Experiential learning can take many forms, but in all cases, teachers play a necessary role in the process. Consequently, nurturing teachers to be critically minded reflective professionals is paramount. This study uses two case studies to identify both the difficulties encountered when offering experiential learning to learners and the advantages to be gained from the process. One case study involves a teacher guiding Hong Kong students in experiential learning which took place at a national level in Mainland China. His approaches aligned with Justice Oriented and Charity Oriented. The second case study concerns a teacher who herself undertook experiential learning at a global level in Africa. Her approaches aligned with Personal Development Oriented and Justice Oriented. Their journeys are described in order to add to the fairly recent knowledge field regarding experiential learning and to help teachers become more skilled at managing experiential learning, particularly outside the local context. We suggest to add facilitating and hindering factors into the two dimensional typologies of experiential learning for civic education. The new three dimensional typologies of experiential learning would provide a more comprehensive conceptual framework to guide teachers and researchers in organizing and conducting experiential learning activities and studies. Copyright © 2021 Association for Moral Education.

During the turbulent 2018–19 school year, we researched Hong Kong teachers’ perceptions regarding the design and implementation of National Education in schools for students aged 12–17. We seek to make a contribution to understandings of aspects of the cultural, political and social dimensions and contexts relevant to teacher education. 41 civic and/or national education teachers were interviewed about their educational aims, content, teaching methods and assessment approaches. Teachers believe National Education should deliver and assess knowledge of China and nurture students’ identification with the nation through teaching Chinese culture and history via a balanced pedagogical approach and experiential learning. They discuss the relationship between Hong Kong and China, and conclude that teaching about the Chinese government is unavoidable. This indicates that in addition to teachers’ long established cultural, civic and cosmopolitan forms of nationalism, they are now using national unity and economy-induced nationalism to frame their professional work. These findings are significant because they indicate teachers’ fundamental and educational characterisations of National Education at this crucial juncture of Hong Kong; highlight the issues that should be considered for any programmeof initial or in-service teacher education; and, ultimately, indicate the nature of what may possibly be implemented in schools. Copyright © 2021 Australian Teacher Education Association.

This research study contributes to understanding teachers’ perceptions and views of using controversial issues and political neutrality in teaching, through an analysis of data gathered through questionnaire responses in a wider project and 41 semi-structured interviews. There are diversified views about the relationship between controversial issues and education. Some teachers feel that it is impossible to avoid controversial issues and that using them is educationally necessary. Three approaches were identified regarding their teaching of controversial issues: ‘open’, ‘critical’, and ‘committed’. The authors argue that teachers’ actions are influenced by factors which are discussed as ‘contextual’, ‘political’, and ‘pedagogical’. Teachers operate in specific places and times, have their own views about the nature of the good society, and prioritize their professional responsibilities. These findings contribute to our understandings of the teachers’ viewpoints and how those views are shaped. Such understandings will contribute to the development of reflective education policy and practice. Copyright © 2021 Teacher Development.

This article aims to generate a better understanding of Hong Kong teachers’ perception of national education as implemented in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (hereafter referred to as Hong Kong SAR) and the interrelationship between their perception and the methods they adopt to teach the topic. We outline the Hong Kong context relevant to our research and review the relevant literature to consider typologies and teaching methods about and for national education. Questionnaire data focused on the seven typologies of nationalism and the three teaching methods of national education identified in the literature review. A total of 601 questionnaires were returned from 198 schools. The typologies of cultural nationalism, civic and peripheral nationalism, authoritarian nationalism, unification nationalism and cosmopolitan nationalism, and the teaching methods of group discussion and an affective approach characterize the views of Hong Kong secondary school teachers about national education. We suggest that teachers’ diverse views about nationalism and their varied use of teaching methods to achieve their goals suggest the powerful influence of current initiatives from the Chinese mainland and the need to reflect on established academic literature that proposes the decolonization of the curriculum and interactive and critical teaching methods. Copyright © 2021 Intellect Ltd Article. English language.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to highlight the urgent need for a genuinely effective and attainable citizenship education model in Hong Kong’s schools, which focusses on promoting student participation in school governance. It is an empirical citizenship education management model for school leaders that illustrates the predictive effects of personally responsible, participatory, justice-oriented and patriotic citizenship, necessarily supported by school management practices, school ethos and teacher beliefs.Design/methodology/approach - A total of 3,209 students from 51 secondary schools in Hong Kong participated in a quasi-experimental design questionnaire survey. A structural equation model (SEM) was applied to confirm the model.Findings - The results of the SEM show that the values and cultural practices held by a school’s teachers drive the implementation of its citizenship education. Moreover, it is well known that organizational values can exert a powerful influence and it is the same within educational structures: management practices in schools have an impact on ethos, teachers’ beliefs and student participation in school governance.Practical implications - The paper provides practical proposals for school leaders to create opportunities for student participation in school governance.Originality/value - This study builds on existing literature and provides school leaders with a practical model for implementing student participation in school governance. Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between the civic mission of schools and students on participation in school governance through an empirical study. It articulates the importance of school mission on nurturing citizenship of high school students.Design/methodology/approach - The research used a mixed method with questionnaire survey in the first phase and qualitative interviews in the second phase. Quantitative data were obtained from a survey completed by 3,209 students and 495 teachers (including principals) from 51 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Qualitative data were collected from 41 individual interviews with principals and teachers and 17 focus group interviews with 56 students in five case study schools.Findings - Both students and teachers believed that good citizenship qualities should include students’ participation in school governance. Schools in general took up the civic mission to nurture good and participatory citizens. A mission of nurturing students to become good and participatory citizens made a significant and positive contribution toward achieving students’ actual participation in school governance. However, students’ actual impact on major school policies was minimal. A paradox existed whereby students, knowing their influence over managerial issues was much circumscribed, still gave it a higher rating than their teachers.Originality/value - The paper contributes an empirical model for school leaders to develop school vision for promoting student participation in school governance. Based on a large-scale research supported by public funding, the paper contributes an empirical model for school leaders to develop school vision for promoting student participation in school governance. It further adds to the literature on relationship between citizenship education, civic mission of school and student participation in governance. Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited.

This article demonstrates how a Hong Kong primary school enlists students (aged 6 to 12 years) in school governance by having a student council and by creating a supportive learning context, including building a supportive ethos and offering training for student leaders. The significance of this study lies in its reporting of a successful case of a student council in a primary school and the impacts on the civic qualities of the students involved. This is an attempt at investigating: the educational impacts of a student council in a primary school setting in a Chinese context; and the collaboration between schools, teachers and a service provider in nurturing a school ethos and context favourable for student engagement. This study argues that although primary school students are young, they are able to speak up and act as office bearers in a student council in an effective way. They can contribute towards school governance by conveying informed views on school matters. A supportive school context consisting of favourable attitudes taken up by school parties, namely the school governing board, principal, teachers and students, is crucial. Hopefully, the study can shed light to the international communities on the nurturing of citizens through active participation in school community at an early age to have the competence to know, think, act, reflect and care in a new political environment marked by uncertainty and increasing political polarization. Copyright © 2018 Intellect Ltd Article. English language.

This paper reports the findings of a public policy research supported by the University Grant Council on the relationships between the characteristics, school engagement and civic engagement of adolescents in Hong Kong. Data was collected from a sample of 3,024 students, aged 12 to 19, by employing the self-rated modified school engagement scale and the ICCS 2009 student questionnaires. Using local Hong Kong students as a reference, the other students included in the study were non-Chinese South Asians, cross-boundary students who live in Mainland China but who go to schools in Hong Kong, and newly arrived students from Mainland China. Family income and student groups were two predictor variables examined. About 38% of the sample were of low socioeconomic status, in that they reported their family monthly income as being less than 1500 USD. Hierarchical regression was employed to determine the relative influence of student characteristics and school and civic engagement variables. Findings revealed that there was a close connection between the self-assessment of school and civic engagement and there were differences in this regard among the immigrant and minority student groups. Recommendations for both schools and government agencies towards future policy development in facilitating pro-school and civic-oriented attitudes and behaviours of all students were suggested.