This chapter reports on two datasets. The first is a short questionnaire administered to International College Hong Kong Secondary Media Studies students in Year 10 and 11, regarding their public General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations, where students’ attitudes to Free Learning were probed. The second dataset comprised grade achievement comparisons between the 2019 Free Learning GCSE cohort and a previous cohort who had been prepared for the public examination via a standard teaching mode. While the sample was small, students responded positively to Free Learning as a teaching methodology and as preparation for a high-stakes examination. Regarding grade comparisons, grades achieved by the Free Learning cohort were very comparable with grades obtained by previous non- Free Learning cohorts. It would appear that even when it leads to public examinations, with the requirement to complete a set syllabus, Free Learning is a viable methodology. Copyright © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Ross Parker, David Coniam and Peter Falvey; individual chapters, the contributors.

This chapter serves as an introduction to the LPATE training courses initiated by the HKSAR Government to provide in-service teachers of English with developmental and proficiency programmes. The current chapter provides a theoretical foundation highlighting the necessity for teacher professional development through training courses. This chapter then outlines the LPATE training courses provided for in-service teachers in Hong Kong between 2001 and 2005. Various modules put on by different course providers and the details of information on these modules are provided, including purpose of the training courses, the number of trainees enrolled and the attainment rate across different institutions. The chapter ends with remarks from trainees to illustrate how the training courses were perceived by course takers. Copyright © 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

This chapter provides the reader with an introduction to the Hong Kong education system and the development of teacher education in Hong Kong. It should be noted that descriptions of the Hong Kong education system have been provided in other articles by Coniam and Falvey (see Coniam and Falvey in Validating technological innovation: The introduction and implementation of onscreen marking in Hong Kong. Springer, Singapore, pp. 1–7, 2016; Coniam & Falvey, 2013, vi; Adamson and Li in Education and society in Hong Kong and Macao: Comparative perspectives on continuity and change, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, pp. 35–60, 2004). Readers should not, therefore, be surprised to come across similar descriptions in the current chapter. The authoritative work on the Hong Kong education system pre-1841 to 1941 is Sweeting (Education in Hong Kong pre-1841 to 1941. Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong, 1990; A phoenix transformed: The reconstruction of education in post-war Hong Kong. Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1993). (See also Tang and Bray in Journal of Educational Administration 38(5):468–485, 2000). Copyright © 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

This book provides a detailed account of the origin, development, administration, revision and subsequent research findings on the benchmarking initiative from 1996-2016. It presents an overall assessment of the initiative’s impact on major stakeholders, predictions regarding the way forward, and implications for other countries, especially in South East Asia. In addition, the book discusses what the larger global community can learn from Hong Kong’s two-decade experience of conceptualizing and implementing minimum standard language requirements for teachers. Copyright © 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

The perception of falling standards in education, and in second language teaching in particular, has been a constant refrain for the past 20 years as changing needs and practices affect economic processes and manpower requirements.Within this context, this article deals with the establishment of language standards ('benchmarks') for teachers of English in Hong Kong. The article deals with two separate but linked notions: first, the notion of which model of the English language should be used as the standard model for English language teacher benchmark assessment in Hong Kong; second, the level of language ability that will be decided upon in order to establish the proficiency standards expected of teachers of English. The article first describes the background to the setting of language standards for teachers of English in Hong Kong. It then examines the selection of and justification for the model of English selected as the 'minimum standard'. The following section considers the level of language ability agreed upon as the standard that teachers of English need to attain. The article concludes with an examination of the extent to which the standards that have been agreed upon match the needs of the major stakeholders in the standard-setting process. Copyright © 2002 John Benjamins Publishing Company.

This study investigates the perceptions of stakeholders on the impact of a high-stakes assessment of English language teachers' proficiency – the minimum language standards Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers (English) [LPATE], which was introduced in 2000. Given that the test has now been in place for 17 years, the study investigates the extent to which the LPATE assessment has contributed to English language teacher standards in Hong Kong. Interview data from 24 participants in primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, reveal a number of positive links between the LPATE test and English language teaching as a profession. The introduction of the LPATE was deemed to be necessary in terms of setting, raising and maintaining language proficiency standards; stakeholders' awareness that English teachers need to have high language standards, subject-matter knowledge and pedagogical skills related to English language teaching; and that now an increasing number of English teachers are exempt from the LPATE through having opted for relevant degrees and teacher training, questions should be asked about how and whether the LPATE should be used in more relevant and meaningful ways.
[Copyright © 2017 The Author(s).]

This paper presents a personal picture of my long-standing association with the English language teaching and assessment situation in Hong Kong. The paper presents a 50-year retrospective of assessment in Hong Kong, through the lens of my own 35-year stint in the territory and my personal experience of English language teaching, teacher education, and assessment. I present a historical and theoretical picture of how English language examinations have moved forward in Hong Kong, and how I was fortunate enough to be involved in the big changes which were taking place in English language assessment in particular. While the picture I portray through this paper is a rather personal one, it contributes to an understanding of how assessment reform has been forward-looking, and largely successful, in Hong Kong, painting a picture of how assessment development has complemented curriculum development. I suggest that it may be instructive for educators in other jurisdictions to consider the long-term picture of development in English language assessment reform in their own country with a view to analyzing their own perspectives concerning the relative success of policy changes and large-scale reforms.
[Copyright © 2015 Brunei Darussalam : Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.]

Since the early 1990s, the pace of educational reform in Hong Kong has accelerated and broadened to incorporate almost all areas of schooling. The reforms introduced during this period can be subsumed under what has generally been labelled the quality movement. In this paper, we review and comment on a number of policy reform initiatives in the four areas of "Quality Education," English Language Benchmarking, Initial Teacher Training and the Integration of Pupils with Special Needs into Ordinary Classrooms. Following a brief description of each policy initiative, the reforms are discussed in terms of their consistency, coherence and cultural fit.
[Copyright © 2000 The Education Policy Analysis Archives.]