Preparing for the Changes in the Senior Secondary Curriculum

The Youth I.D.E.A.S. announced its latest report on
“Preparing for the Changes in the Senior Secondary Curriculum”

The Youth I.D.E.A.S. (established by HKFYG Youth Research Centre) has released its study on “Preparing for the Changes in the Senior Secondary Curriculum”.

For the surveyed 395 Hong Kong secondary school teachers, they generally understand the curriculum changes, with an average rating above 6/10. However, when being asked on the progress of preparing teaching materials, Chinese and Liberal Studies teachers rated 4.8/10 and 2.49/10 on average respectively. Moreover, Liberal Studies teachers are less confident (3.63/10) and feel more pressure (7.97/10) than teachers of other core subjects. For the new “Citizenship and Social Development” Subject (former Liberal Studies), Liberal Studies teachers thought that the module on “Hong Kong under One Country, Two Systems” is the most difficult one to teach (72.9%).

A School Principal from in-depth interviews revealed that overall curriculum planning is the most difficult part. While data gathered from 975 students found that they want to use the released lesson time for exploring personal interest (45.4%) and participating in experimental learning (34.4%).

The study recommended the Education Bureau to promote and explain more on the curriculum change. There is the also the need to provide more teaching materials, sample examination papers and interactive workshops to equip teachers.

The study also recommended increasing the importance and time allocated for Other Learning Experiences and Applied Learning. On the other hand, it is indispensable to set up a mechanism involving teachers, to review curriculum renewal and foster students diversify learning needs in the long-term.