HKU Bulletin May 2012 (Vol. 13 No. 2)

People “One of my missions as Dean is to enhance recognition locally, regionally and internationally of our research excellence in education, communication sciences and information sciences.” He is careful to point out that the impact of the Faculty’s research takes different forms. “There is the impact on education policy, and on educational practice, which filters down to the classroom. Then there’s the impact on individuals – to take just one example, research in communication sciences makes a real difference to the lives of individual children and adults with speech and hearing impairments, including the elderly and stroke victims.” Within the area of education, the Faculty’s research is extremely wide-ranging. It spans the age range from early childhood education to higher education. It explores issues which are of relevance locally, regionally and internationally. It focuses on diversity of many different kinds: ethnic minority issues both in Hong Kong and in China, and sexual diversity, as well as the challenges facing teachers who work with increasingly diverse classes of students. One new research area is ‘shadow education’ or education that happens outside the formal education setting, such as private tutoring. “This is an important area,” says Professor Andrews. “It seems shadow education may have a far stronger impact than anyone realised.” “We have major involvement as the Hong Kong partner in international research studies, such as PIRLS, TIMSS, and PISA, and of course we’re also heavily engaged in Research relating to local education,” he continues. “This covers a wide range of subject-specific issues – in Chinese, for instance, colleagues investigate everything from initial literacy skills to the place of Cantonese opera in the school curriculum – as well as areas that cut across all subjects, such as Assessment for Learning, and Language across the curriculum. We also have a strong Information and Technology Studies division, and we are engaged in cutting-edge e-learning initiatives, both in schools and within the University. In short, the breadth of our Research is very wide.” International career Professor Andrews’ career has taken him around the world and has involved extensive stints in development work. “Before coming to Hong Kong, I had worked in various countries – France, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Egypt, Sudan and Thailand, plus at the universities of Reading and Cambridge.” The Education Faculty is already very well connected internationally, having active research collaborations with a variety of institutions in the region and across the world. Another of Professor Andrews’ goals as Dean is to make these collaborations a more integral part of Faculty activity in fulfilment of its mission, rather than allowing them to be primarily associated with individuals. “We plan to achieve this in a variety of ways,” he says, “including through initiatives under the umbrella of the UNESCO Chair in Comparative Education to be conferred in May this year.” Examples of Faculty-level partnerships include collaboration with the University of Gothenburg (which embraces Research and Teaching & Learning) and the MEd in Teaching Chinese Language, offered in Singapore in collaboration with the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language. “However,” cautions Professor Andrews, “while I am very keen to extend the Faculty’s international engagement, I also want to ensure that we don’t lose sight of the importance of our engagement with local professional communities, which is also absolutely central to our mission.” Family ties to Hong Kong Hong Kong was always on the cards for Professor Andrews and his wife, Veronica, as there is a family connection: His parents-in-law met and married here just before WWII. “I arrived in Hong Kong in September 1990 and intended to stay four years!” he says. “But this is an exciting place to live, and professionally it’s very stimulating. I joined the Faculty 21 years ago, at exactly the same time as PVC Professor Amy Tsui, with both of us working in the same area: English language education.” Outside of HKU, Professor Andrews has been married for 37 years and has four children, two boys, two girls. “Our elder daughter recently gave birth to our first grandchild, now six months old, and she is the apple of her grandfather’s eye!” His hobbies include jogging, listening to jazz and French chanson, and watching soccer: “I confess to spending too much time – not that deans have much spare time – following the fortunes of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.” M One of my missions as Dean is to enhance recognition locally, regionally and internationally of our research excellence in education, communication sciences and information sciences. Professor Steve Andrews Taking up the reins of the Faculty of Education at such a transitional time is a difficult task in anyone’s book. The curriculum is about to move from three years to four, the Faculty is seeking to implement changes recommended in the 2009–10 Faculty Review, and it is getting ready to move buildings. Sensibly, Professor Steve Andrews, who became Dean of Education in December 2011, believes it is not a one-man job, but should be a team effort. Before he took up the role of Interim Dean after the sudden and untimely death of Shirley Grundy, he was careful to ensure he had the support of his colleagues. “Deans come via different routes,” he says. “External appointments can be good as they bring new ideas and are catalysts for change, but they face the challenge of learning the culture and politics within the Faculty and the University. I think after the shock of Shirley’s sudden death, there were advantages to having someone from within.” “I believe in collective decision-making, I want everything to be transparent. My management philosophy is to be highly consultative – we now have six associate deans and four assistant deans, and we are consulting students, advisory boards, the Education Bureau, while we map out our strategic plan for the next 10 years.” And he includes administrative staff in that process: “I try to have no division between academic staff and admin staff – our admin and support staff make a tremendous contribution to the Faculty.” Professor Andrews acknowledges that it’s an exciting time to be involved in education in Hong Kong – first with the changes to the school curriculum and now the undergraduate curriculum. As part of the reform, the Education Faculty is introducing four new double degrees, in collaboration with three partner faculties. Diversity in research impact “Our Faculty is extremely diverse. Diversity is a characteristic of educational research, but our diversity extends beyond education because of our expertise in information and technology studies and also in speech and hearing sciences.” Teaching, Transparency and TottenhamHotspur New Dean of Education, Professor Steve Andrews, has assumed the role at a transitional time, but he believes the way to sail smoothly through the reform period is via collective decision-making and teamwork. Professor Steve Andrews and his granddaughter Imogen 47 May 2012 The University of Hong Kong Bulletin