The listing of the new basic skills for secondary level education was published in the Official Gazette. The Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) issued a statement yesterday to explain that the listings cover all of the competencies and basic skills students enrolled in the public education system will be mandatorily required to learn. The skills list will work as a guideline to the school curriculum.
According to the statement, the new academic skills will be “gradually implemented from the next academic year.”
The cycle of reforms concerning non-tertiary education in Macau began in 2006 with the introduction of the Organic Law for the Non-Tertiary Education System.
The implementation of the 10-year education development plan began during the 2014-2015 academic year and included a similar listing of skills correlative to the primary education levels of the last years of secondary schooling.
Mimicking the process occurring at the primary education level, the new skills for the secondary levels will be incorporated into the secondary curriculum gradually, year level by year level. The youngest class of each education level will be the first to follow the adapted curriculum (in 2017/2018) and progressively the curriculum will be extended upwards as the students progress to the second and third year. Full implementation is expected to be achieved in the academic year of 2019/2020.
The DSEJ also noted in their statement that the newly-published skills result from the work of “specialists and academics from curriculum and subject areas, as well as by Macau secondary school teachers,” remarking that the they will be specially focusing on the “broadening of students’ basic knowledge, improving communication skills, coordination and practical studies, strengthening of civic awareness and the training of the continuous learning capacity necessary for the pursuit of further studies or entry into the work market.”
The DSEJ expanded on their statement, saying the reform aims to “provide students with diverse learning experiences, including experiences of social practices, through a diversified curriculum that allows students more choice opportunities.”
The bureau also mentioned that through this reform, and the inclusion of new materials (such as Moral and Civic Education and Macau Geography), teachers could also improve their teaching skills and master the techniques required to introduce the new skills in their classes.
The DSEJ also stated that, in order to “improve the schools’ curriculum and to improve the overall quality of the teaching,” more changes will come into effect in the near future. They will continue to work towards a teacher exchange program involving teachers from the mainland and Macau and they will also continue to provide “curriculum instructions.” RM
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