Youth IDEAS: Brain drain Teachers’ challenges; Data privacy

Tackling Hong Kong's Brain Drain

Abrain drain of a quarter of the city’s university-educated under-35s within the next five years on top of an expected shortage of skilled workers would be a very serious problem. How can Hong Kong prepare?

The number of young people who plan to emigrate or study abroad has been rising because of social and political unrest and lack of confidence in the future. This will exacerbate the projected shortage of 34,600 skilled graduates in Hong Kong’s workforce by 2027 predicted in a 2019 manpower report from the Labour and Welfare Bureau.1 Several surveys2 have confirmed young people’s intention to leave, including this report. Indicatively, there has also been an increase of over 40% in the issue of Certificates of No Criminal Conviction since 2017. These are needed for emigration or study abroad. Nevertheless, the government has no proactive policy for retaining the city’s skilled workers nor for attracting skilled workers or students from overseas.

Key points from respondents

● 24.2% are planning to leave and work elsewhere ● 15.8% say they will work outside Hong Kong permanently.  Main factors when choosing destinations include: § Work-life balance: 41.5% § Emigration plans: 36.7% § Social and political stability: 34.9% ● 56.8% say they may decide to return under certain circumstances.  Main reasons include: § Attractive pay: 41.6% § Improved protection of personal freedoms: 38.1% § Better development opportunities: 35.8% ● 47.4% would consider remote working for a Hong Kong employer if they were based outside Hong Kong. ● 42.9% would be willing to consider returning for stable jobs. ● 34.2% would consider returning for short-term jobs.

Report No.58 HKFYG Youth I.D.E.A.S. Employment and Economic Development group Published title Tackling Hong Kong’s Brain Drain Respondents 1,135 under-35s with an undergraduate degree or a higher qualification; 20 who worked/are working/plan to work outside Hong Kong were also interviewed More details in Chinese yrc.hkfyg.org. hk/2021/03/15/yi058/ Enquiries Amy Yuen 3755 7037 In-depth interviews showed that those already living and working overseas think their development opportunities are much better than in Hong Kong. Most preferred being overseas because of Hong Kong’s current political climate and economic development outlook but would consider remote work for a Hong Kong organization or short-term employment in Hong Kong if they thought the experience would be helpful in future. Some prefer a work culture that provides more autonomy and flexibility, features that are more common overseas.

Comments from Youth I.D.E.A.S. think tank members

Denis Huen, group convenor and Mandy Lai, group member “Local enterprises should make good use of technology to improve workflow management so that more jobs can be done remotely. To retain young skilled workers, they could change their management culture, enhance employees’ autonomy and improve flexible work arrangements. The government should expand the scope of the ‘Technology Voucher Programme’ to help companies keep employees in different locations connected.”

Tony Lau and Frank Fan, group members “Mitigating the impact of the brain drain includes offering young people incentives to return, encouraging a free two-way flow and making better use of diasporic youth. For example, enhanced liaison by Hong Kong’s Economic and Trade Offices [HKETOs]3 with young skilled workers overseas would enable recruitment by local companies via a contact platform. The government should also launch an internship programme for Hong Kong youth who graduate overseas in order to encourage them to start their careers here.”

Supporting Teachers Facing Educational Challenges

Constant advances in technology and society mean that teaching and learning have to evolve and change. This study looks at the support needed by teachers to keep pace.

According to “Back to the Future of Education - Four OECD Scenarios for Schooling”, a report published by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2020, learning is not limited to the school environment but also takes place in a diversified mode. The explosion in online learning during the pandemic illustrates this. In Hong Kong, as e-learning trended upward, so did teachers’ workloads. This is a cause for concern. The question is not only how to enhance teachers’ capacity to adapt to today’s new teach-and-learn model but also how to support their future efforts to enable better learning by students.

Key points from secondary school teachers

● 72.9% agreed that self-directed learning is an ideal teach-and-learn model ● 66.4% hoped to reduce administrative work ● 61.3% wanted to spend more time engaging with students ● 57.1% wanted more time for lesson-preparation ● 35.3% worked over 60 hours per week ● 14.5% worked 71 hours or more per week On a 0-10 scale where 10 signifies total agreement and 0 total disagreement: ● Average stress levels during the pandemic were 6.97 ● Average capacity to redesign lesson content was 4.95 Comments from interviews

Interviews with individual teachers revealed that increased workload during the pandemic was caused by redesigning lesson content for e-learning. Some interviewees revealed that teachers also play an important role in student self-directed

Report No.59 HKFYG Youth I.D.E.A.S. Education group Published title Supporting Teachers in Facing Educational Challenges Participants/respondents 354 secondary school teachers, 16 individual teacher interviews and 7 expert interviewees More details in Chinese yrc.hkfyg.org. hk/2021/04/19/yi059/ Enquiries Vivian Yeung 3755 7038 learning, assisting with the selection of appropriate online materials and offering extra guidance to students with lower learning ability. However, they also reported a widening learning gap between students. Reference was also made during interviews to Singapore, where the Ministry of Education has announced that a designated day for home-based learning will become long-term policy from June 2021 onwards.

By contrast, in Taiwan, a flexible learning curriculum was incorporated in the school syllabus in 2019 to encourage adaptive learning and enhance students’ learning interests. In Hong Kong, schools can act as learning hubs where ideas of teachers, students and the community can be exchanged, according to one expert interview. Comments from Youth I.D.E.A.S. think tank members Derren Lam, group deputy convenor “Self-directed learning days could be introduced where students can choose topics outside the curriculum that match their interests. Individual schools could formulate details of at least three such learning days each academic year with the support of community-based resources including NGOs and universities. The Education Bureau could also set up an online platform to organize materials to be used with self-directed learning and daily teaching.” Dicky Kwan, group member “The Education Bureau needs to increase the class-and-teacher-ratio first and then fix a mechanism for future calculating it in future. Then, teachers may be able to cope with the learning gap between students and improve the quality of their teaching. Second, the Bureau needs to review the professional career pathways of teachers so that their teaching and administration rank equally for the purposes of promotion.”

Balancing Privacy Protection and Big Data Development

The rapid development of big data and facial recognition has resulted in convenience for individuals and huge markets for corporates, but privacy is a concern. This study reviews the effectiveness of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data in offering protection for individuals.

Key points from respondents

Privacy

● The majority of respondents placed high value on privacy, rating it at an average of 6.66 on a scale of 0-10. ● Opinions differed concerning the balance between privacy and public interest where public health, public security, technological development and the right to information were concerned.

Work by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD)

● The work of the PCPD scored 5.97 out of 10 points. ● The main reason for dissatisfaction with the PCPD, (less than 5 out of 10 points, given by 42% of respondents) was lack of monitoring and supervision of compliance.

LeaveHomeSafe* covid-19 contact tracing app

● 80.9% said they did not use the app because of concerns about privacy. ● Over half of the espondents had not yet installed the app and were either still considering (25.5%) or did not intend to use it (26.2%).

Facial recognition by CCTV or smart lampposts

● 92.5% of respondents agreed that biometric data such as fingerprints and facial images were sensitive. ● 56.6% agreed that CCTV footage for real-time monitoring should be regulated under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (PDPO).

Doxxing

● 70.8% agreed that the PCPD should be empowered to carry out criminal investigations and prosecution. ● 65.5% were in favour of criminalizing the act of doxxing. ● 59.9% agreed that the PCPD should have statutory powers to request the removal of doxxing content from social media platforms and websites.

Real-name Registration Programme for SIM Cards

● 41.8% were against legislation to introduce a Real-name

Registration Programme for SIM Cards ● Major concerns included damage to privacy (65.5%) and freedom of speech (42.3%).

Ronald Chan, group convenor “We recommend that the government regulates location data collection and CCTV footage under the PDPO as well as introducing a new category of ‘sensitive personal data’, the processing of which should be subject to specific conditions.” Jenny Liu, deputy group convenor “The government should introduce an ‘accountability principle’ for assessment and a certification scheme for high-risk projects. Furthermore, it would be advisable for the government to introduce a mechanism to allow some exemptions for startups so that they can make gradual refinements to their data privacy strategy before complying in full with PCPD supervisory requirements.” Wisely Ngai, group member “We suggest that the government helps doxxing victims by providing access to PCPD and court order remedies. There should also be a take-down process for online content hosts to remove their liability for content. Moreover, the government should amend the PDPO before introducing legislation for a Real-name Registration Programme for SIM Cards.”

Report No.60 HKFYG Youth I.D.E.A.S. Livelihood group Published title Balancing Privacy Protection and Big Data Development Participants/respondents 808 Hong Kong residents aged 15-65 Interviews Experts included a former Commissioner of PDCD, the CFO of Hutchison Telecom, a journalism academic and four IT experts including an academic engineer. More details in Chinese yrc.hkfyg.org.hk/2021/05/17/yi060/ Enquiries Adam Choi 3755 7042