Dion Chen

Dion Chen (1979 – ) is an educator in Hong Kong. He is the principal of Ying Wa College, who assumed office on 1 September 2021.

Chen is well known for his effort on the alternative learning profile of students in the Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools (DSS) as well as his view on the second language teaching in Hong Kong. He was the principal of YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College, chairman of Hong Kong Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council, district commissioner of New Territories Region Lantau Island District, Scout Association of Hong Kong and deputy school supervisor of San Wui Commercial Society YMCA of Hong Kong Christian School.

Early life and education Chen's given names in both Chinese language and English language were assigned by his father as they were pronounced similarly in both languages.

Chen was educated in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Australia. He graduated from Tang Shiu Kin Victoria Government Secondary School (formerly named Tang Shiu Kin Victoria Technical School) in 1998. He obtained his bachelor's degree in Accounting and Financial Analysis from the Newcastle University, UK. He had a gap year between Year 2 and Year 3 of his study, and deferred his graduation.

He is married and has two daughters. 40% to 50% of the graduates were enrolled into universities for further studies every year.

To continue building a local school with international-style education, Chen managed to admit 73% of the students in the school from international students, who come from over 40 countries. He also continued to hire over 40% of the school's teachers from overseas. He promoted the school through the public events like Family Fun Fair, the International Night and the International Fun Fair (IFF) which promoted the school with the participation of the ethnic groups, featuring the songs and dances of different countries worldwide.

In management of his serving school, Chen invested from the school's budget on more teaching staffs. The teacher to student ratio is 1:10 and he claimed this causes examination results steadily improving. He required that the teachers in the school are capable with both local and international curriculum. His team cooperated with an ICT company to invent a VLE to facilitate the teaching and learning. He also hired a full-time registered nurse, a career & higher education counsellor,

In September 2016, Chen's school provided new school uniform for boys and girls. Teachers have been told by Chen to keep an eye out for students with incorrect school uniforms. Girls wearing socks of the wrong length are forced to wait hours at the school office and miss class time; they are turned away even before school and sent home for showing an inch of their skin. This led the media to believe that Chen was depriving girls of their right to education, shamed girls for showing their ankles, and accused them of distracting boys and teachers. Teachers are told by Chen to enforce this little rule on a regular basis, devoting the time and energy they could use to prepare or make up lessons on it.

During the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, Chen's secondary school issued a notice in November 2019 announcing the resumption of classes. The article mentioned that the school was notified that games and social networking platforms were recently used to "entice, pressure and intimidate students into participating in protests in return for payment". The notice stated that no students were involved in the school, but parents and students were reminded to be vigilant when going online. Chen received an inquiry from Apple Daily and said that the above news was notified by a staff member of the Education Bureau. The staff suggested that the school should remind parents and students to pay attention. Chen stated that the school did not receive any reports from students or parents of the relevant situation. Because the Education Bureau is an official institution, Chen trusted them, so he did not question the authenticity of the information.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, classes of the schools are suspended and students are confined to distance education. While the epidemic situation hinders parents' livelihood, Chen governed the school to help bail out the tuition fees for next academic year. In February 2021, Chen arranged for teachers to be forced COVID-19 testing and change the whole school to resume classes, as the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong has fallen after the Lunar New Year.

On 8 February 2021, Chen announced he would not be renewing his contract at the end of the school year. He stated “I will be moving on to another school in Hong Kong at the end of this school year.” On 19 March 2021, Ying Wa College sent an e-notice to students stating that Chen would be taking over as principal of the school.

Community services Chen became the chairman of Hong Kong Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council, the chairman of Association of School Heads of Islands District, the councilor of Hong Kong Principals' Institute, the deputy school supervisor of San Wui Commercial Society YMCA of Hong Kong Christian School, Chen helped organising academic trips in summer holidays. Every year students who preferably study Physics can be selected through an interview to participate in the Future Pilot Training Programme organized by the Hong Kong Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many DSS schools have paid or promised to pay more than HK$700,000 deposits to travel agencies for the purpose of organising study tours, although the tours were all cancelled for the year. However, when the government decided to issue red tourism warnings during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong to all overseas countries, travel agencies and airlines took the initiative to contact Chen and the schools to discuss compensation arrangements. The IGCSE and GCE examinations were cancelled, though Chen claimed that the DSS schools were not too worried about the impact on further education of students, as most of them have already obtained conditional offers by that time.

View and impact on alternative learning profiles Chen emphasised that students could benefit from their study if they had alternative daily assessment, alternative curriculum and examination scope, and alternative path of further study.

Chen led his serving school with various learning activities outside classroom for the students throughout the years. With the large range of meaningful alternative learning profile, the school provides flexible homework to students. Students in his school were encouraged to take challenges in inter-school competitions. Chen encouraged the development of the school's own cheerleading team.

Chen and his team launched the Enrichment Week since 2010. Students could join the Service Outreach Scheme or Work placement. Destinations include China, Taiwan, Cambodia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. Cultural exchange programmes are also organised every year. Destinations include Foshan, Spain, France etc.

Chen is familiar with DSE and GCE A-Level. He thinks GCE is more professional. The Hong Kong curriculum consists the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE). The English National Curriculum comprises the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) and GCE A/AS-Level, so that students could find the curriculum suit them most.

View on second language teaching As a school in Hong Kong being subsidised by the government, it has the responsibility to conduct classes of Chinese language. In Chen's serving school, all subjects at the school are taught in English, except second languages. Chinese language is for all students, in which the classes are divided into different level of difficulties according to the students' language background.

Chen stated in the media that most of the students in his serving school came from upper-level families.