October 2010
INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN A RESEARCH PROJECT TO SUPPORT ETHNIC MINORITY STUDENTS AND THEIR TEACHERS
I am writing to invite your school’s participation in an important project. It is concerned with current issue of cultural diversity in Hong Kong’s classrooms and has been funded by the Research Grants Council. Details about the project can be found on the project website: http://www.ied.edu.hk/diversityproject/home.htm . A brief project summary has also been attached to this letter.
The project started in January 2010. It is concerned with system level policies supporting ethnic diversity, school assessment practices in multicultural classrooms and cultural aspects of assessment at both policy and school levels.
Currently the research team has been identifying system level policies supporting ethnic diversity. We plan to highlight good assessment practices that could be applied to a multicultural environment. When this work is complete we would be happy to share them with you and your colleagues who have responsibility for ethnic minority students.
For the research at school level, we would like to do three things:
- Interview with school leaders – to examine closely the macro context that influences the way the system and schools respond to ethnic diversity.
- Survey – to assess teachers’ conception of assessment as well as their assessment environments.
- Interview with teachers – to understand better teachers’ conception of assessment.
- Classroom observation – to observe different levels of policy support for ethnic minority students and the extent that actual practice can be triangulated with teachers’ conception of assessment and their reported practices.
- Survey of students – to understand better how students themselves view assessment.
We would like to invite your school to participate in these activities. All information collected from your school will be kept in strict confidence. We will be happy to talk with you about the results for your school and make suggestions about issues and priorities that emerge from our analysis.
I hope you will accept this invitation. If you do, please fill in and fax the enclosed reply slip to us at 2948-8712. We will then arrange for further contact to be made with your school. For enquiries, please contact the project’s Senior Research Assistant, Mr. Tim Yuen (2948-8768).
I shall look forward to hearing from you.
Kerry J Kennedy
Professor and Principal Investigator
誠意邀請參與有關支援少數族裔學童和任教老師的研究計劃
我們現誠意邀請 貴校參與一項重點研究計劃，這項計劃是有關香港課堂中出現的文化差異，並已獲得大學教育資助委員會撥款資助。有關計劃的詳細內容，可以瀏覧以下網址： http://www.ied.edu.hk/diversityproject/home.htm 。現隨函附上研究計劃的簡介。
這項研究計劃在二零一零年一月開始，關注的範疇包括：現行體制內支援種族差異的政策、評估在多元文化課堂的實施、中央政策和學校層面背後的文化觀點等。
現時，研究隊伍正在鑑別體制內支援種族差異方面的政策，我們希望突出優良並能在多元文化環境中實行的評估措施。當這項工作完成時，我們將樂意與 貴校和負責少數族裔學童的教師分享。
在學校層面方面的研究，我們將會進行以下五項活動：
- 訪問學校領導 － 詳細檢視影響體制和學校回應民族差異的宏觀情況
- 教師問卷調查 － 評估教師的評估理念，以及他們的評估環境
- 訪問教師 － 更深入地了解教師的評估理念
- 觀察課堂 － 觀察不同層面的政策對數族裔學生的支援，以及現實中的評估與教師的評估理念、教師滙報的評估實踐三者的連繫
- 學生問卷調查 － 更深入地了解學生如何看待評估
我們現誠意邀請 貴校參與以上項目。所有從 貴校收集的資料會?對保密，我們將樂意與 貴校分享分析結果，並根據有關結果而提供建議。
我們希望 貴校能夠接受這次邀請。如果 貴校願意參與研究計劃的話，請填妥回條並傳真至 2948-8712 。我們將會聯絡 貴校，並安排有關事宜。如對這項研究計劃有任何疑問和查詢，歡迎聯絡袁兆添先生 (2948-8768) 。
我們熱切盼望能與 貴校合作，促進教研的發展。
敬祝教安！
甘國臻教授 敬上
二零一零年十月
