Dr Catherine KK Chan

Deputy Secretary, Education Bureau

14 May 2013

Seminar Series for School Leaders on New Academic Structure 2013

Whole-school Planning for

New Senior Secondary

Curriculum and Assessment:

Revisit, Reflect and Look Ahead

An Introductory Overview

2

Key Messages

It is time to…

• Revisit from evidence, e.g. statistical data,

student voices

• Reflect from past experiences

• Look Ahead from international perspective

3

Revisiting The evidence: data, student voices

4

1st HKDSE Exam Results Statistics

• Total no. of day school candidates: 70,109 Results No. %

One level 1 or above 68,703 99.6

Five level 2 or above, including Chinese

Language and English Language

(more than 5Es in HKCEE 2010 (58%))

47,650 69.1

Core subjects at “3322” or better 26,515 37.8

Core subjects at “3322” or better, with

one elective at level 3 or above 25,352 36.2

(more students meeting university minimum entrance

requirements than in HKALE 2012 (18212))

How would my school pitch our strategy in helping students’

achieving realistic potential and pathways?

5

How should my school interpret DSE results per subject?

1st HKDSE Exam Results Statistics •Data of core subjects and special cases

Results Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

Chi. Lang 79.3% 50.0% 26.9%

Eng Lang 79.2% 50.1% 23.8%

Maths (Compulsory part) 79.7% 57.1% 34.2%

LS 90.8% 72.6% 35.8%

Music (highest %) 97.8% 85.8% 60.8%

T&L (Fashion) (lowest %) 51.7% 25% 10%

D&T (lowest %) 52.0% 23.2% 8.2%

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Applied Learning (ApL): Encouraging results (first cohort) No. of ‘Attained with Distinction’ (%) 1,168 (22%)

No. of ‘Attained’ (%) 3,179 (60%)

No. of ‘Unattained’ (%) 935 (18%)

Total 5,282 (100%)

• Good Cases of Completing ApL Courses “Health and Beauty Keeping in TCM”: admitted to

Guangzhou University (Mainland) of Chinese Medicine for

a degree course in Chinese Medicine

“Jewellery Arts & Design”: set up his/her own business in

designing and producing jewellery

• Would we “re-consider” ApL again?

7

Changes in Curriculum Planning Interface between Junior and Senior Forms

Subject Changes (Interface between Junior and senior forms)

Chi. Lang • 2005: 31.6% 教師認為自己參與調適課程，以照顧中三級與中四級連貫性的能力高或很高

• 2012: 96.3% 教師表示有採用不同策略，令學生的學習在不同學習階段之間順利銜接

Eng. Lang • More and more schools have incorporated the themes of the NSS

elective modules, including both language arts and non-language arts

modules, in their junior secondary curriculum

• Teachers have become more aware of the need to expose students to a

variety of texts

Maths • More bridging courses on JS-SS interface and using English in learning

Science • Adopt different strategies to ensure the smooth interface between S3 &

S4. (87% of Sc KLA heads, 2011)

• Acquired perceived competence in planning school-based curriculum to

facilitate a smooth transition between different key stages. (96% of Sc

KLA heads, 2011)

Interface = smooth transition??

How would my school and panels achieve ‘better interface’?

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Changes in Pedagogy Students’ View Pedagogy Pedagogical Changes (Students’ View, FGI 2012)

Interactive 「通識有個成功經驗，有位老師喜歡互動。這位老師是太複雜的辯題先說一堂，之後再有一個辯論；又或是播放十多分鐘的鏗鏘集，星期二檔案等，之後分組與不同持份者說你的觀點等，說完之後再回家做功課。這樣上課時不會做白日夢，而且不會給太多東西，令你消化不來。」

(Student I, School A, 24/9/2012)

Enquiry

Learning 「首先說地理科，我選修單元中要學習地貌和岩石，老師的教學法是給我們考察活動，並叫我們嘗試在外面撿拾一些岩石例如花崗岩，然後拿回校看看，我覺得很互動。曾經試過我們老師在考察活動中租了一艘船去考察，去看看真實的地貌是怎樣，老師這樣的教學，令到整個課程都很生動。」(Student C, School Z, 24/10/2012)

Effective

Feedback 「某些科目老師會有回饋，例如經濟科，老師在考試後會幫每一個學生做檢討，看看是哪裏出問題。當然不是每一個老師都可以做到，但我們學校有些老師會做到，所以我喜歡考試，因為每個測驗考試如果拿到高分，我會很有成就感。」 (Student D, School T, 10/8/2012)

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Learning approaches and strategies in NSS lessons

Learning approaches/ strategies 2011

Enquiry learning opportunities 61.8%

Discussion groups 80.0%

Report and share own learning processes and outcomes 60.8%

Nurturing reflective ability to think in depth 83.8%

Co-construction 61.2%

What would the pattern be like in my school or in a particular

subject? Should we address this in future plans and how?

*Source: New Senior Secondary Implementation Study 2011.

Views from teachers on their use of learning approaches

and strategies in the classroom

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Assessment strategies in NSS classrooms Assessment Agree (%)

Reduces a large amount of tests / examinations in order to increase the

available lesson time 29.8%

Uses different learning and teaching strategies to assess students’

performance in generic skills. 90.5%

Uses different learning and teaching strategies to assess students’ values

and attitudes 89.4%

Use assessment data or information as a basis for giving feedback to

students. 96.4%

Use assessment results to diagnose students’ learning difficulties. 94%

Adopt diversified modes of assessment to enable students to demonstrate

their knowledge and abilities in different contexts. 96.4%

Developed descriptors for different levels of performance and used these to

evaluate and report students’ internal assessment results at the junior

secondary level.

48.8%

Developed descriptors for different levels of performance and used these to

evaluate and report students’ internal assessment results at the senior

secondary level.

58.3%

What do these data reflect, in terms of assessment culture in schools?

*Source: New Senior Secondary Implementation Study 2011

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Changes in Assessment Diversified Modes and Assessment for Learning

Subject Different modes

Chin Lang • Diversified Modes:

– 2005: 41.2% 認為自己適當運用多元化評估模式 – 2012: 95.7% 表示有運用多元化的評估模式促進學與教

• Assessment for Learning

– 2005: 46.5% 認為自己利用評估回饋以促進學與教的能力高或很高 – 2012: 92.6% 有運用評估數據或資料，改善教學計畫及策略

Eng Lang There has been a growing awareness of the use of assessment data,

including those from the S3 TSA, public examinations and internal

assessments for future curriculum planning.

Math More project learning activities and more diversified modes of assessments

are conducted in secondary schools.

LS panel heads/IES coordinators and teachers had tried a variety of

assessment modes and activities in the course of implementation, and their

effort was affirmed by the responses of the students. The students asserted

that feedback from the teachers was useful for learning LS as well as IES.

Whole school 96.1% of schools formulate a whole-school assessment policy

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Changes in some Generic Skills

Views from teachers on students’ performance

Generic Skills 2006 2011

Communication skills 70.2% 80.7%

Critical thinking skills 57.8% 72.1%

Creativity 61.2% 66.5%

Collaboration skills 76.0% 79.4%

IT skills 86.8% 91.5%

Problem-solving skills 58.2% 77.5%

*Sources: Survey on the Curriculum Reform 2006; New Senior Secondary Implementation Study 2011.

Creativity and Collaborative skills seem having less increases at territory level

owing to many plausible reasons;

What would be the pattern of generic skills be like in my school and how would we

devise strategy to address them?

13

Changes in Teacher Learning Learning Community

Subject Cultural Changes

Chin Lang Collaborative culture was established which helped to facilitate learning and

teaching as well as teachers’ professional development.

(CD Visit, FGI)

Eng Lang Collaborative culture was established which helped to facilitate learning and

teaching as well as teachers’ professional development.

(CD Visit, FGI)

Math More secondary schools allocate co-lesson planning time in the time-table

for mathematics teachers.

(CD Visit, comparing 2006/07 & 2011-13)

LS The panel heads/IES coordinators and teachers who participated in this study

were active in the participation of professional development programmes and

activities related to LS. They also valued the professional community and

rated it as a positive factor affecting the implementation of LS. (LS Curriculum

Survey)

Over 44% of schools view networks/ LC important to NSS; over 86% view sharing of good

practices among teachers and schools important to NSS.

How would my school build learning communities in-school and with other schools? Which area(s)

start first?

14

Review of Value-addedness (VA)

For the maiden release of VA information under

NAS, 2 years of HKDSE data will be used to

strike a balance between SSE needs and the

systemic needs for prudent validation.

VA information for HKDSE 2012 and 2013 will be

released in one go in Oct 2013.

Two identical briefing sessions on the refined

VA and the use of VA information will be

conducted in late Sept 2013 for schools.

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The Value-added (VA) Information Preliminary Study (Core Subjects)

Comparing HKCEE 3 Cores (Chi, Eng, Math) with

HKDSE 4 Cores (Chi, Eng, Math, LS), schools’ VA

performance in 2010 (HKCEE) and 2012 (HKDSE):

– is highly correlated;

– with change in Stanine score over or equal to 3 • 23 schools decrease

• 25 schools increase

– Further studies will be conducted with the HKDSE

2013 data.

Would I place my school among the ‘increase’ schools? Any factors

(incl. school factors & system factors) affecting this? Any other values

added to our students that are not mentioned in the existing VA

‘equation’?

16

The Value-added (VA) Information Preliminary Study of 1 year (Core Subjects) only

No. of Schools VA Stanine* (Core 4, HKDSE 2012)

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Total

VA

Stanine*

(Core 3,

HKCEE

2010)

9 5 4 6 2 1 18

8 4 7 9 3 4 1 1 29

7 5 9 8 13 16 3 54

6 2 5 13 25 15 14 1 1 76

5 1 1 11 20 15 19 16 5 1 89

4 2 7 11 18 16 11 8 3 76

3 1 1 3 12 19 13 2 3 54

2 1 2 3 10 7 6 29

1 2 2 2 6 4 16

Total 18 28 55 78 85 77 53 29 18 441

*The VA Stanine is a score ranging from 1 (lowest VA) to 9 (highest VA), with 5

being the middle value.

Further studies will be conducted with the HKDSE 2013 data.

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Interpretation of VA results (Core Subjects) About 63% of schools have little or no change in the VA Stanine

from HKCEE 2010 (Core 3) to HKDSE 2012 (Core 4): Adapt well

to the NAS

9 schools with VA Stanine of 9 in HKCEE (2010) also got same

VA Stanine in HKDSE (with 4 core subjects) : Adapt very well to

the NAS

Big improvement of VA for some schools: Takes the opportunity to

become stronger

– Can be attributed to good efforts in curriculum planning, raising

L&T effectiveness…

Decline in VA for some schools

– Don’t jump to the conclusion yet; need to further explore the VA

data and other school-based data to find out the reasons behind.

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Interpretation of VA results (for HKDSE as a whole)

The revised VA is an attempt to address changes brought

about by the NAS, e.g.

– Emergence of new subjects

– Subject selection strategies

– Assessment modes

No matter what the VA performance is, it is important to make

good use of the VA data to revisit curriculum planning and

pedagogy.

VA data should always be interpreted together with other

school-based data.

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Hong Kong in TIMSS 2011 and PISA 2009 Singapore

Hong Kong China

Korea Chinese Taipei

Finland

Japan

New Zealand

Australia

Slovenia

Norway Sweden

UK Hungary

US

Italy Lithuania

Russian Federation

UAE

Israel

Turkey

Romania

Chile

Thailand

400

450

500

550

600

400 450 500 550 600

TIM

MS

20

11

8th

gra

de

PISA 2009 15y olds

‘Real world’ assessment

School curriculum assessment

19

How to continue to balance curriculum-based study and application to the

‘real world’ (e.g. problem solving, collaboration in authentic ‘unseen’

situations)?

20

Reflection from past experiences

21

What are we doing/evolving? Number of elective subjects taken by students

No. of elective

subjects taken

First Cohort

(S5)

Second Cohort

(S5)

Third Cohort

(S5)

< 2 2.45% 2.94% 3.51%

2 54.03% 57.39% 63.04%

3 42.61% 38.90% 33.00%

4 0.91% 0.76% 0.45%

Decreasing number of students taking 3 elective subjects;

Impact on number of elective subjects offered by the school;

Impact on number of students taking some elective subjects

Impact on number of teachers of some elective subjects

…… Reflection: More time to do better in other subjects?

Broad and balanced curriculum?

Students’ interest? ……

22

What are evolving in schools?

Impact on Learning & teaching from:

– HKDSE Results & Pathways • What are the success factors for my students in HKDSE 2012?

(e.g. all could learn, student effort, matching student needs, deployment

and L & T of teachers, parent support)

• Preparation at junior secondary curriculum (e.g. reading to learn,

project learning, solid KLA knowledge foundation, application in new

situation)

• Shift from LS to Chi. Lang? Shift from 3X to 2X?

– Other Learning Experiences & Student Learning Profile

• Other Learning Experiences: Learning?

• SLP (for admission only?)

• Are OLE and academic subjects competing for time or

complementary to the learner?

Whole-school Curriculum Planning

23

New Cycle of planning

While formative study of NSS Curriculum will be

conducted from time to time, schools may take

reference from data at system level as well as

school level in order to:

– generate whole-school curriculum planning in both

horizontal aspects (different learning areas) and vertical

aspects (from S1 to S6);

– study pedagogical changes under NAS (e.g. increasing

trend of high order thinking, student-centered approach)

– reform internal assessment culture (from assessment of

learning to assessment for learning and assessment as

learning)

Employment

Yi Jin Diploma (more than 5 000)╱

Foundation Dip.╱ DVE (6 300)

Bachelor’s Degree Programmes (Gov’t funded：15 160 ,

Self-financing：around 7 100) attain “3322” + Level 2/3 in any one or two

elective subject(s)

Non-local Programme offered in Hong Kong

Sub-degree Programmes

(Gov’t funded：9 800 , Self-financing： around 29 700)

attain Level 2 in five subjects

(including Chin. Lang. and Eng. Lang.)

Vocational programmes (Total around 11 200)

(e.g. VTC Training & Development Centre, Youth pre-employment programmes of Labour Dept.)

NSS Graduates/ HKDSE Day School Candidates : 69 800

Mainland / Abroad

Multiple pathways for NSS Graduates 2013

24 Total: 84,260 places

25

Academic Year No. of Students

2005/06 608

2006/07 1 661

2007/08 2 316

2008/09 3 389

2009/10 5 576

2010/11 5 838

2011/12 4 074*

2012/13 6 661

• The decrease is due to the absence of Secondary 5 leavers in 2011

under the New Academic Structure.

Diploma in Vocational Education (DVE)

University - not the only pathway?

26

Way Forward

Learning Skills for 21st Century

and Lessons from PISA

27

Changing skill demand

40

45

50

55

60

65

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Routine manual

Nonroutine manual

Routine cognitive

Nonroutine analytic

Nonroutine interactive

Source: Levy and Murnane, 2005 Me

an

ta

sk in

pu

t a

s p

erc

en

tile

s o

f t

he

19

60

ta

sk d

istr

ibu

tio

n Economy-wide measures of routine and non-routine task input (US)

What skills are schools now

preparing for?

28

1.56

1.76

1.76

1.81

1.94

1.95

1.97

1.98

1.99

2.00

2.02

2.05

2.11

2.15

2.18

2.24

2.34

2.44

2.97

1.00 2.00 4.00

assert your authoritynegociate

knowledge of other fieldsperform under pressure

write reports or documentswork productively with others

mobilize capacities of othersuse time efficiently

make your meaning clearuse computers and internet

write and speak a foreign languagecoordinate activities

master of your own fieldanalytical thinking

present ideas in audiencealertness to opportunities

willingness to question ideasacquire new knowledge

come with news ideas/solutions

Critical skills for the most innovative jobs

Likelihood (odds ratios) of reporting the following job requirements: people

in the most innovative jobs vs. least innovative jobs

Source: OECD, based on REFLEX and HEGESCO data

negotiate

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21st Century Skills

Ways of thinking

•Creativity and innovation

•Critical thinking, problem solving

•Learning to learn, meta-cognition

Ways of working •Communication

•Collaboration (teamwork)

Tools of working •Information literacy

•ICT literacy

Living in the world

•Citizenship – local and global

•Life and career

•Personal, social responsibility

Source: Microsoft-Intel-Cisco ATC21S project

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No one will question the importance of problem-

solving, complex communication and critical thinking

skills, but for 21st century innovation societies this is

only the baseline

New insight 1: importance of being able to think and act in

conditions of uncertainty

New insight 2: importance of being able to question ideas

and develop new ideas, ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking

New insight 3: importance of “non-cognitive” skills and

character

New insights (from Dirk Van Damme, OCED, 7 May)

Such as: consciousness, resilience, self-control, agreeableness,

persistence, emotional stability, etc.

31

Lessons from PISA

on successful

education systems

How could these

lessons help our

whole-school plan?

32

Useful Websites

New Academic Structure Web Bulletin (NAS)

http://334.edb.hkedcity.net/EN/index.php

Quality Education Fund (QEF)

http://qef.org.hk/eng/index.htm

Hong Kong Examination And Assessment Authority (HKEAA)

http://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/en/

Hong Kong Education City Limited (HKECL)

http://www.hkedcity.net/

33

Conclusion • Reviewing, revisiting, reflecting,

reconceptualising, ….looking ahead are all interactive processes of change.

• Let us continue to move forward and make an impact on a meaningful future for our students!