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is the fact that they prepare students for the Hong Kong Advanced
Level examination (until recently under the control of an examinations
board of the University of Hong Kong), the syllabuses of which are in
English and are based on a two-year sixth-form course on conventional
British lines. On the other hand, the Chinese Middle schools prepare
students for the Hong Kong Higher Level examination (until recently
under the control of the Matriculation Board of the Chinese University
of Hong Kong), with syllabuses based on a one-year Middle 6 course.
Both examinations were originally conceived as matriculation examinations
for entry respectively to the University of Hong Kong (providing three-
year initial degree courses in the majority of subjects) and the Chinese
University (providing four-year initial degree courses) and in their
present form they have a marked effect not only on sixth-form curriculum
and structure but also appear to have some effect on the mainstream of
education below this level.
2.22
Sixth-form education is complicated by the fact that a very
high proportion of the Chinese University's student intake is now
drawn from the Anglo-Chinese schools, so that students in these schools
often prepare for both examinations (in addition, in some cases, to
the General Certificate of Education examinations provided at ordinary
and advanced levels for overseas students by the Associated Examining
Board and the University of London). The situation has been criticised
on the grounds that it causes confusion and creates unnecessary stress
among students, and is one factor in inhibiting the growth and
development of school curricula for senior forms. In 1978 the Board
of Education appointed a committee to consider and recommend how the
sixth-form curriculum should be broadened, having regard to the overall
needs both of sixth-form leavers who enter higher education and those
who do not. This report and the subsequent action based on its
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