Investigating the challenges of primary school teachers in teaching civic education in General Studies

Civic education has become increasingly vital in Hong Kong education as a result of escalating societal conflicts in recent years. Some voices in society urge that schools should actively enhance civic education so as to nurture good citizens and further resolve deep-rooted societal conflicts in the long run. A few years ago, the subject of ‘Liberal Studies’ in secondary schools was reformed into ‘Citizenship and Social Development’ to cultivate law-abiding citizens who make rational judgments. In the primary school stage, civic education is not a stand-alone subject, and this mission has fallen into the subject of General Studies (GS). However, not all GS teachers are experts or receive professional training in civic education. Consequently, they may suffer from various challenges in teaching citizenship. This paper examines the challenges teachers confront in teaching civic education among GS. Both the questionnaire (N=43) and semi-structured interviews are adopted to explore teachers’ perceptions towards teaching civic education among GS, as well as their challenges and coping strategies. The findings denote that GS teachers perceive civic education as not only helping students develop civic knowledge, values, and abilities but also the concept of global citizenship. In the research, four critical challenges GS teachers face in teaching citizenship are identified, while three have long been revealed in local and international literature. Additionally, five main coping strategies of GS teachers to address those challenges are highlighted.