Contextual constraints in implementing STEM policy in Hong Kong

• In Event: Chinese roundtable II (Sponsored by SIG: East Asia)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Educational policies and programs

Proposal

Introduction:
STEM education has gained worldwide attention because it equips students with essential 21st century qualities such as innovation, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. Hong Kong is not an exception in the global trend. In 2015, Hong Kong Education Bureau (EDB) published an official document entitled Report on Promotion of STEM Education – Unleashing Potential in Innovation in order to promote STEM education in Hong Kong.

Theoretical framework:
Research shows that teachers often become the scapegoat when the policy is described as ineffective (Kumashiro, 2012). However, the blame to teachers tends to ignore the contextual constraints on the teachers’ implementation of policy in schools and classrooms. As Pitt (2009) notes, the sustainable implementation of a policy needs a comprehensive understanding of the context in which it is located. Ball, Maguire, and Braun (2012) also suggest policy is socially constructed, implying any research on policy implementation should not ignore the role of contextual constraints to policy implementation. Therefore, this study aims to reveal the contextual constraints affecting the implementation of STEM policy in Hong Kong.

Significance:
This study aims to provide policymakers with recommendations to improve the situation of policy implementation by revealing the contextual constraints. Moreover, education policies are experiencing a convergence trend under globalization. Influenced by the policies of the Commonwealth of Nations (especially UK and Australia), Hong Kong may share the similar patterns of contextual constraints on STEM policy implementation with these countries. Therefore, the findings attempt to have implications for these countries as well. Also this research attempts to empower teachers who are often disadvantaged in policy implementation by including their voice and discourse.

Objectives and Methods:
This study has three specific objectives: (1) to identify what contextual constraints of STEM policy implementation in Hong Kong are, (2) to look at how these contextual constraints affect the implementation of the policy in Hong Kong, and (3) to provide recommendations for the government to resolve these contextual constraints.

To achieve the objectives, this study will analyze public documents related to STEM policy in Hong Kong and interview school principals and front-line STEM teachers by using qualitative research design.

Findings:
Through the document analysis and interview, it identifies four types of contextual constraints in implementing STEM policy in Hong Kong.

（1） Contextual Constraints of Schools：Many Hong Kong schools assign teachers without enough STEM knowledge to teach STEM education. For example, many General Studies and Art teachers are required to integrate STEM into their lessons by schools. Due to their lack of sufficient STEM knowledge, the teachers are forced to input immense amount of time to further study STEM, resulting in the intensification of workload. Regardless of the teachers’ preparation for and familiarization with the knowledge, it is often found that they are not capable in delivering qualified teaching of such subjects. The matching of expertise and teaching subjects have always been out of focus. The situation is more serious in primary schools than in secondary schools. As a result, the quality of STEM education may decrease.

（2）Contextual Constraints of Teacher Education：To some extent, the contextual constraint of schools is related to the insufficient training to which STEM teachers can get access in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, the universities generally offer teacher education programs for the core subjects, like Chinese, English, and Mathematics. Thus, most of the teachers may not be well prepared to teach and implement STEM education in schools and classrooms. The lack of supply of the trained STEM teachers may force the schools assign teachers without enough STEM knowledge to teach. This situation is much more serious in primary schools. Currently, the professional training of STEM teachers provided by the university lags behind the urgent need far away.

（3）Contextual Constraint of Society：The whole Hong Kong society tends to regard STEM disciplines as inferior subjects compared with others like Law and Medicine. This societal attitude towards STEM disciplines can be found from the student choice of majors to study at universities. Most of the students do not choose STEM-related disciplines as their first priority and only treat them as a safe haven. One example was that The University of Hong Kong decided to terminate the degree programs of mathematics, physics and astronomy studies a few years ago because of the low student intake. This negative societal attitude may discourage students to study STEM disciplines or STEM education at university level resulting in the lack of insufficient trained teachers in Hong Kong reciprocally.

(4) Contextual Constraints of Policy: In such a situation, nevertheless, the government does not have effective policies to enhance the teachers to implement STEM. In Hong Kong, STEM is not a formal subject. The government does not provide any specific education curriculum or instruction for actual implementation of STEM in schools. Thus, it makes many teachers diffuse the knowledge of STEM within general education, computer science and mathematics subjects during the 2 years of STEM education implementation with confusion. In this situation, the quality of STEM education may be affected.

Implication and Conclusion:
The contextual constraints identified from the findings are not new things caused by the STEM policy. To some extent, they already existed and were rooted before the policy was launched. Therefore, policy-makers should have a panoramic view of the contexts before implicating education policy. For example, the government should review the teacher education programs and the existing qualified STEM teachers before implementing the policy. They need prepare the teacher education and then the professionalization of STEM teacher first. Moreover, they need to demonstrate more good practices or curricula for teachers to plan, design, and understand STEM rather than just provide brief and loose suggestions and guidelines.

Author

• YI LIAN, Faculty of Education, CUHK