The Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, attended the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Governing Board Meeting organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on November 27 and 28 (Dubrovnik time) to discuss the current status of and future planning for PISA with representatives from other regions.
At the meeting, Dr Choi received updates on PISA's progress, including preparations for the PISA 2025 Innovative Domain Learning in the Digital World, and development of the PISA 2029 Framework for Artificial Intelligence and Media Literacy.
Dr Choi said that Hong Kong has been participating in PISA since 2002. Its data has provided an invaluable source for the Education Bureau over the years to analyse students' strengths and weaknesses, and factors related to learning effectiveness. PISA supports the bureau to examine, evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of the education system, and provides education practitioners with analyses on the effectiveness of school-level learning and teaching.
She said that PISA's cross-cultural and longitudinal comparisons are particularly inspiring. They provide scientifically based evaluations of educational outcomes to benchmark students' performance against the international norm and chart the progress over time. Hong Kong students have consistently performed well in PISA. Results have shown that family background and socio-economic status have minimal bearing on the students' performance, reflecting the distinctive advantage of Hong Kong's education system, which offers students an equal opportunity to receive quality education.
During the meeting, Dr Choi met the Minister of Science, Education and Youth of Croatia, Professor Radovan Fuchs, to discuss further strengthening higher education co-operation between Hong Kong and Croatia, and exchange views on the developments of vocational and professional education and training, and universities of applied sciences. Dr Choi also met education officials from Kyrgyzstan, Argentina and the Philippines to discuss higher education collaboration. She encouraged students from these Belt and Road countries to apply for the Belt and Road Scholarships established by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, and study in Hong Kong.
Dr Choi also visited the Dubrovnik School of Tourism and Hospitality, a vocational training institution for secondary school students, to see for herself how the school enhances students' skills and expertise in tourism and hospitality industries through providing various work-based learning opportunities.
On November 29 (Dubrovnik time), Dr Choi will speak at the PISA Conference to promote Hong Kong's education strengths.
Follow this news feed: East Asia