This paper argues that the planned introduction of visual literacy into the New Secondary School Curriculum can play a crucial role in enabling students to think critically and creatively in Hong Kong's highly visual landscape. As Hong Kong's educational system remains entrenched in long-established and conventional pedagogies, the primacy given to the written word is in sharp contrast with the pragmatic roles that visual images play in students' day-to-day life. Hong Kong is well-known for its extremely high level of Internet / broadband penetration and media saturation, yet visual literacy is still in a state of infancy in Hong Kong. Therefore, from a curricular standpoint, as Hong Kong society relies to a greater degree than ever before on visual communication strategies, it is vital that visual literacy be integrated as part of the new curriculum under the current educational reforms. As contemporary Hong Kong culture becomes increasingly dependent on the visual environment, developing visual literacy to enhance students' learning can be an important step in the future towards a more successful implementation and development of the New Secondary School Curriculum.
[Copyright of Asia Pacific Journal of Education is the property of Routledge]

香港於 2009 年實施高中新學制，由過往的三二二制改為三三制。同時，將免費教育延伸到高中。因此，高中變成普及教育的階段之一。絕大部分適齡學生均會修讀高中，造成了學生間的差異增大。同時，伴隨新高中學制的改變是 2001 年學校課程改革的深化，學會學習、終身學習、兩文三語等目標要在新高中強化。加上新高中學生要兼通文理，新高中的目標是高遠。 為了達到這些目標，新高中課程的結構與過往的科目結構有明顯的不同。其中，重要一環就是引入通識教育科為必修學科。另外，每一學科均加入選修環節及校本評價，又引入應用學習及其他學習經驗。這些改革的野心是否過大呢？他們能否真正的發揮功能呢？

Although Hong Kong students perform quite well in international performance measurements such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), there are issues concerning the significant differences between the newly immigrated students and the local students, the gender differences and variation of performances among schools and within schools. Indeed, learning diversity has become an important issue as students come from many different families and with various backgrounds. In order to provide students with equal opportunities to learn, the new senior secondary school curriculum has set out a new direction for catering to students’ learning diversity. The major design of the new curriculum is to offer more electives and enhance student choices. It is also intended to be implemented with flexible teaching strategies and a school-based curriculum and assessment. How this can be done has posed a big challenge to schools and teachers. This paper aims to explore how the newly implemented curriculum can cater to learning diversity in greater depth.

This chapter describes and evaluates the extent to which the aims of the English language curriculum (1975 to 1999) in Hong Kong secondary schools have changed in response to social changes. Hong Kong society has changed from a manufacturing-based society to a financial and commercial based society. Consequently, the English curriculum has moved in three identifiable stages, from an emphasis on minimal English literacy for all (up to the age of 15) to an emphasis on communication in specific social domains and eventually to an emphasis on individuals' competence in a wide range of personally appropriate domains. In evaluating the extent to which curriculum change matches social change, the chapter assesses the extent to which the three syllabi have been/are context-compatible, and then discusses some implications for curriculum planning and teacher education in light of the assessed context-compatibility.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

2001年，香港以《學會學習：課程發展路向》開啟規模龐大、改革全面、影響深遠的課程改革。課程改革涵蓋科目結構、知識與能力結合、四個關鍵項目、學與教策略、學習評估取向、教學資源等，堪稱香港史上最大規模的改革。2005年，教育當局更進一步改革新高中學制及其課程結構，期望為學生學習帶來根本的轉變：多元出路，繼續升學；課程寬廣而均衡；融合學術和應用的探究；評估模式由考試主導到多元評估。然而，其設計理念仍受質疑，實踐階段未能體現理念之精髓，更出現反效果。本研究旨在探討2005年後之課程改革：首先，簡述新高中學制之課程改革概況；其次，檢視新高中課程改革理念在實行時出現的落差；最後，探討新高中學制課程改革未能更易之元素。綜合而言，研究者發現課程改革出現一些重要改變，如學制、科目結構、課程選擇等；惟未能處理考試主導及照顧學習差異等根深蒂固之問題。
[Copyright © 2014 財團法人高等教育基金會.]