Between Britain and China: Hong Kong's citizenship education policy paradigm

Abstract

This article offers a new explanation for considerable continuity in citizenship education policy in Hong Kong despite the change from British to Chinese sovereignty. Focusing on the form by which citizenship education is carried out and the instruments by which it has been promoted, the article argues that citizenship education has been both enabled and constrained by a distinctive policy paradigm developed out of traditional Chinese moral education, a British ambivalence toward political education, and a reaction against Mainland Chinese Communist political education. A comparison of citizenship education policy in China, Britain, and Hong Kong reveals that a key aspect of this paradigm is a fear of indoctrination, which has been made explicit in public sentiment, policy debates, and policy programs.

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Notes on contributors

Gregory P. Fairbrother

Gregory P. Fairbrother is Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics, Science, Social Sciences, and Technology at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. His research has focused on citizenship education, political socialization, education policy, and student political attitudes in Hong Kong and mainland China.