Futurelab Associate, Helena Renfrew Knight recently visited St Paul’s Convent School in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong and explored how the school promotes an all-round education for life
Hong Kong-China is one of the leading performers in the OECD PISA survey. It’s in the top 4 for reading, mathematics and science along with Shanghai-China, Korea and Finland, (while the UK’s results are in line with the OECD average – some way behind). I wanted to explore for myself what a high-performing school in Hong Kong is like. I was directed to St Paul’s Convent School in Causeway Bay which has achieved the highest value-added results in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination for the past 10 years and was described as “truly an outstanding school, excelling in all four domains of school work” in its Comprehensive Review report.
Its highly charismatic Principal, Sister Margaret Wong has led the school for the past 19 years. She relishes educational development and embraces new methods and technologies. Her school has led the way in Hong Kong in introducing its new curriculum and in promoting an all-round education for life. It is to this new curriculum that Kenneth Chen, Hong Kong under-secretary for education attributes Hong Kong’s success. Quoted in a Times Educational Supplement article in January 2011, Mr Chen stated “Much of the success was due to a curriculum introduced over the past decade which emphasised 21st -century skills such as ‘learning how to learn” Sister Margaret also attributes her school’s improvements in exam results and success in university entrance to the shape and implementation of the new curriculum.
What’s the biggest challenge for education at St Paul’s?
Sister Margaret outlined her challenge of moving away from what she described as the traditional passive approach to learning of Chinese students to something more appropriate for today’s and tomorrow’s world. She aims to make classrooms much more interactive – through teaching style, use of technology, teachers learning from the children, peer learning and student voice. What the school is trying to teach is “how to transform information into knowledge, and knowledge into wisdom....and this requires new cognitive skills, meta-cognition and reflection which are all learning to learn skills.”
Values underpin the school’s approach
The school is non-selective and many of the 1,350 pupils at St Paul’s have come up through its linked nursery and primary school. The pupils have therefore had the school’s values instilled in them from an early age. Sister Margaret emphasises how important it is to promote and transmit an appropriate set of values and to create within the school, the moral environment and society for which we all might hope. SPCS is a learning school in a learning world. Its core values are integrity, joyfulness, simplicity, hard work and excellence.
Learning to learn and the 16 habits of mind
All pupils in their first two years at the secondary school undertake a Learning to Learn course. They also are trained (by the older students in F6 - aged 16) in Professor Arthur Costa’s 16 habits of mind. Prof Costa maintains that a critical attribute of intelligence is not only having information but also knowing how to act on it . The 16 habits of mind (such as persistence, thinking flexibly, remaining open to continual learning) contribute to this intelligence. For more detail on how the school has implemented these 16 Habits of Mind across the curriculum see the video at http://ihouse.hkedcity.net/~sp1400/hom/index.htm.
Technology provides additional learning opportunities and enables the girls to showcase their work
During my visit, I was shown the school’s learning portal which enables the students to log in and access additional activities, for example additional videos and audio recordings and accompanying exercises to test their English comprehension. The students showing me round the school had made frequent use of these materials. I was shown active class discussion areas, not only featuring questions on homework logistics but also intense discussion on the role of school, the responsibilities of parents and what students need to learn to prepare them for life. Sister Margaret described how extensive use is made of ipod touches to enable students to revise topics and practice Putonghua (spoken Chinese). Technology allows the school to extend learning opportunities beyond the school day and the school term.
Everything is possible – even building an aeroplane and learning to fly!
Omnia omnibus, 1 Corinthians 9:22 – be all things to all men - is the school motto which underlines a pervasive belief that anything is possible. High aspirations are evident in all areas – both in the awards and trophies on display in the school entrance and in the girls’ confidence in talking about their and the school’s achievements. They are quite literally “reaching for the stars”, building a 2-seater aircraft (and in the process learning about aviation theories and aerodynamics)! When I ask one of the girls what instruments she plays, she replies piano, violin, cello and harp – the cello and harp for fun – and when asked by Sister Margaret to play something, she asks what music I prefer and sits down at the piano to play a Mendelssohn Prelude flawlessly as though it’s the most natural thing in the world. These young people display self-confidence and pride in their achievements and their school, coupled with an incredible modesty, breadth of skills and openness to engaging in discussion with visitors. Nothing seems outside the bounds of possibility at St Paul’s.
Spaces are adapted to learning
All are encouraged to speak out and voice their opinions in online discussions, in class and with visitors. Sister Margaret installed the diner style seats from a cafe that was being refurbished to make a suitable environment for cultural and philosophical debate over tea – testament both to her enterprise and commitment to recycling, and to the high aspirations she holds for her pupils. Another room is fitted out as an a traditional Chinese classroom – and Sister Margaret points out the 100 different pursuits of the children painted on the screen to emphasise that everyone is good at something and the key is finding out what and building upon it. Traditional Chinese costumes are hanging in the modern dance studio. A huge kitchen area features all the different types of cookers that the students are ever likely to come across. And the Classroom of the Future, which attracts visitors from far and wide, for its high-tech and eco-friendly design, enables flexible teaching approaches. Seats are comfortable and swivel to allow different combinations of small group discussion or whole class teaching; there are 3 interactive whiteboards and a robotics construction area. The room is designed to be flooded with natural light through the skylights. Throughout the school, space is adapted to the learning that is intended to happen within it.
Broad Curriculum and Diversified Interest Programme
The school supplements an already very broad curriculum with the Diversified Interest Programme held every Wednesday afternoon which offers 25 different activities including Dragon Dance, Chinese Opera, Drama, Sports, Music, Languages or Social Service. These activities allow everyone to find something they are interested in, develop their multiple talents, widen their perspective and broaden their experience.
Reverse Poems
Just one example of the school’s engaging and innovative approach is the “Reverse Poems” that some Form 3 children (aged13) had written. The “Reverse Poems” read in the negative forward and present the opposite, positive view when the lines are read from the bottom upwards.
So for example:
I am living a miserable life
And it’s foolish to believe that
Life is an endless stream of hope and chances.
Becomes:
Life is an endless stream of hope and chances.
And it’s foolish to believe that
I am living a miserable life
See http://poets.spice.org.hk/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=6&Itemid=7 for more examples.
At St Paul’s Convent School, and thanks to the extraordinary leadership of Sr Margaret, the commitment of her staff and the gifts of her students, I am delighted to report that life seemed to me to be an endless stream of hope and chances.