Background: During the period of British colonial rule, the nature of civic education in Hong Kong was characterized as denationalized, depoliticized and decontextualized. The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration substantially altered the nature of civic education. The "China Today" module of Liberal Studies (LS) was one of the results of the re-engineering the civic education. The teachers' paradigms of the "China Today" module were explored because the module used national themes as materials to inculcate values in students and is directly related to both citizenship education and national education.
Aim: The aim of this study is to examine teachers' paradigms of the "China Today" module through their conceptualization of citizenship and their perspective on teaching.
Samples: Four secondary teachers of the "China Today" module were invited to participate.
Methods: Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation were used to assess the teachers' perception and practices.
Results: Data from the questionnaire and interviews revealed that the four teachers highly valued moral, socially concerned citizens and democratic citizens. In terms of aims and approaches to citizenship education, the four teachers embraced the notion of citizenship as competence as aim and reflective-inquiry approach, but only two teachers were able to carry them out in the classroom setting. Another two teachers used transmission approach.
Conclusion: Framed by the notion of citizenship as competence as their aim and equipped in issue-enquiry or reflective-inquiry approach, and experienced in developmental perspective on teaching, the CSS2 and CSS3 teachers were able to cultivate in student' dispositions and skills. Teachers unaware of the citizenship framework and unfamiliar with the developmental perspective on teaching found it difficult to cultivate rational aspects of students.
背景：在英國統治期間，香港公民教育有以下的特色：就是課程不涉及祖國和政治，並且沒有脈絡。1984年，中英聯合聲明大大改變這本質
