**********************************************************
The Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) today (April 11) welcomed the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority's (HKEAA) decision to modify the design and implementation timeline for school-based assessment (SBA) in Chinese Language and English Language of the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) 2007.
"The progressive and flexible approach adopted to introduce SBA in the two subjects will allow teachers and students both time and capacity to familiarise themselves with the revised and simplified SBA requirements and procedures," a spokesman for the bureau said.
"It is an all-win outcome that the Public Examinations Board has made after taking into account the divergent views among all stakeholders, ranging from EMB, HKEAA, schools to teachers, students and parents."
To support the implementation of SBA in schools, training sessions and relevant resource materials have already been provided to teachers. Professional development programmes on integrating SBA with regular teaching and learning as well as other support according to different needs and timelines of schools will continue to be provided to support teachers.
In addition, the bureau has earlier announced to top up the existing Capacity Enhancement Grant with an additional $1.65 billion for a period of three years, enabling schools to hire additional staff or outside services to assist teachers in coping with their daily work, including SBA. Schools are already using these resources to support their language teachers so that they can implement the curriculum and assessment changes effectively.
SBA is part of a broadened assessment approach to accurately recognise all aspects of student learning. It has been an integral part of a number of subjects in local public examinations since the 1970s. The further development of SBA in the two HKCEE subjects will lay a solid foundation for the first Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education examination to be held in 2012.
Ends/Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Issued at HKT 17:45
NNNN