A Hong Kong case study on sustainable learning development in creative movement-music curriculum for young children

In September 2000, the Hong Kong Education Commission published the education blueprint for the 21st Century, namely, Learning for Life, Learning through Life: Reform proposals for the Education System in Hong Kong (Education Commission, 2000); and advocated that the overall aims of education should be enable every person to attain all-round development according to his/her own attributes. Subsequently, another curriculum reform paper, entitled Learning to Learn-The Way Forward in Curriculum Development (Curriculum Development council, 2001), further elaborated on a leaner-focused approach in the curriculum. Every student is capable of learning and should enjoy the basic and essential learning experiences. In this regard, Hong Kong Curriculum Development Council issued the Guide to the Preprimary Curriculum for preschools serving children aged from 2 to 6 in June 2006. These issued papers have emphasized the importance of early childhood education as the foundation for life-long learning. The Guide stated that the aim of early childhood education is to foster children’s whole person development based on the four developmental objectives for young children, namely physical, cognitive & language, affective & social, and aesthetic development. With regard to the physical and aesthetic development, the Guide has recommended each preschool to conduct at least 45 minutes of music, arts and physical play activities for students in an integrated approach. However, no detailed curriculum guidelines have stipulated in the Guide. Therefore, the purposes of this paper are three-folded. First, it re-examines the current situation on the implementation of the Guide in the movement-music curriculum in Hong Kong. Secondly, it examines the effectiveness of an innovative Movement-Music Curriculum Framework (MMCF) for preschools in a kindergarten in Hong Kong. Finally, it recommends the strategies for sustainable development of curriculum reform in movement-music program in Hong Kong. It is hoped that the discussion on this paper may draw early childhood researchers and practitioners’ interest and attention on this issue.