Civic Education Case Study

Civic education or Moral and National Education is an important element of whole-person education. In fact, the implementation of civic education or Moral and National Education is very common nowadays around the world. In certain extent, the countries can maintain the national identity and social stability through education. Moreover, it is unavoidable to have political integration between mainland China and Hong Kong because Hong Kong is a part of China and it inevitably engenders during the social integration. So, it is questionable that how to affect political integration between Hong Kong and mainland China through Hong Kong government implement Moral and National Education. Thence, “To what extent, implementation of Moral and National …show more content…
In 1985, the Chinese and British governments signed “Sino-British Joint Declaration” so Hong Kong entered to a transitional period. According to Ngai (2013), "Guidelines on Civic Education in Schools" was launched and it established the basis policy of Civil Education which requires the schools need to take the responsibility to promote civil awareness and maintain the social stability. It revised in 1996 and encouraged school to conduct it as a separate subject or through informal or formal class. The government has continuously increased the teenagers’ sense of national identity through Moral and National Education since 2001. In 2001, the Hong Kong government changed Civil Education to Moral and National Education. Thereafter, “The Revised Moral and Civic Education Curriculum Framework” was established in 2008. The aim is to teach public to be a citizen who loves Hong Kong and the nation – China (Leung & Yuen, 2011). The government published the Senior Secondary Curriculum Guide – “The Future is Now: from Vision to Realisation (Secondary 4 - 6)”, which aim to help the youth to identify their national identity, in the following year. However, the most attract public attention about Moral and National Education is the suggestion that the government proposed it to be an independent subject in 2010. Although the government set up Committee on the Initiation of Moral and National Education Subject …show more content…
Thus, Hong Kong government is increasingly focused on National Education in order to raise Hong Kong people’s national awareness. For example, Hong Kong government published “Learning To Learn - The Way Forward in Curriculum Development” in 2001. It emphasizes to cultivate the important value like importance of national identity. However, according to a research done by HKFYG in 2002, near a half of respondents said they did not know how the national anthem. Therefore, the first few years after Hong Kong returned to China, there is no consistent change of national identity about Hong Kong people and there is still a contradictory attitude towards its national identity (Lee, 2008). So, the next few years till 2012, the government continuously improved Moral and National Education in order to let students understand more value about China and increase their sense of national