While a newcomer to HKU itself, Professor A Lin Goodwin was born in Hong Kong, moving to Singapore as an infant where she was schooled, then heading to the United States – and Teachers College (TC) – for her degrees. Her ties to Asia are strong, having made frequent visits over the intervening years during which she has delivered lectures at both the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Institute of Education (now the Education University of Hong Kong). She also has close associations with the National Institute of Education in Singapore with whom TC collaborates regularly.

“I feel very much at home in Asia,” she said. “But I also think it is beneficial that my education and career background are from a completely different place and perspective, so I can take an outsider’s overview and ask why things are done a certain way. It is a privilege to be able to do so.”

This is Professor Goodwin’s first deanship, although she was Associate Dean and then Vice Dean at TC for over a decade, as well as being a Vice-President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). As TC’s first Associate Dean– a role that was created to provide a link between the academic and administrative sides of the institution – she gained a new perspective on academia.
“I got to work across faculties and to speak to all sides, I’ve been through the system from all angles – on-the-ground teacher educator, researcher, manager, as well as out in the field.”

She wants to draw on that experience now, and aims to pay attention to the big picture as well as the detail. “I look at all the pieces, not just singularly but in relation to one another. I think that is my job as Dean. It is hard for people within the Faculty to do this as they are so close to their own work. I see this as one of the benefits of being in a leadership position. It is the business of a leader to look at the big picture, and it is the benefit of leadership that you can do so.”

Professor Goodwin started at HKU in November, 2017 and has had time to familiarise herself with the Faculty, which she describes as comprising ”a group of energetic, hardworking people, palpably passionate about their work and invested in the Faculty. There is deep loyalty, many are alumni and the notion of HKU as family is apparent. It is a good working environment, and a respectful atmosphere. People also seem open to change. There is a lot of energy and activity focussed on innovation – programme revision for example – and an openness to self-evaluation.”

Her visions for the future include making the Faculty more recognised on the international stage and having more communal goals. “I want us to be the go-to university. There is a wide array of things the Faculty is doing very well, but I would like us to be more focussed. I strongly believe in everybody doing their individual thing, but at the same time I don’t want people or resources to be spread too thin. As a Faculty, we should focus on one or two signature ideas for which we’ll be known in the region and globally.”

Debate and challenge

She would like to find better ways to collaborate and to encourage Faculty members to debate and challenge each other, but to do so constructively and without negativity, so that the collegial spirit remains strong.

“Any world-class university is grounded in this idea of debate and peer review. Mentoring for both faculty and students should be deliberate and across the board. Everybody should feel that we are supporting their work, their development and them as human beings. It is part of being a community – there needs to be both an intellectual community and a social one.”

Asked to discuss some of her own work, Professor Goodwin cited an innovative teaching residency programme called ‘Teaching Residents at Teachers College’ (TR@TC), that she initiated, designed, received multi-million-dollar funding for and launched in 2009. Nine years on she still maintains an advisory role.

Based on residencies which medical students undertake, the premise for TR@TC is that student-teachers are immersed in authentic teaching by apprenticing with experienced teachers in high-needs public schools in New York City. “It is akin to a medical residency,” she said. “That is, deep immersion in practice while you are also engaged in theoretical learning about the field. Your preparation immerses you in the professional context, where you are guided, mentored and instructed and where you are approximating the real work, at the same time that you are simultaneously immersed in rigorous academic preparation. The residency model advocates both practice and theory together.”

Professor Goodwin also maintains an active research agenda and is a well-published scholar. Her research focusses on teacher and teacher educator identities and development; multicultural understandings and curriculum enactments; the particular issues facing Asian/Asian American teachers and students in US schools; and international analyses/comparisons of teacher education practice and policy.

She was most recently involved in an international study of teacher education practices and policies in seven high-performing jurisdictions. Her area of focus was Singapore where she and colleagues gathered data on teaching and teacher education through interviews, on-site observations, and document and policy analyses. The study concluded in 2017 and is documented in her latest book, Empowered Educators in Singapore: How High-performing Systems Shape Teaching Quality (with co-authors Low Ee Ling, NIE, Singapore, and Linda Darling-Hammond, Learning Policy Institute, US).

Finally, the interview turns to the fundamental requirement of all education faculties – to develop and inspire the teachers of tomorrow. Asked what makes a good educator, Professor Goodwin said: “The teaching profession today is a dramatically altered landscape that poses daunting challenges, which include: complex educational policies; the increasing diversity of all students; a world reshaped by globalisation; and the imperative to ensure that all students succeed.

“We need academically strong teachers who possess content knowledge, are ready to focus on learning and student achievement, and are prepared to meet the needs of all learners, including many with multiple vulnerabilities. It is up to institutions like HKU’s Faculty of Education to mould and inspire such teachers, and prepare them to be educators capable of working anywhere in the world.”

Professor Goodwin (centre) at the programme booth at the HKU Information Day for Undergraduate Admissions 2017.

Professor Goodwin (second from left) at the ‘Signs and Wonders African Night’ event held on November 24, 2017.

​ Mentoring for both faculty and students should be deliberate and across the board. Everybody should feel that we are supporting their work, their development and them as human beings.

Professor A Lin Goodwin