Youth Opinion Polls No. 77
11 May 2000

Parents' Views on the Reform of Education System

A territory-wide survey in response to the third round of public consultations on education reform found that more than half of parents interviewed said that the sources the Government allocated to education reform was “too little”. Twenty-three per cent of respondents said that it was “sufficient”. Less than 4 per cent only of respondents said it was “too much”. Another 60 per cent of respondents disagreed to increase tuition fees for improving the quality of education.

More than 70 per cent of parents revealed that they would not move house to district where the schools of their choices were located. When asked to state the criterion for an ideal school, slightly more than 50 per cent of parents said their ideal school should have good teaching staff. More than 30 per cent said the schools' moral and tradition were most important, while more than 25 per cent said facilities were their major concern. Only a few of the respondents said they considered other factors important, such as language used, reputation or volume of homework and testing.

The survey observed that respondents, generally, supported and were confident about the Reform. Respondents gave an average of 5.5 points out of 10 to the Reform regarding their support and confidence. In addition, around one-third of respondents disclosed that the Reform had raised their confidence in the prospects of Hong Kong's education system. Around 17 per cent of respondents held an opposite position, while the remaining 40 per cent said their confidence had remained unchanged. Nevertheless, some 40 per cent of respondents said that they definitely would send their children overseas to receive education if they had a chance. Another 43 per cent said they “probably would” do so.

The survey indicated that an overwhelming majority, or 83 per cent of respondents supported the proposal of considering students' overall performance into account, not just focus on academic results, for university admission. Slightly more than half of the respondents said that they emphasised more about the cultivation of the abilities and interests for learning of their children than the quantity of knowledge received.

Apart from the result that an overwhelming majority of respondents supported the proposal of considering students' overall performance for university admission, the proposals of scrapping the Academic Aptitude Test and introducing a three-three course structure in junior forms and senior forms also obtained a considerable proportion of parents' support. Yet, respondents’ support to the introduction of the “Through Train” model, the reduction of the proportion of discretionary places available to primary schools, and the abolition of the HKCEE were comparatively weak. The proportion of respondents disagreeing with these three proposals constituted to one-fourth or above of the total.

The telephone poll, entitled with “Parents' views on the Reform of education system”, was carried between 8 and 10 May, the day and the following two days after the announcement of the Reform. The survey successfully interviewed 537 parents who had children studying from Form One to university.

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