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The Education Bureau (EDB) said today (December 10) that Hong Kong students had outstanding performance in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007.
"The performance of Hong Kong students was remarkable. In mathematics, Primary four (P4) students rose to the world's top and Secondary two (S2) students ranked fourth. In science, P4 students ranked third and S2 students ranked ninth. It was not an easy task for their achievement to be consistently well above the international average and with rankings always among the top few," an Education Bureau spokesman said.
TIMSS 2007 was organised by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). There were 43 (36 IEA members and seven non-IEA members) and 56 (49 IEA members and seven non-IEA members) jurisdictions participating in the assessments at Grade 4 (P4 in Hong Kong) and Grade 8 (S2 in Hong Kong) respectively. TIMSS 2007 aims to study the achievements in mathematics and science at these two levels.
"In the past, Hong Kong students continually excelled in various international studies. The results of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 announced last December indicated that the scientific and mathematical literacy of Hong Kong students at age 15 ranked second and third respectively among the 57 participating jurisdictions. Hong Kong students did well in TIMSS 2007 and PISA 2006, and Hong Kong is one of the very few jurisdictions whose students could rank the world's top four in both studies," a bureau spokesman said.
"On the whole, the ranking of Hong Kong S2 students in science has risen from TIMSS 1995 to TIMSS 2007. Through analysing S2 students' performance in TIMSS 2007 science, it was found that they did better in 'Application' and 'Reasoning', while in the past they used to perform better in 'Knowing'. The change is consistent with the curriculum reform as the new curriculum helps to nurture students' curiosity towards the world and enhances their high-level thinking and generic skills through the inquiry process," he said.
In mathematics, Hong Kong P4 students demonstrated a distinct improvement and the ranking rose from second in TIMSS 2003 to the world's top in TIMSS 2007. At S2, the performance was comparable to that of TIMSS 2003, with the ranking falling slightly from third to fourth.
In science, Hong Kong P4 students' ranking rose from fourth in TIMSS 2003 to third in TIMSS 2007. Although the ranking of S2 students dropped from fourth to ninth , Hong Kong's score of 530 was, statistically, not significantly different from the fifth to the eighth jurisdictions.
"The outstanding performance of Hong Kong students once again validates that Hong Kong education is heading in the right direction. The achievements were the results of the concerted efforts of the schools and teachers, as well as the efforts of the stakeholders in taking forward the education reform," he said.
The spokesman said the bureau would continue to collaborate with the education sector, parents and members of the community to sustain the balanced development and good performance of students.
Background information and key statistics of TIMSS 2007 are at the Annex.
Ends/Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Issued at HKT 17:50
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