In response to the wave of global education reform, the Hong Kong Government has initiated an educational reform to promote the child-centred approach to meet the changing society in the recent ten years. The Holistic Child-centred Educational Approach which enshrine a distinct kind of spirituality of interconnectedness is considered as Quality education. In order to foster the holistic curriculum in young children, the Government has recognized the values of play in the ECE informal curriculum and its allied pedagogy. Despite the Government’s persistent attempts to foster the policy, the feedback from practitioners is less than satisfactory. Through a qualitative research with two preschools with religious affiliations, it is found that spirituality education has an important role to play in fostering the good lives of young children. Children are being ‘equipped’ with skills to deal with life adversity and handling the complex human relationships. A successful implementation of spirituality education however must rest on a clear understanding of the difference between the traditional religious education and spirituality education. A genuine understanding on the part of practitioners would increase the chances for a successful implementation of the ECE Educational reform promoted by the SAR Government. (The Author)
[Copyright © Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker-Society.]

In his 2006-07 Policy Address, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong committed HK$2 billion to enhancing holistic ECE through the instigation of a school voucher scheme. The new paradigm of a child-centred curriculum is considered necessary to keep pace with international quality educational developments. The paradigm of spirituality education for young children, which enshrines interconnectedness (Taggart, 2001), is in essence the holistic education that is advocated in child-centred ideology. Religious education, in contrast, is underpinned by teacher-centred ideology and has the aim of transmitting traditional religious values to the younger generation. The article reports on six case studies on three different faith schools which suggest that elements of spirituality are embedded in the newly advocated curriculum. The preliminary data collected, however, also suggest that there is a misunderstanding on the part of stakeholders in their view of the conceptualisation of Spirituality Education as nearly synonymous with Religious Education. Based on these findings, the author hopes to arouse the public at large to the potential educational inequalities existed alongside the educational reform policy; firstly to the parents when exercising their rights under the school voucher scheme and secondly, to faith schools being distracted from their school mission by a misconception that Spirituality Education and Religious Education are nearly synonymous.
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Many Hong Kong schools are concerned with the growing number of enrolments of ethnic minority students. This article examines teachers’ views of their influence on the performance of these students and how the cultural diversity among these students were addressed. Qualitative data were collected from semi-structured interviews with thirty-two teachers from three secondary schools. This study shows that teachers struggle to conceptualize a new rationale for responding to cultural diversity. They develop a sense of inter-cultural sensitivity, promote cultural responsiveness to diversity, and strengthen the home-school connection. The implication for the creation of a culturally responsive classroom will be given.

《德育及國民教育科課程指引》(下稱《指引》) 其中一個大缺失是假設香港是一個同質的華人社會，對於居港非華裔人士來說，藉國民教育來培養他們對中華人民共和國的身份認同和世界公民的視野，比培養對中華人民共和國的認同更有意義。由此可見，《指引》根本上是完全忽略了居港非華裔人士的需要，不利於建構一個多元文化的社會。簡單來說，國民身份認同可從兩個面向凝聚。其一是從文化入手，即以大地山河、代象深厚的歷史；文化和傳統來建構，稱之為「文化國民身份認同」(Cultural national identity)，另一個面向是「政治國民身份認同」(political national identity)，是公民對國家的憲法和政治體制的認同，例如在民主國家，公民因能藉著參與來影響國家的施政，因而產生認同和歸屬感，可稱為「公民國民身份認同」(civic national identity)，意指「不適任何文化及傳統上的差異，國民都有同等權利參與和影響國家政策」，而這樣產生的認同有利於多元文化社會的凝聚。對於培養國民身份認同，上述的文化身份認同和政治身份認同兩者都同樣重要，缺一不可。
[Copyright © 2012 by Enrich Publishing Ltd.]

Many Hong Kong schools are concerned about how diverse learning needs of ethnic minority students could be better fulfilled. This study examines local teachers’ constructs of assessment classroom environments. Using qualitative data collected from semi-structured interviews with 32 teachers from three secondary schools, this study shows ways in which summative assessment influences teachers’ formative assessment practices. Cultural responsiveness in this study is not limited to the notion of multiculturalism. It can be constructed under the ethos of respect, care and equality. The culturally responsive approach to assessment described in this study foregrounds considerations of cultural influence in teachers’ beliefs regarding assessment. Principles of culturally responsive assessment identified include: (i) integrating the ‘part’ of assessment with the ‘whole’ of teaching, (ii) managing the diverse learning needs of students, (iii) removing language barriers from the assessment process and (iv) examining the influence of the public examination on teachers’ classroom assessment practice.
[Copyright © 2014 Taylor & Francis.]