Section 5: Admission Mechanism
(1) Reform of the Primary One Admission System
Target
To avoid using children's abilities as an admission criterion so
as to reduce the incentive for drilling children in early childhood
education, and enhance the fair opportunities for parents in choosing
schools.
Last Year's Progress
- The implementation of the short-term
Primary One Admission (POA) mechanism was started in September
2001 to process applications in the 2002/03 school year. Results
of the allocation of discretionary
places were released on 3 December 2001.
- Out of the 63,978 applicants for discretionary places, over
half (33,799, 52.8% of all applicants) were offered a place. The
corresponding percentage for the last year was 56.3%.
Tasks Ahead for the Coming Year
- To conduct the central
allocation under the short-term POA mechanism to allocate
remaining places to those applicants who have not secured a discretionary
place.
- To strengthen communication with parents and the public to
enhance their understanding of the new allocation system.
(2) Reform of the Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA)
System
Target
To remove the obstacles to learning in the nine-year basic education
arising from the public assessment implemented for school place
allocations; to reduce the labelling effects of allocation
bands on schools and pupils; and to promote the adoption of
more diversified admission criteria for allocating Secondary One
places.
Last Year's Progress
(i) Abolition of the Academic Aptitude Test (AAT)
- The AAT was abolished in 2000 and the new interim SSPA mechanism
was implemented.
- According to a study commissioned by the Government, most schools
made use of the room created by the abolition of the AAT to enhance
the all-round
development of students, such as by strengthening project
learning, extra-curricular activities and language learning. The
majority of students stated that learning in schools had become
more interesting and diversified, and they were better able to
grasp the content.
 |
| Source : Study on the effect of abolishing
the AAT on teaching and learning in primary schools conducted
by the Faculty of Education of HKU |
(ii) Students'/Parents' Choices
- The percentages of students allocated to the school of their
first choice and their first three choices have increased to 56.4%
and 74% respectively in 2001(the corresponding percentages in
2000 was 49.6% and 70.6% respectively). This indicates that more
students were allocated to their preferred schools under the new
mechanism.
(iii) Diversity of Student Ability
- Under the new mechanism, the number of allocation bands has
been reduced from five to three. At the same time, the percentage
of discretionary
places has been increased from 10% to 20%, which has increased
the chances of schools directly selecting students according to
the schools' culture and circumstances.
- Prior to the reduction of allocation bands, the ability range
of students within secondary schools, on average, spread across
three bands out of the old five bands. Therefore, schools have
already accumulated some experiences in handling the diverse abilities
of students.
- According to actual statistics -
- In 2001, the ability range of students in the majority
of schools (about 70%) remained more or less the same as in
past years. Among them:
- about 20% of schools had no change;
- the ability range within about 20% of schools was reduced;
- the ability range within the remaining 30% of schools
has been slightly widened, but the extent of change was
within one band of the old five bands.
- The diversity of student ability in the rest of the schools
(about 30%) was widened, and some people expressed concern
about the effects of this change on the quality of education.
Nevertheless, according to actual statistics, the number of
students involved was usually rather small. About 20 schools
which used to admit mainly Band 4 students in the past have
received some students belonging to the old Band 5 this year.
-
The Education Department provided support to schools in
need, so as to help them cope with the diverse abilities
of students. These included providing additional manpower
resources to schools which admitted a large number of academically
low achievers, providing on-site support to these schools,
as well as assisting them in curriculum tailoring.
(iv) Diversified Admission Criteria
- Guidelines were issued to all primary and secondary schools
to remind them to pay attention to the relevant ordinance(s) and
to abide by the principles of fairness, justice and openness when
setting their admission criteria.
- In April 2001, a survey on "Handling Applications for
Secondary One Discretionary Places" was conducted by the
Education Department. The findings indicated that secondary schools
considered the following factors in setting their admission criteria:
Tasks Ahead for the Coming Year
(i) Conducting Research
To conduct studies to monitor the impact of the new SSPA mechanism
on students and teachers of primary and secondary schools. This
would facilitate the provision of appropriate support measures to
both schools and students, and pave the way for the interim review
to be conducted in the 2003/04 school year.
(ii) Internal Assessments
To encourage schools to adopt a diversified mode of assessments
in schools. Apart from publishing a Guidebook on Internal Assessments
in January 2002, in which exemplars will be used to elaborate the
new concepts for assessments, the Education Department will also
invite all core subject teachers to participate in relevant seminars
to be held in February 2002. Moreover, the Education Department
will also encourage and assist different educational bodies and
professional associations to organize relevant workshops to promote
experience sharing among schools and educators.
(iii) Changes to the SSPA
To comply with the Court's Judgement in June 2001, the SSPA system
will be revised to remove the three gender-based features with effect
from 2002.
(3) "Through-train"
Mode
Objective
To strengthen collaboration between primary and secondary schools
having the same education philosophy, and to enhance continuity
in the curriculum so as to improve the learning effectiveness of
students and promote their all-round
development.
Last Year's Progress
- At present, there are four pairs of primary and secondary schools
adopting the "through-train" mode.
- Through the 1999, 2000 and 2001 School Allocation Exercises,
18 additional pairs of primary and secondary schools adopting
the "through-train" mode will come into operation in
the coming years.
- After conducting public consultations, the guidelines on the
arrangements for implementing the "through-train" mode
were announced in January 2002 to facilitate schools in considering
whether or not to apply to form "through-trains".
- Taking into account the views received during the public consultation,
the Education Commission decided that the deadline for those existing
feeder/nominated
schools which have fulfilled the requirements for forming
"through-trains" to indicate their intention should
be changed from 31 May 2002 to 31 May 2005. This was to allow
these schools to have more time to make consideration and to take
into account the results of the interim review on SSPA to be conducted
in the 2003/04 school year before making a decision.
Tasks Ahead for the Coming Year
- To provide assistance to those schools which have taken the
lead to adopt the "through-train" mode to consolidate
and disseminate their experiences.
- To monitor the implementation of the "through-train"
mode, and to provide support to these schools through the Regional
Education Offices and the Curriculum Development Institute.
- To work together with those feeder/ nominated schools which
currently do not fulfil the requirements for forming "through-trains"
to formulate feasible solutions during the 10-year period from
2002 to 2012.
(4) University Admission
To encourage the all-round development of students, local universities
are encouraged to review their own admission criteria and procedures
so as to give due consideration to students' all-round performance
and select the most suitable candidates for the relevant programmes.
Last Year's Progress
- As shown by the preliminary statistics on university admission
for the 2001/02 school year, the number of students admitted through
non-JUPAS
increased notably by 22% as compared with last year. These students
generally possessed academic qualifications equivalent to HKALE,
or had demonstrated outstanding performance in non-academic fields.
At present, about 10% of the student intake of the universities
come from non-JUPAS admissions.
Tasks Ahead for the Coming Year
- The University Grants Committee will continue to rally the
active participation of local universities in and support for
implementing the reform measures. A review on the development
of higher education is underway and a report will be submitted
to the Government in the first half of 2002.
Back to Table of Contents
|
