Strengths Areas for Improvement Item
(Bracketed = number of schools where issue applies)
Planning and Review
y Able to understand the school’s situation compared to the norm, establish long-term, short-term objectives, formulate concrete development plans for learning & teaching (6)
y Financial planning aligns with school development plan (6)
y Appraisal system used for professional development (10)
y Effective, fair and open appraisal system with accountability for different levels of staff (7)
y Clear roles and responsibilities of staff; accountability system at different levels (7)
y Non-teaching grades
comprehensively appraised (7)
y Peer lesson observations (6)
y Comprehensive financial
regulations and close monitoring by sponsoring body (8)
y Clear and comprehensive financial monitoring measures & procedures (8)
y Periodic review of financial
situation with forward planning for the next financial year based on review findings (6)
y Periodic review of progress on development plan for IT (5)
y Clear list of facilities and proper loan record (6)
y Periodic check on the utilization rate of facilities (4)
y Lack of implementation strategies (5)
y Principal and middle managers unable to oversee and coordinate allocation and deployment of existing resources, based on priorities (4)
y Significant gap between planning and implementation (4)
y Upgrading of facilities and equipment, secured by
hard-earned external funding, not matched to student needs so insufficiently used (3)
y Monitoring not well-established or
ineffective; framework too shallow & insufficient follow-through, particularly in respect to human resources (5)
y Lack of awareness of importance of monitoring and reviewing use of existing resources; no clear
procedures, method or standard of review (4)
y Concept of SSE not secure (3)
Human Resources
y Teachers mostly effective, possessing good professional attitude & having sufficient professional knowledge (7)
y Most teachers actively involved in student support work, such as discipline & planning of
extra-curricular activities, good communication and collaboration with other teachers, specialists and parents (7)
y Good induction programme for new staff and systematic records/ analysis of teachers’ CPD (7)
y Good atmosphere for professional exchange to develop learning & teaching (7)
y Peer lesson observation system with follow up professional exchange (6)
y Guest speakers provide training in the school (6)
y Staff deployment aligns with SDP (6)
y Deployment and allocation of work accepted and supported by all staff (5)
y Specialists, such as speech
therapists, nurses & social workers, professionally capable with
sufficient training and
understanding of students’ needs. Effectively educate parents on training and caring for children (9)
y Middle managers establish
collaboration between teachers and specialists to provide support services for students. (6)
y Interdisciplinary collaboration generally effective (7)
y Support staff, such as teaching assistants and janitors, mostly have good attitude; responsible and capable of providing daily care for students, assisting teachers in preparation for lessons (7)
y Good community network with parent and volunteer support (8)
y Variable leadership; middle managers mostly
administrative, weak in curriculum leadership and hindering progress (8)
y Deployment of human resources based on
administration and fairness rather than on student learning; inflexible and passive (4)
y Deployment of teachers, specialists and supporting staff too rigid and inflexible e.g. some teachers timetabled to teach a variety of subjects and age groups, some classes taught by too many teachers (5)
y Insufficient
challenge/inappropriate role for staff e.g. a workshop instructor as a teacher-aid, speech therapist not providing direct service to students; no clear role for the school librarian; speech therapist not fully deployed; duties of clerical staff limited to office work (3)
y APSM(CD) too junior to be influential (4)
Finance y Monitoring mechanism to handle financial management matters appropriately (10)
y Participatory mechanism for formulating financial budgeting; staff fully involved in discussion and allocation of funds & in the monitoring process (4)
y Income/expenditure in accordance with budget plans, with clear and accurate records (8)
y Appropriate utilization of resources (9)
y Funds are properly utilized according to needs (8)
y Good community network helps in securing external resources (7)
y Staff encouraged to access new resources outside school so as to support learning & teaching (7)
y Effective energy-saving measures (5)
Information Technology
y Teachers able to use IT to arouse students’ interest in learning, changing students’ passive learning mode to active (5)
y Good IT learning atmosphere among students, facilitating the use of IT for browsing on the internet, communicating through emails (6)
y School-based IT training for teachers (8)
y Well managed computer rooms with good maintenance (7), some of which (4) are well used
y IT facilities properly stored and regularly maintained, repaired, renewed or updated (8)
y IT facilities used for daily general administration, production of learning materials and development of school-based curriculum (6)
y Well designed and well managed school homepage with good content for enhancing communication and learning & teaching (8)
y Resource bank on the intranet (7)
y Appropriate educational software available (6)
y Sufficient and suitable quality of software, appropriate to the needs of students (5)
y Simple procedural guideline for use of IT (7)
y Proper use of technical staff, with good collaboration (8)
y Insufficient use of IT for interactive learning (5)
y Insufficient use of education software to support learning and teaching (4)
y Insufficient use of IT to manage assessment data; time wasted in checking student progress (4)
Facilities y Sufficient variety of learning and teaching resources (9)
y Good use of teaching resources in classrooms (4)
y Good use of school environment in learning and teaching e.g. multi-sensory room/garden, playground, simulated tuck shop,
etc. (5)
y Suitable use of community facilities to support learning and teaching (4)
y Good after-school use of facilities in extending student learning (5)
y Subject departments acquire new facilities according to their needs (4)
y Plentiful outside school learning opportunities, such as visits, competitions (5)
y Safe, harmonious learning environment (8)
y Simple procedural guidelines on use of facilities and equipment; giving clear instructions to all staff (5)
y Sufficient & well maintained rehabilitative aids/equipment (7)
y Facilities properly stored & regularly maintained (8)
y Periodic stocktaking, write-off and renewal of facilities (5)
y Too little display of student work to celebrate achievement or to stimulate learning (5)
y Boarding session does not provide warm atmosphere, good hygiene or personalized settings (3)
y Under-use of computer rooms and library in SMH (2)
Curriculum y Aware of the Curriculum Reform, setting curriculum objectives accordingly (8)
y School-based EYE curriculum related to the exit destination of students (6)
y Good use of learning time; timetabling flexibly arranged to cater for grouping and integrating new initiatives within daily routines (8)
y Practical, assessable curriculum with clear and concrete key concerns (4)
y School-based curriculum caters for students’ needs at different key stages (5)
y No curriculum targets, so that teachers unable to select appropriate content or have appropriate expectations of students (4)
y Curriculum policy unclear as to purpose; skills-based, functional, academic or a composite (3)
y Reliance on whole-class teaching with insufficient differentiation to cater for learner diversity (4)
y Unbalanced curriculum, often with too much emphasis on self- care, sports and art and with many subject overlaps (4)
y Lack of coherence between the curriculum of EYE and school-based curriculum at junior forms, or between primary and secondary phases (4)
y Defined learning stages not matched to students’ learning progress (4)
y Principal and middle management not taking responsibility for curriculum development (4)
y Under development of students’ higher order thinking (5)
Learning and Teaching
y Multi-media aids used to arouse students’ interest (7)
y Good use of relevant teaching resources, such as pictures or word cards (3)
y Collaborative lesson planning a regular feature (8)
y Good classroom control and appropriate approach to students with behavior problems (4)
y Adequate encouragement and praise to maintain students’ motivation (4)
y Good questioning techniques (3)
y Good student attitudes to learning, behaving well in lessons and enjoying school life (8)
y Students willing to take responsibility (5)
y Students have confidence and self-esteem (4)
y Unclear teaching objectives (5)
y Excess teacher input with insufficient focus on student learning (7)
y Limited teaching strategies (6)
y Some basic skills, such as task analysis and behaviour modification often neglected (3)
y Too much individual teaching with insufficient opportunity for student interaction (6)
y Teachers’ expectations of the most able pupils not high enough to advance their learning; more challenging tasks needed (5)
y Inappropriate time allocation; slow lesson pace (3)
y Inadequate sharing or collaboration with the TAs prior to the lesson; some could not perform their in-class support roles effectively. Role of TA too often limited to controlling challenging behavior (5)
y Students generally passive, depending heavily on teachers (7)
y Study skills for the high ability students yet to be developed (5)
y Poor self learning skills, unable to stretch student potential (4)
Student Learning Outcomes
y Developing assessment system (6)
y Well developed assessment system (4)
y Appropriate assessment system (6)
y Appropriate frequency of assessments (9)
y Assessment data on all individual students (6)
y Parental satisfaction with caring and welfare (9)
y Parents provided with sufficient & appropriate information (9)
y Parents’ views regularly sought & valued; complaints effectively dealt with(7)
y PTA chair usually member of the board (6)
y Parents highly involved as volunteers e.g. taking care of students during school functions (4)
y No uniform reporting method or standards (10)
y IEP rarely used; narrow assessment methods (7)
y Assessment data not kept systematically; assessment record does not show student progress across years by subjects or learning areas (6)
y Schools spend a week or more on a designated ‘assessment week’ in September. As teachers are expected to prepare their teaching plan based on the result of July’s summative
assessment, July’s assessment results are not
fully used (3)
y Insufficient use of assessment data to improve teaching (7)
y Low parental expectation of academic performance (9)
Others, including Student Support and Guidance
y Provide students with safe environment (10)
y Periodic safety training for all staff; well-planned policy and contingency plan for emergencies and crises (5)
y Clean and healthy environment with observant staff and good record system for students’ health conditions (7)
y Good health and hygiene guidelines; well-equipped with periodic inspection of environment (5)
y Caring environment where students’ welfare addressed in terms of daily needs and daily routines and promotion of good student relationships (6)
y Students free from bullying and harassment (6)
y Effective teamwork, with case conferences, case records, treatment plans and revision of practice (4)
y Environment supportive of particular needs, such as a appropriate streaming policies, use of IEP, TEAACH programme for autistic children, remedial and withdrawal programmes for low achievers (5)