Schooling,politics and the construction of identity in Hong Kong: the 2012 ‘Moral and National Education’ crisis in historical context

Since Hong Kong's retrocession, the government has endeavoured to strengthen local citizens' identification with the People's Republic of China – a project that acquired new impetus with the 2010 decision to introduce ‘Moral and National Education’ (MNE) as a compulsory school subject. In the face of strong local opposition, this policy was withdrawn in 2012, and implementation of MNE made optional. This article seeks to elucidate the background to the MNE controversy of 2012 by locating the emergence of a distinctive Hong Kong identity in its historical context, and analysing successive official attempts (before and after the 1997 retrocession) to use schooling for purposes of political socialisation. We argue that the school curriculum has projected and reflected a dual sense of identity: a ‘Chineseness’ located mainly in ethno-cultural qualities, and a ‘Hongkongeseness’ rooted in civic attributes. While reinforced by schooling, local civic consciousness has been intimately related to a tradition of public activism strongly evident since the 1970s, and further strengthened post-1997.     

Moral education in Hong Kong: Confucian‐parental,Christian‐religious and liberal‐civic influences

A brief review of the social and educational context of Hong Kong shows that the publication of the General guidelines on moral education in schools in 1981, by the Hong Kong Education Department, marked a milestone in the development of moral education. The Guidelines explicitly asserted moral education as one function of schooling, whilst also formally recognizing the home and the community as two main influences. This paper narrates how three moral sources of influence – namely Confucian‐parental, Christian‐religious and liberal‐civic – have shaped the development of moral education in Hong Kong from 1973 to 2003. It then examines in more detail: parental influence at home – the Confucian moral source in Chinese family; schooling influenced by religious sources – taking Christian schools as an example; and the Independent Commission Against Corruption as an official agency for moral education – a liberal source calling for civic morality. In conclusion, the post‐colonial emergence of nationalistic influence in the recently constituted Chinese Special Administrative Region, advocating national identity as the new core value, is traced and the implications for future moral education in Hong Kong are considered.     

Higher education in Hong Kong — the approach to 1997 and the China factor

Hong Kong has two major economic assets: its geographical location and labour force. Shortage of educated manpower has created a bottleneck hampering economic growth. Substantial emigration flows relating to 1997 is also a problem. Development of higher education and infrastructure are means to ensure sustainable economic growth. The government plans to enable 25% of the relevant age group to attend degree and diploma courses in 1995 through rapid expansion and heavy subsidy.Most families are willing to work hard to provide for their children's education. They believe that their society is full of opportunities, and wealth and education important criteria determining one's social status. While Confucian ethics continue to influence attitudes and values, utilitarian considerations are now significant in the choice of disciplines, extra-curricular activities, staff-student relationship, etc.Rapid expansion of tertiary education creates a shortage of qualified staff and students. Fear of 1997 affects academics' dedication. They have to plan their insurance policy and signs of self-censorship emerge. Meanwhile, localization makes progress and the government begins to support research. Exchanges with China allowed local academics to help Chinese universities to renew their external linkages and establish new curricula.Higher education in Hong Kong has completed its take-off. It has achieved standards of developed countries. In the 1990s, it will attempt to consolidate and improve its quality.This is the updated and revised version of a paper prepared for the conference Hong Kong In Transition 1992 organized by the One Country Two Systems Economic Research Institute in Hong Kong     

The decision to send local children to international schools in Hong Kong: local parents’ perspectives

This article reports the findings of a qualitative study that investigates why some local Hong Kong parents decide to give up local education and send their children to international schools in Hong Kong. Data were gathered from 25 parents across eight selected school sites grouped as four cases based on the continental origins of those international schools. Data were analyzed by applying the inductive data analysis model of Miles and Huberman (Qualitative data analysis: an expanded sourcebook. Sage, London 1994). Ten propositions were developed within four emergent fields. The propositions developed led to recommendations for practice and for future studies, which may have the potential to influence changes to education policy to better meet the needs of local Hong Kong students.     

Back to Square One: The “Re‐depoliticizing’ of Civic Education in Hong Kong

This article argues that the development of civic education in Hong Kong can be divided into three phases chronologically: (1) before 1984: “depoliticization” by the state and the school; (2) 1984‐1997: “politicization” of the intended curriculum; and (3) 1997 onwards: “re‐depoliticization” of civic education and official confirmation of nationalistic education. In general, for phases one and two, the development is described as moving from de‐politicization to politicization, in response to the political development of Hong Kong from a British colony towards the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of People's Republic of China. The article continues by exploring the third phase in detail with reference to the official document: Learning to Learn: Life‐long Learning and Whole‐person Development and the official speeches of the Chief Executive, Tung Chee Hwa. A phenomenon of re‐depoliticization of civic education is identified, together with a strong upheaval of nationalistic education. This leads civic education “back to square one"—"re‐depoliticized”. The article concludes by highlighting that the development of civic education in Hong Kong is a typical example of how civic education reflects the political context of the society.     

School leaders’ dilemmas and measures to instigate changes for inclusive education in Hong Kong

The roles of principal leadership in change management have long been documented. The key concern to examine in this study was the dilemmas and measures confronting principals’ when they led changes to instigate inclusive education in Hong Kong. Thus, this paper aims to report sources of dilemmas and how principals tackled them in the change process. Ten principals of schools recognized for effective inclusive education practices were interviewed in a qualitative study. Findings suggested that the process of leading change was very complex. Two dilemmas were identified: (a) principals’ struggles between benefits and issues of participating in inclusive education and (b) autocratic initial decisions versus need for staff involvement. The second dilemma stemmed from not involving key staff while the implementation required their active participation. Thus, the existing organizational culture and personnel capacities became obstacles required for the success of inclusive education. The leadership measures to tackle the obstacles began by building a shared vision which in turn required both transactional and transformational leadership activities in order to increase teacher commitment to reforms. This study has contributed to change leadership theories in affirming the need to include socio-political contexts in examining leadership decisions toward school reforms.     

Capital multiplicity and convertibility: language minorities’ multidimensional challenges to accessing postsecondary education in Hong Kong

Despite rapid growth at the 12-year compulsory education stage, Hong Kong’s non-Chinese language minority students make up only 1.3% of the whole full-time postsecondary student population; their attendance rate is 13.8%, far behind the overall rate of 43.8%. Policy and research focus on their secondary school graduation with a widely recognized nexus between Chinese language deficiency and academic underachievement. Yet lower participation rates in postsecondary education (PSE) and nonlinguistic risk factors that account for under-representation have received scarce regional attention. The current study attempts to fill this gap. Utilizing the multiplicity and convertibility of capital in the Bourdieusian conception, this study elicits non-Chinese language minority students’ voices and identifies the interplay effects of multiple capitals on the participants’ pathways to PSE. Findings provide insights into the dynamic processes of convertible capitals and accessing PSE when developing holistic policies that are able to address linguistic and non-linguistic hurdles in the college choice process.     

Constructions of civic education: Hong Kong teachers’ perceptions of moral,civic and national education*

Various terms have been used to define civic education (CE) in Hong Kong since the colonial era. This has been particularly true since 2011, when CE has been given many names, causing confusion among educators. Mixed methods were employed to examine teachers’ perceptions of different conceptions of CE expressed as moral, civic and national education. The findings indicate that some teachers might not be able to differentiate among moral education, CE and national education. Most teachers contended that national education should be included in CE, while others believed the opposite. Teachers perceived that moral and civic education was more successful than moral and national education in cultivating students to become ‘good citizens’. Teachers’ comprehension of these terms has policy and pedagogical implications. While the study is set within the context of Hong Kong, the findings are valuable to policymakers and educators in other countries seeking to improve CE.     

Relationships between Hong Kong students’ perceptions of the learning environment and their learning patterns in post-secondary education

The present study aims to analyse the complex relationships between the relevant constructs of students’ demographic background, perceptions, learning patterns and (proxy measures of) learning outcomes in order to delineate the possible direct, indirect, or spurious effects among them. The analytical methodology is substantively framed against the studies of Richardson (British Journal of Educational Psychology 76:867–893, 2006, Higher Education 54:385–416, 2007) that utilised a regression-based methodology to infer the possible causal relationships among the relevant learning constructs. A composite research instrument, written in Chinese and derived from the Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS) and the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ), was used to collect students’ feedback on their perceptions of the learning environment and their learning patterns. Valid responses were obtained from 1,572 students studying at six institutions in the post-secondary education sector in Hong Kong, a new response-context for both the CEQ and the ILS. In adapting the research instruments to a new Chinese response-context, the findings are generally consistent with those reported in other published works (e.g. no relationship between students’ demographic background and their satisfaction with the programme, and a significant relationship between students’ exhibition of undirected learning patterns and low expected performance), but there are also some noteworthy discrepancies. The findings therefore buttress the confidence with which an ILS-based General Theoretical Model of student learning, adapted from Richardson (British Journal of Educational Psychology 76:867–893, 2006, Higher Education 54:385–416, 2007), may be used to conceptualise and interpret the dynamics of variation across different cultural response-contexts. While the CEQ provides some valuable complementary insights, it is an instrument that requires further development in the response-context of the present study.     

Difficulties of Hong Kong teachers’ understanding and implementation of ‘play’ in the curriculum

Play is a characteristic behaviour of young children. It is a vital way through which children reconcile their inner lives with the outside world. It is a central activity in kindergarten and nurseries. ‘Learning through play’ is recommended as the mode of learning and teaching for young children. In Hong Kong, it was documented in an official education report in 1986 and is the key guideline for the implementation of the aims of early childhood education for the next millennium. A case study of two kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong was conducted to investigate the understanding and implementation of play in the kindergarten curriculum. The findings showed immense difficulties in understanding the concept ‘learning through play’ and a gap between the practitioners’ espoused theories and practice. The study reflected the complex nature of learning and teaching and highlighted the core issue for reform, namely, the need for bridging the gap between theory and practice.     

Education,culture and politics: the evolution of Chinese education at The University of Hong Kong, 1911–1941

The University of Hong Kong (HKU), following its establishment in 1911, has assumed the mission of bridging British and Chinese cultures, to prepare European and Chinese elite youth for political and other professional careers, and thus to improve Britain’s cultural influence in competition with other western powers with regard to China. Dominated by its colonial character and pragmatic orientation, Chinese education at HKU was confined to no more than a supplementary subject at the initial stage. However, colonial crisis and cultural changes in the 1920s and 1930s, together with the endeavours of local cultural and commercial elites, made advanced Chinese education at HKU necessary and possible, and led to an independent unit for Chinese education and Chinese studies being established and strengthened. Organisational and curricular reforms before the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941 led to further modernisation and solidified the structure of Chinese education at this university, laying the essential foundation for its post-war recovery and development. The evolution of Chinese education at HKU demonstrated well the subtle entanglements of education, culture and politics in a colonial context, through which coexistence and tensions between tradition and modernity, between China and the West, and between the imperial and republican intellectuals were also vividly revealed.     

Transnational Education‐‐Competition or Complementarity: the Case of Hong Kong

This article provides a brief overview of the Hong Kong system of higher education and the roles of the government, the Education Commission, the University Grants Committee, and the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation in relation to the planning, development, funding, and quality assurance of higher education in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). It then describes the extent to which transnational education (i.e., non‐local education delivered in Hong Kong) plays a role in meeting the demand for higher and continuing education in Hong Kong and recent measures taken by the HKSAR government aimed at assuring the quality of such offshore provision. It concludes with some comments as to how transnational education may be expected to contribute towards meeting the demand for higher and continuing education in Hong Kong in the future.     

The management of participation in the policy‐making process: the case of the Education Commission in Hong Kong

In 1984 the Education Commission was established as a quasi governmental body to advise on all aspects of education policy in the colony. Within the Hong Kong context the Education Commission's establishment was novel for it created a single body to advise on all aspects of education policy and it involved a greater degree of public participation in the policy making process. This paper examines the motives for its establishment, the means by which the state maintained control of the policy making process and the impact of the policy measures initiated by the Education Commission.     

European Languages and Culture in Hong Kong: trade or education?

Hong Kong Government policy is to promote Hong Kong as an international education hub for the region. This may be more rhetoric than reality. The article surveys the historical background of Hong Kong in terms of its role as a trading centre, a gateway to China and a meeting place for East and West for which interchange with European languages and cultures has been important. The development of education policy within Hong Kong as far as the European dimension is involved is also reviewed. In addition, the development of global trade in educational services is touched upon which thus far has been heavily Anglo-centric. In terms of Hong Kong itself, an analysis is presented of overseas educational programmes available in Hong Kong from Europe. The extent of European languages and studies provided in the school, university and lifelong learning sectors is surveyed. The work of European consulates in promoting languages and culture through such organisations as the Alliance Française, Goethe Instituta, etc. is another important part of provision. The article makes passing reference to the neighbouring territory of Macau and the importance there of Portuguese.
The article concludes that for European studies and languages, the role of Hong Kong as a trading and financial hub has been a more significant stimulant than the Hong Kong government's policy for Hong Kong to be an international education hub.     

Students’ concepts and attitudes toward citizenship: the case of Hong Kong

This paper analyses the data obtained from the findings on Hong Kong, as a part of the IEA second civic study. Because the survey was conducted two years after Hong Kong's return to China, the findings reflect concepts and attitudes toward citizenship among Hong Kong students shortly after the change of sovereignty. The study shows that Hong Kong ranks highest in two aspects of citizenship: civic knowledge and attitudes toward immigrants. Hong Kong ranks lowest in attitudes toward the nation, support for women's political rights, confidence in participating at school, and open classroom climate. Moreover, Hong Kong students are most concerned about elections and freedom of expression, but are least interested in political parties. They are more interested in social-related citizenship issues, and try to avoid confrontational and activist politics. This suggests that Hong Kong students are concerned with citizenship issues and politics; are very knowledgeable, and while they are also concerned about society, do not favor confrontations. This partly reflects a Chinese culture and partly reflects that depolicitization perpetuates beyond 1997.     

Social foundations of public–private partnerships in education: the historical cases of post-war Singapore and Hong Kong

This paper compares public–private partnerships (PPPs) in education in post-war Singapore and Hong Kong. After the Second World War the Singapore government shied away from PPPs, while the state in Hong Kong collaborated extensively with the non-state sector in education. Singapore was a small city-state flanked by two Muslim nations, and its post-war regime faced challenges from the Malayan Communist Party. These pressures curbed the state’s involvement with missionary and Chinese bodies in education. Hong Kong, however, was a mono-racial society without any anti-Chinese neighbours, and its authorities were seldom challenged by a militant antagonist. Thus, its government was freer to involve non-state agents in education. This study reveals that PPPs are viable only when suitable non-state partners exist and when the state does not believe that such undertakings would expose the school system to an antagonist. It also urges scholars in future to explore the socio-political preconditions for PPPs.