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Is Liberal Studies a political instrument in the secondary school curriculum? Lessons from the Umbrella Movement in post‐colonial Hong Kong
Author(s) -
Fung Dennis Chun-Lok,
Lui Wai-Mei
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the curriculum journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.843
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1469-3704
pISSN - 0958-5176
DOI - 10.1080/09585176.2016.1275727
Subject(s) - curriculum , political science , politics , subject (documents) , civil disobedience , public administration , neutrality , sociology , law , library science , computer science
This paper examines whether Hong Kong teachers and students perceived Liberal Studies and its ongoing curriculum review as politically driven during and after the Umbrella Movement, a large‐scale civil disobedience campaign that took place in September 2014. The findings presented herein show that both groups disagreed with the claim that Liberal Studies was used as a political instrument to instigate students’ participation in the protest movement. Moreover, they also reveal that teachers have maintained their neutrality towards controversial issues related to politics during Liberal Studies lessons. Whilst the participating teachers and students considered the government's proposed reform of Liberal Studies to be politically motivated, they held differing attitudes towards the addition of more China‐related elements to the subject. On the basis of these results, this paper analyses the potential role of Liberal Studies in the democratisation of local society. It also provides an indication of the curriculum's dynamic nature, explanation of students’ resistance to the review policy and suggestions for the subject's future development.