Increasing Professionalization and Vocationalization of Continuing Education in Hong Kong: Trends and Issues

Overview & Synopsis

In the past few decades, there have been sweeping education reforms in many countries and regions in the world. In the wake of globalization that brings forth increased competition between countries and peoples, many governments have implemented drastic education reforms to help build a stronger economy and increase international competitiveness. Hong Kong is no exception to this global trend of educational review and reform, which saw a number of tendencies and issues that impacted all stages and sectors of education. This paper aims at discussing some of the major vocationalizing and professionalizing tendencies of educational reform initiatives at all levels of education in Hong Kong, and their evolving developments, particularly in the context of continuing education that encompasses both public and private professional and vocational education (PVE) programmes in Hong Kong. Also, the paper will discuss issues arising from these current trends to draw implications for the future development of PVE amidst challenges presented by the proliferation of programmes, in particular in the private sector, and the need to maintain a high quality of provision to counter the deeply ingrained image of PVE being the education of last resort, when all else fails.