Frequently Asked Questions on the New Academic Structure for Senior Secondary Education and Higher Education
Technology Education Key Learning Area (TEKLA) (Subject: Business, Accounting and Financial Studies (BAFS))
(with effect from S4 in 2022/23 school year, leading to the 2025 HKDSE examination and onwards)
Q1. How can BAFS curriculum help students to prepare for life, for learning and for employment?
A1. BAFS curriculum aims to provide students with the necessary knowledge, skills, values and attitudes about business at the individual, societal and global levels. It develops in students the intellectual breadth to cope with a rapidly changing and increasingly complex world so that they can competently, confidently and ethically play the roles of consumers, investors, employees and/or entrepreneurs in their adult life. BAFS provides a learning platform for students to explore their interest and aptitude through exposure to a spectrum of business areas for the planning of their academic and career developments.
Q2. How can schools articulate business-related learning at different key stages?
A2. The objectives of learning business knowledge can be achieved through studying General Studies at Key Stages 1 and 2. At junior secondary level, the enriched TEKLA curriculum was fully implemented at junior secondary level (Secondary 1-3) in the 2016/17 school year. Schools may make reference to the “Technology Education Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide (Primary 1 - Secondary 6)” (2017) and offer modules under knowledge context of “Strategies and Management”, to help students learn the basic business and management concepts. At senior secondary level, schools may consider offering the BAFS curriculum to enable students to acquire a common body of business knowledge, including accounting and management, to deal with the dynamic business environment and provide essential business knowledge and skills for higher education/tertiary studies. Co-curricular activities such as visits to financial institutions, participating business competitions, attending
tradeshows or exhibitions may be used to widen students’ exposure in business.
Q3. Are there any topics in senior secondary Business, Accounting and Financial Studies related to personal financial education?
A3. Under the senior secondary BAFS curriculum, “Basics of Personal Financial Management” is one of the compulsory parts covered in the curriculum of BAFS. The curriculum covers not only fundamentals of financial management including time value of money, it also provides students with knowledge on consumer credit, personal financial planning and investments and stock trading as an investment. In response to the fast development of Hong Kong as an international business and financial centre, the study of the “Basics of Personal Financial Management” and relevant topics in other subjects will prepare students well for dealing with their personal financial concerns when they engage in business and financial activities such as consumption, work and investment in adulthood.
Q4. What are the two strands of study in the BAFS curriculum offered for students to opt for? How does the curriculum respond to the ever- changing business world?
A4. The BAFS Curriculum offers two strands of study for students to choose from, namely Accounting Strand and Business Management Strand. Each strand comprises a compulsory and an elective part. The compulsory part provides a threshold for students to gain a more holistic and macro view of business for their future studies or careers. The elective part, which builds upon the knowledge and skills in the compulsory part, provides students with an opportunity to pursue a more in-depth study in a focused strand of study, either Accounting or Business Management, according to their interests and inclinations.
Besides, the BAFS curriculum emphasises different roles such as consumers, employees, entrepreneurs and investors to enhance students’
understanding of business knowledge as well as to view business-related decisions from different perspectives.
Q5. Is it compulsory for schools to offer both Accounting and Business
Management Strands of study in the BAFS curriculum for students to opt for?
A5. The BAFS curriculum comprises two strands of study. Students can choose either Accounting or Business Management Strand to pursue a more in-depth study based on their interests and inclinations. Depending on school’s resources, it is advisable for schools to offer both strands of study in BAFS to cater for students’ choices.
Q6. Why do the learning elements about Accounting Strand not resemble the contents of some existing public examinations, such as LCC, City and Guilds which are welcome by many students?
A6. All studies valuable for senior secondary education should include theoretical as well as applied learning. Studies with stronger elements of applied learning and linked directly to employment areas will be accommodated in Applied Learning programme whereas the two strands of study in BAFS will be more comprehensive in theoretical learning supported by Applied Learning.
Q7. For students selecting Accounting Strand in BAFS, will they be allowed to take the compulsory part in Chinese and the elective part in English during the public examination?
A7. It is a norm for public examinations all over the world that candidates are allowed to use a single language for answering questions in each individual subject. Students could choose either Chinese or English to answer individual subject examination papers based on their language abilities but not both.
Q8. Are there any supporting measures from the Education Bureau for the learning and teaching of BAFS?
A8. To support the implementation of the BAFS Curriculum, a series of professional development programmes is being organised for teachers of technological subjects. Major domains of the professional development programmes to be provided are: (A) Understanding and interpreting the curriculum; (B) Assessing student learning; (C) Learning and teaching
strategies and (D) Enriching knowledge. The first two programmes are core provisions for all BAFS teachers while the other components are optional.
For the learning and teaching resources, the subject-related teaching resources including the supplementary notes to the BAFS curriculum, a comprehensive collection of up-to-date reference books and web links related to the learning of the subject, etc. have been available on the websites of EDB Technology Education Section (www.edb.gov.hk/en/curriculum-development/kla/technology-
edu/resources/index.html) and EDB One-stop Portal for Learning and Teaching Resources (minisite.proj.hkedcity.net/edbosp- te/eng/home.html) for schools’ reference.
Apart from this, schools can make reference to the Recommended Textbook List at the following website:
cd.edb.gov.hk/rtl/search.asp
Q9. If a student intends to study in the business-related bachelor programmes, what senior secondary subject combination should he/she take?
A9. The trend towards globalization requires one to possess knowledge and skills across a wide range of disciplines, such as technology, science, languages and humanities, to solve business problems. Through the BAFS curriculum, students can build a solid foundation in business, and by studying the subject in combination with other electives in a complementary way, they can also gain exposure to a range of areas. To this end, students may, for example, study BAFS together with Information and Communication Technology in Technology Education, and Economics in Personal, Social and Humanities Education.
