Option for foreign language exams
An association or French teachers is celebrating what it sees as a partial victory in its protracted battle to secure 'equitable' treatment for foreign languages exams under the new senior secondary curriculum.
Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority announced at a meeting with teachers, parents and principals last week that schools teaching French and Spanish may be able to choose whether their students sit their final exams in November or June when the new Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education exams are held for the first time in the 2011/12 school year.
The move would effectively be a climbdown from the authority's previous stance that students would only be able to sit the earlier round of the exam, effectively cutting short potential classroom time by seven months.
However, an authority spokeswoman denied that a final decision had been made. She said a survey would be conducted next month to elicit schools' feedback.
Six foreign languages are being offered as elective subjects under the new three-year senior secondary curriculum - to be introduced for students entering Form Four in a year's time.
But due to relatively low demand, the HKEAA will not design a local exam, and has chosen to run British AS-levels instead.
However, the four other languages on offer - German, Japanese, Hindi and Urdu - will still only be available in November, as the exams board Cambridge International Examinations does not offer those languages in the June session.
Jean-Luc Rey, chairman of the Alliance Francais Langue Etrangere de Hong Kong, said he was relieved by the HKEAA's apparent change of heart.
'We are very happy with this decision, although we regret that the chosen solution seems to indicate that HKEAA still does not depart from its administrative approach to the problem, to the detriment of the quality of the education students receive,' he said. 'We also regret that HKEAA cannot find any better solution for the other foreign languages, German, Japanese, Hindi and Urdu. Students who take these languages will miss half the school year.'
