*******************************************************
The following is issued on behalf of the Education Commission:
The Working Group on Review of Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) and Medium of Instruction (MOI) for Secondary Schools of the Education Commission (EC) today (February 3) launched a three-month public consultation to seek views for mapping out the future of the two important education issues.
Speaking at a press conference to introduce the consultation document, the EC Chairman, Dr Rosanna Wong, said a review of The MOI Guidance and the short-term SSPA mechanism adopted since 1998/99 and 2000/01 respectively was part of the follow-up foreshadowed in the Reform Proposals for the Education System in Hong Kong published in 2000.
"In line with the aims of the education reform, students' interest is the guiding consideration of the Working Group while also taking into account the need for vigorous quality assurance and increased parental choice. The EC agrees to the rationale and principles behind the recommendations," Dr Wong said.
"I am grateful to Chairman of the Working Group Mr Michael Tien and all the members for the smooth completion of the review. To identify the best proposals for the future, the Working Group has drawn reference from various research studies, conducted school visits and classroom observations, and held extensive and in-depth exchanges with different stakeholders. Now it is time for listening to community views."
"We firmly believe that mother tongue is the most effective MOI for all students and the best means to achieve education objectives," Mr Tien said. "We therefore strongly favour to continue to make mother tongue the mainstream MOI for our secondary schools. Also worth noting is that the effectiveness of mother-tongue teaching has been proved."
"Learning through a second language has its inherent drawbacks. Although there is no objection to schools' adoption of English as MOI if they fully meet the prescribed criteria of student ability, teacher capability and support measures, we still encourage these schools to adopt mother-tongue teaching."
"Irrespective of their MOI, all schools should strive to raise the language standards of their students, thus helping to nurture talents who are good at both the Chinese and English languages," he said.
On the basis of a research on student ability, the Working Group has proposed that the top 40% of students be taken as having the ability to learn through English. An English-medium (EMI) school should have at least 85% of its Secondary One (S1) intake being EMI-capable. The results of the existing pre-S1 Hong Kong Attainment Test will be sampled biennially to scale the academic performance of the coming cohort of Primary Six. This will help reduce the stake of the scaling instrument.
On teacher capability, teachers of EMI schools should have obtained a Grade C or above in English Language (Syllabus B) in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) or equivalent; e.g. a Grade D or above in Use of English in Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination, a Grade C or above in English Language in the defunct Hong Kong Higher Level Examination, or Level 6 or above in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
As for serving EMI teachers who have not attained the requisite qualifications, it is proposed that they should meet the requirement within two years from the 2005/06 school year, or opt for classroom observation by subject and language experts.
In addition, schools using English as MOI should purposefully and strategically provide a language environment conducive to learning English. This should include strengthening the teaching and learning of English as a subject, creating an English-rich environment and devising well-designed bridging programmes.
Mr Tien said that the Working Group had a thorough discussion on whether to continue with the present approach of MOI-streaming by school or by class within a school.
"We consider that within-school streaming will inevitably lead to multiple labelling and exert great pressure on Chinese-medium (CMI) schools to deviate from their education philosophy. Under market pressure, they may have to operate as many EMI classes as possible though well aware of the downside of within-school labelling among students and increased pressure and workload for teachers. With effective learning and all-round development on the part of students as the overriding concern, we propose to maintain the bifurcation approach of MOI-streaming by schools."
Mr Tien stressed that mastery of English did not hinge on using English as MOI. Mother-tongue teaching and enhancement of students' English proficiency could be achieved concurrently. The Working Group had recommended that the Government continue to provide CMI schools with additional resources for enhancing their teaching and learning of English.
"Over the past two years, the HKCEE performance of students of EMI-turned-CMI schools have seen a progressive improvement, especially in language-loaded subjects. More and more of such schools have also registered improved performance in the English Language subject," he said.
"Since mother-tongue teaching is more efficient and effective, we propose that CMI schools may, for S1-S3, allocate no more than 15% of the total lesson time for extended learning activities conducted through English, on condition that the normal teaching and learning of content subjects will not be adversely affected. The Working Group hopes that this will help address concern of some people that mother-tongue teaching would reduce students' exposure to English."
Turning to SSPA, Mr Tien said the Working Group found the current mechanism basically acceptable and recommended improvement with a view to enhancing parental choices and diversified development of both students and schools; as well as containing the within-school student diversity in secondary schools.
Based on these considerations, the Working Group has suggested that the Discretionary Places (DP) quota be increased to 30% from 20% and students be allowed to apply to two secondary schools instead of one in the DP stage.
As for the Central Allocation (CA) stage, the Working Group has proposed a slight adjustment to the current system by setting aside 10% of the CA places for allocation "unrestricted" by school nets. This would further enhance choice for parents.
To better enable schools to cope with student diversity, the Working Group sees a need for a mechanism to scale the Internal Assessment results of Primary Six students. The Working Group further identifies two possible scaling instruments: either the past Academic Aptitude Test results or the average of the results of the two most recently sampled pre-S1 Hong Kong Attainment Tests of the students of a primary school.
Mr Tien stressed that students' interest was the overriding consideration of the Working Group's recommendations; other considerations pale in comparison.
If the recommendations are accepted, the students who will be admitted to S1 in September, 2007, will be the earliest cohort to which the revised SSPA mechanism can apply. The MOI arrangement can be effected in September, 2008, at the earliest. Schools which will need to change their MOI status will be notified by the end of 2007. The MOI status of schools will be reviewed every six years.
For the full text of the consultation document, please visit the website of the Education Commission at http://www.e-c.edu.hk. The Working Group welcomes views from all sectors of the community. Comments should be sent to the Secretariat of the Working Group by post (Room 1101, 11/F, Wu Chung House, 213 Queen's Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong), fax (2537 4591 / 2179 5492)or e-mail (educom@emb.gov.hk) on or before May 2, 2005.
Ends/Thursday, February 3, 2005
NNNN
Real Media (Floor
/
Cantonese / Putonghua
/
English)
Windows Media (Floor
/
Cantonese / Putonghua
/
English )
