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The Qualifications Framework (QF) was a flexible, transparent and accessible system to recognise learning and qualifications, and provide inherent incentives to motivate people to undertake lifelong learning and continuing improvement in the face of a rapidly changing world, the Permanent Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mrs Fanny Law said today (November 8).
Mrs Law told the 2005 Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management Annual Conference that over the past two decades, the educational attainment of the local workforce had improved significantly.
"The proportion of workers with lower secondary education or below has fallen from 58.2% in 1985 to 33% in 2004. On the other hand, those with tertiary education increased from 10% to 27.3% over the same period, with more pronounced improvements since 1997."
Quoting estimation by HKU SPACE in 2003 that about one in five persons were engaged in continuing education, Mrs Law said that people of Hong Kong, in general, were keen to learn and willing to invest in their own continuing education.
To provide better clarity of programmes and qualifications, and to facilitate learners in mapping their own progression pathways, last year the Government decided to introduce a QF in Hong Kong.
Mrs Law emphasised that the QF was a voluntary system established to promote lifelong learning and not intended for employment. In other words, possession of a qualification recognised under the QF should not become the pre-requisite for employment but, where available, may serve as an additional reference for employers.
The QF is a seven-level hierarchy that orders and supports academic as well as vocational qualifications. Each level is characterised by a set of generic descriptors that are outcome-based and cover four domains, namely, knowledge and intellectual skills; processes; autonomy and accountability; and generic skills such as communication, IT and numeracy.
In the academic field, outcome standards at lower levels are tied to the school curriculum, and at the tertiary levels are set by scholars. In the vocational field, outcome standards are determined by members of the respective industries through a consensual process.
"Work has begun on developing the competency standards for eight industries," Mrs Law said. "Following extensive consultations, we expect the first three sets of competency standards for the Watch & Clock, Printing & Publishing, and Hairdressing industries to be finalised and published early next year."
These will be followed by Chinese Catering, Property Management, Electrical & Mechanical Services, Jewellery, and Information & Communications Technology.
As a matter of fact, the QF not only has relevance to the workplace but also to secondary education including career-oriented studies (COS).
"Our initial priority is to focus on the occupations that appeal to young people, so as to support COS in the new senior secondary curriculum. By the time the new senior secondary curriculum is introduced in 2009, we expect to have developed training specifications for 20 industries," Mrs Law said.
"We also give priority to industries which employ a large number of workers with relatively lower academic attainment who will need retraining to catch up with changes in the skill requirements."
Mrs Law appealed to human resources professionals to assist in the development of industry-specific competency standards to expedite the process, as well as to support and participate in building the infrastructure for a lifelong learning society.
Ends/Tuesday, November 8, 2005
Issued at HKT 18:56
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