Implementing political education as a school subject: A case study of teachers' pedagogical decisions in post-1997 Hong Kong

Whether and how politics should be taught in schools has been a contentious issue in education as it has come along with worries about indoctrination and influence of partisan politics etc. However. few studies were ever conducted to investigate how politics, if it has the chance to be included in the school curriculum, will be taught to students. In the case of Hong Kong, a subject known as Government and Public Affairs (GPA) was launched in late 1980's as a result both of the development of the representative government at that time, and also as preparation for the then impending transfer of sovereignty.Thisprovides a chancefor research effort to study how politics will be taught once it has gained the status of a regular school subject. This work presents the result of study conducted to GPA teachers about how these teachers of politics perceived as important factors that shaped their pedagogical decisions. Data were obtained through in-depth interviews and a grounded theory approach was followed. Pedagogical choice was found to be a complex matter as it is a function of different factors: the official curricula, school ethos, social ethos, personal beliefs of the teachers, and even class size. It is hoped that this study will contribute to the understanding about how politics, as a subject, is taught in post-1997 Hong Kong. It will also provide reference to countries that try to incorporate the teaching of politics in their formal curriculum. Copyright © 2008 Institutul de Stiinte ale Educatiei.