weekly
Written by: Lin Jiaqi
2020-04-07 17:44
Last update date: 2020-04-07 17:44In response to the spread of the new coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) epidemic, all schools in Hong Kong have been suspended since the New Year holiday. Although the academic community proposes to "stop classes without stopping", they have replaced the face-to-face teaching with e-learning in order to track back the teaching progress. The online teaching is known to allow students to continue to learn, but there are hidden worries behind them.
The government announced on March 21 that the written examination of the diploma will be extended to April 24, and all schools will continue to suspend classes until further notice. Some teachers bluntly stated that if the effectiveness of e-learning is the same as the reality of face-to-face teaching, the school will not arrange early supplementary lessons for summer vacation. However, the authorities seem to be too optimistic about the evaluation of the effectiveness of "suspending classes and non-stopping". Two points are worth considering.
The effectiveness of e-learning is temporarily difficult to compare with face-to-face teaching. (Information picture / Photographed by O'Gallery)
One: Can everyone "learn online"?
Many frontline teachers admit that how much knowledge a student can absorb during the suspension is actually "the poor get poorer and the rich get richer", which means that whether a student can make full use of this time to seize learning opportunities is with him The socioeconomic status of the family is very important.
Non-governmental organizations concerned about the development of schoolchildren carried out an online questionnaire survey on the 3rd of last month. They interviewed about 300 grassroots schoolchildren who were in primary to high school and found that 67% of the schoolchildren interviewed used mobile phones because they did not have a computer at home. There is no WiFi at home to study online. Due to the closure of the public library, some grassroots students went to fast-food restaurants McDonald's and convenience stores to borrow WiFi to teach and do their homework.
The Education Bureau implemented the "Fourth Information Technology Education Strategy" as early as the 2014/15 school year. It recommended that schools allow teachers and students to use "self-contained devices" (BYOD) during classes to allow students to learn during classes and at home. To this end, the Care Fund implements "to subsidize the poor primary and secondary school students to purchase mobile computer devices to practice e-learning" (hereinafter referred to as the "funding scheme"). Students in need can receive full or half cash assistance. However, the above only applies to 270 primary and secondary schools that have participated in the "self-contained device" program.
In Hong Kong, the expression "win at the starting line" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but many grassroots units are still eager to change their destiny with knowledge, and schools should be a place that provides equal learning opportunities. However, during the days when the epidemic spreads, e-learning unconsciously became a burden for the grassroots families. What is needed for e-learning, whether it is hardware such as a computer or software such as WiFi, is not available to every class of students. The inability to learn because of the family environment is an urban tragedy, and it will also cast a shadow on the youth's psychology.
The government announced two measures to assist grass-roots students: 1. Jointly with telecommunications providers to provide students with free mobile data services for two months; 2. The subsidy program will be extended to all qualified students in public primary and secondary schools that implement e-learning .
However, the measures are only transient. When the government intends to implement "e-learning" for a long time, it seems that it is time to reflect on this epidemic. It is necessary to change the hardware and software that neglected whether families can afford online teaching in the past, and never let family background become students' knowledge pursuit obstacle.
Affected by the epidemic, the diploma exam was held until the end of April, disrupting the deployment of many candidates. (Profile picture / Photo by Liang Pengwei)
Two: Diploma candidates have the most influence?
The government announced that it will postpone the exam to the end of April on the sixth day from the original exam. For the current candidates, it undoubtedly affected their psychological state, and the exam days of the various subjects of the HKDSE were also mobilized, which also destroyed their original study plan. However, some frontline teachers pointed out that the government's most influential measure is actually the current Secondary Five students.
On the day of the announcement of the HKDSE arrangement, the Education Bureau also stated that all schools in Hong Kong would not resume classes earlier than April 20, and the resumption of classes would be temporarily indefinite.
According to the "High School Curriculum Guidelines" of the Education Bureau, each high school year has a total of 190 school days, with an average of 6 hours per day. Taking the school calendar of one of the schools on the EDB website as an example, using the EDB's statement (that is, the class is resumed not earlier than April 20), it is roughly estimated that the student lost 46 days of school due to suspension of the class, plus last year due to traffic On November 14, 15, 18, and 19, the paralyzed and suspended classes, that is, this year's Secondary 4 and 5 students lost a total of 50 days. In other words, about 30% of school days are missing in a school year.
Each subject (except Mathematics, Chinese History, and History) has a school-based assessment (commonly known as SBA), which allows teachers in the school to assess student performance, and the score will affect the final level of the HKDSE. According to the past operation, the Education Bureau requires schools to submit their SBA scores in January of the sixth year of the school year. The Fifth Five-Year School is an important year to complete the SBA. Some frontline teachers said that it is difficult to control the progress of students. Because they cannot be face-to-face urged, they can only contact them by phone. Only some students are self-disciplined enough. In the unlikely event that the suspension of classes continues, the teacher is worried that the time required to practice the student's test-taking skills will be used to complete the SBA, which will affect the student's public test scores.
In the new senior high school system where the teaching burden was already quite heavy, the teaching progress has been quite tight. The biggest "goal" of teachers now is to think about how to add supplementary lessons after the resumption of classes to recover the backward progress. In the past, academic circles generally shortened the summer vacations from S5 to S6, requiring students to return to school in mid-August or at the end of August. The first is to prepare students for the test-taking mentality earlier and the second is to allow teachers to have extra time to teach.
In fact, the new high school system ’s teaching scope is too wide and the class hours are too long. It is often criticized by front-line teachers. Under the current situation of indefinite resumption of classes, it will bring a heavier teaching burden to teachers. Does the Education Bureau have a cure for this? Will there be any adjustments to the HKDSE arrangement? It's still a question mark.
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