The purpose of this paper is to investigate the aims, content and assessment method of the music curriculum in Hong Kong, with particular emphasis on singing and instrumental playing. How far music teachers followed the guidelines as suggested by the Education Department in these two areas will be dealt with. The methods used for this investigation will be mainly through documentary research, supplemented by interviews with music teachers.

Education in Hong Kong is currently facing the great challenge of reformation in the new century. Music, being a school subject for more than four decades in Hong Kong, provides one of the aesthetic experiences to all pupils in primary and junior secondary schools, which has been recognized as one of the core elements in an all-round education system. However, there is a lack of research studies that investigate how musicianship should be nurtured in general music classes in Hong Kong. Teaching strategies in music classes were ignored yet practical and important for teacher preparation. This paper reports the findings of a case study in which a number of successful music teaching strategies in a primary school were revealed. Through a semi-structured interview with the music teacher of the school, participant observation of 24 music lessons in two weeks, and an analysis of the video recordings of the class teaching, this study aimed to identify the successful teaching strategies employed in the classroom. Findings include four identified strategies that employed by the music teacher: 1) performing with aural training, 2) sound before notation, 3) repeats with slight variations, and 4) positive reinforcement.
[Copyright © 2003 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

良好的學校環境能促進兒童健康發展，一個良好的學校「課程政策」卻是設計出良好的學習環境的依據。教師是學習環境的設計及推行者，現行學校所推行的課程政策雖有關注兒童的健康發展，但較為缺乏對促進教師健康的考慮，然而，教師能通過推行綜合的音樂-體能-創意活動能產生「暢態」的感受，這種「暢態」感受是提升教師健康的根源，可推動教師不斷進步發展，達成學校、兒童及教師的三贏局面。本文目的是以音樂-肢體課程為例，喚起業界對教師「暢態」感受的關注，內容包括：一、香港幼稚園現時對教師健康關注情況；二、以音樂肢體課程顯示出教師「暢態」感受與其心理健康的關係；及三、健康教師對學校的啟示。
[Copyright © 2012 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

Since the reunion of Hong Kong and China in 1997, Hong Kong has changed its national anthem from god save the queen to march of the volunteers. Such political transform has manifestly aggravated significant changes in society, which undoubtedly influence the content and design of school curriculum (Curriculum Development Council, 2002). As Putonghua (i.e. The official language of mainland China) has been taught in Hong Kong schools as language and education policy for seventeen years, measurable outcomes and impact on music curriculum would be an important measure to strengthen national identity (Brand & Ho, 1999). However, Cantonese remains to be the most widely used language in hung Kong (Leung & Lee, 2006). As indicated by previous research (Law, 1997), the current phenomena of the learning and teaching of Putonghua music curriculum and its effectiveness in terms of execution is unclear and inconclusive. Hence, there is a great need to investigate Putonghua songs in the context of education, history, culture, politics, and sociology. This project aims to study student teachers’ perception (as future music teachers) towards the learning and teaching of Putonghua songs in view of enhancing nationalisation, Chinese cultural heritage and values education during post colonial period. The preliminary findings will be discussed based on the context of neocolonization in Hong Kong, i.e. Music teachers’ awareness and resistance towards Putonghua songs and national anthem, how such political, cultural, social and educational shift change the development and delivery of local music curriculum, national identity and national education, multiculturalism, and academic research.