Hong Kong education authorities to replace test for English teachers with IELTS, as lawmaker raises concerns over shake-up
- Education Bureau says government-organised Language Proficiency Assessment to be scrapped from next school year
- Lawmaker Chu Kwok-keung warns new cut-off IELTS score of 7.5 for non-native English educators could make it harder to fill teaching positions
Hong Kong education authorities will replace a local assessment for English teachers with an internationally recognised test, prompting a lawmaker to raise concerns that the move might make it more difficult to hire candidates.
Under the current system, English teachers must sit the Language Proficiency Assessment (LPA) held by education and examination authorities each year if they lack the relevant degree and training.
The Education Bureau announced on Wednesday that the assessment introduced in 2001 would be replaced by an academic module under the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) starting from the next school year.
“Taking into account the concerns from the education sector and stakeholders, the latest trends of education development, students’ learning needs and schools’ needs for deployment of human resources, the Education Bureau has reviewed the arrangements of the LPR [Language Proficiency Requirement] policy and formulated enhanced measures,” it wrote in a circular.
Under IELTS, candidates are rated on a 9-band scale, with 1 indicating a “non-user” of the language, 7 a “good user” and 9 an “expert user”.
The test comprises four sections – reading, listening, writing and speaking. Each element is graded separately.