on matters relating to the implementation of the scheme had set up a Task Group on Review of SMI Implementation in July 1995 to address the SMI implementation strategy under a revitalized package "SMI 2000" with a view to extending the scheme to all aided schools by 2000. One of the recommendations of the Task Group is to enhance the resource support for schools to help them to adopt the SMI. The provision of a one-off induction grant at $2,000 per operating class is one of the proposed improvement measures. Other proposed improvement measures include the creation of 12 posts in the SMI Section of the Education Department to strengthen

the professional support to SMI schools, the provision of an Enhancement Grant of $200 per operating class per annum to meet the expenses on consumables for producing the school plans and other related documents and a Staff Development Grant of $3,360 per school per annum for staff development activities. We have provided resources for the implementation of these improvement measures in 1997-98.

Education and Manpower Branch
April 1997

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