In Hong Kong, except for Art and Craft and Physical Education, official approved school textbooks for pupils and handbooks for teachers are widely used in primary schools. When Art and craft primary teachers in Hong Kong plan for their lessons, they can only follow the official curriculum prepared by the Curriculum Development Council of the Education Department of Hong Kong. Thus, the official curriculum plays a very important role in guiding the primary Art and Craft teachers in planning their taught curriculum. In the first part of this chapter, a brief historical account on the introduction of art education in Hong Kong is given. Then, the chapter examines the developmental trend of the aims of the planned Hong Kong Primary Schools Art and Craft Curriculum from the 1950s to the 1990s. Finally, it discusses both the external and internal factors that influence the art education in Hong Kong.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

The Curriculum Development Council of the Education Department of Hong Kong takes the role to prepare official curriculum for the schools in Hong Kong. On the part of art education, it seldom mentions the impact of Museum visits on the study of art. Since the official art curriculum is a guide for Art teachers in Hong Kong to prepare their taught curriculum, they often overlook art museum as a supportive resources center for the teaching of art. In 1985 the NAEA published the goals for quality art education, which are among the basic skills addressed in virtually all art museum program planning. Art museums serve as resources for teachers in the schools, the setting of art museum provided a sound physical resource, whereas the docent service, lectures and seminars, and workshops on different themes are very effective human resources in the teaching of art. Referring to local situation, the Hong Kong Museum of Art plays similar role in the field of art education in Hong Kong. The education section of the museum conducts talks, seminars, and workshops on different themes. Docent service is also provided. The museum serves both as sites for field trips and extension services. But it is scarcely considered as a teaching resources / support for the art teachers in Hong Kong. The idea of this paper is to study the use of the Hong Kong Museum of Arts by Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary school art teachers of Hong Kong. First, it provides a background on the art education in Hong Kong. Second, it describes the research findings of the use of the Hong Kong Museum of Arts by the kindergarten, primary and secondary school art teachers of Hong Kong. Third, collected data is interpreted and discussed. Finally, recommendation is made for the improvement of art education in Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong, except for Art and Craft and Physical Education, official proved school textbooks for pupils and teacher's handbooks are widely adopted by all primary school subjects. When Art and craft primary teachers in Hong Kong schedule their lessons, they can only follow the official curriculum prepared by the Curriculum Development Council of the Education Department of Hong Kong. Thus, the official curriculum plays a very important role in guiding the primary Art and Craft teachers in planning their taught curriculum. In this paper, the writer tries to examine the developmental trend of the aims of the planned Hong Kong Primary Schools Art and Craft Curriculum from 50's to 90's.

Hong Kong provides a nine-year free education to every child. There are altogether 476,582 children go to school everyday. We believe that the children are learning what we planned for them. It is only until August 1999, the public is shocked by the results of the Hong Kong Certificate of Education. It is because the result shows that in sixteen schools, half of their candidates got zero mark in their examined subjects. In one school, over 80% of the candidates got zero mark for all subjects (Sing Tao Daily, 28-8-1999, p. A3). This scenario reviews that not only the students have learnt so little after a five-year schooling but also more serious is that it rings the alarm bell of our education system. So, before it is too late, an evaluation of the learned curriculum in the primary school sector is in need. Are the official learning objectives well received and understood by our primary school students? With reference to the official curriculum, the focus of this research is to examine the primary school graduates knowledge in Art after six years study in Art and Craft.