Hong Kong SAR

In December 1997, the Hong Kong SAW Steering Committee was formed to take on the five-year SAW Project. Dr. Francis Wing-ming CHEUNG, Registrar of the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) and Deputy Centre Head of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Education Leadership and School Quality (APCELSQ) of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, is the Chairman of the Committee and the National Coordinator of the HK SAW Project. Committee members are all experienced researchers come from various academic disciplines of the Institute and the Education Department. They are Ms. May May-hung CHENG, Ms Winnie Wing-mui SO, Ms. Mandy Yuen-yee AU, Dr. Jun FANG and Mr. Andrew Chung-shing POON. The HK SAW Project is also much honoured to have Prof. Yin-cheong CHENG, Director of the Centre for Research and International Collaboration (CRIC) of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, to be the advisor.

The Project Team successfully acquired financial support from the Hong Kong InstituteÕs Research Committee with an amount of HK $0.2 million (about US$ 25,820) in May 1998. With this funding, a research assistant was employed to assist in the mini-pilot. In May 1999, the Project Team successfully secured another funding of HK$ 3.8 million (about US$ 0.5 million) from the Quality Education Fund (QEF) of the Hong Kong Education and Manpower Bureau. This financial support enables the team to go on with the study for another 30 months.

The pace of the mini-pilot plan was close to that of the International Project Team. Science was taken as the first investigation subject. In August 1998, the HK SAW Project Team invited two primary schools to join the mini-pilot. Since then, the SAW Project has been arousing attention from the press and the school community. In December 1999, another two primary and four secondary schools were invited to participate in the pilot study. Workshops that introduced participating teachers to the project were held. Furthermore, the most updated information on student assessment was provided; and they were taught how to set expectations and standard for their students. Outcome measures are developed to capture data regarding teachersÕ progresses and their current practices in the classroom, including pedagogy and assessment practices as well as their professional performance. These include self-evaluation questionnaires and interviews of teachers before and throughout the whole process of the project. In short, the measures will provide information on the possible change in teachersÕ professional development.

Technology

In 1998, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government announced its Five Year Strategy of Information Technology for Learning. In this plan, students are expected to have a global outlook with the vast network of knowledge and information (Education Manpower Bureau, 1998). Through the use of IT, studentsÕ attitude and capability for independent life-long learning will be developed. In the meantime, schools will be turned into dynamic and innovative learning institutions. To implement IT education, access and connectivity, teacher enablement, curriculum and resource support are the keys in the strategy.

"Levels of Information Technology (IT) Competency, Core Course Elements And Assessment Tools for Teacher Training in IT in Education" is a study commissioned by the Education Department to the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The report of the study recommended that IT should be used as a tool to facilitate teaching and learning. To achieve this, teachers are expected to attain four levels of IT competence, namely "Basic", "Intermediate", "Upper Intermediate" and "Advanced" levels. It is anticipated that, by the 2000/01 school year, all teachers and all graduates of pre-service teacher education programmes will reach at least the "basic" and "Intermediate" levels of IT competency respectively.

At school level, provision of IT equipment for schools has been enhanced from mid 1998 to mid 2000. On average 40 computers are provided to a primary school and 82 computers to a secondary school. Since the 1999/2000 school year, all primary and secondary schools have been provided with free email accounts. To further facilitate the IT development in schools, the HKSAR government has provided an annual recurrent grant to each school. The government as the leader is providing relevant help for the schools and teachers. The ultimate goal is to foster a community-wide culture on the use of IT (Education Manpower Bureau, 1998).

To enhance participating teachersÕ level of involvement and sense of belonging to the SAW project, Internet services and SAW email accounts have been provided for their access to the most updated news of the project.

Educational System

Introduction

In the 21st century, the focus of Hong Kong education is to offer all-round quality education to prepare the new generation for lifelong learning. Efforts to improve the professional training of the teaching force have been stepped up at all levels. The training and qualifications of teachers is being upgraded, for example, by raising the entry requirements for kindergarten principals and teachers, and by developing language benchmarks for all new and serving teachers.

With a view to achieve effective learning, both mother-tongue teaching and strengthened support for English language learning are widely promoted in Hong Kong. Cultivating biliterate (to master written Chinese and English) and multilingual (to speak fluent Cantonese, Putonghua and English) youngsters is also the main aim of the current education reform. Most primary and secondary schools have adopted Chinese as the medium of instruction.

Promotion of Information Technology in Education is another prime objective of the HKSAR government. Importantly, equipping youngsters with a global outlook and broadened knowledge enables them to compete in a knowledge-based society. Moreover, IT becomes a means to enhance teaching and learning quality. The HKSAR government has now taken up the leadership and co-ordination role by providing a number of supports including adequate IT facilities such as hardware and computers, training for teachers and any necessary infrastructure support.

After the handover in 1997, HKSAR has been undergoing many changes, either politically or economically. These changes have exerted great impact on the education system in terms of the structure, governance, finance, curriculum, progression system and higher education, and teacher training and certification as described in the following.

Structure of Schooling

Education in Hong Kong is compulsory and free for all children for nine years, consisting of six years of primary and three years of junior secondary education. After that, students have to pay for senior secondary education on their own. Table 1 provides the schematic of the Hong Kong system, and that of the US.

Table 1: Structure of Education in Hong Kong and its U.S. equivalent

*AAT will be cancelled in the future and the proposed date is in the academic year 2000/01.

Nearly 90 % of children aged 4 - 6 receive pre-school and kindergarten education, however pre-school and kindergarten is not compulsory, and is almost exclusively privately operated. As improvements to the quality of primary education are being pursued, the Education Department is considering increasing resources and teacher preparation requirements for this sector of schooling (Cobb, 1995) and is now being highlighted in the current education reform.

Primary schooling begins at age 6, and is compulsory for six years. Most primary schools operate bi-sessionally but the government aims to implement whole-day primary schooling progressively. Achieving this goal, the government plans to build more new primary and secondary schools to meet the increasing demand.

All secondary schools offer a 5-year course in a broad range of academic subjects leading to the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE). After the completion of Secondary 6-7, students sit for the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE). Totally, students have to attend 3 years of junior secondary and 4 years of senior secondary education before entering the tertiary. Senior secondary education is neither compulsory nor free, however 85% of the appropriate age cohort are provided subsidies to attend.

While, all primary schools offer a standard academic-based curriculum, 5 types of secondary curriculum are as follows: Grammar schools, Prevocational schools, Technical schools, Practical schools and Skills opportunity schools. The first three types of curriculum are offered in 5-year secondary course leading to the HKCEE but with different emphases to cater different needs of students. Practical schools offer 3-year secondary education to help students develop their interest and motivation towards studies. There are 7 Skills opportunity schools in Hong Kong. They offer a 3-year tailor-made and skills-oriented curriculum to help students with learning difficulties acquire basic social and vocational skills. Other types of schools curriculum include special education schools and schools for children with emotional and behavioral problems.

Higher Education

In the past, higher education is equivalent to universities. However, the meaning of higher education is broadened in this century. It refers to all the different types of post secondary education including universities, post-secondary colleges and continuing education institutions. There are 10 tertiary institutions in Hong Kong, eight of which are University Grants Committee (UGC) funded institutions . Seven of the eight are self-accrediting institutions. The two other degree-awarding tertiary institutions are publicly-funded Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the self-financing Open University of Hong Kong.

School Governance and Finance

The system of education in Hong Kong is primarily centralized with some decentralized components to it.

Governance. Education in Hong Kong is centrally managed by the Education Department, through 19 regional offices. The Director of Education directly controls all government schools (public schools) and supervises education at the pre-school, primary and secondary school levels.

The three types of schools in Hong Kong are as follows: Government schools, Private schools and Aided schools.

Government schools are public schools funded by public sources, and are entirely free to all students. Private schools are financed primarily by fees paid by the studentsÕ parents (Postiglione, 1991). Most of the private primary schools are considered prestigious institutions but many private secondary schools have a "lower status and cater to pupils unable to gain places in government or Ôaided schoolsÕ (Husen & Postlethwaite, 1994). The government is now introducing measures to foster growth of quality private schools. Aided schools are established by private, profit-making businesses, and charity organizations. This is the most prevalent and popular school type.

Recently, with the governmental encouragement, the practice of School Based Management is implemented in schools. In a School Based Management system, individual teachers, parents and students may play a more active role in curriculum and school development (Cheng, Chow & Tsui, 2000). The ultimate goal is to find the own way of schools to achieve quality education and to develop their own individuality and characteristics (Education Commission, 2000).

Finance. The high economic growth rates that Hong Kong has experienced this decade have greatly facilitated the expansion of education. Most funding for education comes from the central government, accounting for 19% of the total government budget (Estimates of Expenditure 2000-2001 by Education Manpower Bureau). One initiative with far-reaching consequences is the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS). "Under the DSS scheme, aided secondary schools are able to become private institutions but still receive substantial government grants. Existing private schools can apply to join the scheme and thereby obtain grants" (Bray, 1992). As private institutions, the DSS schools are granted greater autonomy, such as permission to determine teachersÕ salaries, and to select pupils. The DSS is designed to present greater variety in school providers. Fees are also charged at the tertiary level, however there are student loans provided by the government.

Curriculum

The Curriculum Development Council (CDC), under the Education Department, advises on curricular aims at pre-school, primary and secondary school as well as on special education. Apart from the CDC, influential actors of the curriculum development also include the Education Commission, Board of Education, Education Department, Examination Authority.

The primary curriculum consists of the following subjects, Chinese, English, Mathematics, General Studies (a subject integrating Social Science, Science & Health Education), Arts and Crafts, Music and Physical Education. However, Chinese, English and Mathematics are of greater importance and they take up more curriculum time than the others. In the new education system, primary schools will adopt a core curriculum by re-grouping subjects into 8 key learning areas with optional subjects such as Civil Education. Similarly, the subjects offered at the secondary level are also going to be re-grouped into five learning experiences (Education Commission, 2000). Different emphasis has been put on different types of secondary curriculum. In fact, the curricular differences between all secondary schools are little.

The medium of instruction is one of the important issues related to curriculum development. While English-medium schools are preferred over Cantonese medium schools by parents what prevails in the classroom is instruction in a mixture of both languages (Postiglione, 1991). The government is now committed in promoting mother-tongue teaching with strengthened support for English language learning which aims at nurturing biliterate and multilingual students. In most primary and secondary schools, Chinese is adopted as the medium of instruction.

*8 Key learning areas are Chinese language education, English language education, Mathematics education, Science education, Technology education, Personal, Social and Humanities education, Arts education and Physical education. (Education Blueprint for the 21st century p.30)

Standards for Student Performance and Gateways to Progression and Higher Education

Progression. By now, within the primary and junior secondary school levels, progression is essentially automatic. However, the systems of school places allocation at the entry of the primary and junior secondary schools are undergoing great changes. The present point system of the Primary One Allocation (POA) arouses drastic competition to struggle for a place in the "elite" primary schools for children. To avoid this, a new allocation principle mainly based on school net and parental preferences is proposed. At the completion of the primary education, students are allocated a place in the junior secondary school (Secondary 1) by the Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) system modulated by their result of the Academic Aptitude Test (AAT) and parental choices. To ease the present difficulties of the Secondary School Places Allocation, measures including abortion of the Academic Aptitude Test and introduction of ÔThrough TrainÕ system will be taken.

Examinations. School selection process in Hong Kong is largely based on examinations, but it is also undergoing gradual changes. On completion of Secondary 3, students will be internally assessed instead of sitting for an open examination as in the past. About 85% of the Secondary 3 graduates are promoted to Secondary 4 in public sector schools, and 6% are admitted to vocational institutes. At the end of Secondary 5, students sit for the all-important Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE). It is the sole determinant of entrance into the matriculation. Those who complete the matriculation may seek admission to the tertiary institutions by taking the Advanced Level Examination (HKALE). New changes in the public examinations are taking shape. ÔCore-competenceÕ assessing the essential basic skills and knowledge for Secondary 5 students are being introduced. Lastly, using Ôcriterion referencingÕ approach to replace the current Ônorm-referencingÕ approach is being explored (Education Commission, 2000).

Access to Higher Education. Historically, access to higher education has been limited to a very small portion of the population. Admissions to higher education institutions are based on the HKALE results of students in a variety of subjects. In 2000, 14,500 places are available for first-year and first-degree courses and about 40% of the Secondary 7 students are able to obtain a university education.

Teacher Training and Certification

University Grants Committee (UGC) is the sole funding provider for pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes at sub-degree and degree levels. Depending on their academic credentials, two main sources of academic and practical training for teacher candidates exist. Non-graduate teachers for primary and junior secondary schools may earn a Certificate in Education from the Hong Kong Institute of Education. University graduates may attend Postgraduate Diploma in Education program offered by universities and the Hong Kong Institute of Education in both full-time and part-time modes. Starting from 1998, Secondary 7 graduates can pursue Bachelor of Education Degrees for the professional preparation as primary or secondary school teachers at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, the major provider of teacher education program.

*"Through train" system enables students to promote directly to their associated secondary schools without going through the SSPA, will be implemented to solve the places allocation problem and smoothen the linkage of learning.

[Note: Prepared by Christine Welch for the Council for Basic Education's Schools Around the World (SAW) Project and updated by the HK SAW Team in July 2000.]

References

Bray, M. (1992). Colonialism, Scale, and Politics: Divergence and Convergence of Educational Development in Hong Kong and Macau. Comparative Education Review. vol. 36(3). Chicago, Illinois: Chicago University Press.

Cheng, Y.C., Chow, K.W. & Tsui, K.T. (2000). A Framework of Curriculum Effectiveness: Development and Research. In Y.C. Cheng, K.W. Chow & K.T. Tsui (Eds.), School Curriculum Change & Development in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Institute of Education.

Cobb, V. L. and Darling-Hammond, L. (Eds.) (1995). Teacher Training and Professional Development in Hong Kong, Teacher Preparation and Professional Development in APEC Members: A Comparative Study. Singapore: Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Secretariat.

Education Commission. (2000). Review of Education System: Education Blueprint for the 21st Century. Hong Kong: Government Printer.

Education and Manpower Bureau. (1998). Information Technology for learning in a new era: Five-year strategy 1998/99 to 2002/03. Hong Kong: Government Printer.

Education Manpower Bureau. (1999). Estimates of Expenditures 1999/2000. http://www.info.gov.hk/emb/

Husen, T. & Postlethwaite, N. (Eds.) (1994). The International Encyclopedia of Education (Second edition). Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Postiglione, G.A., (1991). From Capitalism to Socialism? Hong Kong Education within a Transitional Society. Comparative Education Review, vol. 35(4).

Other Related Websites

Hong Kong Education Department, http://www.info.gov.hk/ed/

Education Commission, http://www.e-c.edu.hk

Curriculum Development Council, http://www.cdc.org.hk/

The Hong Kong Institute of Education, http://www.ied.edu.hk/