Academic reforms, exams under fire

Educators and legislators voice fears over changes

Educators and legislators voiced a catalogue of fears over curriculum reform and exam arrangements at a special Legislative Council meeting on the new senior academic structure this week.

Officials from the Education Bureau and the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority attempted to address educators' concerns over changes to the curriculum, public exams and preparations for the new academic system at the meeting of Legco's education panel.

The introduction of liberal studies as a compulsory senior secondary subject this September topped the concerns of vice-president of the Professional Teachers' Union Wong Hak-lim.

"I worry about the prospects for the subject," he said.

"Liberal studies will be accorded the same status as Chinese, English and mathematics. Teachers are now preparing for the teaching material day and night. They also have to attend training on how to teach the subject. Not enough preparations have been put in place for the subject. There are schools where it has yet to be confirmed who will teach the subject this September."

Vice-chairman of Education Convergence, Hui Wai-tin, said he was worried that subjective marking of liberal studies papers by examiners would lead to unfair results and urged the authority to review assessment criteria for the subject.

Independent legislator Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee echoed his concerns.

"The discrepancy in marking will be large if the subject is to test students' critical thinking skills," she said.

The adoption of school-based assessment was another sticking point. Educators were concerned about across-the-board implementation of the policy in 2015.

Education legislator Cheung Man-kwong said the timetable was dangerous.

"The adoption of the assessment amounts to collective labour," he said.

"It will be tragic as far as the workload on teachers is concerned. It's impetuous to set a timetable before a study of the effectiveness of school-based assessment is conducted."

Mr Hui was also opposed to the blanket adoption of school-based assessment at secondary schools.

"The government should abolish the rigid imposition of the assessment on all subjects. It should grant autonomy to schools [to decide whether to adopt the assessment mode or not]," he said.

Exams authority secretary general Francis Cheung Wing-ming spelled out new measures that he said were aimed at ensuring objectivity in the marking of liberal studies papers.

"We will adopt a dual marking system," he said.

"A paper will be marked by a minimum of two markers to enhance the marking quality and reduce the possibility of subjective judgment."

In defence of the adoption of school-based assessment, deputy secretary for education Catherine Chan Ka-ki said it allowed for a more diversified assessment system, adding: "There are some capabilities that cannot be tested by pen and paper."

Undersecretary for Education Kenneth Chen Wei-on said self-assessment would enable teachers to monitor students' progress.

"It's in line with international trends," he said.

School-based assessment is one of the new initiatives of the 2012 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education and will be applied to all subjects in 2015. A comprehensive review of assessment mechanisms is scheduled to be carried out in 2013.

Source:
South China Morning Post 04-Apr-2009 (Saturday)

Link:
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Questions:
1.What are the advantages and disadvantages of introducing Liberal Studies into the new curriculum?
2.To avoid subjective marking of Liberal Studies papers, it is proposed that at least two markers will be responsible for a paper, is this the best method to deal with the problem? Can you think of any better approach?
3.What do you think of testing students' critical thinking skills?Is it necessary to do so?