How it Began: My EPQ Journey
Hi all! I’m so excited to begin sharing my extended project that I’ve been working on for the past 9 months. Under this section, I’ll share my experience completing the AQA Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) and how through this process, it’s actually gifted me something much more than a grade itself. Specifically, through this process, I’ve recognised how technology (and artificial intelligence in particular) is growing at an unprecedented pace and as a result, how technology could be widening the socioeconomic gap. As a result, I argue for the impertinence of educational policy changes to accommodate the technological changes, equipping the students with the necessary soft skills so they can be set up for sustainable careers in the future. There’s so much to break down within this topic, so I’m excited to share my own experiences and findings with you all.
The beginning: My EPQ
I hope to spend this beginning post sharing my own experiences with the EPQ, so for those who mightn’t be familiar with this qualification, you can check out the introduction to the EPQ on AQA’s website. At the start of Sixth Form, I was told that the EPQ was mandatory as a part of my A-Level curriculum, but we’re given the option to submit early by March, and to receive our results by Summer 2025.
Unfortunately, I didn’t hear many great things about the EPQ from my seniors, who collectively 1) told me they learned nothing from the project 2) ranted about how it was a waste of time 3) complained how long the process of brainstorming, researching and submitting was. Even when I’d asked highest achieving students, they still moaned about the project but also suggested that I strive to submit the project early. This way, I’d be set up for success going into Year 13 by decreasing my workload. Even though by September 2024, I had ZERO idea what I was doing or how I was going to complete it, I still took it up as a personal challenge to submit the EPQ early.
Brainstorming
Initially, I followed my EPQ teacher’s instructions to just brain dump. Dump all my interests, hobbies, or even just A-Level subjects onto a mind map. As my teacher called it, it was the “What makes me tick?” mind map. At that point, I was deeply invested into fitness and nutrition (as I still am now), so naturally a HUGE proportion of my initial questions surrounded controversies in the fitness and nutrition field. As I considered a bit more, food was something I wanted to explore. From questioning the healthiness of artificial sweeteners, the legitimacy of nutritional labels, to considering the changing eating habits of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, I was sort of determined to dedicate my EPQ to something food-related. On top of this, I bought into what my head of EPQ said: To dedicate my EPQ towards something I was passionate in.
Unfortunately, after some conversations with my parents, EPQ supervisor and just reflecting by myself, I realized that it wasn’t as simple as “Do what you love!”. As I’ve learned, dietary habits is a sensitive topic and has too many factors affecting it such as religion, gender, socioeconomic status etc, so dedicating my EPQ question down to something like “Is food killing us?” would simply be too restrictive. Although I was deeply curious about how something that’s keeping us alive (food), could now possibly be killing us slowly in the modern era. Somehow, food is dividing us from one extremity to another: Either food is causing more anxiety and consciousness around caloric intake (to achieve an ‘ideal’ body type), or the food is being overconsumed which lead to growing obesity rates in developed countries and in turn, worsened health metrics.
Okay… before I continue rambling on about my interest in food, let’s refocus back to the EPQ. I just found that there were too many directions I can take and without a particular interest in taking the scientific route for my research, I knew I had to come up with something new.
How I got in touch with policymaking
Instead of food, I began exploring a more academic approach, like evaluating about the A-Level subjects I currently take, enjoy and potential majors I might study in university. Turns out, I wanted to connect a few aspects of my academics together, such as writing about the social sciences (derived from my interest in history) and looking more into policymaking.
The possibility of exploring government policies first appealed to me when I researched about the evident role government plays in changing the dietary habits of domestic workers in Hong Kong (which linked with my initial explorations around food). Soon, I grew increasingly interested in the broader concept of policies dictating many of the societal habits/developments - Not just in food choices, but setting citizens up for success as a whole. This combined with the fact that I live and grew up in a city like Hong Kong, where extensive development occur, yet deep-rooted inequality co-exist, I was intrigued to see how the HK government make decisions to strike a balance.
Volunteering & Its Impact
During this whole brainstorming process, I was also getting increasingly involved in various altruistic activities. What initially began as referrals from friends to volunteer on the weekends (because I wanted to fill my weekends, so I still feel productive) transitioned into a slow realization about how much I enjoyed working with children. In one aspect, my experience working with ethnic children at various tutorial centres (a more detailed reflection will be posted) has altered the way view Hong Kong’s rigid education system, more specially the local school curriculum which is adapting to new technologies extremely slowly. In another aspect, I had also been inspired by a group of mums who collectively began a sports program for their kids with special educational needs and through helping as a student volunteer in the program, I’ve realized that everyone deserves a chance at a hopeful life.
All in all, I took these various considerations and established 2 key aspects I wanted to address in my EPQ: Do something related to working with kids, and secondly, do something to allow for long-term/imperative impact on others’ lives. These key aspects combined with an assessment of where I grew up in, Hong Kong, a rapidly developing city with distinct opportunity gaps, my final project goal formed naturally. Ultimately, I was motivated to use the EPQ to consider how education policies can be used to set the disadvantaged cohort up for successful careers.
When I first entered into the IBEL (stands for Integrated Brilliant Education Limited) tutorial centre, I could gauge the sheer chaos from one look. To my right, a 40-square meter space packed with 25+ students, 3 teachers and a few other student volunteers. To my left, another 10 parents crammed along the emergency stairwells waiting for their children,
Cycle of reflecting & reforming
With a goal in mind, I was only 5% of the way along the EPQ. Now, when it came down to establishing a working title to base my research and report in, oh BOY did I struggle. From the simplified roadmap below, you can tell how indecisive I was towards settling on a strong working title. Because of the million approaches I can take regarding HK’s education policies from evaluating to making suggestions, from focusing on local vs. international students, each question carried its own uncertainties that I mightn’t be able to answer under the time restriction of the EPQ. As you can see from below, I went through several title versions and though the questions all seemingly focused on the same education theme, they required a different research direction.
On the bright side, I think going through so many versions about the same topic just shows how fascinating and multifaceted the topic of education policies in Hong Kong can be. Another reason why I’m so drawn to this topic is because though many aspects of the HK education system seem obvious, I don’t think it should be. For example, the education system is known for its rote learning methodologies and despite recent efforts to focus on STEM education or embracing critical thinking, it’s difficult to implement in reality.
Title & Why
The first step I took was recognizing the rote learning process each local student is subjected to. Since reaching out and meeting with the IBEL founder myself, I realized that this is especially true for ethnic minority children. When a kid’s mother tongue is Nepalese or Indonesian, how can the system possibly expect those kids to follow the same Chinese-based curriculum as a native Hong Kong student?
Instead of letting the students go through the motions of just memorizing and practising without really thinking, it is significantly more beneficial to utilize our strengths as humans. Our human touch. This realization about the rapid development of AI and technology hit me the hardest when I came across this MIT article, which touches upon the rate at which machines are able to displace low-skill workers.
It is important to define what “low-skill” refers to and in my EPQ, my goal is to address the workers who go through the same repeated tasks on a regular basis. For example, those working in the manufacturing industry would be hit by the threat of automation the hardest, as robots can produce at a quicker and cheaper rate. Unfortunately, due to the competitive nature of the DSE (Hong Kong’s public examination), many of the students from IBEL will never get the opportunity to attend university but rather settle in one of the low-skill jobs as mentioned. As a result, it is indeed true that many of them go through their entire academic career without gaining much from them and having to enter into the workforce directly in the hopes of not being displaced by emerging automation. No wonder many of the kids I come across lack motivation or drive, I thought, the system simply never prepares them to exceed beyond what they’re “expected” to do. I wanted to change this. Instead, how could the HK education system better prepare its students for sustainable careers through the opportunities offered (other than going to university) and the curriculum itself?
With this burning question in mind, I broke it down further:
First, I identified that non-university tracks are stigmatized in Hong Kong. How, many students and families feel their kid's life is over if they don't get into university, yet employers still end up expressing disappointment in the lack of employability skills uni students have gained post-graduation. Accordingly, a part of my report looked into how the government provide and promote the relevant programs for students to improve their soft skills rather than pushing everyone to go to university.
Secondly, I focused on the role of the government, which granted me the flexibility and the exciting opportunity to explore both curricular changes and the wider post-secondary opportunities available. Not only does the curriculum have to equip students with soft skills that give students their human touch, but it should also widen the scope of post-secondary graduation opportunities available so it’s not just university, working or give up.
To end
This was a detailed reflection on my journey to choosing an EPQ title and research topic, something my friends would have heard the shortened version of during my presentation. I must say that despite all the complaints and varied opinions about the EPQ, I am immensely grateful for what it has crucially gifted me: A sense of direction (or I think it has). Going into it, I was CLUELESS about what I wanted to do but coming out of it, I’ve recognized my interest in policymaking with a specialization in the combination of education and technological development. I will be speaking more about my journey but for now, I hope this blog has given you some inspirations when you are beginning the EPQ and recognize that you really should do what your heart tells you to!! If I wasn’t interested in HK education policies at all, it’s hard to think of a convincing research title to begin with.
Thanks for reading, and see you all in a bit.
-Winnie 29/06/2025
