Perceptions and teachings of national identity and national education : case studies of Hong Kong's secondary school teachers

Since the resumption of sovereignty by China in 1997, national identification
with China has been a priority in Hong Kong SAR government's education policy
agenda. Hong Kong has seen an increase of National Education programmes and
activities which aim at cultivating a Chinese national identity based on ethnic
and cultural terms. Since then, National Education has been promoted as an
informal curriculum which is usually comprised of extra-curricular programmes
or activities specifically devoted to cultivation of a Chinese national identity. It
can be differentiated from formal subject curriculum. In 2010, the Chief
Executive announced implementing a compulsory Moral and National Education
in all primary and secondary schools.
This qualitative multiple-case study research falls in the field of citizenship
education and attempts to explore the perceptions and teachings of national
identity and National Education of 10 purposive samples of Hong Kong
secondary school teachers, since secondary schools prepare students to be a
youth citizen. The data collection was done in 2009-2010. The research
participants come from different subsidy types (i.e. how much subsidy they get
from the government on an annual basis), religious and sponsoring backgrounds
(i.e. Catholic, Protestant, Buddhism, Confucius, Taoism, charity, professional and
Chinese provincial bodies), and regions (i.e. Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and
New Territories).
This study does not generalize findings beyond the sample cases to any
population. Rather, it focuses on a sample of experienced, informative and
illustrative secondary school teachers' perceptions on the topic. They were
selected for their perceived abilities and willingness to provide the most valuable
and insightful data that fit the purposes of this study, i.e. perceptions of national
identity and National Education (i.e. meanings, aims, contents, pedagogies and
evaluation methods).