13 -
being to monitor its implementation with a view to suggesting to the
subject committees whatever modifications appear to be necessary or
desirable. After the trial period has been completed and all adjustments
approved, the new curriculum is then issued in the form of a suggested
syllabus. There is no compulsion upon a school to follow the suggested
syllabus, provided any proposed alternative syllabuses are acceptable
to the Director: however, since the more reputable textbook publishers
base their books (with the active encouragement of the Department) on the
suggested syllabuses, most schools accept that the suggested syllabuses,
together with their supporting resource materials, offer a sound approach
to teaching.
7.15
At one time the existence of separate teaching and examination
syllabuses presented a serious obstacle to curriculum development, since
many schools disregarded the suggested teaching syllabuses and simply
followed the examination syllabuses. This resulted in undue and
premature emphasis on examination techniques and examination-centred
teaching: in the worst cases, subjects which were not examined were
omitted from the curriculum because they were thought to distract the
school.from its main task. Although examinations are still dominant, for
reasons explained at the beginning of this chapter, their pernicious.
effect on the curriculum has been controlled with a reasonable degree
of success in recent years as a result of the close co-operation and
consultation which has developed between CDC and HKEA subject committees.
By and large the HKCE examinations are now closely influenced by the
school curriculum, rather than the reverse. The two selection and
allocation schemes under the control of the Education Department (the
Secondary School Places Allocation scheme and the Junior Secondary
Education Assessment scheme) have been devised as curriculum-oriented
processes for which the most effective preparation is good teaching on
the lines of the CDC recommended syllabuses that is, they should
facilitate rather than inhibit sound teaching and make examination