Teachers tasked to raise the bar

Teachers will be required to take the IELTS and the National Putonghua Proficiency Test to assess their qualification in the next school year, replacing the Language Proficiency Assessment, the Education Bureau says.

The Language Proficiency Assessment is jointly organized by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority and the Education Bureau.

Last year, more than half of 3,430 primary and secondary teachers failed in English writing, according to the exams authority.

Since 2001, the authority and the bureau have jointly conducted the annual assessment, which examines teachers' proficiency in English and Putonghua for teaching the subjects in schools.

Under the new mechanism, teachers should attain an overall band score of 7.5 or above in the International English Language Testing System's nine-band scale, with no individual band scores - listening, reading, writing and speaking - below 7 in the same test report form.

Those taking up the position of English panel chair should score at least an overall band score of 8 while attaining at least 7.5 in the four assessments.

For the Putonghua proficiency test, teachers are required to attain Grade A, Level 2 or above.

Teachers are not required to retake the tests if their results are still within IELTS's two-year validity period, said the bureau.

Teachers who hold a relevant degree in English and have received relevant teacher training with a specialty in English can apply for exemption from the test.

The classroom language assessment conducted by the bureau for both English and Putonghua subjects will be continued.

The bureau said: "Taking into account the concerns from the education sector and stakeholders, the latest trends of education development, students' learning needs, and schools' needs for deployment of human resources, we have reviewed the arrangements of the Language Proficiency Assessment policy and formulated enhanced measures."

It added schools must verify whether teachers have obtained the relevant qualifications.

"Schools shall bear the responsibility to pay the salaries on their own if the newly appointed or deployed regular English/Putonghua teachers fail to meet the enhanced assessments," the bureau said.

"We will also take appropriate follow-up actions, including requesting the schools to refund any overpayment of salaries to us."

Lin Chun-pong, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools, said it is understandable that the bureau is standardizing the language proficiency requirements to adopt highly recognized public exams.

"For language teachers, most of them had either obtained a postgraduate diploma in education and a four-year Bachelor's Degree in Languages, or a five-year bachelor's degree in education, which have already included the one-year [postgraduate diploma in education]," Lin said.

He said most teachers have already obtained relevant training and can be exempt from taking the assessments.

"This is just a new option for teachers. I don't feel the requirements have been relaxed." But he added the bureau should have announced the adjustment earlier to give more time for teachers to get prepared ahead of the new school year.

Lin also suggested the bureau hold the Classroom Language Assessment more frequently from the current once a year.

However, Pauline Chow Lo-sai, a veteran English teacher and a former member of the Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications, is worried the new arrangement would not assess teachers' ability to spot students' mistakes, as IELTS is designed to assess one's own language proficiency.

Chow also felt confused about the bureau's explanation, saying she had never heard of the industry calling for canceling the language proficiency requirement, and asked if the actual reason for the cessation could be financial concerns.

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com