The results of the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) survey were announced on Tuesday. There were some very positive improvements for parts of China but Hong Kong saw its rankings fall.
The survey found 15-year-olds from Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang outperformed those from 78 other education systems. This means that mainland Chinese students have edged out those from Singapore to take the top spot in a global benchmarking test. In this year’s edition, Hong Kong – where 6,037 students from 152 schools were randomly selected for the assessment – was also nudged down in the charts, ranking fourth in mathematics and reading, and ninth in science.
Hau Kit-tai, professor of educational psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the city’s Pisa score for science is evidence of the need “to improve our science education programme at secondary schools, especially in this day and age of STEM,” (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
What do you think? Do you agree with the professor?
Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.