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The School of Creative Arts, Sciences and Technology (SCAST) was part of the new academic structure which came into effect at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) from the 1998/99 academic year until September 2005, when HKIEd underwent another academic restructuring.

In line with the upgrading of the HKIEd to a university-level institution and the development of bachelor and postgraduate programmes, a working group was set up by the Academic Board to recommend a new structure after wide consultation with all staff. On 5 June 1998, the Council endorsed the recommendation to create four Schools and twelve Departments for commencement in the 1998/99 academic year. Under this new structure, the four Schools were responsible for organising academic programmes, whereas the twelve Departments were reorganised within the four Schools and they focused on extending their expertise in the different programmes and courses organised by their respective School.

The SCAST was responsible for organising secondary and technology education programmes. As of 1 October 2004, SCAST had four Departments and one Centre, namely, the Department of Creative Arts, the Department of Information and Applied Technology, the Department of Mathematics, the Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, and the Centre for Alliance for Educational Innovation.

With the attainment of the self-accrediting university status in May 2004, HKIEd decided to realign its organisational structure by merging the four Schools into two Faculties as from September 2005: the Faculty of Languages, Arts and Sciences, and the Faculty of Professional and Early Childhood Education. Major academic and research developments were to be coordinated at the Institute level with implementation taking place at the Faculty and Department levels. The SCAST and the other three Schools therefore ceased to exist from September 2005.

In 1998, as the Hong Kong Institute of Education progressed towards university status, the School of Early Childhood Education replaced the previous Division of Pre-Primary Education. Under the leadership of its Dean, Professor Lorna Chan, the School’s responsibilities had expanded to include not only teacher education programmes but also research, publications and special initiatives which aimed to improve the quality of early childhood services in Hong Kong.

Two landmark programmes were introduced in 1998/1999 and 1999/2000 academic years, respectively: the former was the Three-Year Full-Time Certificate in Early Childhood Education (CE(ECE)), and the latter was the Bachelor of Education (Honours) in Early Childhood Education (BEd(Hons)(ECE)). These programmes significantly elevated the academic status of early childhood education.

In the 2001/2002 academic year, the School launched the first Qualified Kindergarten Teacher Education Course (QKT), a one-year full-time programme aimed at enhancing professional qualifications. The academic year 2002/2003 saw the launch of the Hong Kong Journal of Early Childhood, reflecting the department’s growing emphasis on integrating teaching with academic research.

In the 2004/2005 academic year, the School launched the first full-time Bachelor of Early Childhood Education Programmes in Hong Kong, further strengthening its leadership in the field.

The School of Foundations in Education (SFE) was part of the new academic structure which came into effect at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) from the 1998/99 academic year until September 2005, when HKIEd underwent another academic restructuring.

In line with the upgrading of HKIEd to a university-level institution and the development of Bachelor and Postgraduate programmes, a working group was set up by the Academic Board to recommend a new structure after wide consultation with all staff. On 5 June 1998, the Academic Board's recommendation to create four Schools and twelve Departments was endorsed by the Council for commencement in the 1998/99 academic year. Under this new structure, the four Schools were responsible for organising academic programmes, whereas the twelve Departments were reorganised within the four Schools and they focused on extending their expertise in the different programmes and courses organised by their respective School.

The SFE was responsible for organising all primary and special needs education programmes, including HKIEd's flagship Bachelor of Education in Primary programme, the Postgraduate Diploma in Education programmes, and many in-service professional development courses. The SFE was committed to playing an active role in the advancement of teacher quality and professionalism in Hong Kong by integrating the teacher education experiences of the previous Colleges of Education with the latest research and best practice. The SFE also comprised the greatest number of Departments and Centres out of the four Schools. By July 2005, the SFE consisted of five Departments and four Centres. They included the Departments of Curriculum and Instruction; Educational Policy and Administration; Educational Psychology, Counselling and Learning Needs; Science; and Social Sciences; as well as the Centre for Citizenship Education, the Centre for Special Needs and Studies in Inclusive Education, the Humanities and Social Sciences Learning Centre, and the Professional Studies Learning Centre.

With the attainment of the self-accrediting university status in May 2004, HKIEd decided to realign its organisational structure by merging the four Schools into two Faculties from September 2005: the Faculty of Languages, Arts and Sciences, and the Faculty of Professional and Early Childhood Education. Major academic and research developments were to be coordinated at the Institute level with implementation taking place at the Faculty and Department levels. The SFE and the other three Schools therefore ceased to exist from September 2005.

The Office of Strategic and Academic Planning was renamed the Strategic Planning Office (SPO) in 2009, and senior management closed it down in July 2012.

From 2009 to 2012, SPO published an internal issue of the Planning Brief twice a year. The aim was to inform and support the planning and decision-making processes of Senior Management and related academic and administrative offices.

With the Hong Kong Institute of Education Ordinance coming into effect on 25 April 1994, the HKIEd was established as an autonomous tertiary institution with the Governor as President and a Governing Council with statutory powers and duties to act as the executive governing body. At a meeting on 28 September 1995, it was resolved that the term ‘Governing Council’ would be replaced by ‘The Council’ in all documentation.

Before universal junior secondary education was introduced in Hong Kong in 1978, it was anticipated that the consequent increase in the number of mixed-ability classes might have a significant negative effect on language attainment. To provide for this situation, a number of coordinated measures - the 'language package' - were planned to maintain and raise the standards of Chinese and English in schools. These measures were approved by the Governor-in-Council in June, 1980 and April, 1981, and described as "conceptually sound and reasonably resourced" in a report made in November, 1982 by an independent Panel of Visitors which had undertaken an overall review of the education system in Hong Kong.

The measures included the establishment of a Chinese Language Foundation, the provision of extra teachers for remedial language teaching, the revision of the primary and secondary school language syllabuses, the installation in schools of wire-free induction loop systems to provide pupils with good models of pronunciation and usage, the carrying out of research projects and the establishment of an Institute of Language in Education (ILE).

The ILE was established to raise the professional standards of the teaching and learning of Chinese and English as subjects, and the use of these languages for teaching and learning across the curriculum. It began operation in September 1982 in Park-In Commercial Centre (柏裕商業中心) at Dundas Street, Mongkok. The ILE was a Division of the Education Department. The Director of ILE was an Assistant Director of Education directly responsible to the Senior Assistant Director of Services and Institutions. All staff members of the ILE were members of the Education Department and civil servants of the Hong Kong Government.

In February 1991, the ILE moved from Dundas Street, Mongkok, to premises at 2 Hospital Road on Hong Kong Island, which were two converted secondary schools, Yu To Sang Memorial Secondary School (余道生紀念中學) and Helen Liang Memorial Secondary School (梁文燕紀念中學), linked physically by two bridges. The new premises were officially opened by the then Director of Education, Mr. Li Yuet-ting on 12 April 1991.

Over the years the range of courses and the number of staff at the ILE have consistently diversified and grown. In the first academic year, the ILE only offered courses for non-graduate Primary teachers of Chines and English with a staff of 24. By 1994, the ILE had been running courses for Primary teachers of Chinese and English, Secondary teachers (both graduate and non-graduate) of Chinese and English, Panel Chairpersons of Chinese and English, Primary and Secondary teachers and would-be teachers of Putonghua, and Secondary teachers of subjects other than Chinese or English but who use one or other of these languages as medium of instruction. The number of staff had also increased to 108.

On 1 September 1994, the ILE was amalgamated with Northcote College of Education, Grantham College of Education, Sir Robert Black College of Education, and the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College into the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd), pursuant to the recommendation of the Education Commission Report No.5. Its premises at 2 Hospital Road were converted to Bonham Campus of the HKIEd and remained in use until the completion of the purpose-built campus in Tai Po in October 1997.

The Hong Kong Museum of Education was established in May 2009. It acquires, conserves, preserves, researches and exhibits materials related to the history, culture and development of education in Hong Kong.

The founding of Northcote College of Education was originated from the 1935 Report on Education in Hong Kong and a recommendation laid in 1938 by a Committee on the training of teachers. In 1935, an Inspector of Schools, Edmund Burney, visited Hong Kong and made an enquiry into the local education system. His Report on Education in Hong Kong, also known as the Burney Report, criticised several aspects of Hong Kong's educational policy such as the neglect of primary education and the inadequate training in Vernacular schools in which Chinese was the medium of instruction. One of the recommendations raised at the time, was that it might be necessary to have a new Government Normal School, or considerable additions to the existing premises of the Technical Institute for the training of teachers. In 1938, the Governor, Sir Geoffry Northcote, took up this endeavour in the improvement of teachers' training further by appointing a Committee to review the training of teachers for both English and Vernacular schools. The key recommendation of the Committee was that the Government should act immediately in the provision of a teacher training centre for the training of male and female teachers for both Anglo-Chinese and Vernacular schools - as a result the Teachers Training College was opened on 18 September 1939. The College was housed temporarily in the former Medical Officer's quarters at the old Government Civil Hospital at Hospital Road. It offered a two-year course and had two classes: an Anglo-Chinese class taught in the medium of English and a vernacular class taught in Cantonese. In its first year of operation, each class had 24 students including 12 male students and 12 female students.

The new building of the Teachers Training College at Bonham Road was officially opened on 23 April 1941 by the Governor, Sir Geoffry Northcote, and since then the College became known as the Northcote Training College. The College, however, was forced to close in December the same year because of the Japanese invasion. The Bonham Road building was initially used as the headquarters of the Japanese Military Police but was later mutilated by looters with all of its fittings and equipment removed during the war. Despite of great difficulties in replacing the equipment, the College reopened soon after the war on 13 March 1946.

In order to meet the demand for more trained teachers for the rapidly increasing school population, the College expanded greatly and moved yet again to new premises at Sassoon Road in April 1962, and was officially opened by the Governor, Sir Robert Black, on 31 May 1962. This new premise consisted of a hostel which could accommodate half the full-time enrolment. The vacated Bonham Road building was then used by the United College of The Chinese University of Hong Kong until it moved to Shatin in December 1971, and after considerable renovation reverted to College use and served as an annexe to the College in December 1973. On 18 October 1967, the three government Training Colleges including Northcote Training College, Grantham Training College and Sir Robert Black Training College, were renamed Colleges of Education. The former title, Training College, implied that the function of the colleges was merely to impart basic skills. The three colleges by then, had a much wider function and scope on the further education of students with the introduction of new full-time courses and the discontinuance of one-year courses. A range of student interests and activities were being broadened and subjects were also being studied to a higher level. In consideration of all these developments, Northcote Training College changed its name to Northcote College of Education.

Pursuant to the recommendation of the Education Commission Report No. 5, the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) was formally established on 25 April 1994. Meanwhile, Northcote College of Education, Grantham College of Education, Sir Robert Black College of Education, the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College and the Institute of Language in Education, the five institutions which were to be amalgamated into the HKIEd, continued their part in delivering teacher education programmes until the end of their last academic year. On 1 September 1994, HKIEd formally took over the administration of the five institutions from the Education Department and amalgamated them into a new, unified autonomous institution; on the same day the campuses and annexes of the five institutions were converted into campuses of the HKIEd until the Tai Po campus was completed in October 1997.