Hong Kong schools may be allowed to hire more native-speaking English teachers (NETs) under a review of a recruitment scheme introduced more than two decades ago, the Post has learned.
But the proposed changes may result in lower pay and fewer benefits for these teachers, with the Education Bureau giving schools the flexibility to choose between taking cash grants for recruiting NETs or hiring them under the existing allocation system.
Three principals the Post spoke to explained the bureau had been consulting the sector through various focus groups about introducing a cash grant option for schools to hire NETs.
“The bureau official said to us it would be implemented as soon as the next school year if all details could be finalised,” a principal said on condition of anonymity.
Confirming the plan, Polly Chan Suk-yee, vice-chairwoman of the Hong Kong Aided Primary School Heads Association and a primary school principal, said it remained unclear how big the cash grant would be or what the requirements for the teachers’ qualifications would be.
“More schools would definitely prefer using the cash grant to hire 1.5 or even 2 NETs, unless they had already hired an excellent NET under the existing scheme,” Chan said, referring to some teachers who only took up half of the role.
