Question of degrees for Hong Kong educator Betty Chan at new teacher training college
Yew Chung International School boss tells Post what has kept her doing over the decades and why her latest venture will have a big impact on the community
Open classrooms and playful learning will not work in Hong Kong because the education system is known to encourage rote learning.
So Betty Chan Po-king was told when she took over her mother’s school, Yew Chung, in the 1970s and launched a kindergarten section.
But Chan, chief executive and school supervisor of Yew Chung International School, proved the naysayers wrong by making her kindergarten one of the top preschools in the city. She says her success is partly because she understands that children need teacher support while learning, not teacher direction.
Building on a life of learning
In 2014, Yew Chung moved into teacher training by starting a two-year higher diploma course in early childhood education. Yew Chung Community College is the first private, self-financed institution in Hong Kong that only provides formal early childhood education teacher training, Chan says.
Yew Chung is waiting for government approval to award bachelor’s degrees. The institution, Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education, is expected to start operating in the next school year. “It is really through teacher training that we can have the greatest impact on our community,” Chan says.
Having been an educator for four decades, what keeps you going?
