ENG-2006 — Page 179

Education | 147

Early Childhood Education and a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education respectively by 2012.

New Academic Structure for Senior Secondary and Higher Education

The Government announced in May 2005 that a New Senior Secondary (NSS) Academic Structure will be introduced in September 2009. Under a new '334' system, all students will have to attend junior secondary schools for three years, followed by a further three years in senior secondary schools. The existing two public examinations will be reduced to one, opening the way for students to sit for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) examination. The length of university undergraduate courses will be extended from three to four years.

The Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) has published the New Senior Secondary (NSS) Curriculum and Assessment (C&A) Guides of the four core subjects and the 20 elective subjects. The C&A Guides aim to help schools prepare for the implementation of the NSS academic structure in the 2009-10 school year. The first group of secondary school students to benefit from the new arrangement are those enrolled in September 2006. The eight tertiary institutions funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC) have already announced the general admission criteria under the NSS structure.

Language Education

A Language Fund set up by the Government provided grants for more than 1000 serving teachers to attend classes on the Mainland and in English-speaking countries. to improve their proficiency in Putonghua and English. To better reflect actual language standards attained by candidates, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) will adopt standards-referenced reporting for the Chinese language and English language subjects of the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) starting from 2007. This replaces the existing norm- referenced reporting which only shows the performance of a candidate in relation to the other candidates.

Medium of Instruction and Secondary School Places Allocation System

Steps are being taken to implement the recommendations made by the EC in its. Report on Review of Medium of Instruction for Secondary Schools and Secondary School Places Allocation.

Under the revised medium of instruction (MOI) arrangements, mother tongue would continue to be upheld as the principal MOI for secondary schools while students' English proficiency would be upgraded. Beginning in September 2010, schools wishing to use English as the MOI must fulfil the three prescribed criteria of student ability, teacher capability and support measures. The English Enhancement Scheme for secondary schools using Chinese as the MOI and the Additional Support Scheme for schools using the English medium were launched in March 2006 to assist schools to boost the English proficiency of students.

The revised Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) System will be applied to students proceeding to Secondary One from the 2007-08 school year onwards. The