It is a general belief that language reflects cultural preoccupations, and constrains the way people think, and that the use of language is also shaped through culture. Language education in different countries thus reflects culture of the regions. Chinese and English are two of the most popular languages in the world and reflect culture of the East and the West. The authors have carried out a research project on the views of Hong Kong educators on basic mother tongue language competency. The results showed that Hong Kong educators’ perception on language was affected by Chinese philosophy of education, namely Confucianism. They did not find many indicators of English curricula appropriate to Hong Kong school students. ‘Stress on personal moral perfection’ and ‘social implications for education’ that is the goodness for all were some of the Chinese educational beliefs affect views of Hong Kong educators on language education.
[Copyright © 2007 International Cultural Research Network Press.]

Civic education has been re-surging in Hong Kong schools since the process of re-integration with China, which was began in the 1980s. During the process, two sets of guidelines on civic education have been issued, generating much impact on the curriculum development of schools in the related area. This chapter adopts a case study approach to develop a focused and in-depth study of a secondary school, which is renowned for its achievements in implementing civic education in local context. Various research instruments and methods, including questionnaire survey, focused interview and content (documentary) analysis are used to study the changes in the school context as well as the inhibiting and facilitating factors in the process of implementing civic education through the Whole-School or Permeation Approach. It is expected that the findings could generate revelatory impact on the future betterment of civic education in secondary schools.
[Copyright © 2007 International Cultural Research Network Press.]