Education

Research Office Legislative Council Secretariat

ISSH33/19-20

Educational support for non-Chinese speaking students

Figure 1 – No. of NCS students in local kindergartens(1) Highlights and primary/secondary schools(2)  As at 2019-2020, there are some 33 000 non- 35 000 Chinese speaking ("NCS") students attending local

9 481 9 796 kindergartens and primary/secondary schools in 8 971 9 383 25 000 7 576 8 224 8 782 (Figure 1). Yet, some NCS students 9 849 10 051 8 958 9 266 9 622 may encounter difficulties in acquiring Chinese as 15 000 8 290 8 697 a second language. This language barrier might present a challenge for NCS students in adapting 12 029 11 933 11 982 12 240 12 409 12 968 12 956 5 000 to the local education system and progressing to

2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 further studies or employment.

Kindergarten Primary Secondary  It is the Government's policy to ensure equal Notes: (1) The figures include kindergartens, kindergarten-cum-child care opportunities in education for all eligible children centres and schools with kindergarten classes. (2) The figures include public sector schools and Direct Subsidy Scheme in public sector schools. Since 2014, the schools, but not special schools. Government has implemented the Chinese

Figure 2 – Additional government expenditure on Language Curriculum Second Language Learning support measures for NCS students Framework in local primary/secondary schools to (HK$) (HK$ million) help NCS students master the language and 20,000 HK$457m 500 bridge over to mainstream classes. The specific measures include (a) disbursing additional 400 15,000 funding to local kindergartens and HK$13,900 300 10,000 primary/secondary schools with NCS students; HK$10,700 200 (b) supporting NCS students to acquire alternative HK$97m HK$8,700 HK$11,300 5,000 HK$7,500 Chinese language qualifications apart from the HK$8,100 100 HK$3,500 Hong Kong Diploma Secondary Examination (Chinese Language); and (c) providing resources in 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 (estimate) teaching and professional development. Expenditure per NCS student (1) Total expenditure Reflecting this, the Government's additional per

Note: (1) The figures are rounded off to the nearest hundred. capita expenditure on educational support for NCS students have increased by almost fourfold, Figure 3 – Additional funding for local kindergartens and from HK$3,500 in 2013-2014 to HK$13,900 in primary/secondary schools with NCS students 2019-2020 (Figure 2).

Kindergartens Primary/secondary schools  Most of the funding for NCS students is disbursed No. of NCS No. of NCS Annual subsidy Annual funding students students to eligible schools on a tiered basis ranging (HK$)(1) (HK$)(1) admitted admitted from HK$50,000 to HK$1.5 million according to 1 to 4(2) 50,000 1 to 9 50,000 the number of NCS students admitted (Figure 3). 5 to 7(2) 0.2 million 10 to 25 0.8 million Yet, there have been concerns that schools 8 to 15 0.4 million 26 to 50 0.95 million with fewer than 10 NCS students are 16 to 30 0.6 million 51 to 75 1.1 million provided with inadequate funding support. 31 or above 0.8 million 76 to 90 1.25 million 91 or more 1.5 million For primary/secondary schools in particular, the amount of funding received is one-sixteenth Notes: (1) The figures refer to the subsidy/funding for the 2019-2020 school year. that of schools with 10 to 25 NCS students. (2) The subsidies for these two tiers have been newly provided starting

from the 2019-2020 school year.

Educational support for non-Chinese speaking students (cont'd) Figure 4 – Use of funding and adoption of teaching Highlights (1) (2) modes for NCS students  The additional funding to primary/secondary schools

Appointment of additional teachers is mainly used to appoint more teachers or assistants, 3.4% 1.9% or teaching assistants which has in turn enabled the schools to adopt Appointment of ethnic minority various intensive teaching modes such as after-school 4.7% assistants Total funding: Purchase of learning and teaching consolidation (91%) and pull-out learning (42%) HK$271 million resources (Figure 4). The support measures seem to have met Procurement of professional with limited success. For instance, a survey in 2019 services 88.6% Organizing activities to promote an found that, due in part to inadequate professional inclusive environment in schools support, only 38% of Chinese language teachers

reported having confidence in teaching NCS students. After-school consolidation 91% Moreover, according to the latest figures available, Pull-out learning 42% the Government unveiled that only some 13% of NCS Co-teaching 27% Total no. of students had bridged over to mainstream Chinese Increasing Chinese language lesson time 15% schools provided classes in 2015-2016. This has given rise to views Split-class/group learning 14% with the funding: 464 that more performance indicators are needed to Learning Chinese across the curriculum 12% gauge the effectiveness of the support measures.

20% 40% 60% 80% 100%  Apart from the support for intensive teaching, the Notes: (1) Each school can adopt more than one teaching mode. (2) Provisional figures for the 2019-2020 school year. Government also subsidizes NCS students who are in

senior secondary and less proficient in Chinese to Figure 5 – No. of NCS students sitting for alternative acquire alternative Chinese language qualifications Chinese language examinations under the General Certificate of Secondary Education 2 292 ("GCSE"), International General Certificate of 2 092 No. of NCS students 1 900 taking ApL(C) and Secondary Education ("IGCSE") or General Certificate 1 699 1 536 subsidized to sit for of Education ("GCE"). Since 2014-2015, Applied 1 471 GCSE, IGCSE or GCE 1 222 (1) Learning (Chinese) ("ApL(C)") has also been offered as 1 119 Chinese No. of NCS students an alternative qualification pathway under the taking HKDSE Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (2) (Chinese Language) 120 ("HKDSE"). From 2013 to 2020, the number of NCS 113 116 106 103 110 97 students sitting for the above examinations has

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 doubled from 1 119 to 2 292 (Figure 5). The qualifications they obtain can be used to fulfil the Notes: (1) The first ApL(C) examinations took place in 2017. (2) There is no information available on the number of NCS students general entrance requirements for University Grant taking HKDSE (Chinese Language) in 2020. Committee ("UGC") funded post-secondary

programmes under the Joint University Programmes Figure 6 – Percentage of NCS students admitted to Admissions System ("JUPAS"). UGC-funded post-secondary programmes  Probably reflecting the effectiveness of additional through JUPAS qualification pathways, the percentage of NCS 30% 27.6% 26.6% 27.5% students admitted to UGC-funded post-secondary 25.1% 23.1% 25% programmes has increased modestly from 12.9% in 13.4 pp 2014-2015 to 14.1% in 2018-2019 (Figure 6). Yet, 20% 10.2 percentage points ("pp") there is still a noticeable gap in the admission rate 15% between NCS students and the overall student 14.1% 10% 12.9% 12.7% 12.8% population. This is indicative of the remaining 9.0% language barrier, alongside other social and 5% 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 educational challenges, faced by NCS students in their Percentage of NCS students admitted pursuit for further studies.

Percentage of overall student population admitted Data sources: Latest figures from the and Equal

Opportunities Commission.

Research Office Information Services Division Legislative Council Secretariat 8 July 2020 Tel: 2871 2146

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