Pre-service primary teachers competence in civic education

The changeover of sovereignty in Hong Kong in 1997 has aroused people’s increasing concern about the identity crisis of the youths as some recent surveys conducted by academics and journalists have shown that a majority of them tended to identify themselves as “Hongkongers” rather than nationals of the People’s Republic of China. Some educators, government officials and local notables have begun to question of effectiveness of the civic education programme in Hong Kong. In response to such socio-political changes, I, as a member of the research team of the Department of Social Science, HKIEd, have adopted a quantitative method to conduct a survey on the teaching competence of the pre-service primary teachers in implementing civic education through the subject of General Studies. This instrument is also reinforced and supplemented by a semi-structured group interview to find out pre-service primary teachers’ perceptions and understanding of civic education. The findings will be analyzed in order to evaluate the student teachers’ competence in implementing civic education and identify their problems in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes.