Imagine learning about the Nordic way of education in your course and then meeting early childhood practitioners from Norway to hear directly from them. Students from Dr. Zhou Yanling’s Master of Education course, titled “Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Assessment in Early Childhood Education”, recently had this experience.
In the collaboration between ECE Assistant Professor Dr. Zhou Yanling and Dr. Hu Aihua, an Associate Professor from Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL), a meeting was set up in March 2023 for their students to meet and discuss and compare education in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Norway.
The session began with self-introductions, followed by watching early childhood education videos of the Norwegian and Hong Kong education system. Next, students from the two classes discussed questions they had for each other based on the video and their knowledge of their respective education systems. Finally, as a whole group, spokespersons from each class took turns to ask questions, and students volunteered to give answers, with the lecturers moderating the session.
The students enjoyed the time of interaction and learning from one another. A student from Norway said, “I gained insight into the everyday life in Hong Kong kindergartens.” And students from Hong Kong said, “I learned some core features of early childhood education in Norway,” and “We use different concepts to design outdoor activities for kids.”
The two lecturers found the collaboration refreshing and fruitful. Both hope to offer more comparative education opportunities for their students in the future.
Written by Sofie Chua (schua@eduhk.hk), COIL Facilitator