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Part II Career-oriented Studies (COS)

Chapter 4 Course Provision and Guidance for Students

4.1 Collaborative partnership among schools, tertiary providers and workplaces will provide diverse learning environments for COS, and a range of appropriate teaching focused on authentic experiences and assessment. Schools will need to increase their capacity to support students with advice on and accessibility to available COS courses and the pathways they open to further learning or employment, and ensure students engage in balanced learning programmes.

Summary of the Proposals in the Consultation Document

4.2 In the first year of senior secondary education (SS1), students will receive guidance and advice to explore and better understand their own strengths and interests, preferred learning styles and envisaged pathways for further studies and/or work. Students will be introduced to the range of curriculum choices available to them in SS2 and SS3 and can choose up to three electives including COS.

4.3 The consultation also sought advice on additional ways to give students an overview of COS and other elective choices, and to support them to identify their career aspirations and interests.

4.4 Schools, tertiary providers and workplaces are encouraged to adopt and combine three non-exclusive modes of delivery which involve different degrees of school engagement. In Mode 13, schools arrange for students to attend courses according to timetables agreed with the tertiary providers. In Mode 24, courses take place mainly in the schools. In Mode 35, schools deliver courses entrusted to them and quality assured by the tertiary providers.

3 Mode 1: Courses take place at the venues of course providers and are taught by the staff of course providers.

Schools should arrange for students to attend the courses according to the timetables agreed with the course providers.

4 Mode 2: Courses take place mainly in schools and are mainly taught by the staff of course providers. Schools are expected to confirm the details of the timetable, venue, equipment, etc. with the course providers.

5 Mode 3: Course providers make arrangements to entrust other institutions including schools to conduct the course on their behalf, but remain responsible for internal quality controls.

4.5 Off-site delivery, partnership with tertiary providers, networks of schools contributing to classes delivered at a single school, and schools operating as specialist centres or regional providers of COS are ways to maintain cost at a reasonable level.

(A) Commencing COS in SS1 Support

4.6 The respondents to the questionnaire for schools generally agree that COS courses should commence in SS2, with SS1 operating as a foundation year supporting the remaining years of senior secondary schooling.

Concerns

4.7 A minority of stakeholders consider that COS courses should commence in SS1, particularly for high ability students. Some also feel that COS should be mandatory in basic (primary) education, which might also help reduce the negative labelling effect.

The Way Forward

4.8 EMB confirms that the initial year of the senior secondary schooling is a foundation year. Studies in SS1 are not assessed directly for Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) and schools can structure SS1 learning programmes flexibly, offering choices and experimentation to support students’

options for the last two years of secondary schooling. Career advice, ‘tasters’ of elective subjects, structured individual student learning plans, and orientation programmes in SS1 can help students make informed choices of elective subjects for SS2 and SS3.

4.9 While career-related experience is one of the five essential learning

experiences of the school curriculum, it should be embedded in the total learning experience of school education and designed in a way that is suited to the age of the students concerned.

(B) Controlling Provision Support

4.10 There is wide support for collaborative delivery arrangements. Some schools noted that allowing schools to operate COS courses would result in a coverage which would be too broad and unmanageable. They would like to make use of the better facilities and experienced teaching staff of the tertiary providers, instead of installing more facilities in their schools or further burdening their teachers.

Concerns

4.11 School councils / educational bodies suggest capping the number of courses and students to ensure quality, while bringing in more course providers possibly including a few schools as the scale of COS expands in the future.

The Way Forward

4.12 EMB has already been responsible for screening courses and ensuring competitive provision among quality assured providers. It exercises strict control over three critical variables: the numbers of courses, providers and students.

(C) Career Advice and Learning Support Support

4.13 The importance of career guidance is confirmed by schools and educational

bodies. The professions and employers indicate their interests in providing authentic workplace experiences for students.

Concerns

4.14 Different stakeholders, including principals, teachers, careers teachers, educational bodies, parents and students, are concerned about the need for support services for students to make informed choices for their studies. Some parents think that schools should offer counselling services for course selection or provide career advice to students; others suggest that school should offer advice on academic pathways. It is further suggested that schools should organise seminars on certain courses, invite course tutors to seminars, or invite practitioners to share their experiences.

4.15 Students are equally eager to receive advice on the COS courses and progressive pathways. Many of them think that schools should offer course selection services, but they express a stronger need for advice on the prospect that COS courses could offer. Some also ask for employment counselling services.

The Way Forward

4.16 Career guidance is not simply a service but is an integral part of the NSS curriculum. Students experience personal growth by acquiring knowledge about themselves, and by developing skills that help them identify and manage their careers. Observation to date suggests that only a few schools have vigorously promoted COS as a programme suitable for all students. Instead, many schools have viewed COS as an alternative for lower-ability students. In some cases, the poor selection and recruitment arrangements have led to mismatch of students and COS courses, resulting in low rates of attainment.

4.17 To enable students to benefit fully from the diverse learning opportunities, guidance and advice can be offered through career talks, structured visits,

workplace-related experiences and ‘taster’ programmes, which can be offered as part of OLE and include short courses selected from the range of courses within the six COS areas of studies.

(D) COS Centres Concerns

4.18 A number of schools have enquired about how they could become specialised centres offering COS.

The Way Forward

4.19 There are three main components of COS provision: the course design, the course delivery, and the course venue and resources. Tertiary providers and schools can offer one or more of these components alone or in partnership. For reasons mentioned in para. 4.22 below, tertiary providers are likely to be the main COS providers in the initial years of implementation of the NSS Academic Structure.

4.20 A cluster of schools cooperating to form a viable COS class for Mode 2 delivery cannot be described as a centre for the three components of provision.

Rather, it is a network to ensure viable student numbers for courses which are designed and mostly delivered by tertiary providers. In principle, schools could cooperate to set up a regional centre for COS provision by supporting a school selected as a central venue with students and resources. This could occur, for instance, where a sponsoring body has multiple schools under its jurisdiction. In practice, this will require significant cooperation and the resolution of timetabling and resource issues amongst schools and course providers.

4.21 A more likely scenario is that tertiary providers will offer the three main components of COS in one or more of the six areas of studies. If demand for COS

grows, the market may stimulate the establishment of outreach centres to provide regional access to schools, and cut down on student travel time/costs. There are many models for how this may occur in partnership with schools.

4.22 It is possible for individual schools or a network of schools to be specialist providers of COS, if they have the capacity to design, deliver and provide the venue and resources for COS courses within one or more of the six areas of studies, supported by the industry, the professions and relevant workplaces. This will require the school concerned to source non-recurrent funds to hire or purchase the human and physical resources. At present, it seems unlikely that any school has such resources or this range of experience.

4.23 A more realistic approach is for schools to establish networks for Mode 1, or look to Mode 2 where full classes are sustainable. Mode 2 in turn offers a longer term progression to Mode 3 with the guidance and support of tertiary providers. Under such development, schools can gradually become outreach centres of tertiary provider for providing COS courses. More importantly, a school with this pursuit in mind would need to be supported by its stakeholders, meet the quality assurance (QA) requirements and be approved by EMB.

4.24 A small number of schools have developed their own alternative curriculum in response to the gaps they see in the current Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) / Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE) environment. In some ways they are forerunners of COS. However, these programmes lack a systematic QA mechanism which provides the recognition necessary for further learning or employment, despite some examples of successful progression for individual students. A characteristic of these courses developed by individual schools is that they are similar to courses in COC pilots in various respects. This provides an opportunity for the schools concerned to utilise the expertise and experience gained to transform their courses into the most relevant quality assured COS through collaboration with a tertiary provider.