"I enjoyed Saturday class"

Yesterday, I taught the other round of NSS professional development course (PDC). Since 2007, I have been teaching this course for more than 12 cohorts, each of which consists of 4 sessions of 3 hours.

From my observation, participants who opted for Saturday class usually performed better in class and showed more willingness to learn the current curriculum and assessment trends. There are two major reasons to account for this phenomenon. In the first place, teachers feel more relaxed since there is no need to do substitution after they go back to school. Can't believe it. Second, it is obvious that they feel more refreshed on Saturdays.

I asked one of the participants, "Why did you choose Saturday instead of weekdays to attend this course?"

She then replied: "My principal doesn't allow me to take any courses during school days (from Monday to Friday), so I can only attend PDC or seminars on Saturdays."

Another participant also told me that she enjoyed attending courses on Saturdays because she didn't need to think about teaching . "I enjoy Saturday classes. I can better concentrate on Saturdays since teaching and marking occupy most of my time on weekdays."

Though these 28 participants may not represent all teachers in Hong Kong, I reckon most of them are eager and even fond of upgrading their professional knowledge. Actually some of them do not mind spending their personal time to take courses given that Saturday is not counted as a working day (but I am sure most principals may think oppositely)...

All in all, most teachers are conscientious and committed to their work and it is only the system that fails to support them and make them more professional than ever.