Dynamics of Chinese nationalistic education in Hong Kong from 1945 to 2012

‘Chinese’ is an ambiguous term, depending on whether it is taken to describe a political, linguistic, or cultural entity. While the term has often been considered to represent a politically and culturally homogeneous national identity in recent decades, this article aims to challenge this notion by examining the characteristics and practices of nationalistic education in Hong Kong since 1945. It explores how national identity has been interpreted by different Chinese states over time through different educational policies and practices. Focusing on the evolution of nationalistic education in three phases, this article presents a detailed account and analyses different nationalist narratives over six decades. It describes how different political forces define themselves and come to terms with what are often dual or competing national identities. Historical examples illustrate the challenges in policies and practices of nationalistic education.     

Gender differences in instrumental learning among secondary school students in Hong Kong

This paper examines the extent of gender differences, and discusses the role of gender in musical instrument learning. It focuses on the collective instrumental experiences of 1493 Chinese students (774 boys and 719 girls attending grades 7–13) within Western and non‐Western musical traditions in Hong Kong. The discussion draws attention to gender differences in the learning of Chinese and Western musical instruments, in musical interest and instrumental learning, and in the reasons why students learn or do not learn musical instruments. The paper argues that, while female and male students exhibit different attitudes towards the types of instruments learnt, significant correlations exist between their interest in music and parental support for their instrumental learning. Gender is brought to the fore by the pedagogical actions of the teacher, the mass media and by parental efforts to reduce gender bias and stereotypes through school, public and family education.     

Authentic school partnerships for enabling inclusive education in Hong Kong

Education reform towards a whole school approach to catering for diversity within Hong Kong government schools has seen the initiation of several strategies to support mainstream schools in this transition. One of these approaches is the use of a resource school model. Special and mainstream schools in Hong Kong are being invited to establish themselves as resource support hubs for partner mainstream schools. This paper investigates how this model is being implemented by considering one of each type of resource school. Three broad themes have emerged that relate to the type of support being offered and sought: the school ethos and culture of the partner schools; and management issues. The effectiveness of a resource model is evaluated for its use in Hong Kong.     

立德树人落实机制下的香港国民教育发展策略

香港发生的非法“占领中环”和“反修例”风波,让我们不得不重新认识香港推行国民教育的必要性和紧迫性。香港的国民教育不仅要重视以文化为核心的中华民族认同教育,也要强调以宪法和基本法为核心的制度认同教育,还要加大国民教育中的历史认同比重,确保香港青少年能够对祖国的历史形成正确认知,增强国家责任感与民族归属感。通过对香港国民教育进行政策切入研究,梳理其发展脉络,辨析香港现行国民教育的缺失,并结合我国提出的“立德树人系统化落实机制”,从依法治教原则、中国特色社会主义教育督导体制机制、问责纠偏意识、特色“主题教育”、多元主体合力等多角度提出应对香港当前国民教育困境的建议。     

Major issues of university education policy in Hong Kong

University education is believed to be one of the most controversial public policies in Hong Kong. Numerous changes have also occurred in the university education sector since the 1990s when the rapid expansion of university places was put into force. The most notable changes may include the institutionalization of quality assurance mechanisms, the reform of university governance and staff remuneration systems, the adoption of role differentiation among the universities, the potential emergence of private universities and community colleges, and the trend of internationalizing university education. This article identifies major issues of university education policy and examines those factors that are affecting the development of university education, in Hong Kong.     

香港中小学公民教育的发展与对策

本文剖析了香港于回归前后公民教育的发展.因受前殖民地教育的影响,回归初期,香港中小学生的建构新国民身份教育进展不大;近年特区政府逐步加强推行公民教育.作为一个国际城市,在全球化的情境中,香港学校要以全球、国家和本土等三个层次向学生推行公民教育,以应对学生的需要.     

Degrees of value: comparing the contextual complexities of UK transnational education in Malaysia and Hong Kong

This paper reveals the complex diversity that underpins ostensibly similar transnational education programmes (TNE), through a comparison of UK TNE in Malaysia and Hong Kong. It draws on data from two different yet cognate studies on the role of UK universities in delivering higher education in Asia. Some fine-grained and informative differences between the ways in which ‘value’ in TNE is constructed in different host contexts is revealed. The paper brings to light the ‘voices’ of TNE students and graduates, which are very seldom heard. The arguments adapt and extend the concepts of education as a positional good, and as cultural capital. For various instrumental, intrinsic and personal reasons the authors discuss in detail, UK TNE is more highly valued in Malaysia than in Hong Kong. The paper makes a wider contribution to knowledge on the changing landscape of international higher education and the impact on social and personal (dis)advantage.     

Absence of girl images: the gender construct in personal and social education in Hong Kong

Education Ordinance 1971 in Hong Kong not only provided girls with a much greater chance of receiving education than had hitherto been the case, it also had the effect of incorporating them into the regulatory framework of the school system. This paper examines how the discourses of civic education and sex education before and after reunification with mainland China have interchanged the concept of gender with the biological sex in the construction of the girl. In particular, it argues that, in the name of maintaining the stability of society, the developmental path for girls has been limited in the discourses of sex, personal and social education. As a result, girls are only presumed to become women and take up their appropriate gender roles according to the social norms of contemporary Hong Kong.     

Homework involvement among Hong Kong primary school students

One component of the curriculum reform in Hong Kong focuses on the use of homework in consolidating learning, deepening understanding and constructing knowledge. This study examines the profile of Hong Kong primary school students' homework involvement, and investigates the relationships between time involvement and academic attributes, namely interest in homework, interest in academic subjects, academic efficacy, and efficacy for self-regulated learning. The sample comprised 2,361 primary school students representing all six grade levels in Hong Kong. Data was collected using questionnaires and homework diaries. Results showed heavy homework involvement among primary school students in Hong Kong, especially at the senior primary level. Differential patterns across levels were observed for the relationship between homework involvement and academic attributes. Specifically, junior primary students' study-related interests and efficacies were found to decline with increasing time involvement, whereas inverted U-shape relationships were observed among senior primary students. There was concern for students with high time involvement as they received more homework and they worked slower. They were less likely to perceive the positive functions of homework, and showed poorer study-related interests and efficacy beliefs. The findings of this study provide crucial information for school personnel and educators in Hong Kong in developing homework strategies and policies that enhance teaching and learning.     

传统诉求与闲适心态——香港沙田学者散文创作的文化分析

香港的文化身份认同是一个潜藏的悖论。中华传统与西洋观念、社会现代性的舒适与不安在香港的文化语境中交融共存。香港沙田学者散文写作的文化身份认同包含着两个方面的意思:一是对己身文化传统的认知,二是用己身文化传统与所处的文化语境进行对话。就第一层面而言,沙田学者散文普遍认同己身文化传统的中西交融性;在第二层面上,沙田学者散文写作姿态的闲适意味浓于它行文内容的文化精英意味,暗示其对当下文化语境的默认。     

Cultural identity in teaching across borders: mainland Chinese pre-service teachers in Hong Kong

This study explores transformations in the cultural identities of a group of pre-service teachers from mainland China during their educational experiences in Hong Kong, and how these transformations subsequently impact their professional identity. Individual and focus group interviews were conducted with 16 cross-border pre-service teachers from a teacher education institution. Findings demonstrate that 1) the participants recast their extant ideologies and cultural beliefs in response to multiple influences in their new context, enabling them to move beyond pre-established teaching values to re-construct their teaching identity; and 2) some participants constructed a bicultural and multilingual identity to gain legitimacy in the host context. The findings indicate that a more supportive context that provides more room for cultural awareness should be co-constructed by local and non-local pre-service teachers, institutions and policy makers. The study extends understanding of the interconnected relations between teacher identity and historical and social discourses.     

Implementing media education in the Hong Kong secondary curriculum

The tremendous influence of today's mass media can hardly be matched by the sum of its works from the past. There are more sources of media, more types of information and entertainment, more interactive modes for consuming these messages of the mass media in a more interconnected global village available than ever before. Since many pupils spend much of their time on the media, the call for media education is urgent. This article first describes the aims and objectives of media education, then portrays the power of the media and how the education sectors have responded. Finally, it argues for the need to implement media education into the secondary curriculum in response to proposed curriculum reform in Hong Kong.     

新形势下高校港澳台学生国情教育实践与探索

港澳台学生因其成长环境的特殊性,在生活习惯、思想意识等很多方面都与内地(大陆)学生具有很大差异.在内地(大陆)高校招收港澳台学生的规模不断扩大的背景下,如何有效开展港澳台学生思想教育工作将成为各高校面临的重要课题.该文在深入理解国情教育的重要意义的基础上,梳理了高校开展国情教育面临的困难,调研并总结了部分高校的实践经验...     

柯达伊思想与我国音乐母语教育

匈牙利学者柯达伊音乐教育思想的基本原则之一是,创造民族音乐文化语境,从学校音乐教育入手,继承民族音乐传统。我们要建立以中华文化为母语国民音乐教育的体系,在观念上必须明确母语文化形态上的表层意义及深层内涵。"中华文化为母语"的音乐教育基础和发展方向:要注意收集、保存传统音乐,编选入教材,进行研究与教学;既要突出民族音乐特点,又要吸收国外音乐之长。学校音乐教育是培养国民健全人格的战略举措,应该沟通专业音乐工作者与普通中小学音乐教师之间的联系。     

Homework involvement and functions: perceptions of Hong Kong Chinese primary school students and parents

This study examines the perceptions of Chinese students and parents in Hong Kong on homework involvement, assignment type and homework functions. The relationships of homework perceptions to student and parent attributes are also assessed. The sample includes 1393 pairs of students and their parents from 36 primary schools in Hong Kong. Findings of this study show similarities in preference for assignment type across students and parents. Between‐group discrepancies are observed in preference for homework involvement and endorsement of homework functions. Moreover, homework perceptions are found to relate to students’ and parents’ efficacy attributes and involvement behaviour. Findings of this study are discussed in light of the Chinese sociocultural context in Hong Kong. Suggestions are made on the design and use of homework in primary schools by incorporating the views of different stakeholders.     

Cultural challenges in Hong Kong to the implementation of effective general education

Hong Kong's higher education system is undergoing an enormous change. At great cost, higher education and the school systems that feed into it are moving from a three-year university system that favored early specialization within a discipline and very few conversations across disciplines to a four-year university system to be fully implemented with the beginning class of 2012. This move will provide a framework in which disciplinary study is grounded in broader knowledge that encourages self-directed learning, critical thinking, and an understanding of the role of individual in society. So what are the cultural challenges to attaining these far-reaching goals? This essay attempts to delineate some of them, make some comparisons to the US, and also present some suggestions for meeting the challenges.     

20世纪殖民统治期间香港社会心理的变迁及影响

香港作为高度繁荣的国际大都会,已成为仅次于纽约和伦敦的全球第三大金融中心。香港回归已有十六年,但与内地之间似乎一直存在着一道难以跨越的鸿沟,使得两地之间经常产生民众纠纷、文化矛盾、意识形态认识的冲突。追根溯源,其中的原因与漫长的英国殖民统治有着密不可分的关系。正是在这段时期里香港社会历经了领土遭遇割让、地区被迫投降、经济高速发展、主权确认回归等诸多事件,才形成了一次次的社会心理变迁,最终发展成为了如今香港地区社会心理的一个基本雏形。     

Implementing a new senior secondary curriculum in Hong Kong: instructional leadership practices and qualities of school principals

This paper attempts to identify the leadership practices and qualities of school principals engaged in implementing a curriculum reform in Hong Kong. Based on interview data of school principals, this paper shows that the types of instructional leadership practices that school principals adopt and the contextual conditions in which these practices occur are key factors explaining the differential effectiveness of implementation efforts. Six efficacious instructional leadership practices and two contextual conditions critical to their development were identified. This paper reconceptualises instructional leadership as a collective and transformational endeavour, functioning in communities of practice to support school development at different levels.     

Quality assurance and school monitoring in Hong Kong

This study reports on the Hong Kong education quality assurance and school monitoring system. Three research questions were addressed: (1) Who controls the quality of school education in Hong Kong? (2) What strategies are used in the Hong Kong school education quality assurance process? (3) Agenda for Future Research on quality assurance and school monitoring in Hong Kong. The analysis found that whilst quality assurance systems in Hong Kong are sophisticated, major reviews are necessary to rebuild trust between the government and practitioners.