ITS Educational News

ITS has now completed its first year as a fully accredited Edexcel centre, with the first enrollment of students to be taught and examined by us having now received their results.

Both in terms of individual units and subjects as well as more global results, a lot of our students are now relieved and very pleased with themselves. For some of our high- flyers, who are aiming at top-class universities, the sight of the required good grades was very gratifying. Students were able to meet university offers or put grades ‘in the bank’ to build on in the future. The IGCSE results were equally pleasing. Students who needed solutions which were not available elsewhere are now able to show their grades with pride.

For the IGCSE, our passing rate was over 95% and our A* /A rate was 38%. Our AS passing rate was 85% and our A2 passing rate was 90%. Our A/B rate at AS was 50% and at A2 39%.

This is a tremendous set of results considering how many students came to us at awkward times of the year, having completed piecemeal parts of other courses, with illnesses, family upheavals and other situations which had removed them from their mainstream educational settings. It really goes to show what excellent teachers can do on a one-to-one or low student:teacher ratio basis with students from all kinds of backgrounds who have the desire to achieve and prove the doubters wrong.

The results achieved this year provide us with a positive and solid foundation on which to build our future as a provider of quality qualifications to all students who wish to access them regardless of their origins, ages and life stories. We are very proud of all our students.

By Danny Harrington

Co-founder of ITS Tutorial School

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An SCMP report this week-end highlighted a small but critical problem with the government’s plans to make Hong Kong a regional education hub. Using the example of the Savannah College of Art and Design, a renowned US institution which has set up in Hong Kong and is currently admitting its first intake, the paper pointed out a typical incongruity of government policy. While making a big hoo-hah about opening up to the world and dominating the region, and in going so far as to award Savannah use of the old Kowloon Magistracy (thus killing two birds with one stone and appeasing the heritage lobby – our officials pat themselves on the back and give each other nods of approval), someone forgot to tell the Education Department that their friends and colleagues over at Immigration will not issue a student visa to anyone from the mainland, Macau or Taiwan who wishes to enroll in a degree course offered by an international institution in the city. They can however enroll in courses offered by local institutions.

There are several problems with this. For one, Hong Kong already suffers from a dearth of university places. Many Hong Kong students have to look overseas each year as they cannot find a place in their home town. Universities take time to develop, they can’t just shoot up overnight. So the only sensible way to increase the number of places available is to allow high quality overseas institutions to operate in the city, and surely they should be open to all-comers. In fact, logic suggests that mainland, Macanese and Taiwanese students should only be able to enroll in overseas courses, freeing up space in local institutions for Hong Kongers. But this would go against the spirit of true education which is to offer learning freely and openly to all. As a famous and oft quoted Prime Minister once said “If you have knowledge, let others light their candles with it.” He pointedly didn’t put any restrictions on those candle-lighters.

One would hope that the point of aiming to become an education hub is to benefit society at large, and surely even the most blinkered civil servant can see that degree students very commonly hang on after graduation in their city of study to find work and often to forge out a life and career. Once again, education suffers from government failing to give weight to the intangible benefits that it brings and Hong Kong as a whole misses the opportunity to bring still more talent within its borders. Furthermore, we miss the opportunity to showcase our talents worldwide as Hong Kong-educated students spread themselves around the globe. With the rest of the world realizing the huge potential and as yet minimally tapped resource of the PRC, our government remains lost in the past cowering in fear of the big bear.

By Danny Harrington

Co-founder of ITS Tutorial School

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Over the last few years, the Hong Kong government and Baptist University pooled in half a million dollars to develop a computer program which can automatically correct students’ English essays. Fifty local secondary school students participated in the tests and the results of success were released yesterday.

The program scans the essay and matches the words which were used with stored articles on a similar topic from the internet, and then it indicates any mistakes or key issues which were excluded. Some of the students involved with the tests raved at its brilliance and prompt feedback. They were eager to see how they faired and where they made mistakes, claiming that school teachers frequently took too long to mark their essays and provide feedback.

While the immediacy is undeniably efficient, as a teacher, I cannot help but cast doubt on the promotion of such an invention. The process of marking and reviewing students’ work is more than merely announcing scores or riddling the essays with red ink for students to acknowledge. The importance of this step is to ensure students comprehend where exactly they made the mistake, enhance their understanding and encourage correct application in the future. No matter how swift a computer can produce the marked compositions, it cannot provide the personally catered feedback and engaged interaction which is constructive to a proactive approach to studying.

The focus should not be on what is strictly accurate or not. Expecting a model answer is already a proliferating attitude amongst Hong Kong students which hinder their growth in learning and knowledge. Such a habit should be deemphasized, not cultivated further. The attempt of such a creation places a teacher’s burden of a heavy workload of marking over the importance of a student’s education.

Perhaps Hong Kong is already sluggish with the rise of robotic teachers, as Japan and South Korea have been researching and launching pre-programmed mannequins to conduct basic duties of a teacher for a few years. For the benefit of Hong Kong’s next generation of students, our incomparable pace may be a godsend.

By Jennifer Chung

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Rise in School Fees in Hong Kong

       Fees at ESF schools will rise by 5.3 percent from August 2010.

Fees at 11 primary schools will rise from HK$58, 100 to HK$61,000 and Secondary students who used to pay HK$89,250 will have to pay HK$93,000 if they are in years seven to 11, and HK$1,000 more if they are in years 12-13. The tiered fee structure for years 12-13 is due to the higher level of funding needed to support the curriculum.

ESF says that the income from the rise in fees are necessary to fund a 2 percent rise in salaries, improvements to the curriculum, and expansion of its international baccalaureate and advanced diploma programmes, as well as technology learning resources and special education resources.

As of March 2010, Tuition fee increases for kindergartens and private independent schools have not been released.

The Singapore International School will also increase its tuition fees from Aug 2010.  Fees go up from HK$69,500 to HK$73,000 for preparatory years; from HK$84,500 to HK$89,000 for the primary section; and from HK$96,000 to HK$99,000 for the secondary section.

Fees at the Canadian International School, the American International School and the Japanese International School will not be increased for 2010/2011.

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The new Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) has now gained recognition by UCAS (University and Colleges Admission Service) in the UK. This means that students who are studying within the local system in Hong Kong can apply for a degree place in the UK and their secondary qualification will be assessed in a way that is standardized and fair. Students will know how many tariff points they will receive for a particular grade in a subject, thus making it possible to predict the grades they will need in order to qualify for entry to particular courses in particular universities.

The assessment received from UCAS suggests that the HKDSE can be confidently thought of as equivalent to UK A -levels, as, in the past the HKALE was equivalent to the UK A-level. This will be very pleasing to parents and students alike.
Under the tariff points system adopted by British universities, a certain number of points are needed as an entry requirement for a course. These points are dependent on the type of course, as well as the quality of the university. Each grade level attracts a certain number of tariff points. The recently released assessment of the HKDSE shows that the points the qualification attracts are strongly in line with those awarded to grades in the UK.

There might, however, be a couple of minor issues with this assessment. It has been believed in Hong Kong that it is more difficult to achieve an A grade in HKALE than in UK A levels. If this belief is still held about theHK DSE, then giving virtually equal status to an A grade in Hong Kong and the UK still might not address this imbalance. Also, the majority of UK universities often stipulate that students should receive at least a C grade at GCSE English (and sometimes Maths) as a requirement for entry. At the moment, HKCEE is seen as an equivalent to the GCSE so students with an HKCEE grade of C or better in English are able to apply to a UK university. Those without a GCSE or HKCEE are assessed on a case by case basis or are required to take a language exam such as IELTS. Now the HKCEE is being phased out, the IELTS exam will become more common.

The assessment by UCAS is an important step for the HKDSE. Parents who were worried about the problems facing the 2011/ 2012 cohort in terms of university entrance in Hong Kong, should now feel another option has been opened for them, since the UK will find the new qualification as acceptable as the one it is replacing.

For more information Visit:- HKDSE explained

For more information visit:- Options for an International Education in Hong Kong

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