The implementation of a school-based integrated curriculum enables schools to plan a balanced, flexible and coherent curriculum in order to reduce subject specification, especially in kindergartens. Despite kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) being encouraged to integrate music content across subject areas, these boundaries still exist and prove challenging. This instrumental case study shows how one kindergarten teacher attempted to integrate other subjects into the music curriculum through movement and games, and encourage children's creativity. Eight detailed observations of music lessons and an interview with the kindergarten teacher depict her efforts at integration. Findings show that some progress was made and that the support of the principal was pivotal. They also suggest ways in which kindergarten teachers might begin to incorporate more creative integrated approaches to music education and have some applicability to other kindergarten settings where transmission approaches tend to dominate and teachers want to encourage music integration and children's musical creativity. Copyright © 2018 Cambridge University Press.

Responses from 309 randomly sampled Hong Kong primary school music teachers to the shortened version of the Chinese Teacher Stress Questionnaire were subjected to a descriptive percentage analysis, one-way ANOVA and independent t test. Obtained results identify five key stressors: "changing education policy of the government"; "being observed by colleague, student teachers, college tutors, inspectors or parents";"too much subject matter to teach"; "inclusive education"; and "additional administrative work". An explanation is offered identifying stressor responses being underpinned by either global or contextual issues, while others by a combination of both. Unlike other studies that found relations between stressors and respondents' individual characteristics, the results of this study uniquely display no significant statistical evidence to link music teachers' stressor response levels with age, teaching experience, education, specialization or teaching-related workload. The evidence here supports the view that stressors are neutral and reported stressor response levels reflect global or contextual factors which can be intensified by a combination of both.
[Copyright of International Journal of Music Education is the property of Sage Publications Ltd..]

The landscape of tertiary education has significantly changed in recent years with increasing pressure on universities to "globalize" and expand their reach internationally. In this context, there are a range of pedagogical and cultural issues to consider when designing curriculum to address the needs of students taking courses in different geographical locations. In addition to ensuring equivalence and quality, developing context-specific learning resources is a critical part of international delivery. Providing flexibility and autonomy to meet specific geocultural teaching and learning needs is vital. Programs and courses benefit from collaboration and connectivity between students and staff in all locations to ensure meaningful global learning environments. This paper focuses on a case study from an Australian University and examines how curriculum and delivery modes can be adapted to address the changing needs of transnational education a global context. The case study involves the renewal of a core undergraduate art history and theory subject that is offered in art and design programs across three different locations (Melbourne, Hong Kong and Vietnam). A series of learning materials and assessment tasks were designed to maximize a blended learning environment comprising face-to-face workshops, lectures, and online components. The result is a technology-enabled, common curriculum framework designed to allow for content to be adapted for local delivery.
[Copyright of International Journal of Education & the Arts is the property of International Journal of Education & the Arts]

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss nationalistic education in Hong Kong from a cultural perspective. It highlights the challenges faced by the Hong Kong Government and the growing antagonism and mistrust between the young generation and the government. The paper reviews the cultural policies adopted by the Western Zhou, Han and Tang dynasties in ancient China.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts a historical approach by reviewing the policies in music and culture in the Chinese history and argues for the adoption of a soft approach to nationalistic education in Hong Kong.FindingsResults show that being inclusive toward diverse cultures, trusting and valuing people's voices and accepting differences of opinion are effective policies that were adopted by the respective dynasties. The results shed light on the possibility of nurturing nationalism through education in music and culture.Research limitations/implicationsThe historical examples mentioned in this paper are only selected periods of the Chinese history. Thus, the survey could not be taken as a comprehensive review.Practical implicationsThis paper reviews the policies concerning music and culture in ancient China and argues for transferring the soft approach of predecessors toward these subjects as part of the nationalistic education of Hong Kong.Social implicationsThe results shown should be considered seriously by the Hong Kong Government as an effective substitute policy for the past stringent approach of implementing national education in Hong Kong. Nationalistic education focusing on music and culture is a common root for all Chinese and should be used in future to build up trust and common values between China and Hong Kong.Originality/valueThe originality of this research lies in its dealing with nationalism and national education, recommending a soft approach to education viewed through the prisms of music and culture.
[Copyright of Asian Education and Development Studies is the

為編製一冊以歷史人物為題材的讀本，供非華語讀者閱讀，製作團隊遇到巨大挑戰。本文報告部分製作經驗，並通過語料分析的檢測結果，探討有關中文二語閱讀材料的遣詞用字問題及其教學啟示。檢測發現：（1）一些表達政治、軍事、倫理和道德概念等的慣常用語，並不容易改寫或詮釋；（2）製作初期恐怕會太深太難的詞語，不少都在香港小學學生學習的字詞範圍之內；（3）漢字數量繁多，有些字形看起來大同小異，加上不同電腦字體的筆畫變異，可能困擾非華語學習者，值得正視。
[Copyright © 2017 中華書局(香港)有限公司.]

綜合課程是香港幼稚園的主流模式，但音樂及其他藝術科目的學習卻未被有效的綜合與融入現有課程之中。本文以藝術範疇中的「音樂」科目作為核心，以綜合藝術中的音樂活動為例，詳細介紹在幼稚園運用「視覺組織圖表」(graphic organizers) 進行綜合藝術課程的理論與方法。透過「視覺組織圖表」及相關教學範例的展示，與教師分享如何以趣味的音樂活動來推動幼兒的綜合藝術學習，從而促進本港幼稚園實施有效的綜合藝術課程，確保兒童全面和充分的發展。
[Copyright © 2013 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

This study attempts to explore the implementation of the New Senior Secondary (NSS) music curriculum and senior secondary school music teachers’ perceptions towards the NSS music curriculum in developing students’ creativity. In Hong Kong education reform, the necessity of developing students’ creativity was emphasized and “developing students’ creativity” was addressed as one of the four learning targets of music education. As the last step of Hong Kong education reform, senior secondary curriculum reform has been implemented in 2009. Compared with the previous senior secondary music curriculum, the NSS music curriculum contains more diversified teaching contents and assessment methods. Besides, since senior secondary students who select music as one of their elective subjects have to participate in a public examination, and the results directly related to whether they can be accepted by universities, senior secondary music teachers who are undertaking to teach the NSS music lessons are under a pressure of assisting students to get a positive result in the public examination. Under this circumstance, to what extent the learning target “developing students’ creativity” can be achieved through undertaking the NSS music should be further studied. In this study, seven in-service senior secondary music teachers were invited to share their arrangements of offering the NSS music and their perceptions towards the NSS music curriculum in developing students’ creativity. Since “Creating” was stated as the most effective module in developing students’ creativity in the NSS music curriculum guide, music teachers’ teaching practice for teaching the “Creating” part was asked particularly. Findings indicate that 1) the NSS music was only offered by a few of senior secondary schools; 2) most of the interviewees displayed a positive attitude towards the importance of creativity; and 3) most of the interviewees considered that students’ creativity cannot be significantly developed through

This study investigates how a class of university music students who engaged in a 'lived' experience of informal learning adopted methods and strategies to complete a self-learning 'aural copying' performance assignment in a musicianship class in Hong Kong. Data were collected from observations of the performances and the students' written reflections. The findings showed that they used the methods of intensive listening, using technology, and collaborative learning, as well as the strategies of putting their knowledge of music theory into practice, substitution of instruments, and learning a new instrument in order to emulate the sounds of various instruments. They found this an interesting task that gave them opportunities to improve their musicianship, and they became more sensitive to different voice parts.
[Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 ]