Hong Kong authorities to review medium of instruction in schools after major study

Hong Kong education authorities will review the policy on the medium of instruction in public secondary schools for the 2028-34 cycle after looking at the results of a three-year evaluation study and consulting the sector, the Post has learned.The review comes as a council representing subsidised secondary schools urged the government to allow more institutions to teach subjects in English to better prepare pupils moving on to higher education programmes conducted in the language.The Education Bureau told the Post that it had commissioned the University of Hong Kong (HKU) to conduct a three-year longitudinal study on how English as the medium of instruction for certain lessons had been implemented in three schools starting from the 2022-23 academic year.Longitudinal studies track changes, identify patterns and establish potential causal relationships between variables over time by observing and collecting data from the same subjects repeatedly.“HKU has completed the collection of data in three school years and is currently conducting a detailed analysis, after which it will submit a report to the Education Bureau,” a bureau spokeswoman said.“The Education Bureau will review the policy and share the research findings with stakeholders in a timely manner.”