Teaching young people to understand and appreciate diversity is crucial in Hong Kong efforts for a just and inclusive multicultural society. History is the main place where the cultural identity and values of Hong Kong society have been reflected on, questioned, and problematized in the curriculum, as changes to this curriculum interface with larger social and political changes of the society. Although diversity is emphasized in Hong Kong history curricula, representations of ethnic minorities provided in education may not always be effective toward multicultural aims. This research explores how multicultural content is expressed in Hong Kong Chinese history textbooks. In particular, we focus on how relationships between Han and minority cultures are represented in the texts, using qualitative content analysis. Based on the analysis, we elaborate three main descriptive codes and themes: (1) only majority perspectives are provided, (2) cultural superiority of the dominant group (the Han), and (3) plural monoculturalism, where minority views are treated as threatened and/or as threatening in relation to the society as a whole. We argue that these codes are in contrast with a multicultural stance that aims to enhance social justice and equity in relation to diversity, through providing balanced perspectives, including positive ethnic minority recognition and support for just forms of pluralistic integration. Copyright © 2019 National Institute of Education, Singapore.

Purpose - Although researchers have identified correlations between specific attitudes and particular behaviors in the pro-environmental domain, the general relationship between young people’s development of environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors is not well understood. Past research indicates that geographic context can play a role, while social factors such as age and gender can have a more significant impact on predicting attitudes and behaviors than formal education. Few studies have systematically examined the relationships between education and environmental attitudes and behaviors among youth in Hong Kong. The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study comparing secondary school students’ environmental attitudes and behaviors with age and related factors in two international schools and two government schools in Hong Kong. Students’ attitudes and behaviors were compared based on school type (curriculum), while the authors additionally compared the significance of social factors and attitudes on students’ behaviors.Design/methodology/approach - Attitudes were measured using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) and the NEP for Children (NEPC), the most commonly used, internationally standardized tools for investigating environmental attitudes and values of adults and young people for comparative purposes. The authors compared NEP/NEPC scores and student self-reported environmental behaviors using a short questionnaire.Findings - No significant differences were found in attitudes or behaviors based on school type. However the authors did observe a significant effect of gender and age on students’ attitudes, and a significant correlation of student attitudes in the NEP with students’ self-reports regarding air conditioning consumption.Originality/value - This study builds a foundation for cross-national studies and for evaluating the impact of curricula over time. Copyright © 2016 Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

This study is based on the data analysis of reading assessment of PIRLS 2016 in Hong Kong, students were found to have poor performance in both reading behavior and attitudes, ranking low compared with international levels. Reading fluency is directly related to this low ranking. This paper discusses the three elements of reading fluency which are accuracy, automaticity, and prosody, and includes suggestions for improvements. The repeated reading training methods is also advised. In addition, this paper also focuses on the importance of enhancing prosody awareness in reading. It is hoped that the Education Bureau in Hong Kong can advocate, and support the primary and secondary schools to pay attention to fostering students' prosody awareness in the Chinese reading class in order to improve the reading fluency of students in Hong Kong. Improving reading fluency will result in improved reading literacy, which in turn is an important factor in the development and competitiveness construction of the country and individuals.本文通過對香港PIRLS 2016閱讀測評中的相關數據分析後發現：香港學生存在嚴重的閱讀行為態度問題，在PIRLS 2016的排名中處於國際末尾。而這一問題的存在與學生的閱讀流暢性程度高低有直接關聯。鑒於此，本研究進一步提出如何完善閱讀流暢性三要素（準確性、自動化和韻律）方面的培養，及增加「重複閱讀訓練」的方法。此外，本研究還提出提升韻律意識在閱讀中的重要性。寄希望於香港教育局可以將對學生韻律意識的培養放到中文閱讀課堂中來，以此提升香港學生的閱讀流暢性，進而提高其閱讀素養能力，這反過來又是國家和個人發展和競爭力建設的重要因素。Copyright © 2019 文藻外語大學.

傳統或現代水墨在香港學校的視覺藝術教育中向來有待開發，站在地域上，香港自然是中西文化交融最成功地方之一，視覺藝術教育卻未正視此特質。雖然多年來偶有熱心水墨教育者申請基金舉辦活動，但正規中、小學課程仍然未能平衡中、西方藝術教育。文章通過行動研究探討在香港這特殊地理位置下，學校水墨教育可能應用的教學法。筆者在教學行動研究中加入現代和當代水墨的觀念元素和創作技法，並試以電腦方式加入草稿構想佈局，模仿傳統水墨中「搜盡奇峰打草稿」或臨摹不同古賢作品後重新結構自己作品方式－如謝赫「六法」中的「傳移模寫」後，自己重新構想「胸中幽壑」的方法。大量的電腦資料庫有助學生作構圖拼合（用 photoshop 軟件 )，省略了大量造型描摹時間，更易專注於用筆和墨韻的學習和練習。大會主題為「挑戰與轉化」，香港學校水墨畫教學應透過研究與時並進。除了考慮香港中、西文化交融的特質外，亦可以嘗試在傳統的創作媒介中結合現代主題和科技應用，讓年輕一代有機會通過學校視覺藝術教育接觸到中國傳統藝術，期望達致「轉化」學校視覺藝術教育長期忽略水墨畫教學的慣性和價值觀。 Copyright © 2020 Author(s). All rights reserved.

Members of four teams comprising local and international exchange (IE) students, who had undertaken service-learning (SL) projects in Hong Kong, were interviewed about factors influencing cohesiveness within their teams. They indicated that a major barrier was language-related and could result in the withdrawal or exclusion of IE students. Students also identified three factors that fostered cohesiveness. These were: (1) local students’ willingness to conduct meetings in English; (2) local students’ readiness to provide interpretation and translation at external meetings; and (3) the willingness of IE and local students to establish reciprocal and empathetic relationships. Students reported that the benefits were improved English language skills, greater flexibility and broadened horizons. We offer suggestions about to prepare local and IE students to work together on SL projects. Copyright © 2019 The 3rd International Conference on Service-Learning (ICSL).

This chapter considers the place of minorities in the formal Hong Kong curriculum by examining the extent and nature of representations of ethnic and religious minorities in Hong Kong “Liberal Studies” textbooks. Liberal Studies is the single required course in secondary Hong Kong education which focuses on social studies and world issues, and therefore is the primary place where one would expect to see any discussion of diversity and related issues in society in the formal, mandated curriculum. This chapter conceives of textbooks as an important part of the curriculum, which guides and steers educators and students, though it is not the only site of educative content. This is a qualitative and discursive study of how minorities are discussed in Hong Kong education, which reveals that minorities are often absent from discussion of society taking place in schools. The chapter goes on to argue that this imbalanced representation of “who” is Hong Kong harms not only minorities but also majority culture and society in Hong Kong, as it fails to provide balanced and accurate information necessary to equip students to become active participants in a democratic society. Copyright © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Yun-Kyung Cha, Seung-Hwan Ham, and Moosung Lee; individual chapters, the contributors.

There is a lack of empirical research into group dialogue and questioning - the most basic component of teaching in art lessons. This study investigated the dialogues conducted by primary school visual arts teachers with their students. Eight teacher participants were observed and their teaching was examined against a theoretical framework constructed from a spectrum of dialogue and questioning strategies proposed by various theorists. From the observed dialogues, it was found that most teachers focused primarily on the observation and visual analysis of artworks. They also introduced some essential contextual knowledge to their students. However, interpretations of artworks were rather limited. Lastly, the development of students' personal connections with and judgment of artworks were ignored by most of the teachers. The study is particularly meaningful given the increased emphasis on learning art criticism in the new visual arts curriculum and amidst the latest cultural developments in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2019 Australian Institute of Art Education.