An innovative diploma in information and communications technology designed by three teachers in the English Schools Foundation has won accreditation from the Cambridge International Examinations board.
The two-year programme was piloted by Island School on the Peak as a replacement for the existing GCSE exam in the compulsory subject, and the first cohort of students will take the qualification this year.
West Island School and South Island School began offering it last year, Sha Tin College is following suit in September and the team now has high hopes it will be picked up by schools across the Asia Pacific region.
Island School's head of ICT Andy Statham and teacher Kevin Lester got together with Alan Dickson, head of ICT at Sha Tin College, to devise the diploma because they felt the GCSE and other existing qualifications gave insufficient credit for practical skills.
'Kids were failing despite having very good ICT skills,' said Mr Statham. 'We realised that they were not getting rewarded for what they could do. We spoke to our management here and they said: 'Go ahead and write your own course'.'
Just as the project was beginning, an Island School student came top in the world in GCSE computer studies and a Cambridge exams team who came to Hong Kong to present prizes heard about the plan and agreed to provide feedback and support. While traditional ICT exams assess students' abilities in areas such as word-processing, spreadsheets and databases, the Diploma in Applied ICT instead requires them to demonstrate seven key competencies through a portfolio of evidence.