Teaching amidst social schism : a study of liberal studies teachers in Hong Kong

Abstract

Social schism – prevalence of political controversies leading to divided views – in Hong Kong since the 2010s has placed Liberal Studies teachers in a dilemma. On the one hand, Liberal Studies is a revamped social studies subject that promotes issue-based inquiry and increases social awareness among secondary school students; on the other hand, the public has raised concerns on its effectiveness in school practice and worried about its politicizing effect on young people. The corollary of these events leads to a study on Liberal Studies’ teachers in responding to the challenges of teaching the subject amidst social schism.

Studies on citizenship education have either revolved around the broad dynamics of policymaking or students’ perceptions of their local and national identities; pedagogical studies on teachers’ responses remain an underexplored area. This study complements this research gap by drawing on Bernstein’s (1971) concepts of classification and framing of curricular knowledge to denote Liberal Studies teachers’ tendency to incorporate elements of citizenship education and adopt issue-based inquiry respectively. Teachers’ responses are based on Moore et al.’s (2002) principled-versus-contingent pragmatism continuum to understand their pedagogical preferences in class. Using qualitative methods, this research conducted lesson observations in three schools and nine semi-structured interviews with Liberal Studies teachers, exploring how they understand the re-introduction of Liberal Studies and how the challenges shape their pedagogical preferences.

Research findings indicate that Liberal Studies teachers generally face two major challenges, namely, low subject status at school practice and students’ learning diversity in prior knowledge and language proficiency. Despite the common challenges, teacher respondents’ pedagogical preferences are shaped by three factors, namely, teacher’s status in school structure, work culture and teachers’ habitus. For contingent pragmatist teachers, their lack of teacher’s status in school structure, a collaborative work culture and relevant background in social sciences discipline compelled them to adopt teacher-centred pedagogies; eclectic pragmatist teachers, in contrast, benefited from a collaborative work culture which partly offset their individual shortcomings and the lack of support from school management. For principled pragmatist teachers, the endorsement from the school management and the presence of a collaborative work culture enabled them to maximize their relevant background to adopt issue-based inquiry and extend Liberal Studies teaching to extra-curricular activities.

These findings suggest that teachers perform two key roles in Liberal Studies teaching – reinstating the social context of knowledge and exemplifying active citizenship. This demystifies the public concern that Liberal Studies teachers are biased individuals who radicalizes students to participate in social movements. This study contributes to a critical understanding of schooling from a curriculum perspective, arguing that school curriculum is an important aspect in sociological studies of education. Bernstein’s concepts of classification and framing of curricular knowledge are useful to locate teachers’ agency in determining the context and mode of knowledge delivery, which then shape teachers’ pedagogical preferences. Further research on education reform need to examine the interplay of other stakeholders in facilitating the implementation of Liberal Studies at schools.