ISE13/16-17

• STEM (i.e. acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education originated from the United States in the 1990s, but has increasingly become a focus of global education upon robust development of information technology over the past two decades. Unlike conventional subjects, STEM education emphasizes on the application of interdisciplinary knowledge, problem-solving and innovative skills. To align with this global trend, the Chief Executive has provided a one-off grant of HK$100,000 to each primary school to support school-based STEM education and activities following the Policy Address in 2016, and HK$200,000 to each secondary school after the Policy Address in 2017. In December 2016, the Education Bureau ("EDB") released a dedicated report on promotion of STEM education.

• Promotion of STEM education has been discussed at the Panel on Education on several occasions since 2015. Members' concerns included inadequate coverage of STEM subjects after the introduction of the New Senior Secondary Curriculum ("NSSC") in 2009 and challenges faced by schools and teachers in delivering quality STEM education both inside and outside classroom. It contrasts against the integrated approach adopted by the Estonian government to promote STEM education which has given rise to remarkable outcomes in recent years. This issue of Essentials focuses on recent development of STEM education in secondary schools in Hong Kong, followed by a discussion of major policy initiatives on STEM education in Estonia.

Recent development of STEM education in local secondary schools

• Among the four STEM subjects, Mathematics is a compulsory subject throughout the six-year secondary education in Hong Kong. While Integrated Science is still compulsory at junior secondary level, science subjects (i.e. Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Combined Science and Integrated Science)^{1Legend symbol denoting In addition to conventional science subjects, EDB has introduced two new science subjects - "Combined Science" and "Integrated Science" - to encourage students to study science subjects under NSSC. Both subjects adopt an interdisciplinary approach to provide a broad overview of key science education strands within one subject. However, only 11.9% of secondary schools offered "Combined Science", with an uptake rate of 1.8% among students in secondary four in the school year of 2015-2016. For "Integrated Science", only 2.2% of secondary schools offered the course, with an uptake rate of only 0.3%. See Education Bureau (2016c).} become optional at senior secondary level. In the school year of 2015-2016, as many as 51% of the 56 000 candidates of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination ("HKDSE") did not take any science subjects at all.^{2Legend symbol denoting See Education Bureau (2016c).} As to the 10 optional subjects with Technology or Engineering content, they were taken up by at most 39% of HKDSE candidates in 2015-2016.^{3Legend symbol denoting The figure is derived by summing up the proportion of HKDSE candidates registering the 10 subjects under "Technology Education" (Category A) and "Engineering and Production" (Category B) in 2015-2016 school year. As some of these candidates could sit for up to four optional subjects in HKDSE, the figure might involve multiple-counting and overstate the number and proportion of HKDSE students actually taking technology and engineering subjects. See Education Bureau (2016c) and Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (2016).}
• STEM proficiency can be measured by the scores in the Programme for International Student Assessment ("PISA"), an international benchmarking exercise to assess teenagers aged 15 of their abilities in three core areas (i.e. science, mathematics and reading) on a triennial basis. Hong Kong used to perform very well in PISA, ranking the second in science and third in mathematics across the globe in 2012. However, for the latest 2015-round results released at end 2016, Hong Kong's ranking in science slipped noticeably to the ninth position, along with a 6% drop in the overall score.^{4Legend symbol denoting See OECD (2017).} In spite of advancement to the second position in mathematics, this has triggered renewed concerns over the effectiveness of local STEM education.
• To a certain extent, the slip in scores in science may be attributable to the reduced intensity of science education in NSSC adopted since 2009. This is manifested in a steep decline of 23% in the average number of science-related sessions per week, from 7.2 in 2009 to 5.5 in 2015.^{5Legend symbol denoting See The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2016).} Coupled with a sharp decrease in the proportion of students in senior secondary level taking three science-related subjects from 40% to 3% over the same period,^{6Legend symbol denoting Under the old senior secondary curriculum, approximately 40% of students were in science stream, taking at least three science-related courses. After the abolition of streaming system upon the introduction of NSSC in 2009, students are required to take two or three elective subjects, in addition to the core subjects. In 2015-2016, only 3% of HKDSE candidates took three science subjects. See Education Bureau (2016c) and The Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong (2016).} this should have noticeable implications for the overall proficiency in science among students.
• Since 2015, EDB has introduced a series of support measures to schools for the promotion of STEM education.^{7Legend symbol denoting The support measures on STEM education included: (a) updating/renewing the related curricula; (b) strengthening teacher professional development programmes; (c) enriching learning and teaching resources; (d) organizing a wide array of STEM-related activities/competitions; (e) setting up Professional Development Schools to showcase and disseminate good practices; (f) forging community partnerships to synergize efforts; and (g) consulting stakeholders to collect feedback and suggestions on the way-forward. See Education Bureau (2016a).} More recently, EDB released the "Report on Promotion of STEM education - Unleashing Potential in Innovation" at end-2016, after a year-long consultation with stakeholders. The gist of the multi-pronged strategy to further promote STEM education is summarized below:
  
  

  (a)	Strengthening integration and application of knowledge across different STEM-related curricula: To enhance the capabilities of students to integrate and apply the knowledge and skills learnt in solving daily life problems, more efforts will be placed on "nurturing students' creativity, collaboration, problem-solving skills and innovativeness through student-centred pedagogy";
  (b)	Enriching STEM learning activities inside and outside classrooms: EDB has recommended schools to adopt cross-disciplinary learning in both classroom lessons and out-of-classroom activities through whole-school curriculum planning. Also, EDB will strengthen collaboration with professional bodies to provide STEM-related activities to enrich students' learning experience;
  (c)	Providing resource support to STEM education: To kick-start or enhance school-based STEM education, EDB disbursed a one-off grant of HK$100,000 to each primary school in 2016 to procure and upgrade STEM teaching and learning resources. Similar grant of HK$200,000 will be delivered to each secondary school in 2017. At end-2016, EDB launched a new website to disseminate the latest information about STEM education in Hong Kong; and
  (d)	Enhancing professional development for school leaders and teachers: Professional development programme (in form of training, seminars, workshops and networking activities) will be organized for teachers and school leaders to enhance their capacity for cross-disciplinary teaching. To promote knowledge transfer and cross-fertilization between schools, EDB will disseminate the exemplary practices in STEM teaching and learning seen in pioneering schools to other local schools.

• Notwithstanding these initiatives, there are concerns over whether they can adequately improve STEM education in Hong Kong. According to a study report released in January 2017, the imbalance of science and non-science education of the current senior secondary curriculum provides limited STEM education to students, and is not conducive to Hong Kong's development into a knowledge-based economy.^{8Legend symbol denoting See The Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong (2016).}

STEM education in Estonia

• Estonia is a small Eastern European country regaining independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. With a small population of just 1.3 million and very limited natural resources, the Estonian government is keen to develop an innovation-led and technology-intensive economy. This is manifested in (a) making free Wi-Fi available in most public places as early as 2002; (b) adopting Internet voting in local, national and European elections since 2005; and (c) high representation of technology industries in the economy that accounts for 15% of Estonia's GDP.
• The Estonian government has invested heavily in education for the development of a technology-intensive economy. Education spending accounted for as much as 6% of GDP of Estonia in 2015, higher than that of just 3% in Hong Kong and the average figure of 5% among the 28 member states of the European Union ("EU"). Specifically on STEM education, the Estonian government has introduced the following measures:
  
  

  (a)	Strong emphasis on science and mathematics in the national curriculum: All students in Estonia are required to take science and mathematics up to the age of 18-19. Moreover, the compulsory courses for science and mathematics take up about one-third of the total course-load during the three-year upper secondary education,9Legend symbol denoting According to the regulation on national curriculum for upper secondary schools, each student needs to study at least 96 courses (with each course taking up about 35 academic hours). These 96 courses comprise both compulsory and optional courses. The number of the compulsory courses is 62-69, while the remaining are optional. See Government of the Republic of Estonia (2014). while extra-curricular activities are organized to complement and extend classroom learning.10Legend symbol denoting See Kikas (undated) and Information Technology Foundation for Education (2017). For students with particular interests in STEM, specialized upper secondary schools have been established to allocate more time and resources to STEM subjects, on top of compulsory curriculum.
  (b)	Student-centered approach to encourage application of knowledge: As from 2011, all students are required to carry out a research or creative project before graduating from secondary schools, many of which are STEM-related. These projects put students in the driver's seat of their own learning as they need to synthesize the knowledge and skills learned to create something new, while the projects could become springboards for students to enter national competitions on technology and innovation, such as National Contest of Young Scientists and National Contest of Young Inventors. The winning teams would get cash prizes and opportunities to represent Estonia to compete internationally at events such as the European Union Contest for Young Scientists, and Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the world's largest pre-college science competition held annually in the United States.
  (c)	Continuing education for teachers supported by universities and professional bodies: The Estonian government provides special support to teachers of various disciplines, including STEM teachers. In 2010, new science teaching methods based on inquiry and problem-solving were introduced. The Estonian Research Council thus set up a dedicated department to support STEM teaching in schools by involving experts and researchers in course design and supervision of science projects, and organizing teacher training for these purposes. In 2013, the Estonian government updated the professional standards for teachers, re-defining core competencies in the teaching profession. Since then, it is compulsory for teachers to receive continuing education (at least 160 hours in every five-year cycle) funded by the government.11Legend symbol denoting Contrary to the mandatory requirement on teachers' continuing training in Estonia, EDB in Hong Kong only recommends teachers to meet a soft target of attending not less than 150 hours of Continuing Professional Development ("CPD") activities every three years. CPD activities are mostly organized by schools,while teachers can also participate in training organized by EDB and other professional bodies. EDB does not provide any direct subsidy to teachers for these activities. See Education Bureau (2012).
  (d)	Resource portal to enable sharing of practice wisdom between teachers: In 2009, the Estonian government launched an online repository, School Life (Koolielu), gathering teacher-created e-learning resources across the country. Through this platform, teachers not only could exchange with other users on teaching practices, but also download materials created by other teachers and educational bodies such as textbooks, videos, mobile apps, teaching games, e-worksheets and online tests free of charge. In 2014, Estonia and Finland entered into an agreement to develop a common "Education Cloud" that enables cross-fertilization of educational resources between two of the strongest education systems in the world.
  (e)	Large-scale science communication programme to popularize STEM: Efforts were made to motivate young people to study and work in STEM fields. With a budget of €3.5 million (HK$30.1 million), the TeaMe initiative organized a host of events during 2009-2015, including television programmes, game shows, and career exposure opportunities to make learning STEM fun and appealing to young people.12Legend symbol denoting One of the most notable programmes under the TeaMe initiative is Rocket 69, an educational reality show where young contestants compete against each other by solving complex STEM-related assignments to win a €10,000 (HK$85,900) scholarship. Since 2011, more than 120 episodes have been aired, with a viewership of 100 000 for each episode, according to the information provided by the Estonia Research Council. See Estonian Research Council(2017). Additional injection of €3.2 million (HK$27.5 million) into TeaMe+ has been made for the period of 2015-2020.

• Reflecting the effectiveness of the above initiatives on STEM education, Estonia has made remarkable progress in the 2015-round PISA results. With a score of 534 in science, Estonia rose to the third position in 2015 from the ninth in 2009 in the global league table, and outranked Finland to become the first among the 28 EU countries. With a score of 520 in mathematics, Estonia also rose noticeably from the 17^th to the 9^th position over the same period.
• With sustained policy emphasis on STEM subjects, as many as 29% of secondary school leavers pursued STEM-related study in higher education in Estonia in 2014. Reflecting a more favourable career prospects, the unemployment rate for workers in STEM-related fields stayed low at around 2-3%, as compared with overall unemployment rate of 6% in 2015.^{13Legend symbol denoting See European Parliament (2015) and Department of Professional Employees (2016).}

Prepared by Phoebe TANG
Research Office
Information Services Division
Legislative Council Secretariat
26 May 2017