In Consumer Council's latest annual survey on textbook revisions, among the 6 sets of textbooks examined, 3 sets were rated as "should be reprinted with amendments" rather than being published with a new revised edition.
The survey compared the new and old editions of 6 sets of secondary textbooks (altogether 9 volumes) - 2 on Liberal Studies, 2 on English Language, 1 on Integrated Science and 1 on Chinese Language.
The assessment criteria were based on the grades considering the necessity of the revisions in respect of content, sequence of chapters and sections, design and layout. The study was carried out with the assistance of the education experts from the Hong Kong Institute of Education.
Education experts were of the view that the content changes in 5 sets of textbooks (7 volumes) were "optional" and the changes in their design and layout were either "optional" (3 volumes) or "no need to change" (4 volumes). In reviewing the chapter sequence changes, 4 volumes were assessed as "optional" while 1 volume was considered as "no need to change".
For the overall evaluation results, only 1 set (2 volumes) was considered as "necessary to revise", 2 sets were regarded "somewhat necessary to revise", while the remaining 3 others "should be reprinted with amendments" and therefore according to the experts' opinion, should not be published as a revised edition.
Experts' comments on the 3 sets of textbooks which were assessed as "should be reprinted with amendments" included:
- The changes in chapters in one volume only involved the re-grouping of the old chapters with minor amendments and did not involve structural changes. There was no change in respect of the core learning highlight or optional supplementary content.
- The new editions of 2 sets of textbooks (4 volumes) were loose in content and structure when compared against the old editions.
- One set added "grammar items" in its new edition, but the elements were considered as not closely connected.
The survey showed that 5 sets of the textbooks were priced higher than that of their old editions, with an increase of 1% to 6%. One set remained of the same price.
The changes on the number of pages between the old and new editions ranged from -20 to +72 pages.
3 sets of the surveyed textbooks (6 volumes) were included in the Education Bureau's Recommended Textbook List (RTL). Their last editions were published in 2006 and 2007, and therefore the new editions were in compliance with the Bureau's rule of forbidding revision within 5 years of publication.
The old editions of the other 3 sets were published either 2 or 3 years ago. As they were not included in RTL, they were not subject to the Bureau's 5-year rule. The Council's overall evaluation of the revisions of these 3 sets of textbooks was "somewhat necessary" and "should be reprinted with amendments" respectively.
The Council calls for information transparency. The Education Bureau's RTL mechanism not only reviews the content of the textbooks but also discloses to the public the textbook prices and editions. This facilitates public monitoring.
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