ICT integration in primary school music education in Hong Kong: Professional development for music teacher: A contextual analysis

In 1998, a five-year strategic plan in IT education—the Information Technology for Learning in a New Era: Five-Year Strategy 1998/99 to 2002/03 was launched to promote the use of IT to enhance teaching and learning in Hong Kong. An integral part of the government’s IT policy is that comprehensive IT integration across the curriculum has been encouraged by the provision of ample of resources to implement various proposals in the strategic plan including the acquisition of hardware and software, the development of ICT infrastructure, and the provision of IT training for teachers. This paper describes the context regarding the professional development for music teachers associated with ICT integration in primary school music education in Hong Kong. Through an extensive study of government documents and review of related literature, the provision of professional development in IT for music teachers were discussed and analysed. Findings revealed that, on the average, general IT training for music teachers might be inadequate with regard to the desired level of IT competence. Whereas the provision of music-oriented IT training for teachers as a whole is practically adequate in terms of quantity and content.