ENG-2004 — Page 205

Education | 171

about 1 100 teachers have subscribed to the programmes in English and about 1 350 in Chinese.

A Task Force on Language Support was set up in 2003 to assist panel chairpersons, curriculum leaders and teachers in schools in implementing the curriculum reform, and to acquaint them with the latest pedagogical knowledge and skills. In 2004, the task force continued to build on its strength to provide support to schools in different modes, including enlisting experienced teachers from the Mainland.

Meanwhile, the Government and SCOLAR continued to create a more motivating language learning environment for students and working adults through projects and events sponsored by the Language Fund, such as English language camps, the Reading Ambassador and Reading Contract project, the Putonghua Festival, the English in the Air project, and the Workplace English Campaign.

Major Challenges Ahead

Reform of Academic Structure for Senior Secondary and Higher Education

The Government will take a balanced view on feedback collected during the public consultation on the academic structure for senior secondary and higher education. To prepare for the implementation of the new academic structure, the Government will finalise the curriculum framework for all subjects for senior secondary forms, complete the relevant Curriculum and Assessment Guides and expand professional development programmes and school-based support to enhance the reform capacity of teachers and principals in the coming few years. The Government will also provide other supporting measures to ensure its smooth implementation.

Curriculum Reform

Continuous efforts will be made to sustain the success of curriculum development in basic education through the four key tasks, namely 'Moral and Civic Education', 'Reading to Learn', 'Project Learning' and 'Information Technology for Interactive Learning'. Schools are encouraged to make school-based adaptation to the central curriculum and use appropriate strategies of learning, teaching and assessment flexibly.

A pilot scheme of Career-Oriented Curriculum (COC) for senior secondary students who would benefit from learning in areas with specific career orientation alongside the more academic studies is also under way, with the total number of courses increasing from 12 in 2003-04 to 32 in 2004-05. The EMB has commenced a quality assurance exercise for selected COC courses to facilitate articulation to further studies or employment.

School Based Professional Support

In July 2004, the EMB set up a $550 million Education Development Fund to strengthen the professional support to schools to help them take forward the education reform.