This paper examines the development of outdoor education in Hong Kong from its colonial roots to the challenges of its uncertain future. The scene is set by a synopsis of Hong Kong's geography, history, economy, and culture. Next, we trace the history of organised outdoor education from the early 1900s to the present day. This is followed by a critical exploration of issues facing youth adventure education programmes and management development programmes. The paper closes with recommendations to return to “real” outdoor courses in natural environments, to raise the standards of training available to outdoor leaders, and finally, to create a governing body that would facilitate inter-organisational learning, raise standards of programme design and delivery, and help build a body of literature that is specific to experiential learning in Hong Kong.
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Using geographic information system (GIS) in teaching and learning geography is an important direction in the secondary geography curriculum in Hong Kong. In the present study, interviews were conducted individually with 28 geography teachers from different secondary schools in Hong Kong, with a view to finding their views on the inclusion of GIS in the secondary geography curriculum and the current state of GIS implementation in their schools. The study reveals that the level of use of GIS in geography teaching in Hong Kong was low, despite the fact that teachers generally found GIS to be an important geographical skill. In addition, teachers' understanding of how GIS could be used in teaching to enhance student learning in geography was limited. There is evidence that basic conditions, in terms of hardware and software, for using GIS in geography teaching were present in schools, and that teacher commitment was a critical factor determining whether or not GIS would be used. Teacher commitment was found related to teachers' sense of preparedness to implement GIS, the perceived practicality of its use in teaching and whether GIS use was mandated in the curriculum.
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This paper analyses, from a historical perspective, the implementation of civic education in Hong Kong secondary music education in the 1980s and 1990s. It attempts to explore the struggles between political ideology and civic education in the Hong Kong music education system from a non-musical perspective. The paper argues that the promotion of civic education in Hong Kong music education has been seen as a significant indicator for pursuing smooth social transitions. The singing of the national anthem of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is seen as a vehicle for cultivating political and civic values in school. Nevertheless, the findings of a questionnaire-survey on the perception of secondary music teachers show that the level of willingness with which they teach the PRC's anthem is not consistent with their comprehension of their national or communal commitment.
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Hong Kong's 150 years of colonisation by the British is a classic example of how globalisation comes into direct contact with a local Chinese culture and creates cultural hybridities. The paper presents a framework for developing a hybrid guidance curriculum, drawing together western traditions of developmental contextualism in guidance and Chinese traditions of Confucian humanism in moral education. The core of the framework is a hybrid self, integrating the individualist and the embedded self. The paper highlights the importance of culture and context in considering school guidance and the 'fluid' and dynamic nature of 'glocalisation' working towards integration.
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