At the turn of the 21st century, the governments of Hong Kong and Taiwan initiated curriculum reforms, which aimed to expand children's arts experience, develop their generic skills and connect their knowledge in and through the arts. In Taiwan, the arts curriculum adopts an integrated design while in Hong Kong, it adopts an integrative learning approach that connects not only the arts, but also other Key Learning Areas. Working with tertiary institutions, the Taiwanese Government has provided an advisory group and other resources to prepare teachers for an integrated arts curriculum. Although the Hong Kong Government co-organised projects with tertiary institutions and the community, and commissioned a professional development course for primary school teachers, secondary school teachers seemed to be neglected. This paper compares official curriculum frameworks and their implementation, primary textbooks and teacher preparation among the two programmes. Many challenges are identified, and recommendations, such as increased collaboration among stakeholders and research on various integration approaches, are offered. It is hoped that these recommendations will help the successful implementation of the integrative /integrated arts curriculum in both places, as well as other parts of the world.
[Copyright of Asia-Pacific Journal for Arts Education is the property of Hong Kong Institute of Education.]