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The following is issued on behalf of the Education Commission:
The Chairperson of the Education Commission, Dr Rosanna Wong, said today (December 2) the joint efforts and collaboration between the education sector, parents, the public and the Government over the past six years had laid a solid foundation for Hong Kong in the pursuit of quality education.
Speaking at EC's Reporting Session, Dr Wong said that with the concerted efforts of all parties concerned, all items of the Education Reform put forward in a blueprint in 2000 had gradually been implemented. "Now the Education Reform has reached a new milestone and is being consolidated."
"The Education reform aims to provide students with a diversified curriculum, more choices and more opportunities to develop their potential to the fullest. The efforts made by our stakeholders over the past six years have paid off, with improvement in student attainments and professional upgrading of the teaching force. These have reassured us that the Education Reform is progressing in the right direction. I hope we can sustain momentum and scale new heights."
Dr Wong took the opportunity to pay special tribute to all the frontline educators for their hard work, commitment and dedication to education.
According to a survey of schools on the implementation of the Education Reform and key learning area curriculum in 2004 and 2005, more than 75% of schools had formulated or continued to adopt a five-year short-term strategy for whole-school curriculum development, and implemented a school-based curriculum to better suit students' needs. More than 70% of school heads saw improvement in their leadership, professional development, collaboration with teachers and understanding of the curriculum development.
In addition, more than 70% of primary school heads and more than 50% of secondary school principals said that there had seen improvement among students in terms of communication skills, critical thinking skills, creativity, self learning, sense of national identity and overall learning performance.
The outstanding performance of Hong Kong students in international studies was an evidence that the Education Reform had come to fruition. In the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003, Hong Kong remained at the top of the league in Mathematics, second in problem solving, and third in Science. In addition, local students also fared well and won numerous awards in a variety of international and national competitions.
"Looking forward, the commission will continue to monitor the implementation of the Education Reform by co-ordinating various initiatives and maintaining communication with different sectors in the community to assist the Government in realising the blueprint for the Reform," Dr Wong said.
The progress of major items of the Education Reform is as follows:
Early Childhood Education
* To harmonise the monitoring structure and subsidy mode of kindergartens and child care centres: Related measures have taken effect from the 2005/06 school year.
* Quality assurance of kindergartens: Seminars and workshops have been organised to enhance the self-evaluation skills of pre-primary practitioners; focus inspections have prompted kindergartens to further develop their self-evaluation mechanism.
School Education
* "Through-train" mode: To date, 25 groups of public sector schools have adopted this mode of operation.
* To administer the Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) under Basic Competency Assessments: TSA has been introduced to the Primary Three, Six and Secondary Three levels in 2004, 2005 and 2006 respectively.
* To review the Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) mechanism and the medium of instruction (MOI) arrangements for secondary schools: The revised SSPA mechanism is implemented with effect from the 2005/07 allocation cycle and the revised MOI arrangements for secondary schools will be implemented with effect from September 2010.
* To reform the academic structure for senior secondary education: the new academic structure for senior secondary education will be implemented in 2009; the four-year undergraduate programme will also be implemented in 2012.
* To extend School-based Assessment (SBA) to subjects of public examinations: SBA has been implemented in Chinese History and History of the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) in 2006; and will be implemented in Chinese Language and English Language of HKCEE and Computer Studies of Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination in 2007.
Higher Education
* To broaden the admission criteria: The eight tertiary institutions funded by the University Grants Committee are continuing their efforts in broadening their admission criteria gradually.
* To increase the opportunity for post-secondary education: Assistance has been provided to students and education institutions to promote the development of self-financed post-secondary sector; post-secondary education opportunities are available to 66% of the relevant age cohort in the 2005/06 school year.
Continuing Education
* To implement the Qualifications Framework (QF) and its associated quality assurance mechanism: Industry Training Advisory Committees have been established for 12 industries; the Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications Bill, which provides for the establishment of a credible quality assurance mechanism under QF, was introduced into the Legislative Council (Legco) in July 2005 and the Bill is being scrutinised by a Bills Committee of Legco.
Ends/Saturday, December 2, 2006
Issued at HKT 17:06
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