Whole-school Planning and Implementation
School Days and Lesson Time Allocation
In the BECG, recommendations are made as to the total number
of school days that should be provided, and the amount of lesson
time to be allocated to individual KLAs/subject to ensure that
all students receive a similar length of overall study time and
similar learning opportunities in each KLA. The mean number of
school days provided in the current year was 190.2 days (SD =
13.8 days) for primary schools and 179.2 days (SD = 24.7 days)
for secondary schools. Among the schools sampled, only 57.4%
of primary schools and 43.9% of secondary schools reported that
the number of school days was 190 or over. In other words, a
significant proportion of schools do not meet the standard provision
of 190 days set out in the BECG. However, it should be borne
in mind that in 2002-2003, classes were suspended for many days
because of the SARS outbreak, and so the data do not reflect
the normal situation.
Tables 10 and 11 present the percentage of lesson time allocated for different KLAs/subject in primary and secondary schools respectively. When compared with the lesson time recommended in the BECG (see Appendix D), primary schools on average placed a higher emphasis on English Language Education and Mathematics Education but a lower emphasis on Chinese Language Education, Arts Education, Physical Education and General Studies. The variation in the amount of lesson time given to primary school Chinese Language Education was the highest among the six KLAs. When compared with the lesson time recommended in the BECG (see Appendix D), secondary schools on average placed a higher emphasis on English Language Education and Mathematics Education but a lower emphasis on Chinese Language Education, Science Education, Technology Education, Physical Education and Arts Education. The variation in the amount of lesson time given to secondary school Personal, Social and Humanities Education was the highest among the eight KLAs.
| Table 10:
Means and Range of Lesson Time for Different KLAs/subject
in Primary Schools |
| KLA/Subject |
Primary
1 |
Primary
2 |
Primary
3 |
Primary
4 |
Primary
5 |
Primary
6 |
| Chi |
Mean |
25.2 |
24.6 |
23.9 |
23.6 |
23.6 |
23.6 |
| Range* |
22.7-28.0 |
22.1-26.4 |
21.0-25.2 |
21.0-25.0 |
21.0-25.0 |
21.9-25.2 |
| Eng |
Mean |
20.5 |
20.5 |
21.1 |
21.5 |
21.6 |
21.7 |
| Range* |
18.6-22.2 |
19.0-22.5 |
20.0-23.0 |
20.0-23.0 |
20.0-23.3 |
20.0-23.5 |
| Math |
Mean |
16.8 |
18.2 |
18.2 |
16.9 |
16.9 |
16.9 |
| Range* |
15.0-18.0 |
15.8-18.0 |
15.0-18.0 |
15.4-18.1 |
15.4-18.4 |
15.5-18.4 |
| Arts |
Mean |
10.4 |
10.5 |
10.5 |
10.4 |
10.3 |
10.4 |
| Range* |
9.0-11.7 |
9.3-11.6 |
9.3-11.6 |
9.1-11.6 |
9.1-11.6 |
9.1-11.7 |
| PE |
Mean |
5.1 |
5.1 |
5.1 |
5.1 |
5.1 |
5.1 |
| Range* |
4.7-5.2 |
4.7-5.3 |
4.6-5.3 |
4.6-5.3 |
4.6-5.3 |
4.6-5.3 |
| GS |
Mean |
11.5 |
11.6 |
11.7 |
11.8 |
11.2 |
11.8 |
| Range* |
10.0-12.2 |
10.3-12.8 |
10.6-12.8 |
11.0-12.9 |
11.0-12.9 |
11.0-12.8 |
| * Range from 1st quartile
to 3rd quartile |
| Table 11:
Means and Range of Lesson Time for Different KLAs in
Secondary Schools |
| KLA |
Secondary
1 |
Secondary
2 |
Secondary
3 |
| Chi |
Mean |
17.7 |
17.5 |
17.1 |
| Range* |
16.7-19.3 |
16.0-19.0 |
15.0-19.0 |
| Eng |
Mean |
19.8 |
19.7 |
19.4 |
| Range* |
18.5-20.8 |
18.5-20.8 |
18.0-20.0 |
| Math |
Mean |
14.0 |
14.1 |
14.1 |
| Range* |
12.7-15.0 |
13.0-15.0 |
12.9-14.6 |
| PSHE |
Mean |
16.7 |
16.8 |
16.5 |
| Range* |
13.6-20.7 |
13.6-20.7 |
13.1-20.7 |
Sci
|
Mean |
9.3 |
9.4 |
11.7 |
| Range* |
8.3-10.0 |
8.3-10.4 |
10.0-13.5 |
TE
|
Mean |
8.3 |
8.5 |
8.2 |
| Range* |
5.1-10.0 |
5.6-10.0 |
5.0-9.9 |
Arts
|
Mean |
7.1 |
7.1 |
6.6 |
| Range* |
6.0-8.3 |
6.0-8.3 |
5.1-8.0 |
| PE |
Mean |
4.5 |
4.4 |
4.4 |
| Range* |
4.0-4.8 |
4.0-4.8 |
4.0-4.7 |
| * Range from 1st quartile to
3rd quartile |
Strategic Planning and school-based curriculum
development
In Chapter 2 of the BECG, schools are recommended
to develop a 3-year/5-year whole-school curriculum plan, taking
into consideration their mission and context. This should form
part of the annual School Development Plan. Each school is
asked to consider its strengths, set its priorities, create
a supportive environment, and set a general time-frame to work
towards the goals of the curriculum reform and towards the
specific learning targets in each KLA. According to the responses,
75.8% of primary schools and 59.3% of secondary schools had
¡§formulated a five-year short-term strategic plan for whole-school
curriculum development¡¨; and 95.3% of primary schools and 93.0%
of secondary schools had ¡§drawn up a school-based curriculum
to cater for the needs of their students¡¨. Many of them further
indicated that these measures had been effective.
Strategies for Supporting School Curriculum
Reform
In general, over 80% of schools had implemented all the strategies
to support school curriculum reform. Among the five measures
listed, over 95% of schools had ¡§created space for teachers¡¨
and ¡§deployed teaching staff to match with their expertise and
future needs¡¨. Table 12 shows the extent of implementation of
each strategy in both primary and secondary schools.
| Table 12:
Implementation of Strategies to Support School Curriculum
Reform |
| Strategies
to Support School Curriculum Reform |
Implemented |
| Primary
School (%) |
Secondary
School (%) |
| Create space for
teachers |
100.0 |
97.6 |
| Deploy
teaching staff to match with their expertise and future
needs |
96.1 |
96.5 |
| Communicate
with various stakeholders |
94.5 |
92.9 |
| Share
experiences with other schools |
91.4 |
83.5 |
| Draw
up the professional development programme for all teaching
staff |
84.4 |
73.3 |
Strategies on Assessment
School heads were asked to indicate whether their schools had implemented reform measures on assessment to enhance student learning. Table 13 shows the extent of implementation in primary and secondary schools. Results revealed that almost all schools had reduced the time spent on tests and examinations when planning the school calendar, so as to allow students more adequate learning time.
| Table 13:
Implementation of Strategies on Assessment |
| Strategies
on Assessment |
Implemented |
| Primary
School (%) |
Secondary
School (%) |
| Formulate a whole-school
assessment policy |
71.9
|
69.8 |
| Use appropriate
assessment modes to obtain feedback on learning and teaching |
75.0 |
68.6 |
| Reduce the time
spent on tests and examinations when planning the school
calendar, so as to allow students to have adequate learning
time |
99.2 |
90.7 |
Measures to improve learning and teaching
As emphasised in the BECG, schools should draw
up an overall policy on homework. The BECG indicates that homework
should not involve students in mechanical repetition such as
copying from the texts/notes or rote learning alone. It highlights
that it is the quality and not the quantity of homework that
counts. As indicated by school heads, 62.5% of primary schools
and 66.3% of secondary schools had formulated a whole-school
homework policy.
Based on the data collected, 82.0% of primary
schools and 87.2% of secondary schools felt that they had ¡§adopted
appropriate strategies to cater for learner differences¡¨.
When asked whether schools had adopted appropriate strategies
to facilitate a smooth transition between Kindergarten and Primary
1, and between Primary 6 and Secondary 1, 75.8% of primary school
heads claimed to have implemented the former and 69.5% the latter.
A higher percentage of secondary schools (72.1%) indicated that
they had adopted appropriate strategies to facilitate a smooth
transition between Primary 6 and Secondary 1. Relatively fewer
secondary schools (62.8%) indicated that they had adopted appropriate
strategies to facilitate a smooth transition between Secondary
3 and Secondary 4.
Four Key Tasks
Schools are recommended to use the four key
tasks, namely, moral and civic education, reading to learn,
project learning, and the use of information technology for
interactive learning as entry points/means for achieving the
learning goals and targets set out in the KLA/subject curricula.
As shown in table 14, almost all schools had implemented the
four key tasks.
| Table 14:
Implementation of Four Key Tasks |
| Four
Key Tasks |
Implemented |
| Primary
School (%) |
Secondary
School (%) |
| Moral and civic
education |
98.4 |
97.7 |
| Promoting a reading
culture |
99.2 |
93.0 |
| Project learning |
98.4 |
96.5 |
| The use of information
technology |
99.2 |
98.8 |
As shown in the data given in Table 15, the
most common modes adopted in promoting moral and civic education
were morning assembly, theme-based talks and extra-curricular
activities/life-wide learning activities. The SARS event was
the most used entry point for organizing activities to promote
moral and civic education.
| Table 15:
Modes Adopted in Implementing Moral and Civic Education |
| Modes
Adopted in Implementing Moral and Civic Education |
Adopted |
| Primary
School (%) |
Secondary
School (%) |
| Morning
assembly |
90.6 |
94.2 |
| Class teacher period |
77.3 |
89.5 |
| Theme-based talks |
86.7 |
82.6 |
| Extra-curricular
activities/life-wide learning activities |
81.3 |
81.4 |
| Through learning
and teaching in various Key Learning Areas |
75.0 |
67.4 |
| Religious Studies
lesson |
46.1 |
44.2 |
| Standalone lesson
period |
60.2 |
41.9 |
| Make use of social
events (e.g. SARS) as entry point for organizing learning
activities in order to promote Moral and Civic Education |
94.5 |
84.9 |
To promote a healthy reading culture, almost
all primary schools and about 85% of secondary schools reported
that they had reserved time for library/reading activities
in the school timetable; and about 85% of primary schools and
70% of secondary schools had promoted collaboration between
teachers and the teacher-librarian.
Modes adopted for provision of Chinese History
Learning Experiences
Only secondary school heads were asked about the modes adopted
by their schools on the provision of Chinese History learning
experiences. Among the various modes of provision, a majority
of secondary schools adopted Chinese History as a standalone
subject for Secondary 1 ¡V 3 students (88.4%). Only a minority
had used ¡§a school-based history curriculum integrating Chinese
history and World history¡¨ (5.8%) or ¡§a school-based integrated
curriculum that includes Chinese history¡¨ (12.8%).
Five Essential Learning Experiences
To achieve the whole person development of students, schools
were asked to provide five essential learning experiences: moral
and civic education, physical and aesthetic development, intellectual
development, community service and career-related experience.
Not surprisingly, less than 25% of primary schools and less than
50% of secondary schools at junior secondary level had provided
career-related experience. In contrast, over 80% of primary schools
and over 90% of secondary schools had provided the other four
essential learning experiences. Table 16 depicts the results
in detail.
| Table 16:
Life-Wide Learning: Five Essential Learning Experiences
for All Students to Achieve Whole Person Development |
| Five
Essential Learning Experiences |
Implemented |
| Primary
School (%) |
Secondary
School (%) |
| Moral and Civic
Education (Character building) |
96.1 |
97.7 |
| Physical and Aesthetic
Development |
96.1 |
96.5 |
| Intellectual Development
(Mostly through classroom learning in different Key Learning
Areas) |
94.5 |
96.5 |
| Community Service |
80.5 |
93.0 |
| Career-related
Experience |
21.1 |
44.2 |
|
