Current / Recent Projects
-Research Team: Dr. Fairbrother , Gregory (Co-PI) and Dr. Leung Yan Wing (Co-PI)
-Project Duration : 1 January to 31 December, 2007.
-The HKIEd law-related education project would provide teachers with background on key concepts within the Common Law tradition including basic knowledge and values of the rule of law and the Hong Kong legal system, individual rights and protection under the law, important legal decisions and legal controversies, and comparisons with other legal systems (e.g., Mainland China). Beyond this, however, and a key element of the project, would be the provision of both curricular resources and opportunities to acquire relevant pedagogical skills for teaching law-related topics in Hong Kong’s primary and secondary schools.
-Teaching Team: Dr. Leung Yan Wing (EPA & CCE), Mr. Chong King Man, Eric (MSST & CCE) and Ms Chan Shing Yin (C & I department)
-Project Duration: July to December 2007
-Funding Support: Education Bureau ($248,005)
-The Centre for Citizenship Education was commissioned by the Education Bureau to conduct a series of teacher training courses titled ‘In-Service Teacher Training Courses on the Learning and Teaching of S1-3 Integrated Humanities through the Citizenship Perspective’. This teacher training course aims at equipping the participants the conceptual and pedagogical knowledge in putting citizenship perspective in integrated curriculum.
-Research Team: Dr. Leung, Yan Wing (EPA), Dr. Yuen, Wai Wa, (EPA), Ms Leung Kit Yan (CSCT)
-Project Duration : April 2007- September 2007
-Funding Support : UGC matching fund ($119,596)
-Unlike many secondary schools in Hong Kong, the school participating in the project has a strong civic mission, intending to cultivate active citizens. They intend to promote participatory citizenship through civic education program, both in formal and informal curricula, and school ethos. This project is an initial, exploratory study of what and how the school is doing and how effective they are in the cultivation of participatory citizenship. Research method include documentary analysis of the school policy documents, focus group and individual interviews with directors, principal, teachers and students, survey by questionnaires and field observation of revealing episodes.
-Research Team: Po Sum Cho (MSST & CCE), Chong King Man (MSST & CCE), Chan Wing Hoi (MSST), Wong Sau Ha(EPCL)
-Project Duration : April 2007- December 2007
-Funding Support : Wanchai District Council (HK$240,000)
- The Centre for Citizenship Education is pleased to announce that the Wanchai District Council has agreed to provide funding support for the Centre to develop civic education resources on the theme, "Social Participation and Community Development" for primary and secondary schools. The funding amounted to HK$240,000 will be allocated to the Centre for the development of two resource packages (one for Key Stage 2/3 and the other for Key Stage 4) on the theme. The packages are planned to be completed by the end of 2007.
Alternative Policy Instruments for Enhancing Citizenship Education
-Research Team: Dr. Greg FAIRBROTHER, MSST, Dr. LEUNG Yan Wing, EPA, Prof. Kerry KENNEDY, FPECE
-Funding Support : Research Grants Council ( Public Policy Research Grant ), HK$379,000
-The purpose of this study is to determine the suitability and desirability of, capacity for, and potential obstacles to implementing an independent, compulsory course of citizenship education at the junior secondary level of Hong Kong’s education system. Despite adjustments to Hong Kong’s citizenship education since the transition period to Chinese sovereignty, survey research and the demands of sectors of the public suggest that citizenship education as currently practiced in Hong Kong shows considerable continuity with the pre- 1997 period and is not achieving intended results in areas such as the development of national identity. This project aims to seek explanations for such ineffectiveness of citizenship education and to determine whether there are more effective policy instruments which could improve the provision of citizenship education. Based on a survey of international citizenship education practices and interviews with Hong Kong’s educational policymakers, principals, and teachers, this project asks whether a change in the policy instrument, for example, to a mandated compulsory junior secondary course in citizenship education, is necessary, desirable, and possible. The research will inform policymakers of the advantages and drawbacks of currently practiced and alternative policy approaches in terms of resources required for, support for, and resistance to implementation.
Evaluation on the Oxfam Hong Kong's Interactive Education Centre
- Project Duration: 11 Sep 2006– 10 July 2007, Grant: HK$ 144,000
- Research Team: Dr Yuen Yuet Mui Celeste (HKIEd), Dr Yeung Sze Yin Shirley (HKIEd), Dr Leung Yan Wing (HKIEd), Dr Lam Tak Shing John (HKIEd)
- This project evaluates the Interactive Education Centre (IEC) of Oxfam Hong Kong. Main objectives include: ( 1) to solicit views from OHK staff members, participant teachers and students on the outputs and impacts of the IEC’s one-off programmes, ( 2) to examine the effectiveness of the centre-based operation mode and, ( 3) to provide information and a basis for further development of the IEC and the resources allocation, and the extent to which the IEC achieves the goals of the “Development Education”of OHK.
Secondary Analysis of IEA Civic Education Study
- Research Team: Professor Kerry J Kennedy (HKIEd), Professor Wing On Lee, (The University of Sydney) and Professor Carole L Hahn (Emory University).
- Since the release of the international reports of the IEA Civic Education Study, there has been a considerable amount of secondary data analysis in order to build on the original analysis. A key centre for this secondary analysis has been at the University of Maryland in the United States under the leadership of Professor Judith Torney-Purta. In addition to this important work, the Centre for Citizenship Education has also been involved in secondary analysis of the IEA Civic Education data. Listed below are the outcomes of that analysis by colleagues affiliated with the Centre.
- Links to the publications:
1. The International Report (14 year olds) http://www.wam.umd.edu/~jtpurta/interreport.htm
2. The International Report (Older Population) http://www.wam.umd.edu/~jtpurta/UpperSecondary_files/Civics%20Booklet%20JA.pdf
3. IEA Civic Education Study User Guide for the International Data Base http://www.iea.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/Datasets/CIVED/documentation/Civic_DB_UserGuide.pdf
4. IEA Civic Education Study Technical Report
A Study of Provincial-level Implementation of Citizenship Education Policy in China
- Project Duration : 1 / 1 / 2006 to 31 / 12 / 2007
- Research Team: Dr. Gregory P. FAIRBROTHER (HKIEd), Prof Gerard A. POSTIGLIONE (HKU), Prof Kai Ming CHENG (HKU)
- This project will investigate the process by which Chinese provincial educational administrators plan the implementation of central government-formulated policy guidelines on citizenship education in a societal context of educational decentralization and flexible policy implementation. Through documentary analysis and interviews with provincial educational administrators this project will examine what central guidelines advise about citizenship education, how provincial-level implementation plans are formulated, the extent to which administrators perceive discretion in implementation, and to what extent there is variation in citizenship education implementation among different provinces. The research highlights and aims to provide a deeper understanding of the question of where the limits of educational decentralization lie when the question of national social and ideological cohesion is at issue.
Political Socialization of Democratic Citizenship in Hong Kong Secondary Schools
- Project Duration: 2005-2006
- Research Team：Dr. Leung Yan Wing (HKIEd), Dr. Ng Shun Wing (HKIEd) and Dr. Yuen Wai Wa Timothy (HKIEd)
- Evidence obtained from focus group interviews supports a conception of political socialization as an active process where individuals interact and negotiate with socialization agents in different contexts to construct their political realities. The citizenship understandings of socially or politically active students in this study were basically eclectic, including conservative views about doing the best in their diverse roles as well as more radical orientations, such as participating in demonstrations and protests in opposition to unreasonable laws. Issues based teaching, experiential learning, and teachers with credibility have been identified as significant political socializing factors for active democratic citizenship. Such a finding has significant implications for teacher education.
Publication:
Leung, Y.W. (2006) How do they become socially/ politically active? : Case studies of political socialization of Hong Kong secondary students. Citizenship Teaching and Learning, 2 (2), 51-67.
- QEF projects Duration: Primary School Project, 1999 - 2001; Secondary School Project. 2001 - 2003; National Identity and Global Citizenship Education Project, 2003 - 2005
- Oxfam (Hong Kong) projects Duration: Research on the Global Citizenship Education of Secondary Schools in Hong Kong and Shanghai , 2002 - 2003 ; Development of Curriculum Materials on Global Citizenship Education, 2004 - 2005 .
- These five research and development projects highlight the Centre’s efforts to explore and evaluate effective curricular and pedagogical approaches for the enhancement of civic education in Hong Kong’s primary and secondary schools. The first Quality Education Fund Primary School Project focused on introducing five citizenship education teaching strategies to primary schools. The Secondary School Project was a collaborative effort with 6 partner secondary schools to develop school-based curriculum with themes like service learning, media education, and life education, etc. The third project, National Identity and Global Citizenship Education, was a collaborative effort with three primary and four secondary schools to develop these two themes in project learning and subject-based curriculum. Finally, the Oxfam projects involved a survey study of global citizenship education in Hong Kong and Shanghai secondary schools.
Citizenship Education Book Series
- The first book in the series, Citizenship Education in Asia and the Pacific: Concepts and Issues Edited by Prof. W.O. Lee, Prof. David. L. Grossman, Prof. Kerry J. Kennedy, and Dr. Gregory P. Fairbrother was published in 2004 by the Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, and Kluwer Academic Publishers. Information can be found at the following link: http://www.hku.hk/cerc/Publications/CERC-14.htm