When Secular Universalism Meets Pluralism: Religious Schools and the Politics of School-Based Management in Hong Kong

Abstract

This article examines the politics of school-based management (SBM) in Hong Kong, with a specific focus on the conflicts between the state and three Christian churches (Catholic, Anglican, and Methodist) running state-funded religious schools. Although the state based its advocacy for SBM on neoliberally driven ideas of participation, transparency, and accountability, religious groups expressed worry about the loss of control over schools as an institution of value transmission anchored in religious beliefs. This article uses the SBM controversy as a case study to advance geographical debates on religious schools and argues that neoliberalism forms a necessary lens through which to examine the state–religion relations concerning religious schools. It offers an analytical framework that emphasizes the mutually constitutive relationship between religious schools and state building. It lends evidence to this argument by situating religious schools in the context of neoliberalization of education policies and arguing that faith-based sensibilities create new vectors of resistance to neoliberalism as a distinctive secular formation. The empirical analyses address three questions. First, we develop a detailed analysis of the discourses and rationalities upheld by the Hong Kong government and the churches. Second, we consider interactions and exchanges between the state and the churches, focusing on the assertions, negotiations, and concessions that both needed to make in a prolonged struggle over the decision-making process. Third, we reflect briefly on the aftermath of the passing of SBM to situate the churches' concerns in a broader context of neoliberal education policy.

本文检视香港以校为本的管理 (SBM) 政治, 并特别聚焦政府和经营受政府资助的宗教学校之三大基督教会 (天主教、英国国教与循道卫理联合教会) 之间的冲突。尽管政府对 SBM 的倡议是根据新自由主义所驱动的参与、透明和可咎责性之概念, 宗教团体却担忧失去学校作为传达根据宗教信仰的价值之机构。本文运用 SBM 的冲突作为案例研究, 推进地理学有关宗教学校的辩论, 并主张新自由主义是检视宗教学校中的政府—宗教关系的必要视角。本文提供的分析架构, 强调宗教学校与国家建构之间的共构关系。本文将宗教学校置放于教育政策的新自由主义化脉络中, 并主张以信仰为基础的感性创造出对抗作为特殊的世俗形式之新自由主义的崭新动力, 藉此证明上述主张。本文的经验分析处理以下三大问题:首先, 我们对香港政府和教会所拥护的论述与合理性进行细緻的分析。再者, 我们考量政府和教会之间的互动与交换, 并聚焦对决策过程的长期抗争而言同时必须的坚持、协商与让步。第三, 我们简要地反思 SBM 通过后的境况, 从而将教会的考量置放在新自由主义教育政策的广泛脉络中。

Este artículo examina la política de dirección basada en la escuela (SBM) en Hong Kong, con un interés específico en los conflictos que se presentan entre el estado y tres iglesias cristianas (la católica, la anglicana y la metodista) que regentan tres escuelas religiosas financiadas por el estado. Aunque el estado basaba su defensa del SBM en ideas de participación, transparencia y responsabilidad de tinte neoliberal, los grupos religiosos expresaban su preocupación sobre la pérdida del control sobre las escuelas equiparando tal control a una institución para la trasmisión de valores anclados en creencias religiosas. Este artículo usa la controversia de la SBM como un estudio de caso con el cual promover debates geográficos sobre las escuelas religiosas, y argumenta que el neoliberalismo forma una lente necesaria a través de la cual examinar las relaciones del estado con la religión, en lo que concierne a las escuelas religiosas. El artículo ofrece un marco analítico que enfatiza la relación mutuamente constitutiva entre las escuelas religiosas y la construcción de estado. Se proporciona evidencia a favor de este argumento situando las escuelas religiosas en el contexto de la neoliberalización de las políticas educativas y arguyendo que las sensibilidades basadas en la fe crean nuevos vectores de resistencia al neoliberalismo como una formación secular distintiva. Los análisis empíricos abocan tres cuestiones. Primero, desarrollamos un detallado análisis de los discursos y racionalidades enarbolados por el gobierno de Hong Kong y las iglesias. Segundo, consideramos las interacciones e intercambios entre el estado y las iglesias, concentrándonos en las aseveraciones, negociaciones y concesiones que ambos necesitaron para sostener una lucha prolongada sobre el proceso de la toma de decisiones. Tercero, reflexionamos brevemente sobre las repercusiones de la defunción de la SBM para situar las preocupaciones de las iglesias en un contexto más amplio de la política neoliberal sobre educación.

Key Words:

• contingent neoliberalism
• education
• Hong Kong
• religious school
• school-based management

关键词：:

• 偶然的新自由主义, 教育, 香港, 宗教学校, 以校为本的管理。

Palabras clave:

• neoliberalismo contingente, educación, Hong Kong, escuela religiosa, dirección basada en la escuela

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Education Bureau of Hong Kong SAR for granting access to policy documents and are also grateful to Nik Heynen and the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive advice and guidance throughout the review process. Lily Kong served as the corresponding author for this article.

Funding

This study was made possible by funding from the Singapore Management University Lee Kong Chian Chair Professorship Fund and the National University of Singapore Provost's Chair Fund.

Notes

1. The EMB was renamed the Education Bureau of HKSAR in 2007.

2. In this article, the notion of the state refers to the local state of HKSAR; where necessary, reference to the Chinese central state is specified.

3. In 2010, the Hong Kong government proposed the addition of a Moral and National Education program to primary and secondary school curricula. The program propagated allegiance to the Chinese state and embrace of Chinese national identity. It aroused an outcry of opposition, on the ground that pro-Beijing indoctrination would impair prodemocracy and profreedom spirits in Hong Kong. In 2012, the Hong Kong Government suspended implementation of the program indefinitely.

4. For the full text of the Amendment, see Education (Amendment) Ordnance (2004).

5. See Legislative Council of Hong Kong SAR (2004).

6. See Zen (2000).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Junxi Qian

JUNXI QIAN is Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include place politics, public space, religion, ethnic minorities, and urban transformation, with the specific focus on postreform China.

Lily Kong

LILY KONG is Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Social Sciences in the School of Social Sciences, and Provost at the Singapore Management University, 178903, Singapore. E-mail: [email protected]. She has published extensively on urban transformations and social and cultural change in Asia, particularly on religion and creative and cultural economies.