 | Education in Hong Kong: Encyclopedia II - Education in Hong Kong - Secondary Education
Education in Hong Kong - Secondary Education
Secondary education in Hong Kong is largely based on the English schooling system. Secondary school begins on the seventh year of formal education (kindergarten is excluded) after Primary Six, called Form One. Students are requried by law (with some exceptions) to spend five years in secondary schools. In the first three years (Forms One to Three) of secondary education, focus is on general, instead of subject-divided, education.
In Form Four, students will have to choose between a "Science" stream and an "Arts" stream. During Form Four and Five, they prepare for the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE), which takes place after Form Five (similar to the UK's GCSEs or O-levels). Students obtaining a satisfactory grade will be promoted to the Form Six (aka. Lower Sixth), who then prepare for the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examinations (HKALE) (which acts as a de facto university entrance examination akin to the UK's A-levels; though the percentage of candidates getting grade 'A' is much lower, usually around 3-4%, depending on individual subjects'), which are taken at the end of Form Seven (aka. Upper Sixth). In Hong Kong, attainments (Grade E or above) in the HKALE Chinese Language and Culture and Use of English subjects are prerequisites for university admissions, similar to the language requirement of Grades A*-C in GCSE English for university admissions in the UK. A central allocation system for places, called the Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS), determines admission to tertiary institutions, largely based on the student's HKALE (and HKCEE) results. In addition, students achieving more than 6 'A's in their HKCEEs are eligible to apply in the Early Admissions Scheme (EAS) that give them the chance of entering certain universities (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) upon the completion of Form Six, bypassing the HKALEs. There are around 400 students that meet the criteria each year. Medicine (CUHK/HKU), Pharmacy (CUHK), Law (HKU), Dual Degree programme (HKU/HKUST) are popular choices for EAS students.
International school students rarely take Hong Kong public exams; instead, they sit for international or foreign public exams such as the British GCSE, IGCSE and A-levels, the International Baccalaureate, the U.S. SATs, Abiturs, etc.
At the time of writing (August 2005), there continue to be heated discussion on a shift towards a U.S.-style education system, inter alia, changing secondary education from seven to six years, and university education from three years to four, as well as merging the two public exams HKCEE and HKALE into one public exam. Subject to approval, the proposed changes may take effect in a few years time.
In the OECD's international assessment of student performance, PISA, Hong Kong was one of the high scorers: in 2003 15-year-olds from Hong Kong came first in mathematics, and third in science, worldwide.
Other related archives1841, 1970s, 1997, 2003, 2005, A-level, A-levels, AS-level, August, British, Britons, Caritas, Chinese, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Direct Subsidy Scheme, Education by country, Education in Hong Kong, Education in mainland China, English, English education system, Filipinos, GCSE, HK$, HKALE, HKCEE, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Education and Manpower Bureau, Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, IGCSE, International Baccalaureate, List of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Native locals (Puntis), OECD, Open University of Hong Kong, PISA, Peking Duck, People's Republic of China, Po Leung Kuk, SATs, South Asians, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The University of Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong, associate degree, handover, higher diploma, list of schools in Hong Kong, secondary education, tertiary institutions, that of the United Kingdom
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Secondary Education", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
