Down with drilling and tests: Hong Kong kindergarten leads battle for play-based learning
International Froebel Society hopes its first affiliated school in the city will spread the word that education should be fun
An international education organisation that promotes play-based learning hopes its first affiliated kindergarten in Hong Kong will help in its battle to end the fixation with testing pupils.
Educators and parents have increasingly expressed concern at the prevalence of drilling and over-assessment in kindergartens.
The Education Bureau’s latest quality review of almost 400 kindergartens across Hong Kong earlier this year found dozens required three-year-olds to write characters and even sentences in fast-progressing curriculums, which was not in line with bureau guidelines.
Last year a widely criticised poster by a tutoring centre featured a little girl crying and a slogan “You don’t like competition? But competition will find you!” The poster advertised kindergarten-interview training classes for children as young as 18 months.
Speaking to the Post during a recent visit to Hong Kong, Brian Tubbert, chairman of the International Froebel Society, said with Munsang College Kindergarten in Kowloon City recently made an affiliate of the society, the school should “develop leadership to further and broaden out the delivery of a child-centred and activity-based education for children” in the city.
He said the school should try to build a critical mass of educators who speak up against over-assessment.