Obligations and duties: Hong Kong students’ conceptions of citizenship responsibilities

Citizenship responsibilities have been measured in different ways. Little attention has been paid to how adolescents as future citizens construct these responsibilities. This paper will report on a project concerned with adolescents in Hong Kong and how they understood the responsibilities of ‘good citizens’. Drawing on data from the IEA Civic Education Study, all items relating to student conceptions of the ‘good citizen’ were re-analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. A 3 –factor model was identified showing adequate fit to the data. This model suggested that students identified obligations and duties as the main responsibilities of citizens.