Assessment for Learning in the Hong Kong Assessment Reform: A Case of Policy Borrowing

• In Event: International Perspectives on School Improvement: Sharing Innovation, Borrowing Policy

Abstract

This paper describes Hong Kong’s borrowing, primarily from the UK, of the assessment for learning policy, in the context of prolonged use of formal summative public examinations. Assessment for learning is “the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there” (Assessment Reform Group, 2002). Our analysis is guided by a social positivist critique (Dale, 2000) of the assessment for learning policy in the Hong Kong context. Consistent with that perspective, which seems to have underpinned the borrowing in the first place, we examine official documents and empirical studies.

Authors

• Zi Yan, The Education University of Hong Kong

• Gavin T. Brown, The University of Auckland