The certificated teachers pay dispute in 1973: A case study on the collective insurgency of Hong Kong teachers

The certificated teachers pay dispute in 1973: A case study on the collective insurgency of Hong Kong teachers

• Yu, Winnie Wai Ping

2005

• M Teachers & Education for Teachers
  • MC Teachers' Certification, Employment & Salary

Educational Sociology

• Hong Kong

• 1970s

• Unknown or Unspecified

The "Certificated Teachers' Pay Dispute in 1973" ("the Dispute") was, historically the first collective insurgency of indigenous teachers as well as the first industrial action taken by local civil servants. Teachers from publicly funded schools successfully claimed their economic demands from the then colonial administration. Prima facie the subject matter of this study seems to be concerned only with the economic interest of a certain group of people. However, an in-depth inquiry brings to the fore its underlying political theme, i.e. the redistribution of power. Herein I use the "Political Process Model" as the theoretical framework and the "struggling for power" as the conceptual tool to operate the empirical data. This study also verifies that the Dispute was the confluence of two major political processes, namely (1) an unprecedented political opportunity provided by changes in the political structure, and (2) the change of indigenous organizational strength. The notion of "collective grievances" cannot provide a convincing explanation of the issues aforesaid.
Academically, this study's significance is two-fold. First, by way of comparative study, it proves the applicability of the "Political Process Model" to an authoritarian polity, provided that adjustment is made on the basis of the parameters proposed by Cook (1996). That is to say, political opportunity is rare in a closed political system and only arises in a particular "proximate environment" or a certain specific period of time. It is non-structural. Therefore the opportunity can only be measured by its functionality, which includes the diminution of the possibility of suppression and the access to the polity. In respect of the latter, this study ushers in the new concept of "leverage" to explain how those groups far from the core of power used their numerical strength to successfully challenge the authoritarian colonial government.
Secondly, in the process of sorting out the historical context of the insurgency, it has become apparent to me that since the end of WWII, the colonial government had been actively intervened in the education arena in order to achieve its total domination. Towards that end, the colonial government had laid down political and economic regulations in accordance with its political agenda, established a highly comparable legal and administrative framework. Supported by empirical data, this study casts serious doubt on the validity the political setting of "small government, big family" promulgated by the popular theory of "Utilitarian Familism". It further provisionally confirms that the institutional complex structured by the state together with the ideology of "meritocracy" actively crafted by it ought to be one of the causes of political stability in Hong Kong. The same also provides a plausible explanation of the political apathy of local teachers.
The Dispute was a landmark event in local trade union movement. An in-depth investigation can unearth its deep-rooted significance and thereby throw more useful light on local social change. In addition, this study exposes the excessive instrumentality of the local education institution which I think, all educators should critically examine and resist.

EdD

Chinese University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-03, Section: A, page: 0948

• English

Dissertation Theses

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/en/bibs/9e36da11

2010-12-16