FEHD Strategy_2022-25

Moving to the

next level

Faculty Strategy 2022-2025

Six Departments

Department of Department of
Early Childhood Education Curriculum and Instruction

ECE C&I

Department of
Education Policy and Leadership

EPL

Department of Department of
International Education Special Education and Counselling

IE SEC

Department of Psychology

PS

Table of Contents

02

Message from the Dean
04
Education and the Student Experience
07
Research and Enterprise
10
Internationalisation and Local Engagement
13
Our Staff and Ways of Working
16
Our Commitments

1

Message from the Dean

The need for a strategy

Over the last few years, the Faculty of Education and Human Development (FEHD) has identified
a vision, a mission, values and priorities, and aspirations. This strategy will identify how we are
going to achieve these commitments, and will provide us with a clear and positive future direction.

Our process

The development of this strategy has been a collaborative, bottom-up process involving academic,
teaching, administrative and support staff from across FEHD. The six departments of the Faculty
– curriculum and instruction, early childhood education, education policy and leadership,
psychology, international education, and special education and counselling – developed their
own strategies based on the following four pillars:

education and the student experience
research and enterprise
internationalisation and local engagement
our staff and ways of working

A faculty strategy was then developed using these pillars. It is based on department strategies,
the University’s strategic plan (2016-2025), and emerging agendas locally, regionally and
internationally. A retreat was held and task groups were established, led by the Dean and the
Associate Deans. A draft faculty strategy was then refined by consulting the Faculty Development
Advisory Committee, the Heads of Department and Dean forum, and the Faculty Management
Committee. A lot of inter-professional teamwork has gone into this process. This document is the
result.

2

Our principles

A strategy is not a wish list. It is a plan that reflects realistic ambitions. Each pillar of our strategy,
at faculty and department level, will be supported by a clear set of actions. This means that our
strategy is a living document, not a static wish list confined to a website.

In other words, it is really happening and we will keep track of our own progress over the next
three years.

Our aims

Over the next three academic years, 2022-25, FEHD will:

strengthen our distinctive reputation as the leading teacher education provider in Hong
Kong and the Greater Bay Area (GBA)

ensure that our students benefit from pedagogical innovation through virtual and authentic
learning experiences and an enhanced focus on cultivating their global and regional
perspectives

build further on our world-class research reputation by focusing on global inter-disciplinary
themes and increasing the quality and impact of our scholarship in the process

deepen our internationalisation and local engagement through international and regional
student recruitment and high-quality partnerships

enhance a working environment that is efficient, equitable, and that emphasises the well-
being of all our staff

We are a diverse faculty of social scientists from many disciplinary backgrounds. What we have
in common is a commitment to further enhance the student experience, respond to the needs
of our community partners, address issues of social justice, and tackle the key inter-disciplinary
questions that face our world through research and knowledge transfer activities. I believe that
this strategy will help us to do these things even better.

Professor Bruce Macfarlane
Dean, FEHD

3

Education and the Student Experience

1. Further strengthen the quality of the curriculum

We currently host more than 50 programmes at postgraduate, undergraduate, sub-degree and
certificate levels. Quality assurance and enhancement is central to the daily operation of all our
programmes. To provide excellent academic learning, we need to keep abreast of the latest
academic research, government policies, and the changing needs of the workforce in our local,
regional, and global communities.

Over the next three years, we will:

critically review our existing programmes and conduct curriculum renewal, where necessary
propose new programmes to address emerging societal needs

2. Enhance students’ learning experiences

We aspire to enhance students’ learning experiences
through formal and non-formal learning and draw on
our collective talent to offer meaningful and exciting
learning opportunities for our students. Professional
development in teaching and learning is central to
achieving this goal. With reference to university
strategic development and current institutional data
which informs quality assurance and enhancement,
we have identified three themes which will further
build our capacity as educators and provide our
students with an enhanced quality of experience.

4

Theme 1: Virtual Teaching and Learning (VTL)

This advocates for pedagogical innovations to engage
students in learning with the latest technologies.

Our academic and teaching staff will explore and exploit
cutting-edge facilities such as the Future Classrooms in the
EdUHK Library, Ednovation Space, and the Teaching and
Learning Laboratory – e-learning Pedagogy Space.

We will be at the forefront of new developments and practices
in online learning, blended learning and e-pedagogy in the
post-pandemic era.

Theme 2: Authentic learning experiences

Our students will learn in authentic settings beyond the classroom. Examples include internship/
field-based learning, experiential learning, entrepreneurship and innovation, and research-based
learning in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area.

Theme 3: Cultivating global, regional and national perspectives

Our students will develop a good understanding of other cultures, and have positive attitudes
towards differences and diversity, and a readiness to communicate or work with people from
different backgrounds.

Over the next three years, we will:

encourage programmes to incorporate global/regional perspectives as part of student
assessment at course level

strengthen our engagement with the Greater Bay Area through study tours, internships,
field experience, virtual tutorials and other learning experiences

encourage the spread of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) across the
Faculty

5

set up an FEHD innovation hub on the Faculty website to share resources and good practices
organise capacity building events and Leaders of Learning events in the focused areas
set up/revamp Faculty-level small-scale grants for staff and students in the focused areas

Department highlights

Establish two learning and teaching clusters - experiential learning and problem-based
learning - to consolidate current expertise and enhance and encourage the application
of these pedagogies in teaching and learning
Set up a Play and Experiential Learning Centre
Establish student groups on Facebook and WeChat to increase student participation
and learner engagement

6

Research and Enterprise

1. Foster and maintain a culture of collaborative interdisciplinary research that
is innovative, impactful, agenda-setting and world-leading

Our Faculty is a world leader in research that addresses the most challenging global educational,
social, and policy issues. We aim to initiate, support, and sustain research activities and
collaborations that cultivate networks, foster collegiality, and inspire intellectual innovation.

Our strategy to achieve this rests on prioritising, facilitating, and leading a cutting-edge cross-
faculty programme of research with the following four inter-disciplinary themes established in
2022:

1) capacity building for the education workforce
2) parent and community engagement in education
3) equity, ethics and social inclusion
4) child/youth mental health and wellbeing

Over the next three years, we will:

establish a working group and develop a business plan,
leadership model and funding application for a faculty-
level interdisciplinary research centre

ensure that new appointments with a substantive research
workload allocation (e.g. research assistant professors,
postdoctoral fellows) have interdisciplinary experience/
expertise and/or capacity to contribute to faculty-level
interdisciplinary teams

make use of existing and emergent resources and funding
schemes to support research collaborations that foster
new talent and build strategic networks with world-leading
interdisciplinary scholars and centres

7

2. Build research capacity and encourage research practices that lead to
increases in high-quality publications and successful externally funded
research projects

We will cultivate a collegial research culture that values the intellectual traditions and contributions
of academic and teaching staff and postgraduate students, and that prioritises scholarly
excellence and contributions to new knowledge as the principal drivers of quality.
Over the next three years, we will:

provide mentoring, professional learning and leadership opportunities that enhance
colleagues’ and research postgraduate students’ ability to meet contemporary demands of
research-intensive environments in principled and collaborative ways
appoint postdoctoral fellows, research postgraduate students and early career academics
who are integral to energising research and research culture across the Faculty and
provide mentoring and collegial support to contribute positively to their work and student
experience
establish peer review partnerships between academic departments as a means of
evaluating the quality of research outputs using RAE criteria

8

3. Enhance enterprise, impact, and knowledge transfer activities in Hong
Kong and beyond

We will encourage, support and promote strategic research initiatives with clear pathways to
real-world impact.
Over the next three years, we will:

build and promote our profile as a leading contributor of research-led solutions to global
issues and debates
host events and activities designed to build our presence and brand-recognition locally,
regionally and internationally
develop collaborations and projects that support enterprise activities by staff and students
such as self-financed programmes, commissioned research projects, and commercialisation
of research products
appoint a media officer to manage online promotion of FEHD research, partnerships and
international engagement

Department highlights

Organise seminars on advanced statistical analysis and publication strategies in order to
increase the quality and quantity of research publications

Achieve a 90% active researcher rate by the next research assessment exercise with
academic colleagues having at least one publication to be judged at 4*

Consider possibilities for collaboration on knowledge transfer grants

9

Internationalisation and
Local Engagement

1. Develop and strengthen collaborative partnerships with schools, institutions and
organisations locally and internationally, and take on a leadership role in research
and knowledge transfer

Our internationalisation and local engagement is driven by the University’s Strategy for
Internationalisation (2020-2025) to be ‘a global university positioned in one of the global cities in the
world and is equally thoughtful to its identity with Asia and the role of Asian universities to bridge
global and Asian scholarship.’ (p.1). There are three strategic areas for internationalisation and local
engagement that we have identified.

Over the next three years, we will: Department highlights

establish at least 15 new partnerships Develop with the Asia Pacific Centre for
at the Faculty level with development Leadership and Change a networked learning
agencies, universities and governments community inclusive of researchers, school
in the Greater Bay Area, Mainland China, leaders, schools, and educational enterprises
and internationally to enhance education in the Greater Bay Area
equity, quality, and efficiency

provide additional seed funding for Develop a sustainable local engagement plan
academic staff to work with local and involving the launch of at least one new project
international partners to develop research,
conferences or professional development
proposals

conduct reviews of existing FEHD Foster global perspectives among students
programmes and courses and build in and teacher educators with our Collaborative
opportunities for students to enrol and Online International Learning (COIL) project
engage in exchange programmes or short
term/summer courses with institutional
and organisational partners overseas

10

2. Establish local and international interdisciplinary research/capacity building
hubs/networks to engage key education stakeholders and address key
education issues of equity, quality, and efficiency

Over the next three years, we will:
provide seed funding for academic staff to work with local and international partners to set
up research or capacity building hubs/networks based on FEHD’s strategic research areas
and knowledge transfer expertise
co-organise and support at least 12 local and international conferences and workshops with
key FEHD partners as platforms for partnership development to establish the research/
capacity building hubs/networks
support the development of a database of resources for the research/capacity building
hubs/networks

11

3. Promote ‘internationalisation at home’ by
creating learning environments of cultural
and linguistic diversity in support of the
development of international perspectives in
the curriculum

We will ensure that the curriculum framework shapes
learning as a response to increasing globalisation,
bringing more international students into our programmes
and courses, and supporting colleagues to work with
international researchers in Hong Kong.

Over the next three years, we will:
attract 20 per cent more international students into our programmes either for exchange
or full-time study
organise social or research activities that bring local and international students together
provide grants for academic and teaching staff to include international students in their
courses or selected activities in their courses (online or onsite)
provide fellowships for international researchers to spend time on campus to work with
FEHD staff on research, teaching and learning or knowledge transfer

12

Our Staff and Ways of Working

1. Address staff diversity and inclusivity

We are proud of our staff community and the fact that there are 20 nationalities represented in
the Faculty. Yet we acknowledge that we have much to do still and are committed to promoting
greater diversity to create a more equal and inclusive working environment.

Over the next three years, we will:
establish an Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee
include a more detailed EDI statement on the Faculty website and in all job advertisements
in respect to equality of opportunity in line with international standards of best practice
increase training and development opportunities for staff in respect to the meaning and
benefits of EDI principles

2. Strengthen recruitment, retention, and staff well-being

Rapid social and political changes and the Covid-19 pandemic have
had an impact on the recruitment and retention of both local and
international academic staff including emigration. Therefore,
we need to take measures which will positively support staff
happiness and well-being and strengthen recruitment and
retention wherever possible.

13

Over the next three years, we will:
establish a working group on the recruitment and
retention of international academic staff
fund professional workshops/activities related to mindfulness and stress/anxiety for
all staff using expertise from within the Faculty
work with the Human Resources Office to review the recruitment and interview
process in the Faculty to see how it may be further enhanced
institute birthday leave, a single day to be taken on or within one month of a birthday,
for all administrative and support staff as a token of appreciation for their hard work
and commitment to the Faculty
promote work-life balance across the Faculty through encouraging flexible working
practices that also respect colleagues’ right to disconnect from out-of-hours email
communication

14

3. Improve post-pandemic ways of working

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to significant changes in the working environment of staff in
universities across the world. Working practices need to be further enhanced through streamlined
processes, devolving authority for decisions to the right level, less reliance on paper-based ways
of working and clear, accurate and succinct communication.

Over the next three years, we will:

establish a team-building education and development day for administrative and
support staff

establish a learning circle for administrative and support staff

review workflows to identify more efficient working practices, including devolving
decision-making authority to staff at the right level; promoting the use of accurate,
succinct and clear communication; making soft/electronic copies the default way
of working, and using software to streamline processes which are currently heavily
reliant on email

encourage all staff to attend at least one University-based job-related training
workshop each academic year to keep abreast of new skills and knowledge

Department highlights

Ensure early career researchers all have mentors

Support flexible transportation arrangements for administrative staff who need to
work early or late in preparing for special tasks

Organise staff retreats and team building activities to increase morale and enhance
work motivation

15

Our Commitments

Our vision

To be recognised locally, nationally and internationally as a world-class provider of academic
learning and research that meets the highest standards of excellence and results in measurable
improvements in the lives of students, their professions and the communities in which they live.

Our Mission

promote an environment valuing academic excellence
support staff and students to strive for quality outcomes in learning, teaching and research
enhance students’ experiences through formal and non-formal curriculum
provide opportunities for research and its application to teaching as well as problems and
issues in Hong Kong and beyond

meaningfully engage with the range of communities we serve

Values and priorities Aspirations

interwoven talent The Faculty…
innovative teaching
visible research that academics, policy-makers and education
simple, sensible, safe professionals think of first
community integrated
where students come to learn

that employers look to for staff

that the community works with and
comes to for help

where people want to work

16



www.eduhk.hk/fehd Oct 2022