Purpose - This study investigated the effectiveness of a professional development project on digital citizenship education (DCE) conducted by a team at the Education University of Hong Kong. The project aimed to promote digital citizenship education in local junior secondary schools in Hong Kong and support the professional development of in-service teachers.Design/methodology/approach - This study was based on a departmental knowledge transfer and curriculum development project that provided professional development training workshops to in-service teachers from seven partner schools. This paper analyses some findings from the quantitative research questionnaires, lesson observations and qualitative interviews.Findings - Eleven of the 12 participants reported that they were satisfied with the training workshops in the end. We also conducted paired sample t-tests of inferential data. The results show that after the workshops, the teachers tended to teach their students more about aspects of digital law, digital commerce and digital safety and security when teaching digital citizenship. This selection helps us to better understand the priorities of teachers in teaching digital citizenship.Originality/value - This paper is the product of an original knowledge transfer and curriculum development project supported by the Education University of Hong Kong in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong SAR) of China. The topic of digital citizenship education has also been under developed since citizenship education has always been about conventional citizenship in the physical world. Copyright © 2021 Emerald Publishing Limited.

本研究的目的是從洪堡特的教育哲學檢視香港的通識教育的理念與實踐，比較兩間傳統大學在課程設計和實踐的異同。本研究採用文獻分析的研究方法，將文獻與實證研究的結果進行批判性的分析和比較，由洪堡特的〈關於人之能力的發展法則〉、〈關於人之陶冶理論〉及〈關於人類的精神〉三篇文章探討其全人教育理念，並依此檢視香港兩間大學的通識教育。洪堡特全人教育有三個要點：第一、強調人的不同能力，如理性和感性之間的平衡、調和，甚至互相促進；第二、一方面強調經驗的多樣性，另一方面又強調人類心智的統一性，如此一來，如何透過前者的培育讓後者得到發展？第三、洪堡特的教育和陶冶哲學十分強調人的個體性，教育的目的不只是純粹技術性知識的灌輸，而是掌握科目一些重要的基本理念，以達致人格完整發展。本研究從這三方面探討香港兩所政府資助大學的通識教育的同時，尤其注意科目之間如何平衡上述不同的能力，以及如何做到又多元又掌握一些基本理念，並能培養學生跨科系的學習能力。最後，本研究亦從一些教師和學生對課程的意見，檢討香港的大學通識教育的成就和缺失。This paper aims to investigate W. von Humboldt’s educational philosophy and compare it with the idea and practices of general education in Hong Kong by applying documentary analysis and then compare them critically with the results of other empirical studies. Based on the three Humboldt’s articles, his idea of Allgemeinbildung can be summarized in three points: 1. the fullest development and harmonization of man’s different faculties such as rationality and sensibility; 2. the variety of experiences and unity of the human mind and character, how the latter can be achieved through the former? 3. emphasis of individualities. The aim of education is not only to transfer knowledge but also to master some basic and imperative ideas of the subjects to achieve the whole person development. It then investigates the general education in two government subsidized universities to see how different faculties can be balanced, and how various basic ideas can be mastered to build up students’ multidisciplinary competences. It compares the differences and similarities of curriculum design and practice between two universities in Hong Kong. Lastly, the achievements and deficiency of general education is discussed by looking at the opinions of lecturers and students on the curriculum. Copyright © 2020 中華民國比較教育學會.

At present, there is a growing concern about cultivating virtue among youngsters in Hong Kong. Although moral and character education have been put on the education agenda, it is important to ensure that teachers have sufficient efficacy in moral and character education. Unfortunately, limited empirical evidence for this has been found within the Hong Kong context. Using a sample of 647 moral and character education teachers from 21 secondary schools in Hong Kong, this study examined teacher self-efficacy and its relations with teacher engagement and teacher emotional labour. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the construct validity of each scale. Structural equation modelling was used to test the theoretical model, indicating a good model fit. The strongest predictor of teacher efficacy for moral education was teachers’ personal teaching efficacy. The findings are discussed with implications for future practice and research. Copyright © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This chapter aims to introduce the development of and issues related to parent and community engagement in life education in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The development of life education in Taiwan has highly involved parent groups since the early stage. Parents, different community organisations, and school teachers have collaborated closely with each other, enabling a large number of children to have the opportunity to learn about life education. Compared with traditional teaching approaches, alternative ways of conducting life education through parent and community engagement have shown their effectiveness. Utilising various forms of school curriculum such as the Morning Light, Integrated Activity class, and other courses and services, parents join classes and accompany children through activities such as story-telling, drama acting, music, and dancing, bringing a lively atmosphere to life education as well as companionship to their children. Taking the experience of the Rainbow Family Life Education Association as an example, this chapter also discusses parent and community engagement with existing relevant research. Compared with life education in Taiwan, parental involvement in the promotion of life education in Hong Kong tends to be less systematic and there is much room for future enhancement. Copyright © 2021 selection and editorial matter, John Chi-Kin Lee, Stephen Yam-Wing Yip and Raymond Ho-Man Kong; individual chapters, the contributors.

This study adopted a single-group pretest-posttest design to explore the changes in 2,876 undergraduate students in positive youth development, psychological well-being and desired graduate attributes after they took a leadership subject utilising the positive youth development approach at one university in Hong Kong. The subject aims to promote undergraduates' leadership qualities, particularly their intra- and inter-personal competencies. Participants completed the same objective outcome evaluation forms before and after taking the subject. We found that the participants showed significant positive changes in most positive youth development attributes (i.e. self-determination, cognitive competence, behavioural competence, social competence, emotional competence, self-efficacy, spirituality, and clear and positive identity), life satisfaction and desired graduate attributes (including problem-solving ability, critical thinking, life-long learning and ethical leadership). The findings demonstrate that leadership subjects can promote the positive youth development of Chinese university students and enhance their psychosocial well-being and desired graduate attributes. Copyright ©Routledge.

Improving mainstream perceptions of diversity in Hong Kong is fundamental to enhancing equality and human rights in the society in the future. The importance of mainstream members of society learning to recognize diversity with less prejudice undergirds many of the aims of a recent educational reform, Liberal Studies. This paper evaluates the capacity of Liberal Studies to educate for multicultural understanding of cultural difference. Its primary data source is Liberal Studies textbooks, and it employs a qualitative content analysis to consider how diversity and ethnic, cultural, and religious differences are represented in the texts. The analysis is complemented by an examination of related resources teachers may use in the classroom (and are encouraged to use by the Hong Kong Curriculum Development Council): mainstream news articles and resources from the (government-provided) Web-based Resource Platform for Liberal Studies. The voices and views of some practicing teachers and pre-service teacher education students related to multicultural Liberal Studies resources are also included to provide a balanced picture. Based on this analysis, multicultural education as provided in major resources within the Liberal Studies curriculum appears inadequate. As diversity is reflected upon in resources analyzed here most often as problematic and stereotypical, interventions are needed if Liberal Studies is to enable multicultural appreciation and understanding among students in Hong Kong in the future. Copyright © 2016 De La Salle University.

This chapter considers the place of minorities in the formal Hong Kong curriculum by examining the extent and nature of representations of ethnic and religious minorities in Hong Kong “Liberal Studies” textbooks. Liberal Studies is the single required course in secondary Hong Kong education which focuses on social studies and world issues, and therefore is the primary place where one would expect to see any discussion of diversity and related issues in society in the formal, mandated curriculum. This chapter conceives of textbooks as an important part of the curriculum, which guides and steers educators and students, though it is not the only site of educative content. This is a qualitative and discursive study of how minorities are discussed in Hong Kong education, which reveals that minorities are often absent from discussion of society taking place in schools. The chapter goes on to argue that this imbalanced representation of “who” is Hong Kong harms not only minorities but also majority culture and society in Hong Kong, as it fails to provide balanced and accurate information necessary to equip students to become active participants in a democratic society. Copyright © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Yun-Kyung Cha, Seung-Hwan Ham, and Moosung Lee; individual chapters, the contributors.

The term critical thinking has received much attention over the past few decades in both Western and Eastern countries and regions. From 1990s onwards, the Hong Kong educational authority undertook a series of educational reforms in order to encourage a new generation in critical thinking. In the New Senior Secondary curriculum – which commenced in 2009 - Liberal Studies is one of the core subjects in which the aim is to promote critical thinking among senior high school students. Despite this intention, there is no clear definition of what critical thinking is. The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher and student conceptions of critical thinking in Liberal Studies; and the relationship between these two conceptions. Fourteen teachers teaching Form 5 (Year 11) Liberal Studies in four secondary schools in Hong Kong, along with their 480 Secondary 5 students, completed a questionnaire consisting of 40 definers of critical thinking, and one teacher and eight students from each school participated in interviews. The results indicated that both teachers and students emphasised the skills dimension of critical thinking; and explicit and implicit relationships between teacher and student conceptions of critical thinking were found. The results have important implications for teacher education, as well as the successful implementation of Liberal Studies as a subject in the Senior Secondary Curriculum. All rights reserved.