Improving mainstream perceptions of diversity in Hong Kong is fundamental to enhancing equality and human rights in the society in the future. The importance of mainstream members of society learning to recognize diversity with less prejudice undergirds many of the aims of a recent educational reform, Liberal Studies. This paper evaluates the capacity of Liberal Studies to educate for multicultural understanding of cultural difference. Its primary data source is Liberal Studies textbooks, and it employs a qualitative content analysis to consider how diversity and ethnic, cultural, and religious differences are represented in the texts. The analysis is complemented by an examination of related resources teachers may use in the classroom (and are encouraged to use by the Hong Kong Curriculum Development Council): mainstream news articles and resources from the (government-provided) Web-based Resource Platform for Liberal Studies. The voices and views of some practicing teachers and pre-service teacher education students related to multicultural Liberal Studies resources are also included to provide a balanced picture. Based on this analysis, multicultural education as provided in major resources within the Liberal Studies curriculum appears inadequate. As diversity is reflected upon in resources analyzed here most often as problematic and stereotypical, interventions are needed if Liberal Studies is to enable multicultural appreciation and understanding among students in Hong Kong in the future. Copyright © 2016 De La Salle University.

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.

To the author, children's literature can be employed as a valuable resource for teaching social studies. Thus, an annotated bibliography of children's books suitable for use in the social studies classroom is presented.