School-based assessment in Hong Kong: Policies, issues, and practice

Hong Kong has long been using high stakes examinations in the education system. High stakes tests are product-oriented which is less helpful for learning. In recent years in particular, Hong Kong would like to make a change to its examination system. The government sees that school-based assessment (SBA) can bring about many educational benefits. It can help reduce examination pressure and helps improve teaching and learning. Subsequently, a much wider use of SBA has recently been added to the assessment system as one important aspect of the assessment reform. The new initiatives have been received by the education sector in different ways. A study was thus conducted to understand how teachers responded to the new initiatives. About a hundred secondary school teachers were invited to complete a questionnaire. Analysis of the quantitative data revealed that teachers generally felt that SBA was beneficial to teaching and learning. However, the qualitative data showed that teachers perceived a lot of difficulties associated with SBA. To make SBA in Hong Kong a success, a lot of issues will need to be addressed. These will be reported and discussed during the presentation.