Data of and Measures for Non-tertiary Education for the Academic Year 2020/2021
According to the statistics of the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ), there are 78 schools with 121 school units in Macao in the academic year 2020/2021. Among the 113 school units of formal education, there are 108 school units joining the free education school system, the school unit coverage rate is 95.6%. The number of beneficiaries is about 76,000 students.
Continuous increase in the overall number of teachers and students
The initial number of students in different education levels in the academic year 2020/2021 is estimated to be 85,014 in total; there is an increase of 2.8% in comparison with the total of 82,683 students of last academic year. Of which, the initially estimated number of kindergarten students is 19,200, there is a decrease of 0.8% in comparison to that of last academic year; the initially estimated number of primary school students is 36,220, there is an increase of 4.9% in comparison with that of last academic year; the initially estimated number of secondary school students is 28,756, there is an increase of 2.8% in comparison with that of last academic year. The initially estimated number of teaching staff is 8,038 in total (with teachers teaching in more than one educational stage); there is an increase of 0.1% in comparison with the total of 8,029 teaching staff in last academic year. Of which, the initially estimated number of kindergarten teaching staff is 1,419, there is an increase of 1.9% in comparison with that of last academic year; the initially estimated number of primary school teaching staff is 2,800, there is an increase of 3.6% in comparison with that of last academic year; the initially estimated number of secondary school teaching staff is 3,120, there is a decrease of 3.4% in comparison with that of last academic year.
Enhancing the awareness of epidemic prevention, creating a safe campus
The DSEJ will distribute to schools the guideline document of “Matters of Attention for Schools in the Academic Year 2020/2021” before the start of the new academic year and convene a meeting with all school principals on 27th August to exchange ideas about the important issues of the new academic year. Schools must strictly implement the relevant measures, including disinfecting and cleaning the campus thoroughly, conducting drills on school opening by simulating school operation, formulating various plans and related measures for class suspension, and so forth. To enhance students’ awareness of hygiene and epidemic prevention, and cultivate the spirit of gratitude by reflecting on the epidemic, the DSEJ will provide schools with the teaching programme of “The First Lesson of the New School Year” to support schools to carry out the relevant thematic teaching activities on anti-epidemic and epidemic prevention, as well as to further promote and support schools to develop a smart campus which includes online teaching so as to enable all schools in Macao to have the conditions for carrying out online teaching activities.
To coordinate with the coming into force of Dispatch of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture No. 62/2020 – “Measures taken by schools in the Macao Special Administrative Region under tropical cyclones, rainstorms and special weather conditions” on 1st September 2020, the DSEJ will continue to publicise the arrangements and measures related to class suspension to teachers and students, parents and the public through the school and community. In the academic year 2020/2021, schools will be promoted to carry out drill on “suspicious people intruding into the campus”, so as to strengthen the awareness and capacity of teachers and students in responding to the relevant sudden crisis through the drill.
Supporting teaching staff’s professional development
As always, the DSEJ will continue to improve the overall quality of teaching staff training as well as provide diversified, multi-level and more targeted courses for teaching staff. More than 700 training courses for teaching staff are expected to be held in the academic year 2020/2021, and more than 230,000 course hours are provided. Of which, special importance is attached to cultivating principal teachers of various subjects through the Thousand Teacher Elite Training Programme; strengthening teaching staff’s understanding about the Constitution, Basic Law and National Security Education; passing on the excellent Chinese traditional culture, making good use of information technology and integrating it into teaching so as to inspire students’ creativity and high level thinking. In addition, work pressure of teaching staff will also be relieved; classroom teaching and learning effectiveness will be improved through diversified assessment and measurement. Teachers are enabled to master the teaching methods and skills that can care for individual differences of students, so that teachers can teach students in accordance with their aptitude and provide every student with a learning environment full of love, warmth and well-being.
Cultivating the devotion to the Motherland, caring for the physical and mental development
To deepen the education cooperation and exchange in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the DSEJ intensifies the efforts to promote local schools to grasp the development advantage of the Greater Bay Area. In the academic year 2020/2021, the Education Development Fund will launch new subsidised projects, of which, the “Greater Bay Area Sister School Exchange Tours” will be added to the “Sister School Exchange Programme”, there are 32 projects from 22 school units applying for the subsidy. In addition, the new subsidised project for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area “Career‧Entrepreneurship” Learning Camp is implemented, schools are encouraged to send teachers and students to the vocational-technical education training bases in the Greater Bay Area to learn, 3 schools will organise 5 study tours through this project with the participation of 131 students. Through the Subsidy Scheme of “Inheritance of Chinese Culture”, schools are supported to promote Chinese culture and strengthen traditional etiquette education; there are 185 activities of 71 school units applying for the subsidy. The DSEJ and schools will jointly hold the "Chinese Traditional Etiquette Culture Education" Online Video Seminar and Sharing Session.
The DSEJ will strike to establish the loving the country and loving Macao education base for teenagers in December, 2020. The base is a venue for exhibitions, training as well as multimedia and audiovisual display. Besides, it is planned to launch the “Extension Educational Programme for Devotion to the Motherland” at schools. Linking the education base as well as the Macao history learning points and teaching resources together, it is hoped that students of different education levels can learn about the history and social development of Macao and the motherland in a lively way. On the other hand, in the new academic year, the DSEJ will encourage and promote schools to send students with different personal qualities to mainland China for exchange, thereby increasing opportunities for experiential learning. Through the exchanges, students will have a better sense of belonging to and knowledge about the motherland. Moreover, in strict compliance with the guidelines on epidemic prevention, schools can adjust the implementation of various leisure activities, inter-school competitions and education camps to foster physical and mental development of students and enable them to fulfil their potential. Due to the situation of COVID-19 epidemic, the DSEJ has also formulated epidemic prevention measures for different activities as well as kept close and constant communication with the Health Bureau. Under the premise of ensuring students’ safety and health, activities that are beneficial to physical and mental health will be provided for them.
Continuously improving the construction of local teaching materials and teaching resources
In the academic year 2020/2021, the revised version of the “Curriculum Framework for Formal Education of Local Education System” will be implemented in Junior One (Form 1) and Senior One (Form 4). History will be taught as an independent and compulsory subject. Through a more systematic curriculum design, schools can deepen the effectiveness of learning and teaching of History and strengthen the cultivation of students’ devotion to the motherland. To tie in with the practical needs of curriculum reform, the DSEJ has published a set of 12 volumes of History teaching materials (trial version) for secondary education, advanced the publication of General Studies teaching materials (trial version) to Primary Two, launched the Chinese Language teaching materials (trial version) for Primary One and Primary Four. Moreover, the 4th to 6th volumes of Portuguese Language teaching materials for primary education will be published. The DSEJ will support teaching staff in implementing the requirements of basic academic attainments and carrying out teaching activities. Moral and Civic Education teaching materials have been revised and the “Moral and Civic Education Teaching Resources Database” has been established to provide rich resources for teaching staff’s reference.
To cooperate in the coming into force and implementation of Administrative Regulation No. 29/2020 “Special Education System” in the academic year 2021/2022, the DSEJ will promote the content of the regulation to staff of schools and special education groups as well as discuss with special education schools about the class placement. Besides, the DSEJ will distribute and promote “A Harmonious School, Preventing Bullying” practical handbook to schools and produce auxiliary video clips to assist teachers and student counsellors in using the handbook.
Promoting home-school collaboration, supporting lifelong learning
In order to promote home-school collaboration and parent education, in the academic year 2020/2021, the DSEJ will continue to carry out parent education on the theme of a healthy lifestyle, adaptation to school life, life education, sex education, and so on. Moreover, parent-child activities that match with festival theme will be carried out to promote the concept of “A Harmonious Family”. The DSEJ will encourage more parents to participate in parent-child reading to improve children’s reading ability and promote parent-child relationship. “An Appointment with Parent” will continue to be carried out to open up new channels of communication with parents and deepen the positive effectiveness of parent education.
In terms of lifelong learning, the fourth phase of “Continuing Education Development Plan” will be launched in an orderly manner based on the principles of “Adjusting Positioning, Strictly Regulated, Electronic Monitoring, Selecting the best for Continuation”. The DSEJ continues to create conditions for lifelong learning, encourage Macao residents to participate in the Plan so that they can improve personal qualities and skills through continuing education and taking qualification certification exams, thereby promoting the diversification of economic and industrial development as well as building a learning-based society. Moreover, the DSEJ continues to carry out the “Recurrent Education Subsidy System”, constantly improves the conditions for the development of recurrent education and the supporting resources to enable the upward movement of residents.
Conclusion
In the academic year 2020/2021, the DSEJ will carry out the new round of public consultation on “Medium and Long-term Planning for Non-tertiary Education (2021-2030)” and “Macao Youth Policy (2021-2030)”. Based on the effectiveness of current policy implementation, the DSEJ hopes to extensively listen to the opinions of different sectors of society, constantly improve the work related to education and youth affairs in Macao. Moreover, as always, the DSEJ will continue to cooperate with schools and parents to provide a safe and excellent learning environment for students, strengthen creative education, strive to enable students to pass down history and culture, foster students’ patriotism, develop students’ soft power, enhance students’ well-being and help them become talents who will serve others and build the country.
