Hong Kong preschool stakeholders’ perspectives on the teaching and learning of arts and creativity

ABSTRACT

Globalisation has significantly influenced preschool education around the world, including Hong Kong, where the official curriculum framework has recently integrated the Western notion of creativity as part of arts education, forming a new learning area: Arts and Creativity. The purpose of this study was to investigate how Hong Kong preschool stakeholders perceived Arts and Creativity and its viability in practice. We interviewed 20 teachers, 10 principals, and 20 teacher educators specialising in arts education (N = 50). Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used. Findings showed that Hong Kong preschool stakeholders: (1) perceived most Western pedagogical characteristics as important but not fully viable in the local context; (2) expressed that children’s arts creativity is fostered from a low/null to a moderate extent, due to constraints such as parental demands, time, and resources; (3) suggested strategies to maximise children’s arts creativity focusing on curricular amendments, parental education, teacher preparation, and societal changes at large. We conclude that Arts and Creativity is not perceived to be implemented in accordance to the official curriculum framework. The study reveals the need to ‘glocalize’ this learning area in the Hong Kong context. Implications for moving forward in arts creativity preschool education are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Preschools
• arts
• creativity
• glocalization
• education policy
• curriculum

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the project ‘Arts and Creativity in Hong Kong Kindergartens: Towards Glocal Pedagogies’ (grant #04592) and funded by the Department of Early Childhood Education at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) and the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) under the University Grants Committee. The views expressed herein are the authors’ and do not necessarily represent the views of their institution.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the project “Arts and Creativity in Hong Kong Kindergartens: Towards Glocal Pedagogies” (grant #04592) and funded by the Department of Early Childhood Education at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) and the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) under the University Grants Committee. The views expressed herein are the authors’ and do not necessarily represent the views of their institution.