• This study uses both quantitative and qualitative research methods;
• The findings of the quantitative and qualitative researches are triangulated with each other;
• The detailed methods of research and data collection are shown in the following table:

  Research Methods	Data Collection	Details
  Quantitative method	Questionnaire survey (For addressing Objectives 1 to 5)	Targets: Civic, moral or national education teachers of all Hong Kong secondary schools; Instrument: A piloted questionnaire on National Education (Leung & Print, 2002*) with necessary modifications. Progress: As at 31st August 2019, 601 questionnaires have been received from 198 schools. The overall responding rate of teachers is 33.09% in the target population, and the responding rate among all schools is 43.61%.
  Qualitative method	In-depth interview (For addressing Objectives 1 to 5)	In-depth interviews Targets: 40 teachers sampled from the participants of questionnaire survey; Sampling method: Purposive sampling method in terms of types of National Education pedagogies (Leung & Print, 2002*), gender, and school types; Progress: By 9th July 2019, 41 teachers have participated in the interview.

*References: Leung Y.W. & Print, M. (2002). Nationalistic education as the focus for civics and citizenship education: The case of Hong Kong. Asia Pacific Journal Review, 3 (2), 197-209.

This project is still on-going and the finalized findings and discussion will be ready by early 2020. The followings are initial findings:

• Teachers’ understanding on national identity: From the quantitative data, most civic, moral or national education teachers (371, 66.97%) identify themselves as “Hongkongese” in broad sense (including “Hongkongese” and “Chinese Hongkongese”), while fewer teachers (183, 33.03%) identify themselves as “Chinese” in broad sense (including “Chinese” and “Hong Kong Chinese”);


• Teachers’ understanding on the aims of National Education: During the interviews, a majority of civic, moral or national education teachers consider that National Education should aim to pass on knowledge and understanding about China, foster Chinese national identification, developing students’ judgement for informed choice of national identification, cultivate participatory citizens, and nurture “critical patriots”;


• Teachers’ understanding on the content of National Education: In the questionnaire survey, most teachers agree that National Education should include the cultural (320, 55.77%), cosmopolitan (296, 50.60%), and civic and local (251, 42.91%) contents, whereas fewer teachers perceive that the unification (107, 18.29%) and authoritarian (15, 2.56%) contents should be included in National Education;


• Teachers’ understanding on the pedagogies of National Education: According to the initial quantitative and qualitative data analysis, the civic, moral or national education teachers in Hong Kong adopt group discussion and affective approach (such as exchange tours), together with developing students about basic knowledge and different perspectives of China, neutral chair approach, balanced viewpoint approach, and linking local, national and global perspectives as the pedagogies;


• The relationship between National Education and civic education literature: As found from the interviews, a majority of teachers think National Education as a part of Civic Education, while fewer teachers view Civic Education as a different learning area to National Education or as a part of National Education;


• The facilitating and hindering factors of implementing National Education: Based on the interview data, in the views of the civic, moral or national education teachers, the major hindering factors for National Education in Hong Kong include social concerns and distrust on the government, teachers’ workload and resistance, youth resistance to China, and insufficient teaching hours, while the main positive factors involve supports and resources from the government, teachers' knowledge and professionalism, and students and teachers come from Mainland China;


• The effects of the anti-National Education and Occupy movements on teachers’ understanding of national identity: For most interviewed teachers, the anti-National Education and Occupy movements do not have any effect on their national identity;


• The influences of teachers’ perception of national identity on their understanding of National Education: The initial quantitative analysis indicate that teachers who identify themselves as “Chinese” in broad sense are more likely to teach the cultural and unification contents and adopt affective approach in National Education than their peers who identify themselves as “Hongkongese” in broad sense; The initial qualitative analysis found that teachers who identify themselves as “Hongkongese” in a broad sense emphasize teaching of cosmopolitan values such as freedom, rule of law, democracy, and human rights;


• The influences of teachers’ understanding of National Education on their pedagogies of National Education: The analysis of survey data show that teachers who teach civic and local, cultural, and cosmopolitan contents tend to use group discussion, while teachers who teach cultural, unification, and cosmopolitan contents tend to apply affective approach.

• Provide insight into the specific context of Hong Kong National Education and contribute to clearer understandings of Civic and National Education within east Asia;
• Provide recommendations for future National Education policy in Hong Kong;
• Offer a desirable curriculum development of National Education in Hong Kong.

Dr Eric Chong is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Social Sciences, Head of Resource Centre for Interdisciplinary and Liberal Studies, and Center Research Fellow of the Centre for Governance and Citizenship at The Education University of Hong Kong.

Dr Chong obtained his B.Soc.Sc. (1996) and MPhil (1998) in Government and Public Administration from the CUHK. Then, he studied for an MBA (Public Service) at the University of Birmingham, U.K. in 2001. He obtained his PGDE in Liberal Studies at the HKU in 2007. He completed a part-time PhD in Education (2013) at the University of York, U.K., under the supervision of Professor Ian Davies, with a focus on citizenship education. His thesis is about Hong Kong secondary school teachers’ perceptions of national identity and National Education.

His career focuses on citizenship education, global citizenship, Liberal Studies, and General Studies at Hong Kong schools. He is now expanding his expertise into citizenship education in China and Macau, as well as Hong Kong and Macao politics. His teaching and research interests are citizenship education, national identity, and politics of Hong Kong and Macao. He is also interested in school-based partnership projects on topics of Liberal Studies, General Studies, Civic Education and global citizenship education.

General Research Fund