Curriculum integration in Hong Kong's primary schools : context, theory and practice

This thesis reports on a survey of the perceptions of serving primary school teachers regarding the implementation of curriculum integration in Hong Kong. The survey attempted to identify the contexts that effect the introduction of curriculum integration and to discover the extent to which respondents recognised the need to enhance the implementation of curriculum integration in primary schools. It also questioned teachers about obstacles that needed to be overcome, and teaching strategies, professional development and resources required to ensure successful implementation of curriculum integration. Finally, the thesis makes recommendations for the future policy based on these teacher concerns. A written questionnaire dealing with the context, theory and practice of the implementation of curriculum integration was administered to the participants of the Primary Retraining Course offered by the Hong Kong Institute of Education. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants, identified from those respondents to the questionnaire who occupied key positions in primary schools. It was found that teachers generally agreed on the benefits to students of curriculum integration. They also agreed that there was a need to extend the practice of curriculum integration, although there were felt to be some difficulties in enhancing the implementation process. These difficulties mainly concerned issues of instructional design, competence of teachers and heavy workloads. Furthermore, teachers interpreted the meaning of the term, integration, in diversified ways, which was reflected in the range of approaches deemed to be acceptable and the suggested pace of implementation. It was concluded, therefore, that a step-by-step approach to implementation should be adopted so that, in the early stages, schools should be advised to offer combinations of subject-bounded as well as integrated curriculum.