The Association’s letter to Mrs. Carrie Lam, The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR, on our proposal to be considered in her Policy Address 2019| 致行政長官— 有關2019施政報告的建議

 

The Association’s letter to Mrs. Carrie Lam, The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR, on our proposal to be considered in her Policy Address 2019

中文原文

Dear Mrs. Lam,

September 16, 2019

Since your inauguration in July 2017, significant measures have been taken to improve the provisions for education, including the implementation of all-graduate teaching force as well as additional resources for schools’  flexible deployment, just to name a few. These have shown your and the current government’s strong emphasis on education to help cultivate a stable and caring learning environment for our students.

Unfortunately, the recent social turmoil, which has caused disputes and chaos, will inevitably affect the well-being of students. Even if social stability is regained, the Hong Kong community is already divided and much work is needed for rebuilding of trust and social reconciliation.

Therefore, our Association would like to propose the following three areas of work (3Rs) for your consideration with regard to your Policy Address to be released later this year.

1. Reconciliation: reconstructing the Core Values of Hong Kong

A comprehensive education reform was initiated at the end of the 20th century with the goal for whole-person development and the nurture of qualities among students such as self-learning, critical thinking, creativity, resilience etc.. It was hoped that students would be self-confident and be able to work with others to make contributions to the community, our country and the world.

In June 2004, about 300 Hong Kong people from 42 different professions put up in the newspaper a declaration of the Core Values of Hong Kong, namely freedom and democracy, human rights and rule of law, fairness and  justice, kindness and peace, integrity and transparency, tolerance of diversity, respect and professionalism. With the passage of time, these Core Values have been challenged or even undermined.

With regard to the above comments, we can see that the focus in the Curriculum and Assessment Guide (S4-S6) in 2009 was to cultivate critical, reflective and independent thinking amongst our students. However, these qualities could no longer be found in the Secondary Education Curriculum Guide released in 2017 as a result of an ongoing review effort.  Furthermore, in the 2017 Policy Address, the vision of quality education depicted is to nurture future generations to become citizens who are socially responsible with a sense of national identity, love for Hong Kong and international perspectives. Emphasis was more on creating a learning and teaching environment that is stable, caring, inspiring and satisfying for students, teachers, principals and parents. It was so unfortunate that not much emphasis was placed on the nurture of democracy and independent thinking of the future generation.

This development is worrying for there is a correlation between the Core Values of Hong Kong and the vision of quality education, which requires substantial time to build up and maintain. The government should conduct surveys to understand the views of people from different social strata on core values. In is only through in-depth and thorough social discussion among Hong Kong citizens can the Hong Kong Core Values be realigned.

 

1. Review: Core Competencies of the future generation in the new era
   There have been significant reforms in education all over the world since the 21st century. Many countries are deliberating on the core competencies to be cultivated amongst students.The Future of Education and Skills 2030 (the OECD Learning Compass 2030) identifies three “transformative competencies” that students need in order to contribute to our world and shape a better future. They include creating new value, reconciling tensions and dilemmas, and taking responsibility.

   It is a pity that the Task Force on Review of School Curriculum which released a consultation document on June 28, 2019 view their work as part of an ongoing curriculum review instead of an overall review of the curriculum reform. This has undermined its review efforts to meet the needs of our students and the new era. Our Association strongly urges the government to kick off a comprehensive review of the curriculum framework in that direction.

2. Reform: breaking through the bottle neck to foster the nurture of human resources
   With the introduction of HKDSE since 2012, only 40% of the candidates have been able to meet the university admission requirements of acquiring a 3-3-2-2 DSE result every year.However, the figure compares Hong Kong unfavourably with many of its international counterparts. Even cities in Mainland China have surpassed Hong Kong. Statistics in 2018 showed that Tianjin, Shanghai, Beijing and even Chongqing had an escalated university admission rate of 75%, 74%, 63% and 46% respectively.

   Besides, an estimated number of 170,000 students worldwide opt for The International Baccalaureate Programme (IB) yearly with a global passing rate of approximately 74%.

   According to the international assessments of PISA and TIMSS, junior secondary students in Hong Kong have shown outstanding performance. So the question is “Why is our university admission rate not up to par?”

   We hope the Policy Address will work hard to break through the bottle neck to foster the nurture of human resources. Only by boosting the university admission rate to keep up with the global standard can we help aspiring students to continue pursuing their studies at the tertiary level.  

Below are some plausible ways to consider.

• Encourage academics to study and explore learning approaches and effectiveness across different subjects. This will result in enhancement of teaching pedagogies and delivery strategies which will eventually enhance students’ academic advancement.
• Build up an adaptive, web-based learning platform to foster students’ autonomy in learning and at the same time cater for their diversities. In places like Taiwan and Singapore, online learning platforms have been set up to enable students to learn at their own pace, take their own responsibility while reinforcing teachers’ pedagogies. Taiwan has an adaptive Internet learning system based on well-researched learning theories and relevant learning models while Singapore works well on the Singapore Student Learning Space (SLS).
• Establish a platform which facilitates interactions from different professions and tap on cross-sector collaboration through an open and innovative atmosphere. Any such collaboration that has good results can be put into implementation at a wider scale in schools.
• Review the positioning of vocational education to facilitate a smooth interface to higher education institutions and build up a clear academic and career pathway. It is also important that students’ qualifications will be properly and appropriately recognized.
• Increase university places to keep up with the progress of students’ actual academic achievements and the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

To address the current situation and build up a stable society, we must restore trust in our future generations. The government should draw up and carry out appropriate and concrete measures related to our 3Rs (reconciliation, reform and review). We wish Mrs Lam would consider our suggestions for a better Hong Kong with a promising future.

 

Yours truly,

Tang Chun Keung

Chairperson

HKAHSS  

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致行政長官— 有關2019施政報告的建議

English-version

香港特別行政區政府

行政長官辦公室

行政長官林鄭月娥女士鈞鑒:

閣下自 2017 年 7 月就任至今，在教育施政上積極投放資源，聆聽業界的意見，改善教育生態，包括落實教師學位化、加強學校行政支援、改善融合教育等，反映今屆政府十分重視教育。學界秉持專業，積極有為，在能力所及的範疇，致力在校園建設一個穩定和關愛 的教與學環境。

可惜，近日香港局勢持續動盪，社會出現空前的撕裂，警民衝突不斷令仇恨滋長，嚴重影響學生的健康成長。即使日後街頭衝突結束，也不代表社會能回復真正穩定，撕裂仍然嚴重，仇恨仍然存在。因此，本會特別希望施政報告能在不同範疇就和解 (Reconciliation)、檢討 (Review) 和改革 (Reform) 三方面提出對策，方能讓社會重新起步。就教育範疇而言，本會對 2019 年施政報告提出以下的意見:

1. 和解 (Reconciliation):重塑香港核心價值

香港在 20 世紀末啟動教育改革， 1999 年的香港學校教育目標是「讓每個人在德、智、 體、群、美各方面都有全面而具個性的發展，使其一生能不斷自學、思考、探索、創新和應變，有充分的自信，合群的精神，願意為社會的繁榮、進步、自由和民主不斷努力，為國家和世界的前途作出貢獻。」2004 年 6 月，近 300 位來自香港 42 個不同專業、學術界人士在報章聯署《香港核心價值宣言》，列舉香港的核心價值是「自由民主、人權法治、公平公義、 和平仁愛、誠信透明、多元包容、尊重個人和恪守專業。」可惜隨著社會環境變化，香港核 心價值受到質疑和削弱。

若從培養「人」的角度檢視，2009 年《高中課程指引(中四至中六) 》仍強調要著力培 養學生成為能批判、反思和獨立思考的人。但 2017 年的《香港中學課程指引》的更新學習宗旨卻變成培養「獨立和自主的學習者」，刪除了培養學生成為「能批判、反思和獨立思考 的人」的描述。2017 年施政報告的教育願景是:「要培養青年人成為有質素的新一代，對社 會有承擔、具國家觀念、香港情懷和國際視野。我們要為學生、老師、家長和校長，創造一 個穩定、關懷、具啓發性及富滿足感的教與學環境。」未有特別關注年輕一代所重視的獨立思考、自由和民主等價值。

社會的核心價值與學校的價值教育息息相關;而價值觀是需要長時間去建立和維繫的，絕不能輕率地改動。本會建議政府透過調查和研究，找出不同階層對香港核心價值的看法，然後和社會不同階層進行深入的對話和討論，尋求共識，重塑香港核心價值，並透過教育，弘揚有關核心價值，重新凝聚民心。

2. 檢討 (Review):新時代的學生核心素養

21 世紀以來，世界政治、經濟和技術發生了前所未有的變革，世界各國都在推動面向 未來的教育改革，聚焦探討新時代的學生核心素養，學校課程可能要進行根本性的改變。國際經濟合作發展組織新的 2030 教育學習指南(OECD Learning Compass 2030)，提出新時代的課程設計框架，重視變革素養(Transformative Competencies)，包括以下三種深層次的能力:

• 創造新價值，包括:適應力、創意、好奇心、開放思維。
• 協調矛盾和困境，包括:同理心、系統思考。
• 承擔責任，包括:自我管理、自我效能、責任感、解決問題能力。香港政府的學校課程檢討專責小組於 2019 年 6 月 28 日發表的諮詢文件中，強調課程檢討定位只是「現行課程持續更新過程的一部分」，未有觸及原有的課程框架，有關的諮詢內容恐怕已經追不上現時的形勢和新時代的需要。本會認為政府宜因應當前和未來社會的挑戰，繼續進行另一階段的課程檢討，聚焦探討新時代的學生核心素養。3. 改革 (Reform):突破樽頸，培育人才香港中學文憑考試自 2012 年自今，符合 3322 大學收生資格的學校考生每年只有約 40%，教育當局視之為常態。反觀內地大城市的高校本科錄取率不斷提升並已超越香港，2018 年本科錄取率數據顯示，天津達 75%、上海達 74%、北京為 63%、重慶亦達 46%。國際文憑 課程(International Baccalaureate Programme)每年全球約有 17 萬考生，符合報讀大學的合格率約 74%。據不同國際評估如 PISA、TIMSS 結果，香港初中學生的成績表現達世界前列，為何我們的中學畢業生符合大學收生資格的百分率卻維持於低水平?我們期望政府在施政報告，以「突破樽頸，培育人才」為教育政策目標，在維持現行達 標水平不變的前提下，致力提升學生成績，有計劃地把目前的 40%大學收生資格達標率逐步提高至貼近內地大城市或國際水平，讓更多有志向的學生能夠繼續升學，增強香港整體競爭力。具體的措施可以有下列各項:

• 組織學者進行不同學習領域或學科的學習成效研究，並利用研究成果改進各學習領域或 學科的課程和學與教策略，提升學生表現。
• 參考其他地區的經驗，利用科技與人工智能，推動適合香港課程和學生需要的適性學習 (Adaptive Learning)策略和發展合適的電子學習工具，提供個性化的學習機會，促進學生自主學習和照顧學生的學習差異。參考的例子包括:台灣的「適性教學素養與輔助平臺 計劃」和新加坡的「學生學習平臺計劃」 (Singapore Student Learning Space)。台灣計劃 特點是藉由電腦化適性診斷測驗，診斷學生學習成效，透過「因材施測」，提供學生的學習診斷報告;系統也利用大數據幫助教師分析學生學習表現，進行適性化的教學，達到「因材施教」的效果。而新加坡的計劃同樣是通過網路學習平臺，培養學生自主學習的能力，也協助教師制定課程。
• 善用公民社會的能量，成立交流平臺和提供資源，以開放態度和創新精神為主導，鼓勵 跨界別協作，一起構想和實踐不同類型和規模的教育創新舉措。當有關的創新舉措經驗 證成效後，可以成為教育局的政策或措施，在學界推行，培育學生成才。
• 檢討職業專才教育在香港高等教育制度的定位，設立職專學位，完善職專教育的進階途徑，讓不同潛質的學生能夠取得備受社會認受的學歷和資歷。
• 因應香港和大灣區的發展及香港學生成績的提升，增加資助的學士學位課程數目和類別。結語要社會重新起步，邁向穩定，重點是要令年輕一代對政治和經濟的前景都抱有希望，施 政報告應該在和解 (Reconciliation)、檢討 (Review) 和改革 (Reform) 三方面在不同範疇提出 具體對策。希望特首能慎重考慮以上建議，為香港創建美好的願景。

 

如對本會的建議有任何問題或查詢，歡迎與本人聯絡。

香港中學校長會主席

鄧振強謹啓
二零一九年九月十六日

副本寄送: 教育局局長楊潤雄先生