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    Staff in Focus - Rebecca Maxwell, Senior Fellow, Chor Hang Educational Research Institute

    School News

    06 Oct, 2016

    10 : 00

    • Rebecca Maxwell, Senior Fellow at the Chor Hang Educational Research Institute (CHERI) works in partnership with the broad network of Yew Chung International Schools (YCIS). CHERI is established in honour of the founder of the systems, Madame Tsang Chor Hang, and is tasked with working with schools as they explore, implement and innovate current and emerging educational advances.


      The work of CHERI incorporates three areas of research and development:


      Curriculum:


      Yew Chung International Schools (YCIS) offers students a research-based international curriculum, benefiting from a blend of elements from curricula around the world and built upon the schools’ guiding statements and overarching learning principles. YCIS academic leaders regularly join to review and advance subject content and teaching practices. In order to ensure the implementation of innovative and up-to-date practices Mrs. Maxwell and the CHERI team carries out wide ranging research and works closely with the school in the development process. The Curriculum Development Team guarantees that the YCIS pedagogy and educational philosophy objectives are continually considered and met.


      The current foci of development are Physical Education and Health, The Arts, Creative Technologies (previously ICT and Design), and libraries. The development involves bringing together teacher practioners who are experts in their field, engaging them in a process whereby they connect current pedagogical research, curriculum developments and the lived experiences of teachers and students in the focus area and results in the creation of an overarching curriculum documents which ensure that our students are engaging with the most current learning possible. Parallel to this curriculum development is the renovation of many school learning environments so that they are able to be inclusive of the emerging trends of flexible and blended learning communities which is reflected in the supporting curriculum.


      Innovation:


      Education evolves, innovates and creates within an ever changing global context and CHERI is committed to working with the YCIS schools to create self-sustaining learning organisations which are focused on enabling students to experience success in all aspects of their lives. An important part of the work of CHERI is to develop partnership with universities to collaborate and conduct research in international contexts. CHERI is currently in partnership with Dr Stephanie Smith, the current Dr. Spodek scholar of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to explore the innovative emergent curriculum practices at the Hong Kong Early Childhood Campus.


      An important aspect of the work of CHERI is to partner with schools to conduct research where teachers explore, depth and connect innovative pedagogies new educational research to improve their professional practice and ultimately student achievement. Teachers are invited to identify areas of interest and are able to access funding and academic guidance to engage in action research at the classroom level.


      Capacity Building:


      Building the capacity of teachers and school leaders to be successful in their everyday work is central to student success and is a major part of the work of CHERI. CHERI continually conducts research to ensure that YCIS staff are engaging with the most recent developments. CHERI works in close partnership with YCIS schools to actively build the capacity of teachers and leaders to meet the overall learning needs of students through a variety of mediums: 

      • Professional Learning Communities: where teachers and leaders discuss, explore and create common understandings of educational innovations, reforms and developments.
        • Educational Leadership
        • Flexible Learning
        • Blended Learning
        • Learning Communities
        • Creative Technologies
      • Targeted Professional Learning Opportunities.
        • Flexible and blended learning.
        • Curriculum Development.
        • Creative Technologies.
        • Reciprocal Teaching.
        • Social and Emotional Learning.
        • Emergent curriculum in the Early Years.
      • Action Research:
        • Reciprocal Teaching.
        • Social and Emotional Learning.

      The Yew Chung Education Foundation and its schools are further strengthened with the high level of consultation and professional input from CHERI. CHERI seeks to enhance the needs of personnel, the organisation’s schools with a consolidation of current worldwide available research and brings the findings to real living implementation. Ultimately, CHERI continually seeks long-term school development, bettering the path for each child’s potential, connecting teachers to children of today – it’s all about the child.