This paper examines the global implications of policy borrowing, employing case examples of Chinese school systems, which enjoy the success of grafting new identities to improve education. The paper comments on contemporary scholars’ use of identity grafting theory (Lee in Managing Chineseness: identity and ethnic management in Singapore, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2017) to generate insights on how schools, teachers and students engaged educational change in mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Scholars presented empirical findings by using identity grafting constructs to explain education stakeholders’ diverse responses to change: (1) born-again—rejecting change by reviving traditional practices; (2) repression—repressing traditional identities instead of embracing change; (3) integration—combining traditional identities and progressive change to achieve a balance; and (4) situationalism—developing new identities that transcend boundaries between traditional identities and progressive change. The scholars contributed research that advances the theorization of identity grafting. First, rising born-again Chinese sentiments seek to reject the imposition of a singular Chinese identity imposed by state governments. Born-again Chineseness no longer singularly focuses on defending traditional identities against Western influences. Second, a better understanding is achieved on identity repression—change resistance results from a displaced focus on repressing traditional identities. Third, the prevalence of identity integration strategies can be explained by intensive policy borrowing in the region. Policy borrowers need to ensure externally imposed identities are represented to overcome challenges generated by identity grafting strategies that impede progressive change. This popularity of integrationist strategies accounts for the challenges in achieving identity situationalism—policy borrowing needs culturally divisive identity markers that provide clear indicators to

Since Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty, national identity building became an important part of school education meeting some resistance in Hong Kong society. In 2012, thousands of school stakeholders protested against the introduction of the 2012 Guide of Moral and National Education (MNE). These conflicts have influenced teachers’ attitudes towards MNE and curriculum choices. Employing the Model of Teachers’ Perceptions of Moral and National Education, this research investigates the factors affecting teachers’ perceptions of MNE, as a national identity building curriculum. The findings indicated that “perceived other support for MNE,” “perceived non-monetary cost–benefits,” “perceived concerns of MNE,” and “comparison with the previous system (Moral and Civic education)” were the significant predictors for teachers’ receptivity of MNE. The results suggested that if teachers were supported by others, they were more likely to support MNE; and they were less likely to support the implementation of MNE when teachers had serious concerns about it. The results recommended adding media and socio-political factors into the Model of Teachers’ Receptivity to curriculum changes. The discussion will employ identity grafting (Lee in Managing Chineseness: Identity and ethnic management in Singapore, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2017) as a point of comparison to identify the theoretical implications of MNE. Copyright © 2020 Springer Nature B.V.

Currently, the challenges deriving from the complex and dynamic socio-political context in Hong Kong influence principals’ and teachers’ relationships and interactions. Academic autonomy in Hong Kong secondary schools is not simply granted by the principals, it is influenced by the society, school conditions and key stakeholders. This study employed qualitative methods to examine how principals negotiate the political context surrounding citizenship education and how these practices influence the civic learning in schools. The results revealed that in school citizenship education, when principals lacked a clear vision of citizenship education, most teachers were compliant and avoided discussing controversial political topics with their students. Such teachers had less autonomy and consequently less self-efficacy. When principals mediated the diverse needs of students and balanced the different expectations of school stakeholders, there were both compliant and critical teachers. Teacher autonomy and self-efficacy were also affected by the current socio-political context in Hong Kong. When principals had a clear school civic mission, the results differed across schools. These findings suggest that principals have to reflect on their own understanding of the purposes and perspectives of citizenship education significantly to meet the multiple demands of a complicated and turbulent socio-political environment. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s).

This paper examines the unintended consequences of state language policy and planning (LPP) that adopt subtractive approaches on teachers' subsequent receptivity to policy fine-tuning. A comparative approach is adopted in this statistical study of two strategic contexts, where the influence of the world's two leading languages—English and Mandarin—manifests in the home language conversion patterns of ethnic Chinese teachers of Hong Kong and Singapore. The interplay among state, education, and family linguistic domains provides the framework to understand how teachers exercise agency underpinned by their sociolinguistic background (childhood home language—CHL) and home language conversion preference (home language as adult—HL). The results show that teacher CHL–HL conversion preferences underlie their response to state LPP initiatives and influence LPP outcomes in the education domain. The results are theorized in terms of the prevailing values in Hong Kong and Singapore that shape teacher agency, the unintended outcomes of subtractive LPP in education, and the probable outcomes on the linguistic vitality of local and dominant languages in Hong Kong, with the interplay between future subtractive LPP and teacher agency. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Citizenship education has been implemented in Hong Kong primary schools in the name of moral, civic and national education (MCNE). In the context of the backdrop that schools have been granted autonomy for implementation, this chapter explores teachers' perceptions of the implementation of MCNE in Hong Kong primary schools. The findings indicate that Hong Kong teachers in general hold an eclectic attitude towards MCNE. With these prevailing attitudes, MCNE was loosely defined and flexibly implemented. Although the whole-school permeation approach was considered ineffective, teachers did not support MCNE as an independent subject due to an overcrowded curriculum and assessment issues. Some teachers illustrated that the issues that arose in the implementation of MCNE were related to time and resources, the marginalization of MCNE, professional development training, and a contradiction between the teachings of schools and parents. Despite the many issues that have arisen in the implementation of MCNE, the findings suggested MCNE could be taught through history (including Chinese history) which could help strengthen students' knowledge of the world community and the country, and prepare students to live in the complex real world. Copyright © 2021 selection and editorial matter, Kerry J. Kennedy; individual chapters, the contributors.

This paper gives some preliminary analysis on the relationships between perceptions of national identity and national education by using quantitative data. A pilot-tested questionnaire has been sent to all civic education team teachers in Hong Kong secondary schools in 2018. Through quantitative analysis, it is found that some possible types of national education are adopted by teachers. The qualitative interviews with some teachers also reveal a diversified range of teaching methods on national education. All these findings can, hopefully, contribute to the existing literature. This study shall be useful for anyone interested in understanding how teachers perceive their national identity and national education in this post-materialistic and globalized world. Copyright © 2019 CiCea.

This presentation explores acculturation and identity of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong schools, and how they are associated to their learning needs in schools and to what extend culturally responsive classroom environment has been created for fulfilling their diverse learning and cultural needs. This study was qualitative in nature. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in three secondary schools where large numbers of ethnic minority students from low socio-economic backgrounds were enrolled. With school permission, thirty-two teachers were invited to attend one-on-one interviews. Eighteen were female and 14 were male. The enrolment of ethnic minority students was regarded by the teachers as one of the key factors which made the classroom more diverse and multicultural, with the range of diversity covering race, culture, religion, customs and socioeconomic background. When fulfilling their students’ needs, the teachers struggled with conceptualizing a new rationale for cultural responsiveness to diversity, developing intercultural sensitivity, promoting cultural responsiveness among the students, strengthening the home-school collaboration and broadening ethnic minority students’ aspirations for their education and careers. Copyright © 2019 CiCea.

Given substantial school autonomy in Hong Kong, different school leadership practices can yield different school environments for teachers, different degrees of teacher empowerment, and different civic teaching approaches. Principals can influence their school environment in civic learning and allocate resources to support civic education. Considerable attention has been given to the concept of ‘leading for learning’ (Goker, 2006) but there has been little attention given to civic learning in schools and how it might be facilitated by principals (Xu and Law, 2015). Given the volatile and uncertain external environment that students as future citizens face, civic learning must now be considered a priority. Kennedy, Li and Chan (2015) and Kennedy and Li (2017) have shown that school level factors can influence students’ civic learning, although the results are somewhat mixed, clearly this requires further investigation. This study extends this line of research by examining how principals create school civic teaching environments and how these influence teachers in their roles as civic educators. The results showed that the complex historical-cultural and socio-political contexts of Hong Kong have influenced school leadership when it comes to teaching civics, and the researcher has highlighted three main patterns of school leadership needed for civics teaching. When school leadership lacked a clear vision of citizenship education (pattern 1), most teachers were compliant and avoided dis-cussing sensitive political topics with their students. When school leadership mediated the diverse needs of students and balanced the different expectations of school stakeholders (pattern 2), there were both compliant and critical teachers. When school leadership had a clear vison of the school’s civic mission (pattern 3), the results differed across schools. These findings implied that principals have to significantly shift their understanding of the purposes of citizenship education

This paper provides a critical re-examination of prevailing case study approaches that select ethnic minority cases based on racial identities. It revisits the importance of distinguishing between concepts of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ (Brubaker, 2004 Wallerstein, 1991), and proposes a language-informed approach to reconceptualize these constructs in view of the power dynamics that results in their conflation.I examine the language developments that structure the school context to highlight the power dynamics of Hong Kong’s shifting identity from special administrative region to its eventual integration into Mainland China. A language-informed approach provides an illustrative case of language developments that propel schools into the unintended consequence of enculturating Cantonese-speaking (Hong Kong) students to embrace Mandarin (Mainland). Language developments coalesce into a coherent strategy that elicits the voluntary cooperation of autonomous Hong Kong schools to conflate the race and ethnic identities of Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking students.Lexis Elementary is a school in Hong Kong located near the border of Mainland China. Due to poor school enrolment, it had a close-shave with school closure. The school survived by enrolling students from across the border from Mainland China, where the language is Mandarin rather than Cantonese spoken in Hong Kong. The consequence is a transformation in the school language profile. From juggling between English and Cantonese, Lexis Elementary students are now predominantly Mandarin speakers.The case study demonstrates how the economics of school survival coalesce with language developments to produce trickle-down effects on the conflation of race and ethnic identities. It highlights the need for language-informed case studies to chart the structural racism that underlie the complex webs race and ethnic identities entrenched in language development. I draw attention to how ethnic minorities are sequentially rendered invisible