The Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) has been sparing no efforts in promoting technology education (TechEd) and talent development. It recently released the results of the “Online Survey – Nurturing Our Own Home-Grown STEM Talent 2022” with the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers TechEd Centre (HKFEW TechEd Centre) and the College of Professional and Continuing Education Limited of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU CPCE). Most parents surveyed agree that TechEd should start in primary school and be formalised in the school curriculum while educators seek for more assistance in STEM education resources and support such as extra manpower support for teaching and administrative duties, provision of more STEM equipment, enrichment of new technology knowledge.
Over 1,000 parents and educators responded to the Survey which was conducted in September 2022 to gauge their views on the current situation and challenges in the implementation of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education, explore the resources and policy support for training future talents, and analyse the effectiveness and development potential of implementing TechEd. The findings are as follows:
Parents’ opinions on the current situation of their children learning STEM:
86% say that STEM should start in primary school
79% agree that STEM should be a formal school curriculum
75% feel that resources and support at school are not sufficient or just average
47% have not arranged their children to participate in any STEM-related activities
Current situation of educators’ implementation of TechEd:
82% feel their experience and knowledge in I&T are not sufficient or just average
80% feel that schools’ resources allocated to STEM are just average or not sufficient
55% claim they learned their STEM knowledge through personal experience and e-learning
Only 29% of schools have STEM as part of the school curriculum and taught by dedicated STEM teachers
28% say they spend more than 40% of their time on administrative duties which increase the difficulty in executing STEM education
The survey shows that parents and educators share the same views on emerging technologies and future skills, with AI / machine learning, data analytics and cyber security being the top three. This infers that parents and teachers are positive and forward-looking about new technologies and the future, and expect students to learn and apply advanced technologies to equip for the future.
Based on the opinions of parents and STEM educators, teaching resources are not sufficient, whether it is human resources, capital, smart devices, software and hardware. STEM educators think that there should be more manpower support in teaching STEM and administration duties (66%) and more “Smart Campus” facilities and equipment for teaching STEM (59%), whereas parents believe that for schools to promote STEM education, they should set up more smart facilities and equipment (58%), and provide a variety of STEM workshops (57%).
Please click here to view the key findings of “Online Survey – Nurturing Our Own Home-Grown STEM Talent 2022” (Chinese only).
