“Taking into account the concerns from the education sector and stakeholders, the latest trends of education development, students’ learning needs and schools’ needs for deployment of human resources, the Education Bureau has reviewed the arrangements of the LPR [Language Proficiency Requirement] policy and formulated enhanced measures,” it wrote in a circular.

Under IELTS, candidates are rated on a 9-band scale, with 1 indicating a “non-user” of the language, 7 a “good user” and 9 an “expert user”.

The test comprises four sections – reading, listening, writing and speaking. Each element is graded separately.

The bureau said educators sitting the IELTS exam should attain an overall band score of 7.5 or above, with no individual band scores for listening, reading, writing and speaking below 7.0.

Teachers taking up an English panel chair post should attain an overall band score of 8 with no individual scores below 7.5, it added.

The policy will not apply to native-speaking English teachers and those at English Schools Foundation and international campuses.

Mainland Chinese students make greater gains than Hong Kong pupils in English test

A Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority study found that scoring Level 5 in a seven-level grading scale in the English Language Examination in the 2019 Diploma of Secondary Education was equivalent to an IELTS score of 7.41.

About 9 per cent of candidates taking the city’s university entrance examination scored Level 5 that year, according to the study.

The bureau also announced that Mandarin teachers would need to sit an assessment by China’s State Language Commission, while the LPA version would be scrapped.

As part of the shake-up, teachers must attain a Grade A, Level 2 in a six-level grading scale.

Chu Kwok-keung, a lawmaker representing the education constituency, said obtaining an IELTS score of 7.5 was difficult, expressing concerns the requirement could make it harder to fill English teaching positions.

“Teacher turnover has been serious in recent years. Many schools have reported that there are insufficient English teachers,” the legislator said.

“The bureau should pay attention to the new requirement that may hinder teachers who are not majoring in English from switching to teach English and make it more difficult for schools to recruit qualified teachers.”

Lee Yi-ying, chairwoman of the Subsidised Secondary School Council and a secondary school principal, said the switch to IELTS allowed for aspiring teachers to sit the test throughout the year, instead of waiting for the government’s yearly assessment.

“We were also told by the bureau that the operation cost of the LPA is quite high as there are not so many candidates to cover the cost,” she said.

Last year, 1,475 candidates sat the English section of LPA and another 1,180 took the Mandarin element.

IELTS tests are held almost daily in Hong Kong and charge an examination fee of about HK$2,380. The results are only valid for up to two years after the assessment date.

Lee said she did not think the standard of English educators would be affected by the policy as IELTS was only one of the requirements for teachers.

Hong Kong schools lose native English-speaking teachers as attrition rates spike

“The teachers still have to study the postgraduate graduate diploma in education and pursue subject knowledge within a required period, and they also have to pass the Classroom Language Assessment,” she said, referring to a test in the form of lesson observation by an assessor.

Veteran English teacher Pauline Chow Lo-sai, who is also chair of the Women Teachers’ Organisation and sat the LPA in the early 2000s, said she found it very shocking that authorities were scrapping the tailor-made assessment.

“This is a test for the one who wants to become an English teacher and also a test for teachers’ professional development, it should not be replaced by IELTS,” she said. “I think 7.5 in IELTS is just average if it is a minimum requirement for becoming an English teacher.”