Soh Hong Yi & Chua Wei Ting
Year 2 NIE Student-Teachers
Bachelor of Arts (Education)
Earlier this year, student teachers from the National Institute of Education (NIE) and Hong Kong University (HKU) jointly organised a virtual collaboration with the support of the Trainee Teachers’ Club. Eight student teachers from NIE participated in this collaboration which spanned across the month of March.
Over the course of three Sunday evenings, participants from HKU and NIE presented on the educational landscape in both Hong Kong and Singapore based on the following themes: Education System, Education Reforms, and Education Related Issues & Curriculum. Two movie-review sessions were also held based on the local movies ‘I Not Stupid Too’ and ‘Little Big Master’ where the underlying issues related to education were discussed.
Many similarities can be drawn between Singapore and Hong Kong's educational landscapes based on our exchanges with the HKU students during the online sessions. Take for example, education is highly regarded in both Singapore and Hong Kong. Parents are eager to fight for the best for their children, leading to the prominent tuition and enrichment industries in both cities. It was also heartening to see that teachers around the world share the same vision - wanting the best for each and every student. This made our sharing and exchanges a meaningful one.
Apart from the weekly sessions, a buddy system was also introduced to pair student teachers from NIE and HKU to foster interaction. We managed to get a glimpse into the daily lives of our HKU buddies through our one-to-one conservations and hear about their personal opinions on the topics discussed during the sharing. Some of us even managed to have a virtual lunch with our HKU buddies!
This virtual collaboration was indeed a precious opportunity for us to interact with fellow student teachers from HKU especially amidst the global Covid-19 situation. These interactions allowed us to forge meaningful friendships and a deeper understanding of Hong Kong’s culture and educational system. Learning about a different educational system also allowed us to adopt a different perspective to examine our own educational system and better appreciate the similarities and differences.
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