The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) in English and maths will be eliminated from school league tables, and parents have inquired how this will affect their children undertaking IGCSE examinations.
Although some international and direct subsidy scheme schools in Hong Kong have switched to offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IBDP) over traditional A-Levels, many do offer IGCSE prior to the diploma.
"It remains the qualification of choice for thousands of international schools across the globe [because] it is less Anglo-centric than the traditional UK based GCSE, and it prepares students well for the International Baccalaureate," says Ian Clayton, headmaster of the international section of the French International School.
The IGCSE will remain "a powerful, portable and acceptable qualification for students [at international schools] in Hong Kong", he says.
IGCSEs and GCSEs count in the league tables that rank schools in the UK.
Schools are ranked by the percentage of pupils attaining at least five A* to C grades in a range of subjects that include key subjects of English, maths, two sciences, a language and either history or geography. If the IGCSEs offered by the school are eliminated in the ranking process, then the ranking of the schools will drop.