HK education chief urges teachers to grasp tech changes as AI advances
Published: 17:40, December 27, 2025 | Updated: 18:18, December 27, 2025
Hong Kong's Secretary for Education, Christine Choi Yuk-lin, called on educators to keep pace with AI and strengthen their professional practice. She delivered the message at the 30th Gala for Gardeners of Chinese Nation in Beihai, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, where she led a delegation of nearly 80 principals and teachers from secondary, primary, kindergarten, and special schools.
This year's event focused on artificial intelligence, aiming to deepen professional exchange among educators from across the country and overseas. Choi noted the platform's 30-year track record of cross-regional collaboration and expressed hope it would continue to drive high-quality education and talent development for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Choi was direct: teachers need to keep improving and work together. New technologies, especially AI, are changing how teaching and learning operate, so educators must stay current and upgrade their capabilities.
She outlined four priorities the Education Bureau is advancing, in line with national strategies for digital education and AI:
- Improve students' digital literacy and skills.
- Strengthen professional training on digital education for teachers.
- Upgrade and optimize digital learning infrastructure.
- Build stronger ties among local, mainland, and international innovation bodies, universities, and industry for better synergy.
What this means for school leaders and teachers
If you work in education, the signal is clear: bring AI into your practice with intention, guardrails, and measurable outcomes. Start with small wins, then scale what works.
- Map where digital and AI skills live in your curriculum. Identify gaps by grade level and subject.
- Run focused PD on AI literacy, prompt craft, lesson planning with AI, and academic integrity in an AI context.
- Pilot 1-2 AI tools per department with clear use-cases (feedback, differentiation, formative assessment). Set rules for data privacy and citation.
- Audit infrastructure: bandwidth, device access, classroom displays, and accessibility tools for SEN students.
- Create a cross-school working group with IT, curriculum leaders, and safeguarding leads to set policy and support teachers.
- Partner with universities and tech organizations for mentorships, student projects, and teacher externships.
- Update assessment policies to address AI-assisted work, with transparent guidelines for students and parents.
- Collect evidence: track teacher workload changes, learning outcomes, and equity impacts before scaling.
90-day action plan
- Weeks 1-2: Set objectives and guardrails; choose pilot subjects and tools; brief staff.
- Weeks 3-6: Run pilots; provide weekly micro-PD; collect quick feedback from teachers and students.
- Weeks 7-10: Review data; adjust practices; document exemplar lessons and prompts.
- Weeks 11-12: Share findings, refine policy, and plan broader rollout with targeted support.
The Gala's focus on AI reflects a broader push: connect regions, share practice, and raise standards together. With clear priorities and collaborative effort, schools can turn AI from a buzzword into better teaching and learning.
For broader context, see UNESCO's guidance on AI in education: UNESCO guidance on generative AI in education.
Looking for structured upskilling paths for educators? Explore practical options here: AI courses by job and Latest AI courses.
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