EDB holds Life Planning Education Conference 2021 (with photos)
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The Education Bureau (EDB) held the Addressing Diverse Needs．Exploring Multiple Pathways – Life Planning Education Conference 2021 today (November 12). About 900 education practitioners and representatives of partner organisations took the opportunity to share experiences and enhance their professional capacity in life planning education.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the conference, the Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, said that the theme of this year’s conference, Addressing Diverse Needs．Exploring Multiple Pathways, was set in the hope that the diverse needs of different students, including gifted students, academic low achievers, students with special educational needs and students from different ethnicities, could be addressed. The EDB aims at unleashing their potential, developing their strengths and providing support for their further studies and career pursuits.
Facing the rapid development of new technologies, many emerging industries have sprung up. Hong Kong society needs diversified talents. All along, the EDB has attached great importance to catering for students’ diversity, advocating multiple entry and exit study pathways and cultivating their talents.
Mr Yeung pointed out that the National 14th Five-Year Plan announced this year offered support for the future development of Hong Kong in various key areas, and facilitated Hong Kong and Macao youths to study, work and start businesses in the Mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area. He encouraged youths to open their eyes to the neighbouring cities and seize the distinctive opportunities brought about by Hong Kong’s integration into the country’s overall development.
In the conference, he presented awards to 20 business partners which joined the Business-School Partnership Programme (BSPP), recognising their continuous contributions to the students’ life planning. Awards included the Highest Student Participation Award, the Highest Amount of Activities Offered Award, the Most Diversified Activity Types in Series Award and the Highest Student Participation in Work Experience Programme Award.
The EDB has committed to enhancing the implementation of life planning education at schools. In 2021, an online learning system – My Life Planning Portfolio – was set up on the Life Planning Information Website to provide handy tools for students to conduct career aptitude assessments and create learning portfolios, and teaching resources for teachers to assist students’ life planning. Moreover, the EDB has updated the Guide on Life Planning Education and Career Guidance for Secondary Schools, in which the proposed expected learning outcomes and intervention activities in implementing life planning education at junior and senior secondary levels were enriched, and exemplars of strategies for implementing life planning education at junior and senior secondary levels were also provided so as to facilitate schools to formulate and review their own school-based life planning education.
For primary schools, the EDB has implemented life planning education at upper primary levels starting from this school year. The EDB has devised the Framework of Implementation Strategies on Life Planning Education for Primary Schools, which outlines the core elements in implementing life planning education at upper primary levels and the recommended implementation strategies for schools’ reference. The EDB hopes that, through life planning education, primary students will better understand their own interests, abilities and aspirations, and develop positive values and attitudes towards learning and life for preparation of future studies and career pursuits.
Moreover, the EDB has been collaborating with business corporations and community organisations through the BSPP to provide a wide range of career explorations activities to students. These activities helped to equip students with information about different industries and develop an initial understanding of workplaces. Since the 2014/15 school year, about 400 business partners have joined the BSPP. Over 6 500 activities have been organised, benefiting more than 1.22 million students.
Professor Sin Kuen-fung from the Department of Special Education and Counselling, Education University of Hong Kong; Associate Professor from the Department of Social Work, Hong Kong Baptist University, Dr Simon Chan; the Honorary President of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, Dr Daniel Yip; and Hong Kong fencing athlete Vivian Kong were invited as the keynote speakers of the conference. A number of sharing sessions will also be held in the afternoon for participants to discuss their experiences and exchange views.
Education practitioners shared their views on students’ diverse needs and multiple pathways with the professionals and scholars, enabling them to enhance their professional capacity and better assist students in realising their aspirations on further studies and careers.
For further information on life planning education, please browse the EDB’s Life Planning Information Website (lifeplanning.edb.gov.hk/en/index.html).