Background

 

The Curriculum Development Council is a free-standing advisory body appointed by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to give advice to the Government on matters relating to curriculum development for the local school system. It was formerly known as the Curriculum Development Committee and was first established in 1972. The main function of the Curriculum Development Committee was to develop teaching syllabuses recommended for use in primary and secondary schools. It operated through a two-tier structure, consisting of the Main Committee at one level and a range of subject committees and a Textbooks Committee at the other.

The Curriculum Development Committee was re-organized in 1988 and renamed the Curriculum Development Council (CDC). A three-tier structure was introduced, consisting of the Council proper at the top, the co-ordinating committees in the middle and the subject committees as the basis. The objective was to enable CDC to be more responsive to current and future needs of schools and to increase opportunities for practising teachers to participate actively in all stages of the curriculum development process.

In its review in 1990 and of the way in which curriculum was developed and delivered, the Education Commission recommended, inter alia, that CDC should be upgraded and its membership reviewed. The CDC was reconstituted in January 1992 to become a free-standing advisory committee appointed by the then Governor of Hong Kong.

The Curriculum Development Council, as recommended by the 1996 Policy Address, undertook another review of its functions and structure to enhance effectiveness and efficiency. The re-engineering aims to streamline and to revitalize the structure for the development of a quality curriculum attuning to the needs of the students and the community. The new two-tier system launched its implementation in September 1999: the first tier being the CDC and its Standing Committee while the second tier being the Key Learning Area (KLA) Committees and Functional Committees. Flexibility is allowed for each CDC Committee to form its own ad hoc committees for specific tasks on a need basis.