Speakers pose for a group photo at the 5th Greater Bay Area Teachers' Ethics Forum, co-organized by The Education University of Hong Kong and South China Normal University, on Oct 21, 2023. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Chinese mainland can further collaborate and share their experiences in upgrading the professional conduct and skills of teachers, education experts told the 5th Greater Bay Area Forum on Teachers’ Professional Ethics on Saturday.

They also emphasized the importance of carrying out more cross-boundary exchanges and courses to help Hong Kong educators learn the country’s latest developments.

The forum, which focused on improving teachers’ professional conduct and strengthening collaboration in education among cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, was held at the Education University of Hong Kong. The event was attended by more than 500 officials, experts and teachers from the Hong Kong and Macao SARs, as well as Guangdong province. Over 190,000 educators from the mainland joined the event online.

Ren Youqun, director-general of the Ministry of Education’s Department of Teacher Education, said teachers are obliged to foster moral integrity. Besides their expertise in teaching and research, they should display exemplary moral character and values. 

Ren noted that the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, held in October, 2022, had agreed that China aims to be a leading nation in education by 2035. He encouraged teachers from the mainland and the two SARs to uphold the standard of educators and improve on it.

ALSO READ: Higher education: Chinese universities advance as rivals falter

The education authorities in Hong Kong, Macao and other mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area can complement each other’s strengths and advance together in lifting teachers’ code of conduct, he said.

Ren observed that the mainland and Hong Kong have produced excellent literary and art works on the professional conduct of teachers that can be mutually shared.

Five sub-forums were also held to discuss topics ranging from the cultivation of teachers to professional conduct, as well as new education issues in the ChatGPT era

Apart from collaboration in teachers’ code of conduct, he believes Hong Kong and the mainland can further improve on teachers’ academic and professional skills. The mainland authorities also aim to raise secondary school teachers’ average educational levels, and Ren is confident that Hong Kong universities can provide training and courses for mainland teachers in furthering their education.

The mainland has launched a new program aimed at cultivating outstanding teachers for primary and secondary education. Under the program, the country’s top universities will pick a group of students with good grades and who’re interested in education to pursue education-related courses each year, to enable them to become high-quality teachers in primary and secondary schools. Ren invited educators from Hong Kong and Macao to take part in the program in the future.

He added that the mainland and Hong Kong authorities are discussing the feasibility of mutually recognizing teachers’qualifications. 

Speaking at the forum, Christine Choi Yuk-lin, secretary for education of the HKSAR, said the Education Bureau has all along fully supported the professional growth of principals and teachers, and strengthening morality and ethics among teachers, with a view to creating a professional and excellent teaching force for Hong Kong.

ALSO READ:Survey: Govt talent initiatives drive education demand

The Guidelines on Teachers' Professional Conduct, promulgated by bureau in 2022, emphasize integrating the pursuit of professionalism and commitment in upholding the high moral standards of teachers, in a bid to nurture students with correct moral values, Choi said.

The SAR government also provides courses to promote education exchanges between Hong Kong and the mainland. The city’s Education Bureau, for instance, offers courses for English teachers from Guangdong to hone their teaching skills. It has also organized mainland study tours for local students to know more about the nation’s latest developments.

Choi said the bureau will continue to promote professional exchanges in the Greater Bay Area in the future to enable principals and teachers in the region to learn from each other and work together in promoting quality education.

Established in 2019, the Greater Bay Area Forum on Teachers’ Professional Ethics has become a major educational meeting in the Greater Bay Area. This year’s event, co-organized by The Education University of Hong Kong and South China Normal University -- one or the top universities in Guangdong -- was held in Hong Kong for the first time.

ALSO READ: HK, Guangdong sign deal on education collaboration

Five sub-forums were also held to discuss topics ranging from the cultivation of teachers to professional conduct, as well as new education issues in the ChatGPT era.

At a sub-forum to discuss creating a long-term mechanism for improving teachers’ ethics, Chan Chi-fong, vice-president of The Chinese Educators Association of Macao, briefed participants on Macao’s experience in developing a convention on teachers’ professional conduct in 2012.

He said, in drafting the convention, the association had interviewed more than 2,000 teachers from nearly 40 schools, with almost 90 percent of them agreeing to set up the convention to regulate teachers’ behavior. More than 85 percent of respondents also agreed that teachers’ personal integrity is important, while nearly 80 percent hoped the meeting would link teachers in teaching students in a fair and equal manner.