As part of continuous efforts to enhance the quality of teaching and learning, the Institute conducts systematic investigations into 'Customer satisfaction'. We ask our graduates how useful our programmes are to their professional careers; we ask employers of our graduates how effective our graduates are as school practitioners. For the past two years, HKIEd's Centre for Research and International Collaboration has conducted these surveys among graduates and employers (including principals and school supervisors). Between June and October 2003, the main survey was conducted on 1,020 graduates of the 2001 and 2002 cohorts as well as 840 principals. As part of the survey, personal interviews were conducted with selected graduates, principals and school supervisors.

The results of the survey were carefully analysed to identify areas in which the quality and effectiveness of our programmes could be enhanced. It was most gratifying to learn, from this analysis, that both groups of respondents were very positive about the programmes we offer to prepare our graduates for their teaching careers.

From the findings drawn from the 2002 cohort, school principals indicated a high level of satisfaction with the work performance of HKIEd graduates in general. Principals felt that our graduates were particularly strong at meeting work requirements which they considered most crucial to the teaching profession; they were commended for key professional attributes including sense of responsibility, willingness to learn, enthusiasm and language competency in Chinese. Graduates' views on the usefulness of the teaching programmes the Institute provided for them were equally encouraging. The results suggested that graduates found HKIEd teaching programmes to be helpful to their professional preparation in teaching, and particularly helpful in providing them with knowledge of their major subjects, and with skills in lesson presentation, curriculum planning and the use of Chinese in the classroom.