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Hong Kong students were among the best performing in the world in civic and citizenship knowledge, as revealed in the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2009.
A spokesman for the Education Bureau today (June 29) said: "The high ratings achieved by over 2,900 of Hong Kong's Secondary 2 students in the ICCS 2009 was consistent with the findings from the last international study in 1999.
"Our students' achievements go beyond geographical boundaries by scoring 554 in the civic and citizenship knowledge of the international cognitive test."
The study, which surveyed over 140,000 Secondary 2 or 3 students from 38 countries/places in 2009, aims to assess secondary students' understanding, competencies and dispositions with respect to civic and citizenship education. The international mean of the ICCS 2009 is 500. Hong Kong ranked in the world's top five while Finland topped the rankings with a score of 576.
The spokesman said: "Almost eight out of 10 of our participating students from 76 schools reached the top two proficiency levels (out of four) of civic and citizenship knowledge in the international survey. The international average was 58.3%.
"Owing to the outbreak of human swine influenza in mid 2009, the number of schools participating in the Hong Kong study was lower than expected.
"However, the international study managers have confirmed that the 'achieved sample' from Hong Kong performed well above the ICCS average."
The ICCS 2009 is under the aegis of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) which released the first findings internationally today.
The objective of the study is to investigate the ways in which young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a range of countries/places. It also tests students' civic knowledge and their attitudes towards civic engagement, including the extent to which they expect to be engaged as future citizens. The IEA will release a full report in September.
The Education Bureau in 2008 commissioned the Hong Kong Institute of Education and the Faculty of Education of the University of Hong Kong to undertake the ICCS 2009 in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong research team led by Professor Lee Wing-on and Professor Kerry Kennedy from the Hong Kong Institute of Education will release more details in September concerning Hong Kong students' performance. A separate report on Hong Kong students' attitudes towards a series of local issues is also being prepared.
Ends/Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Issued at HKT 17:01
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