The policies of reintroducing Liberal Studies into Hong Kong secondary schools

Abstract

This study focuses on the policy issues generated by the reintroduction of Liberal Studies and evaluates the predicted effectiveness of the proposed curriculum in Hong Kong (HK) secondary schools. Theorised by Ball (1992) 'policy cycle', approximately 200 newspaper articles and 30 government documents were collected to identify the issues in the process of policy-making. The documentary inquiry shows that 'Public Recognition', 'Learning Objectives' and 'Curriculum Structure' were the three major issues surrounding the reintroduction. Little evidence of any 'explicit' political influence related to the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is demonstrated. The interviews conducted later in this study illustrate that there were diversified opinions of the Liberal Studies curriculum. Whilst scholars and teachers disapproved of it, parents showed appreciation. It seems that the stakeholders working in the education field were uncertain, divided and displeased with the process of policy-making. A follow-up questionnaire-based survey clearly uncovered a sharp contrast between the beliefs of the teachers and the expectations of the students with regard to Liberal Studies. In other words, the gap formed between the two showed considerable differences in the level of satisfaction with the proposed curriculum. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009.