Consultation Documents Review of Education System Second Stage of Consultation on the Proposed Framework for Reform Summary of Public Views A Brief Report on the Consultation Exercise For the second stage of consultation, a total of 2,670 written submissions were received. During the consultation period, the Education Commission, the Education Department and the Curriculum Development Institute organized a total of 34 forums/ seminars to exchange views with the public on the proposed framework for education reform. Attendance at these events altogether exceeded 10,000. Besides, the Chairman and Members of the EC attended more than 100 consultation sessions organised by various sectors of the community on their own initiatives and exchanged views with them on the proposed framework. People from all walks of the community have actively participated in the consultation by providing the EC with their valuable comments and suggestions. The respondents include students, teachers, school principals, parents, social services groups, the business and other sectors of the community. A Summary of Public Views A summary of comments received is set out below. General Views on the Proposed Framework for Reform Most of the views received supported the concept of lifelong learning and continuous self-enhancement. Many respondents recognized that there was an urgent need for Hong Kong to introduce education reform to enable each individual to attain all-round development according to his/her characteristics, with the necessary knowledge, abilities and attitudes for lifelong learning to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Members of the public have provided valuable advice on different areas of the reform. Many of them would like to know more details about the reform proposals and the timetable for implementation as soon as possible. Many people, particularly those in the education sector, were very concerned about what complementary measures would be put in place to support the reform. For example, how to allow more room and flexibility for schools and teachers and provide them with training and professional support? How to ensure the effective implementation of measures to allow the high achievers to excel and provide the low achievers with remedial support? Some members of the community reckoned that the reform proposals were too ideal. They wondered if it was possible to put the proposals into practice. On the contrary, there were also comments that the proposals had not gone far enough. Some respondents opined that the concept of "lifelong learning" placed too much emphasis on the acquisition of skills and knowledge while the students' moral values and attitudes were overlooked. While a lot of discussions focussed on whether there should be less public examinations, some respondents were concerned that with less examinations, the schools and students would have less motivation to do their best. On the other hand, quite a number of people held the view that reducing the frequency of public examinations would allow the schools and students more room to devote time and attention to those activities that were conducive to the all-round development of students. Many others also suggested that more emphasis should be placed on schools' internal assessments (particularly on group projects) and students' performance in non-academic areas, such as their participation in community services, leadership and conduct. Some respondents remarked that the proposed framework had not addressed how to raise the standard of students, and how to enable them to enjoy learning, enhance their effectiveness in communication and develop their creativity, critical thinking and sense of commitment. This might be due to the fact that proposals on the academic structure, the admission mechanisms at different stages and the reform of examination systems were comparatively more controversial and attracted most of the public's attention. Therefore, some people have overlooked the proposals on curriculum reform. Some respondents contended that the EC should give due recognition to the contribution of the education sector and should make use of the existing successful practices as the basis of the reform. However, some respondents worried that the frontline educators did not possess the necessary knowledge, abilities and motivation to implement the reform. Comments on individual areas of the proposed reform Continuing Education The public generally supported the establishment of a comprehensive qualifications recognition mechanism. They also provided many valuable suggestions on how to promote life-long learning, including establishing a database and resource centre for continuing education, how to make more effective use of community resources to enhance facilities for continuing education, and encouraging the use of Internet etc. Tertiary Education The public generally supported the reform of the university admission system. They considered that besides public examination results, university admission should take into consideration students' school internal results, evaluation by their teachers and performance in non-academic areas. However, some respondents raised concerns about how to ensure fairness in applying these criteria. As to whether first-degree programmes should be more generalised and provide more learning experiences across multiple disciplines, respondents generally agreed that they should provide students with a broader base of knowledge. However, some people considered that this should not be achieved at the expense of the depth of the first-degree programmes. They contended that first-degree programmes should maintain a certain degree of specialisation in order to develop specialists in different domains to cater for the needs of the community. There was general support for the implementation of a comprehensive transferable credit unit system. But some respondents were concerned about the practical difficulties in the implementation, including the problem of resource deployment. As regards whether the establishment of post-secondary colleges should be encouraged, the EC received many different views. Some respondents supported promoting a diversified higher education system as it could provide more opportunities and choices for students to pursue higher education. On the other hand, some held the view that we should make full use of the existing institutions' facilities instead of spending huge amount of public resources in setting up new institutions. There were also concerns that even if new post-secondary colleges are established, qualifications awarded by these colleges might not be recognized by the universities. Some respondents supported that the establishment of private universities should be encouraged in order to provide more opportunities for students to pursue higher education and enhance the diversity of the higher education system. Senior Secondary Education The EC have received mixed views on the proposal to merge the senior secondary and sixth-form level education and to conduct only one public examination at the end of senior secondary education. Those who supported the proposal contended that it would enhance the coherence of the curriculum, save students a lot of time in preparing for public examinations and reinforce life-wide learning. Those against the proposal argued that having only one "high-stake" public examination will put even more pressure on students. Furthermore, not all students were able to cope with the sixth-form curriculum. Some people suggested that if reform of the curriculum at senior secondary and sixth-form levels could be effectively implemented so as to provide students with a comprehensive and diversified learning experience, it might not be necessary to change the academic structure at all. Views were divided on whether students should take both arts and science subjects during the senior secondary years. The respondents in favour of the proposal considered that it was too early to adopt streaming between the domains of natural science and humanities in senior secondary education. They supported that students should be given the opportunity to develop their interests in different areas. On the other hand, some respondents held the view that students should not be rigidly required to study subjects in both domains at the same time but should be allowed to choose according to their interests and abilities. Otherwise, we were moving to the other extreme. Besides, the views received were mostly in support of maintaining the existence of vocational schools in addition to mainstream schools in senior secondary education. They considered that vocational schools can cater to the needs of those students who are not interested in academic study. On the other hand, some were of the view that no such distinction should be made if senior secondary curriculum could become sufficiently flexible and diversified to cater for the needs of students with different abilities and interests. Nine-year Basic Education As for the "through-road" concept, the majority of the respondents supported the abolition of the Academic Aptitude Test (AAT). There were, however, different views on what replacement mechanism should be adopted. Quite a number of respondents suggested that AAT should be replaced by a curriculum-related test on Chinese, English and Mathematics, but the results would probably be used for making minor adjustment only. Some respondents were concerned that without public assessment, schools and pupils would lack the motivation to work hard. Moreover, some people had reservation about the proposal to abolish student banding. They were afraid that schools would have difficulty in handling students with a greater mix of abilities. Some parents are concerned that if high academic achievers have to study together with low achievers, the standard of the former would drop. Public discussions on the proposed linked system between primary and secondary schools have been vigorous. Many people (particularly parents) had reservation about this proposal. They were concerned that the pressure would be brought down to primary one admission and that pupils allocated to primary schools with lower standard would have no chance of moving to secondary schools of higher standards. On the mechanism for primary one admission, many members of the public supported reform of the Primary One Admission (POA) System. They considered that some elements in the existing point system were unfair. Some also attributed the drilling of children by parents and kindergartens and the adoption of difficult curriculum by kindergartens to the current POA system. With the implementation of the "through-road" concept, there would be an even more pressing need for reforming the POA in order to reduce the pressure on parents and students. There were diverse views on whether screening was necessary when students proceed from S3 to S4 although many agreed that a quality assurance mechanism should be in place to ensure that students attain the basic standards. Respondents in general supported the proposed core competency assessment. They also agreed that schools should strengthen their ties with other sectors in order to provide students with comprehensive learning experiences, but there were very few suggestions on the specific mechanism. Early Childhood Education There was, in general, support for enhancing teachers' qualifications in early childhood education, promoting the co-operation between parents and schools, and reinforcing administrative regulation to prevent schools from teaching things which were too advanced for the students' developmental stage. There were even suggestions that there should be regulations prohibiting kindergartens from teaching children to write or requiring them to do homework. However, some respondents attributed this to the pressure of primary one admission and the difficult curricula adopted by many popular primary schools. Not many people had expressed views on the unification of child care centres and kindergartens.