Section 1: Curriculum Reform
Target
To enhance the knowledge and abilities of all students, and to
help them develop positive values and attitudes, so as to establish
a solid foundation for life-long learning and whole-person development.
Ten-year Curriculum Development Plan
The Curriculum Development Council (CDC) has announced the following
ten-year plan for curriculum development:
| Short-term (2001 /02 to 2005 /06) |
- The Education Department (ED) will prepare new curriculum
guides, key learning area curriculum guides and exemplars,
based on the principles of the curriculum reform. It will
also conduct research and development ("seed")
projects to generate successful reference experiences for
schools.
- Schools and teachers are encouraged to place more emphasis
on enhancing students' communication skills, critical thinking
and creativity in the teaching of the existing subjects.
- Schools and teachers are encouraged to promote the key
tasks of the curriculum reform to enhance students' learning
capacity.
- Schools and teachers should take gradual steps to adapt
to the new curriculum framework. For those schools which
are ready, they may start to develop their own school-based
curricula step by step.
|
| Medium-term (2006 /07 to 2010 /11) |
- Building on the strengths and experiences developed during
the short-term phase, schools should further improve the
teaching methods and develop appropriate school-based curricula
according to the abilities and aptitude of their students,
as well as to the mission of the schools.
|
| Long-term (Beyond 2011) |
- Making good use of effective learning/teaching strategies
and adopting appropriate school-based
curricula to meet the needs of students.
|
Last Year's Progress
In the last year, great effort was made to promote a new learning
and teaching culture, as well as to implement a number of supportive
measures for the curriculum reform.
(1) Developing Curriculum Guides
- The report, "Learning to Learn - The Way Forward in Curriculum
Development", was issued by the Curriculum Development Council
in June 2001.
- All Key Learning Area (KLA) Committees worked on the new curriculum
guides.
- The CDC worked with the Hong Kong Examinations Authority (HKEA)
to develop combined curriculum and assessment guides for different
subjects, so as to ensure that the scope and modes of assessment
were in line with the learning objectives and contents.
(2) Conducting Research and Development Projects
- The first stage of the collaborative research and development
("seed") projects started in September 2001. The themes
of the projects included general learning and teaching strategies,
key elements in various KLAs, the four key tasks and school-based
curriculum development. Around 170 secondary schools and 140 primary
schools participated in these "seed" projects to generate
successful experiences in collaboration with the Curriculum Development
Institute (CDI) and experts from tertiary institutions.
- A three-year longitudinal research project is underway to identify
effective strategies to cater for the diverse learning abilities
of primary school students.
- A three-year cluster school gifted project was started in 2000
to pilot a three-level structure for implementing gifted education
in schools. 30 schools participated in this project.
(3) Promoting a New Culture of Assessment for Learning
- A Knowledge Fair on "Assessment for Learning" was
held in November 2001 to promote effective and diversified assessment
methods for use by schools. Around 5,000 principals and teachers
participated in the Fair to share valuable experiences in assessments,
in particular with regard to the use of appropriate assessment
methods to enhance the learning effectiveness of students. .
(4) Facilitating the development of the four key tasks
(i) Project Learning
The CDI developed a "web-based project learning tool"
to facilitate self-learning by students. Through electronic devices,
students may record their own learning processes, set targets
for different stages and work towards these targets in a step
by step manner. Students may also report their progress to their
teachers who could then provide them with feedback and assistance
as appropriate.
(ii) Promoting Reading
The following was done to promote a reading culture in schools
and to enhance students' interests in reading:
- Mobile library services were provided to 82 schools which
did not have their own libraries.
- A recommended book list was provided.
(iii)Moral and Civic Education
- An Ad Hoc Committee on Moral and Civic Education was set
up under the CDC to consider issues relating to the promotion
of moral and civic education. Recommendations will be submitted
by the Committee in 2002.
(iv)Using Information Technology (IT) for Interactive Learning
- Apart from providing resources to schools for setting up
intranets and for purchasing computers, a number of educational
software packages were developed and web-sites on different
themes were set up to further support the implementation of
Information Technology (IT) in Education.
- A series of subject-related refresher training courses and
workshops were organized to help teachers integrate IT into
learning and teaching.
- A questionnaire survey on the implementation of IT in education
in primary schools was launched to provide useful information
for reviewing the junior secondary IT curriculum.
(5) Other Supportive Measures
(i) School-based Curriculum Development Support
On-site support was provided to 88 primary schools and 130 secondary
schools with a large number of academically low achievers. The
school-based curriculum development teams assisted teachers in
lesson planning, adapting appropriate strategies for teaching
and learning, preparing teaching resources as well as developing
school-based curricula.
(ii) Provision of teaching resources and exemplars
- A curriculum
bank of exemplars (http://cd.ed.gov.hk/cdb/public/exemplar_c.asp)
was established in 2000 to provide teachers with useful reference
and ready-to-use learning and teaching resources. It also served
as a platform for teachers to share their practices and successful
experiences.
- The Exemplars of Curriculum Development in Schools was
published in June 2001, providing examples of real experiences
in local schools to illustrate how the vision and proposals
for the curriculum reform could be put into practice.
Tasks Ahead for the Coming Year
In the coming year, the CDC and the CDI will continue to promote
a new culture for learning and teaching, and to further strengthen
various supportive measures. The foci of work are as follows:
(1) Developing Curriculum Guides
- New curriculum guides for basic education (P1 - 6, S1 - 3)
and for all KLAs in basic education are scheduled to be completed
by mid-2002.
- Combined curriculum and assessment guides for new examination
subjects will be jointly developed by the HKEA and the CDC.
(2) Strengthening the Various Supportive Measures
The various supportive measures mentioned above will be strengthened.
Emphasis will be on developing the curriculum leadership of school
principals and enhancing the professional competence of teachers
for implementing the new curriculum and improving teaching methods.
(3) Providing an Additional Primary School Master/Mistress
Each public-sector primary school will be provided with an additional
primary school master/mistress for a period of five years to assist
in leading the curriculum development in schools.
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