Language teachers may be able to combine a new benchmark test with training courses, an education advisory body has proposed.
Instead of having to pass all five papers - reading, writing, listening, speaking and classroom instruction - in the benchmark test, teachers would be able to attend a course in one or more areas.
The suggestion has come amid strong resistance from teachers to the idea of a benchmark test - to be introduced in October - because they believe it is an insult to their professional qualifications.
It is understood the Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications has set guidelines for the courses, to be offered at recognised local and overseas institutes with some lectures delivered online. Each of the five modules should involve at least 30 to 40 hours of instruction with class numbers limited to about 25 people.
Cheung Man-kwong - president of the Professional Teachers' Union, which led a 6,000-strong rally of teachers to protest against the policy in June - maintained the test should be abolished.
'It doesn't matter whether the benchmark test exists in whole or in part,' he said. 'We want the test to be scrapped and teachers to be allowed to upgrade themselves to meet the benchmark through continuous training, not a test.'