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Author Archives: hksar gov

LCQ3: Elective subjects of the senior secondary curriculum

     Following is a question by Hon Mrs Regina Ip and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, in the Legislative Council today (February 27):

Question:

     Under the arrangements of the New Senior Secondary academic structure, apart from the four compulsory core subjects, schools may decide on their own to offer a certain number of elective subjects (with the average number of last school year being 11) out of 20 subjects which are Key Learning Area elective subjects, Applied Learning courses and six other language courses, and their students may choose to take two to three subjects among the subjects offered. It is learnt that in respect of some elective subjects (e.g. Combined Science, Integrated Science as well as Design and Applied Technology), the numbers of students taking and the numbers of schools offering such subjects have been persistently on the low side in recent years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether it has assessed if there are faults in the curriculum designs of those subjects with persistently low student enrolments; if it has assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, whether the Government will conduct a comprehensive review of the curriculum designs of such subjects; if it has not assessed, of the reasons for that; and

(2) whether it will consider consolidating those elective subjects which are offered by a small number of schools and have a low student enrolment, so that the schools concerned may concentrate their teaching resources on other elective subjects; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     Our consolidated reply to the questions of Hon Mrs Regina Ip is as follows:

     The primary aim of the senior secondary curriculum under the New Academic Structure (NAS) is to provide students with a broad and balanced curriculum under which they take two or three elective subjects (four at most) on top of four core subjects (i.e. Chinese Language, English Language, Mathematics and Liberal Studies). The curriculum is also supplemented by a wide range of activities for “Other Learning Experiences” to broaden students’ horizons and foster their whole-person development. Under the open curriculum framework, schools can offer students an appropriate and adequate choice of elective subjects from 20 senior secondary elective subjects, some 30 Applied Learning (ApL) courses and six Other Languages. This arrangement not only caters for students’ interests and needs, but also provides schools with sufficient flexibility to develop their school-based curricula in the light of their contexts as well as the needs of students.

     Being an international city boasting a blend of Chinese and Western cultures, it is of the utmost importance for Hong Kong to nurture a pool of talent in various fields. The design of the senior secondary curriculum under the NAS is based on the development of both Hong Kong and the world, as well as local socio-cultural, economic and geographical factors, and reference has been made to the trends in curriculum development in other countries/regions. The senior secondary curriculum should also cater for students’ diverse needs so as to enable them to choose suitable subjects according to their interests, aspirations and abilities. The student enrolment of each elective subject in every school year depends on an array of factors. In particular, the continuous decline in student population over the past few years has directly affected the student enrolment of elective subjects, while the requirements for admission to different departments of universities (e.g. prerequisite or non-prerequisite elective subjects) impact on the number of elective subjects taken by students. For instance, some universities or departments might set the order of admission priority based on the attainments in the best five or six subjects of candidates meeting the General Entrance Requirements. This might have led some candidates to focus on their strong subjects or even drop individual subjects in Secondary 5 or 6 in order to strive for better results. In this regard, the high or low student enrolment of an elective subject may not necessarily bear a relationship to whether there is room for improvement in its curriculum design.

     We are aware that the numbers of students taking individual senior secondary elective subjects, such as Literature in English, Integrated Science, Technology and Living, Music and individual ApL courses (e.g. Applied Learning Chinese (for non-Chinese speaking students), Animal Care, Entrepreneurship for Small and Medium Enterprises), have been rather low. Yet, as stated above, in the context of the holistic design of school curriculum, we have to consider students’ needs and school contexts from a professional angle to offer different senior secondary elective subjects including those with low student enrolments. In doing so, students with different aptitudes, abilities and backgrounds are provided with an adequate choice of subjects, hence catering for learner diversity and supporting students in multiple study and career pathways. Taking Combined Science and Integrated Science as examples, we provide two integrated science subjects, in addition to the traditional science subjects (including Physics, Chemistry and Biology), to not only meet students’ need for taking science subjects to master essential scientific knowledge, but also give students space to consider acquiring the domains of knowledge in connection with subjects under other Key Learning Areas. In fact, given the increasingly diverse pathways to further studies, local tertiary institutions also offer bachelor’s degree and diploma progammes of a cross-disciplinary/integrated nature which go beyond traditional subject learning.

     At present, schools in general are offering about 11 elective subjects at the senior secondary level. To give students a wider choice of subjects, the Education Bureau (EDB) has been providing schools with the Diversity Learning Grant (DLG) since the 2009/10 school year to encourage collaboration among schools on offering joint-school curricula of different senior secondary subjects (e.g. Music, Physical Education, Design and Applied Technology, Ethics and Religious Studies), hence optimising the use of resources across schools as well as catering for students’ diverse interests. For now, over 150 secondary schools are involved in offering the joint-school curricula. The funding from the DLG can also be used to make arrangements for students to take Other Languages and/or ApL courses offered by course providers in order to cater for students’ diverse learning needs. ApL courses cover six areas of studies, namely Creative Studies; Media and Communication; Business, Management and Law; Services; Applied Science; and Engineering and Production. Fewer than 5 000 students are enrolled in some 30 courses, each of which is taken by a fairly small number of students; however, taking into consideration the potential for broadening students’ learning experiences and enabling them to learn fundamental theories and concepts through application and practice, ApL courses are meaningful subject choices.

     The EDB has been monitoring the development of the senior secondary curriculum under the NAS since its launch in 2009. Regular meetings are also held by the committees on various senior secondary subjects under the Curriculum Development Council (CDC) to review the implementation of the subjects. Given that curriculum development is an ongoing process, the committees on various senior secondary subjects under the CDC will, in a timely manner, review and update the design of the curricula of senior secondary subjects as well as the examination and assessment arrangements in the light of the ongoing renewal of the school curriculum to respond to changes in society and students’ needs. read more

East Asia

LCQ8: Use of e-textbooks and e-learning resources in schools

     Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Kwok-kwan and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, in the Legislative Council today (February 27):

Question:

     It was pointed out in Report No. 71 of the Director of Audit published in October last year that in the 2016-2017 school year and on class-level basis, among the primary and secondary schools, only 24 per cent and 8 per cent respectively of them used e-textbooks, and 65 per cent and 66 per cent respectively of them used e-learning resources. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether it has formulated specific strategies and long-term goals for promoting the wider use of e-textbooks and e-learning resources by schools; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
 
(2) given that as at April last year, the number of e-textbooks (49 sets) available on the recommended textbook lists of the Education Bureau (EDB) was far lower than that of printed textbooks (479 sets), whether the Government will consider launching a new round of the e-Textbook Market Development Scheme or taking other measures to promote the development and use of e-textbooks; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(3) whether it has studied if the use of e-learning resources by students has resulted in any improvement in their academic achievements and in their interest and confidence in learning, as well as how this affects the students’ health; if it has studied, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that; and

(4) whether officials of the EDB conducted any overseas visit in the past five years to learn from the experience of other places in using information technology to enhance teaching and learning; if so, of the countries/regions visited and the experience gained; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     The Education Bureau (EDB) launched the Fourth Strategy on Information Technology in Education (ITE4) in the 2015-16 school year to enhance the information technology (IT) environment such as hardware, resources and teacher training in schools. It enables schools to devise school-based plans for practising e-learning in consideration of their school contexts and development needs, so as to make good use of IT to enhance learning and teaching effectiveness. Schools are encouraged to promote e-learning by using the right technology in teaching and learning at the right time when considering whole school planning and use of IT for teaching. The promotion of e-textbook development aims to provide schools with another option of quality learning and teaching resources in addition to printed textbooks. It should be stressed that as one of the many learning modes, e-learning, which is ever evolving and diversified, is open and flexible. There is no so-called best practice or standard which schools should follow.

     The EDB values the views of the sector for improving the relevant work. The Steering Committee on Strategic Development of Information Technology in Education advises the EDB on the strategic direction, implementation and evaluation of integrating IT into education and the implementation of e-learning in schools, including the use of e-learning resources and e-textbooks. To improve the measures on supporting the needs of schools in the development of IT in education, the EDB continues to explore and enhance different strategies by maintaining close communication with the relevant stakeholders and making reference to the information gathered through different means such as school visits and questionnaire surveys. We will continue with the relevant work in order to understand the views of the stakeholders.

     My reply to the question raised by the Hon Cheung Kwok-kwan is as follows:
 
(1) and (2) Teachers’ professional capabilities of using e-learning resources to enhance learning effectiveness and the availability of quality e-learning resources already developed in the market are two crucial factors for promoting e-learning. On teachers’ professional training, the EDB has been enhancing teachers’ professional capabilities of using e-learning resources (including e-textbooks) in teaching various subjects through professional development programmes. In addition to continually strengthening relevant professional development programmes for teachers, the EDB will also form learning communities among schools for teachers to share their successful experiences and effective pedagogical practices in e-learning with each other, with a view to fostering a paradigm shift in the mode of teaching and enhancing the effectiveness of learning and teaching for the benefit of students.

     The EDB launched the e-Textbook Market Development Scheme (EMADS) with the aim of facilitating and encouraging the participation of potential and aspiring e-textbook developers to develop e-textbooks for various subjects in line with the local curricula, and trying out a quality vetting and assurance mechanism for e-textbooks. At present, the submission of e-textbooks for review has become a regular arrangement which has been extended to all subjects. The publishers are in general familiar with the arrangement of the submission and publishing of e-textbooks, and have gained related experiences. The EDB continues to communicate with the publishing industry to improve the technical and functional design of e-textbooks so as to create favourable conditions for promoting the development and use of e-textbooks. Given that in principle the supply of e-textbooks is market driven, we have no plan to launch another round of the EMADS.

     As stated above, e-learning is an open and flexible learning mode and there is no so-called best practice or standard which schools should follow. Moreover, e-learning measures are not necessarily more effective than conventional measures in every case. As such, schools are not compelled to follow any fixed standards or practices. In fact, schools should exercise their professional judgement in selecting and using suitable learning and teaching resources (including e-textbooks and other e-learning resources) that suit students’ needs and school contexts so as to cater for learner diversity.

(3) The EDB launched the ITE4 so as to enhance interactive learning and teaching experience. To continuously enhance various support measures under the ITE4, we have been reviewing the progress and effectiveness of the relevant measures through different means such as school visits, questionnaire surveys and case studies. Schools hold a positive view towards e-learning and generally agree that it is conducive to strengthening the learning motivation and self-directed learning ability of students.

     The EDB attaches great importance to students’ health and has been promoting the information related to e-learning and health through joint efforts with various stakeholders. The framework on “Information Literacy for Hong Kong Students” was updated in 2016 to enable schools to incorporate information literacy into their curriculum so as to foster students’ ability to use information with the correct attitudes, under which the issue on healthy use of the Internet is covered. Moreover, relevant professional development programmes and an information kit on e-learning are available for teachers. To assist schools in undertaking relevant parent education, we have produced video clips in collaboration with various government departments and non-governmental organisations. Through seminars, assistance has been given to parents on ways of helping their children develop good habits in using IT in their daily life and study, such as maintaining their own physical and mental health and not indulging in Internet surfing. Besides, a telephone hotline has been set up to provide individual support to parents, teachers and students in need. To further support teachers to develop students’ proper attitude, we have produced the “Smart e-Master” Information Kit on e-Learning which contains information that promotes e-learning and health.

(4) Over the past five years, the EDB officials have visited places such as the Mainland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Singapore and Finland to better understand their latest development of IT in education. Through attending relevant international conventions and exhibitions and visiting various organisations and schools, we have learnt from their experiences of promoting e-learning, including relevant curriculum planning, development of learning and teaching resources for teachers’ reference and encouraging teachers to use these resources in teaching, and understanding how schools in different places made good use of various e-resources, such as tablet computers to facilitate interactive learning. From our observation, teachers in Hong Kong, as teachers of other places will select e-learning resources from various sources to cater for the learning topics and their students’ learning needs. Taking into account the development needs of our schools, we will learn from the successful experiences in different places, such as innovative pedagogical practices in e-learning, e-learning resources and the latest IT teaching tools and devices and share them with the education sector. read more

East Asia