The University of Macau (UM) today (26 November) held a UM Doctor honoris causa Lecture, titled ‘100 Years of Macao Teachers’ United Efforts for the Advancement of Education’. Lau Sin Peng, honorary doctor of UM and a veteran educator, was the keynote speaker. During the talk, Lau shared her insights on the united efforts of teachers in Macao to promote education in the past 100 years.

In his speech, Wang Chuang, dean of UM’s Faculty of Education, said that Dr Lau started working in the education sector after graduating from Macau Chong Tak Secondary School in 1952. Her education career has spanned over 60 years. She received a master’s degree in education from South China Normal University in 1993, a Medal of Cultural Merit from the governor of Macao in 1990, the first Medal of Merit – Education from the Macao SAR government in 2001, and a Doctor of Education honoris causa degree from UM in 2019.

During the talk, Dr Lau discussed the development of education in Macao over the years. She also talked about how, in the past, only people from poor families would choose to work as teachers, with many of them not always getting paid for their work. Encouragingly, through the joint efforts of two generations of educators over the past 50 years that could be roughly divided into five stages, this situation is finally beginning to change, with enhanced awareness about the importance of appropriate teacher workload to ensure teaching quality.

Since the 1980s, Dr Lau has visited many different places in China and foreign countries to attend academic conferences on education, history, and language. She has written many articles for national journals, newspapers in Macao, government publications, and various other local publications. She has published 226 papers, totaling 2.4 million words, on education, culture, history, and language. Dr Lau has also written entries for Education Dictionary, China Education Encyclopedia, China College Dictionary, and Macao Encyclopedia. Altogether, she has published more than five million words.

Dr Lau has served the local society in many different positions. She was a member of the following organisations: Land Fund Advisory Committee of the Macao SAR, the Seventh and Eighth Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the election committee of Macao deputies to the Ninth and Tenth National People’s Congress, the preparatory committee of the Macao SAR, the Selection Committee for the First Government of the Macao SAR, and the First to Fourth Chief Executive Election Committees. She was also the deputy director of the Committee for Celebration Activities from All Sectors for the Return of Macao to the People’s Republic of China,