The Implementation of Global Citizenship Education at Junior Secondary Sector in Hong Kong Secondary Schools – The Teachers’ Perceptions

Civic education has regained momentum over the past one to two decades when more and more governments in various jurisdictions are awakened by a greater need for allegiance, responsible behaviours, and participation from their citizens. With the escalating impacts of globalization, the conventional notion of civic education founded on nation-states has been subject to rigorous challenges. Critics keep questioning whether contemporary citizens need to play a more active role in the global milieu. People in Hong Kong who live in an international cosmopolitan are for sure no exception. The global development trend in civic education is thereby unstoppable. It is a pity that global citizenship education has drawn the attention of local school educators and researchers not until the end of the last millennium. Hitherto, not so many relevant research reports have been published locally. Of the limited amount of research studies, none is related to the understanding and explanation of teachers’ global perception of civic education within a particular context. The study in this thesis is an attempt to bridge this gap. This thesis concludes the significance of global citizenship education in civic education of Hong Kong. It also examines the influential factors for the formation of the perception of teachers of global citizenship education, who teach the independent civic education curriculum at the junior secondary sector in Hong Kong. The factors are extracted from the socio-political, personal, educational, curricular and school contexts. Data are collected through a mixed method approach comprising a questionnaire survey and a follow-up interview. The data analysis is based on a conceptual model developed from the Cultural Historical Activity Theory. In brief, the key findings are that most of the abovementioned contextual factors, except collectivism and the Confucian value of education in the socio-cultural domain, are found influential in shaping the studied civic educators’ global perception of civic education. Positive correlations are also found between most of the contextual factors, except collectivism and the Confucian value of education, and the teachers’ global view towards civic education. The study results have implications for policy and practice of preparing competent school civic educators under the new global era of civic education. In practice, pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes in Hong Kong should be better designed to suit the contextual needs and global development as identified in the study. On the policy side, education policy makers are expected to work hand in hand with all the stakeholders such as teachers, school leaders and teacher educators to ensure a sufficient and adequate provision of teacher education opportunities for civic education teachers in Hong Kong.