Academic banding and pupils' attitudes towards technology: A study of Hong Kong's selective school structure

Historically, the educational system in Hong Kong was designed to produce a small, English-speaking elite who were destined (for the most part) for the upper ranks of the Civil Service. Despite the fact that this system is now inappropriate to a post-colonial, post modern Hong Kong, it survives largely intact. Students finishing Hong Kong’s primary schools are allocated to their secondary schools though the results of an aptitude test which determines student placement and academic “band” or track. This “banding” determines the type of secondary education and school that a child receives, and in turn greatly influences future tertiary and employment opportunities. In Hong Kong, where the type and quality of education a student receives is influenced by their academic banding, the student’s negative or positive attitudes toward technology has obvious implications for their participatory role in society. This paper presents the results of a study on Hong Kong pupils’ attitudes toward technology. Over 3,000 students from the Secondary 3 level were administered a Pupils’ Attitudes Toward Technology (PATT) survey. The results identified significant attitudinal differences for students from different bands that had technical classes such as Design & Technology. Copyright © 1999 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association.