This is a review of the curriculum of religious education of the Catholic primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong over the last three decades. Of the subject matter of religious education, there has witnessed an obvious shift of the focus from an emphasis on transmission of biblical knowledge to the call for reflection of life experiences of students in the light of the biblical teachings. As far as the teachers are concerned, a phenomenon has persisted that most of them are not properly prepared for the job in terms of their mastery of essential subject matter knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. The most notable feature of the learners in the context of this study lies in the fact that over 95% of them are not baptized Catholics. The challenge of religious education in such a context has thus become a matter of relevance and attractiveness of the subject to them. Finally, the school milieu has been found not particularly favourable to religious education as academic achievement, instead of character formation, has been given top priority in even prestigious Catholic schools.

In a revealing passage of his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle cites a popular saying with approbation: a friend is someone with whom one shares a single soul. It is a man who values friendship as indispensable to human flourishing. Aristotle claims that it is necessary to value our friends in the way that we appropriately value ourselves. So much is neither haughty nor excessively self-occupied (Shields, 2014). A review of literature has ascertained that it is not uncommon to understand that young children enter school with a wealth of unanswered questions. By incorporating the philosophical elements into the curriculum, teacher could facilitate young children to rediscover and validate their innate curiosity. Philosophy of young children is about asking important questions about life and its immediate contacting environment, such as people and things related to life. In the process of looking for an answer for their teachers, young children’s creative thoughts in these arenas are revealed. The aim of this research study is to unfold the creative mind of the young children through the technique of questioning and scaffolding by their teacher in a preschool in Hong Kong. This research has employed the qualitative method of case study for its conduction. The research outcomes met with the aims of the research. In the process, new philosophical ideas of young children have been identified by the teachers through their use five types of scaffolding techniques. Two themes in philosophy have emerged in this research. One is on “friendship/love” and the other is on “Man who abduct young children”. This paper is going to report the case studies themed on friendship. The researcher has tried to identify the meaning of friendship collected in the research and compare with those identified in the Aristotelian concept of friendship through analyzing the data. It is interestingly to find that the concept of friendship as explained by the young children in this research has matched

兒童哲學是有關讓幼兒提問一些重要的問題並嘗試由幼兒找尋答案。幼兒在尋找答案給老師時，他們的創意思維便得以提昇，而這情況能配合現時全球化下的新式教育理念的實踐。 傳統的西方觀點認為幼兒與生俱來便擁有探索的意慾，並從而瞭解世界。本研究目的是探討在香港生活環境下的幼師如何透過哲學的範疇，發揮其教學技巧以期提昇香港幼兒的創意表達能力及其創意維度。 研究程序是藉着老師的教學技巧讓五至六歲幼兒透過哲學思考提出問題，從而讓老師瞭解幼兒所提出的答案及其創意維度。研究方法以個案形式搜集及分析。 研究結果顯示在東方文化傳統下的幼師在探究幼兒與哲學的關係時，對創意的看法卻有異於西方傳统下的幼師觀點。 本研究歸納了研究所得而建議認受東，西方文化傳统下的幼師宜多作學術上及研究上的交流以期厘訂一種適合校本取向的幼教創意課程。

This book demonstrates the value of approaching education from a sociological and philosophical perspective. Specifically, it addresses current and long-standing educational issues in the Asia-Pacific region, integrating sociological and philosophical insights with practical applications in four key areas: educational aims, moral education, educational policy, and the East-West dichotomy. It discusses educational aims in terms of rationality, philosophical thinking, and sustainable development and presents the literary, religious, and analytical approaches to moral education. Four educational policies are then considered: Hong Kong's language policy, Hong Kong's policy on the internationalization of education, East Asia's policies on English education, and Australia's policy on teacher education. Different aspects of the East-West dichotomy are analysed: Confucian rationalism versus Western rationalism, Confucian learning culture versus Western learning culture, and Asian research methodology versus Western research methodology. Taken as a whole, the book shows that issues in education are rarely simple, and looking at them from multiple perspectives allows for rich and informed debates. It presents a rare philosophical and sociological analysis of the cultures and experiences of education in the Asia-Pacific region, and promotes research that leads to more culturally rooted educational policies and practice.
[Copyright © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore]

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.]

One of the roles of music teacher education is to produce music teachers with proficiencies in delivering music education at different educational levels. The impact of the development of IT in education in Hong Kong has been tremendous. The Hong Kong Education Department and the teacher education institutions are urging teachers in every discipline (including music) to apply the technology to a certain proportion of teaching and learning. Teacher proficiency requirements in IT have been developed quickly. As such, the philosophy that has prompted the inclusion of technology in music teacher education must be evident. The paper aims to investigate some aspects of the philosophy behind promoting IT to a level of such importance. A paradigm shift has come about in the approaches of teaching and learning from teacher-centered to student-centered for a range of reasons including the advent of IT. The teacher has to take on more of a facilitator role in stimulating students to learn how to learn rather than teaching what to learn. This aligns with the advocacy of flexible and life-long learning which are prevailing thoughts in the education world nowadays. These generic values are to be considered with the more unique values of IT in music teacher education. A new philosophy could imply more drastic changes in education in the near future. This could affect music teacher education as well as music education. The issues of how far a philosophy will induce quality learning and whether this application of IT could equate to quality teaching are to be considered. In a world which calls for reflective thinking as well as quality assurance and excellence, it is hoped that this paper will contribute to the discussion on the philosophy of the application of IT in music teacher education.
[Copyright © 2001 Aichi University of Education.]