Most research concerned with students' civic learning has focused on what has been learnt as a result of their school experiences. While some attention has been paid to the influence of parents, peers and out-of-school experiences, in general these influences have been regarded as marginal to those provided by the official curriculum. While we do not underestimate the importance of these latter experiences, our focus in this chapter is on informal learning and its impact on the development of student's civic knowledge. Student samples from Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan were drawn from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2016. Informal learning was defined in the study reported here as “traditional media,” “social media” and “interaction with friends.” Structural equation modelling was used to test the relationship between informal learning, formal learning, citizenship self-efficacy, participation experiences and civic knowledge. Results indicated that traditional media exerted a positive effect on students' civic learning across the three societies; social media exerted a small but negative effect in all societies, though the effect was not significant in Korea. Talking with friends about social and political issues or about other countries, as a source of informal civic learning, did not affect students' civic knowledge in any significant way in any society. Copyright © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Javier Calvo de Mora and Kerry J. Kennedy; individual chapters, the contributors.

“殖民教育”是殖民地政府推行或支持的旨在實現、鞏固或延續對殖民地人民剝削、壓迫而從事的有計劃的教育活動。殖民教育具有強制和半強制性,多會滲透宗主國的語言教育,強調技術、技能教育,有意弱化民族意識。近代以來,隨著中華文明的衰落和西方文明的崛起,為適應英國帝國體制轉型和殖民統治利益的需要,英國殖民者積極在香港推行殖民教育,構築了以英語語言教育為龍頭和標誌,以歷史教育和公民教育為兩翼,以科學技術教育為主幹的殖民教育體系,導致香港的政治認同模式有別於一般民族國家的正常邏輯,嚴重扭曲了香港中學生乃至香港社會的“國家”和“民族”觀念。根據官方統計,香港回歸前後,香港中學生的國家認同遠遠低於香港認同,同時對大陸的政治體制和政治價值也存在著深深地懷疑。回歸後,中央政府和特區政府非常重視香港的國民身份重構,積極發展國民教育,加大對國情、民族、《基本法》教育。但與此同時,一方面,香港的國民教育無論從稱謂、主要內容還是從價值導向都存在著對港英政府時期“公民教育”的路徑依賴;另一方面,當前的國民教育並沒有解決香港社會在國家認同與政黨認同、原生性認同與成就認同、本土認同與國家認同之間的糾葛。港島依然在身份重構的路上步履蹣跚。鑒於此,未來香港的國民教育必須實現路徑轉換,以整體性、適應性、政治性、長期性和多樣性為原則,加強中國歷史、傳統文化、語言、社會主義民主、中國當代社會發展史以及“一國兩制”和《基本法》等教育,且在法制建設、財政支持、教師隊伍建設和社會辦學管理等方面加強政策和制度保障,積極構建具有歷史適應性和長軸性的國民教育體系,徹底清除港英政府時期“公民教育”的歷史影響,推動香港社會自覺在中華民族大歷史框架下尋找自己的敘事言說。

The dynamic of how civic education is framed during turbulent periods is illuminated through analysis of three Hong Kong official civic education curriculum guidelines (1985, 1996, 2012). Guidelines are publicly available, officially sanctioned statements of purpose that have particular relevance for education professionals and are used around the world to characterize educational initiatives. Our focus is on guidelines written during periods in which there was colonial hegemony by the United Kingdom (1985), an attempt to promote liberal democracy by the Hong Kongese (1996), and an assertion of Chinese nationalism (2012). We argue that guidelines about civic education are similar across these times of political turbulence. There are shifts in the content of the guidelines, but fundamental differences are not made explicit. The documents are not aligned with a theoretical framework of colonialism, liberal democracy, or Chinese nationalism, but rather, they are pragmatically oriented. The guidelines are signifiers of attempts to achieve normative stability. Copyright © 2019 College and University Faculty Assembly of National Council for the Social Studies.

The present study evaluated the implementation and impact of the "general university requirements" (GUR) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative methods included a four-year longitudinal online survey, Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus (CLA+), and secondary analyses of student feedback data in different years. Qualitative methods included focus groups and qualitative evaluation forms involving students and teachers as well as a longitudinal case study. Results showed that students displayed positive development based on different developmental indicators of the five desired graduate attributes of PolyU in their study of the four-year program. Both students and teachers also generally showed positive perceptions of the GUR, with reference to its subject content, teaching and learning, and benefits. Several major concerns regarding the GUR were also identified.
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The relationship between history education and political education in Asian societies is an underexplored topic. Politics have deeply shaped the development of history education in Hong Kong, as in many other societies around the world. Hong Kong history education reforms have been criticized for providing a new form of national political education. This study examines how politic education can be found in the Hong Kong history curriculum as 'latent content'. To do so, it provides a qualitative content analysis of all textual data used in 'Chinese history' and 'history' textbooks in secondary schools in Hong Kong which discuss or portray political content, focusing particularly on the themes of identity shaping and assimilation. Before focusing on the Hong Kong situation, this paper first explores how history education is a political topic in general. Then Hong Kong's complicated political legacy is described in relation to one of the unique features of history education there: the concurrence of two subjects, 'history' and 'Chinese history'. Current debates about the reform of history education in Hong Kong and the limitations of current history education in Hong Kong are examined in the next part, using data from textbooks. Our analysis shows that 1) national identity is prioritized over local identity in the textbooks, and 2) the textbooks mainly reflect a Mainland-based majority perspective and justify assimilation in history, resulting in a lack of recognition of the many different minority groups of Mainland China, of which Hong Kong people may see themselves as part. Based on the analysis, we argue that history education in Hong Kong provides a narrow political education that can impede some crucial education goals in Hong Kong.
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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyse and evaluate the implementation of an empathy model of experiential learning in real-life sites, with the help of NGOs, for developing students’ active citizenship in two Hong Kong Chinese secondary schools.Design/methodology/approach - This study employs a case study in which teachers and the researcher engage in planning, implementing and evaluating an experiential learning unit which combines together both classed-based learning activities and experiential learning activities provided by NGOs in real-life settings. Qualitative interview findings are collected from teachers and students.Findings - Incorporating experiential learning activities in thematic learning units provided by NGOs for the active citizenship of students can facilitate teachers to develop student learning outcomes of empathy and perspective taking derived from authentic experience. In particular, teachers’ reflect on how to facilitate Chinese students’ reflect on disadvantaged people and ethnic minorities. This action research study recommends that students’ conceptual understanding of concepts such as poverty and ethnic minorities should be developed before they participate in NGO’s experiential learning activities, so that the experiential experiences can add something on what they have already learnt.Originality/value - This study found some useful implications for exploring ways for teacher development by applying an experiential learning model in combination with classroom-based learning for active citizenship. This research study recommends implementing pre-experiential conceptual building activities and post-experiential classroom-based enquiry and reflection activities to help students consolidate their learning experiences through verbal and written reflection, as well as on what actions that they can take. Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between the civic mission of schools and students on participation in school governance through an empirical study. It articulates the importance of school mission on nurturing citizenship of high school students.Design/methodology/approach - The research used a mixed method with questionnaire survey in the first phase and qualitative interviews in the second phase. Quantitative data were obtained from a survey completed by 3,209 students and 495 teachers (including principals) from 51 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Qualitative data were collected from 41 individual interviews with principals and teachers and 17 focus group interviews with 56 students in five case study schools.Findings - Both students and teachers believed that good citizenship qualities should include students’ participation in school governance. Schools in general took up the civic mission to nurture good and participatory citizens. A mission of nurturing students to become good and participatory citizens made a significant and positive contribution toward achieving students’ actual participation in school governance. However, students’ actual impact on major school policies was minimal. A paradox existed whereby students, knowing their influence over managerial issues was much circumscribed, still gave it a higher rating than their teachers.Originality/value - The paper contributes an empirical model for school leaders to develop school vision for promoting student participation in school governance. Based on a large-scale research supported by public funding, the paper contributes an empirical model for school leaders to develop school vision for promoting student participation in school governance. It further adds to the literature on relationship between citizenship education, civic mission of school and student participation in governance. Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited.

Universal suffrage is an essential component of Western democracy in the twenty-first century, but the role of education in supporting universal suffrage in Hong Kong is a challenge given its fractured political system and governance, societal divisions about political goals, and democratic aspirations within an authoritarian state. This study examines the views of teachers regarding the effectiveness of Hong Kong's current citizenship education in cultivating students' citizenship towards the development of a democratic society. The results revealed that current citizenship education does help students foster some characteristics of good citizenship, but doubt its efficacy towards the development of democratic principles such as universal suffrage. Hong Kong is unlike many post-colonial states and Hong Kong teachers face specific challenges in terms of democratic development. While this study focuses on Hong Kong, its results are relevant to educators in other places who face similar challenges and issues under polarised and pluralised societies. Copyright © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This paper gives some preliminary analysis on the linkage between perceptions of national identity and national education. A pilot-tested questionnaire has been sent to all civic education team teachers in Hong Kong secondary schools, numbering at about 458 in mid-2018. Through quantitative analysis such as factor analysis, it is found that some possible types of national education can be found, which add on the previous literature on teaching nationalism. This study shall be useful for understanding how teachers perceive their national identity and national education in this post-materialistic and globalized world but full of nationalistic imperatives from the policy makers. Copyright © 2018 HKERA International Conference.