After consulting with various groups of educationists, drawing lessons from experience elsewhere and surveying Hong Kong’s current education system, Savantas Policy Institute reckons that the well-intentioned New Senior Secondary (NSS) curriculum is unfortunately plagued by a host of problems. A quality upper secondary education system is paramount to the city’s development. The government should take necessary action to rectify existing ills of the system, rebuild parents’ confidence and equip our youth with the knowledge and skills required to overcome challenges in the future. Executive Summary

After consulting with various groups of educationists, drawing lessons from experience elsewhere and surveying Hong Kong’s current education system, Savantas Policy Institute reckons that the well-intentioned New Senior Secondary (NSS) curriculum is unfortunately plagued by a host of problems:

First, the NSS curriculum is exam- and academically-oriented. The small number of students taking Category B (Applied Learning, ApL) subjects reflects the lack of effective diverse pathways for further studies and work.

Second, rather than dissolving the divide between Science and Arts streams, the new curriculum has further marginalized the humanities. Students are only required to take 2 to 3 electives and need not study across learning areas. As a result, many subjects, especially the humanities, see a substantial decline.

Third, certain subjects are flawed in terms of curricular design and implementation. The Liberal Studies (LS), for example, has failed to encourage students to explore current issues using established theories, classics or disciplinary knowledge. Local issues are also over-represented in the public examinations, eclipsing other important areas in the syllabus. Other problems, such as the cumbersome syllabus of Business, Accounting and Financial Studies (BAFS), inadequate classical Chinese training and declining mathematical standards, also need to be addressed.

Savantas Policy Institute puts forward a series of suggestions. In the short to medium term, the government should continue to streamline SBA for various subjects and fine-tune the curricula of some subjects. Regarding the LS, for instance, the government should:

1. introduce a clearer guideline and suggested readings, ensuring that the learning process is well-supported by facts and relevant theories;

2, accept submission of LS textbooks for review to provide a list of recommended textbooks which are up to basic academic standards; and

3. improve the examination design mechanism so that the question papers are better aligned with the syllabus, giving balanced treatment to all the modules and attaching more importance to quantitative skills.

Students may choose, according to their aptitude and personal development needs, one more subject in one of the compulsory learning areas. Students are expected to take 6 to 7 subjects in total. To turn the ideal of “cross-discipline learning” into reality, the government should ensure that schools have sufficient teaching staff and resources to provide adequate subject choice for students.

Last but not least, the authorities should strengthen life planning education from junior to senior secondary forms and invigorate the vocational education system. The government should promote participation of the business sector in program design and construct more articulation pathways for further studies and work.

In conclusion, a quality upper secondary education system is paramount to the city’s development. The government should take necessary action to rectify existing ills of the system, rebuild parents’ confidence and equip our youth with the knowledge and skills required to overcome challenges in the future.