The aims of the recent arts education reform is to build on the strengths of existing practices, to allow greater autonomy for schools to fully develop their school-based arts curriculum and to provide space for more new art forms for students to pursue their preferences in the arts. This paper investigates the effects of the ‘Arts-in-Education’ project (2001-2002), piloted in two secondary schools in Hong Kong, on the school curriculum and student learning. Results of the case study where the artist worked collaboratively with the schoolteachers during formal and informal hours on a musical production revealed that special timetabling arrangements could greatly facilitate a successful model. Other factors contributing to effective student learning included the commitment and dedication of the artist, a strong artist/school partnership, common goals, sufficient funding and full support from the school management and parents. Qualitative data, collected from lesson observation, interviews, focus group meeting and project documents had revealed successful ingredients for the across-the-arts and the interdisciplinary approaches, while pressing issues also emerged, to which educators need to pay special attention when responding to arts education reform.
[Copyright © 2003 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

Current issue of education reform advocated by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has induced numerous discussions within the education sector and the community at large. Music, being one of the long established cultural subjects in the secondary school curriculum, is also under rigorous discussion. The purpose of this chapter is to have an investigation of the past two music syllabi for junior secondary schools (published in 1975 and 1983) in order to collect and analyze data for support of reform. Changes and differences between the two syllabi are analyzed in order to have an understanding of the development of the trend of thinking of the colonial government in the pre-1997 era, of which concerns music education in Hong Kong. In order to have a reference point for the review of the two syllabi, curricula of the three frontier countries, including England, Australia, and the United States, are being examined. Common criteria and standard of these three curricula are summed up and used as guidelines to investigate the two Hong Kong music syllabi. Implications for future reform of the current music syllabus are discussed for the better future of the teaching content and standard of achievement in music in junior secondary schools in Hong Kong.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

At the beginning of the third millennium, education reforms come to a forefront in both China and Hong Kong. The two regions had undergone different political systems in the past: various parts of China have been under the influences of different countries since the mid-nineteenth century and became a communist country since 1949; while Hong Kong was a British colony from 1842-1997. Both experienced Western influences in culture and education, and currently are facing challenges of globalization with regard to educating their future generations. This paper focuses on the development of music education in relation to traditional Chinese music in China and Hong Kong in the past century, and examines the recent music curriculum changes in China in order to establish a direction for the ongoing music education reform in Hong Kong. The study pinpoints the rationale for the study, the historical aspect and impact on music education in China and Hong Kong, the ongoing reforms on music education in both regions, and recommends a direction for a possible change in the music curriculum in Hong Kong. The suggestions could also be adapted for change in other Asian countries.
[Copyright © 2003 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

The debate about the effectiveness of the liberal arts curriculum is centuries old, but recent financial and social pressures have placed the survival of the liberal arts in the United States at even greater risk. Using Kimball's (1995) notion of the oratorical and philosophical traditions of liberal education, this article first identifies the critical importance of balancing breadth and depth in the curriculum before honing in on breadth as being in particular danger in the current climate. After analyzing the major threats to breadth in American higher education, the article looks overseas to find a new case for the value of breadth in the curriculum. It focuses on Hong Kong's university system, where a large-scale, multiyear project is underway to graft a fourth year of general education onto a three-year model of discipline- or profession-specific training. The resulting contrast between American institutions discarding curricular breadth while foreign universities rediscover it is telling. This topic has particular relevance for Christian colleges and universities as they seek the holistic development of their students.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15363759.2015.973344

The latest music syllabus for Form I-III was printed in 1983. It has been put into practice for more than fifteen years. Recently, there is an intention of review of the syllabus reflected from a series of activities carried out by the CDI in 1998 including the survey of the implementation of Form I-III music syllabus, the disclose of the report survey for all music teachers, music expertise special meeting in collecting information and feedback of the future trends of music education of Hong Kong. As there are hints of review of the syllabus, this paper aims at reviewing the music contents stated in the syllabus and discussing its implications for teachers, students, schools heads, policy makers and music teacher educators.