A total of 16 schools comprising over 1,800 students and teachers in collaboration with 36 artists/arts organisations took part in the Arts-in-Education (AiE) Programme 2001/02. An award presentation and exhibition was held today to showcase their achievements.

The Arts-in-Education is a three-year programme (2000-2003) jointly organised by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, the Education and Manpower Bureau and the Hong Kong Institute of Education, and funded by the Hongkong Bank Foundation with a HK$4 million donation.

Mr Darwin Chen, Chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, said at ceremony that the AiE programme introduced a new teaching and learning experience to teachers and students. "This innovative teaching approach is able to inspire students' creativity and abilities of learning and analytical thinking. More impressively is that it can allow students to apply their knowledge acquired from textbooks on artistic creation," he said.

Presiding at the ceremony, Ms Teresa Au, Head of Training and Employee Development Hong Kong and Asia Pacific of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited presented a treasure box to two representatives of the participating students. The treasure box contains the basic elements, including courage, confidence, creativity, cooperation, appreciation, consideration, artistic and independent thinking, for an all-rounded development of students. It symbolised the organisers' support and encouragement to students in exploring the joy of subject integration. "We want to encourage students to exercise their minds by thinking in new ways, which is vital to life-long learning." said Ms Teresa Au.

Also attending the ceremony were Mr Anthony H H Poon, Principal Education Officer (Curriculum Development) of the Education and Manpower Bureau; Professor Anna Kindler, Dean, School of Creative Arts, Sciences and Technology of the Hong Kong Institute of Education; Dr Cheung Ping-kuen, Chairman of the AiE Steering Committee; and Mr Yu Shu-tak, Chairman of the ADC's Arts Education Group.

By pooling the efforts of schools and artists, the AiE programme aims at exploring feasible and innovative ways in integrating the arts with other subjects in the formal school curriculum so as to enhance the quality of both teaching and learning.

First launched in 2000/01, the AiE programme, emphasised subject integration with the arts, was a brand new concept in Hong Kong. To familiarise participating schools, teachers and artists/arts organisations with necessary knowledge, a series of sharing session and workshops were held in the first year.

In the second year (2001/02), eight projects were selected to take part in the programme. Each project has one school that takes up a leading role with collaboration from a partner school and an artist/arts organisation. Besides primary and secondary schools, there are special schools too. Though the 2001/02 programme was duly completed, the merits of the programme encouraged some of the schools to persevere and continue on their own with the new teaching model during the following year.

Then came the final year of the AiE programme. With past experience, the 16 selected schools and artists/arts organisations started off smoothly. Taking the award winning schools --- Tai Po Old Market Public School (Proactive School) and Tai Po Old Market Public School – Plover Cove (Partner School) as an example, subject integration with the arts is feasible. With the assistance of Chung Ying Theatre, students of the two schools were taught to make use of the knowledge acquired from subjects of English, Art and Information Technology to re-write a fairy tale. Learning from the Proactive School, not only did the students of the partner school create a new ending to a fairy tale but also produced an English TV commercial to add a modern twist to the activity. Their achievements were staged at the ceremony.

In addition to the Outstanding Award, two new awards, namely the Best Coordination Award and the Best Booth Design Award were introduced this year. The Best Coordination Award went to Yan Chai Hospital Wong Wha San Secondary School (Proactive School), Kwun Tong Kung Lok Government Secondary School (Partner School) and Parousia (Arts Organisation) in recognition of their mutual cooperation. During the implementation of the project, both schools and the artists were able to demonstrate high level of communication and cooperation.

To highlight the achievements of the participating schools and artists/arts organisations, 16 booths were set up to showcase their work. Besides the performance of the award winning schools, demonstrations and sharing sesssions were also held to show how the rest of the schools carried out their projects.

With the total participation of more than 3,800 students, 260 teachers from 32 schools and over 50 artists in the past two years, the AiE programme came to a successful and satisfactory conclusion.

Comparatively speaking, as Mr Chen said, though the number of beneficiaries was limited, but the impact was significant. "Quite a number of participating schools, after completing the first year of the programme, continue to implement the new teaching mode in the following year. This is a proven success of the AiE programme."

Last but not least, Mr Chen recorded his heartfelt thanks to all the participating schools, teacher, students, artists/arts organisations for their contribution to the effective implementation of the AiE programme. He made an appeal to the schools and artists/arts organisations for their continued support in promoting this innovative programme to enhance the quality of teaching and learning.

The exhibition will be held from 7 to 8 February. Free shuttle bus service will be available at Kowloon Tong MTR Station and Tai Po Market KCR Station. For details, please contact the ADC's office at 2827 8786.