School-based humane education programme in Hong Kong: Current implementation and future direction

This chapter examines the values of humane education as a developmental and preventive school guidance programme and recommends the ways to implement humane education under the whole-school approach guidance policy and the framework of a comprehensive guidance programme in Hong Kong. In this chapter, empirical research studies are reviewed to demonstrate the importance of humane education in cultivating kindness, love and empathy in students, and breaking the cycle of violence and abuse. The current implementation of humane education in Hong Kong schools is clearly outlined to show who and what is being done in this area. By utilizing the developmental-contextualism framework, this chapter proposes a future direction for the implementation of a school-based humane education programme in Hong Kong. Specifi cally, it is recommended to incorporate humane education into kindergarten curricula in a way that is sequentially organized, developmentally appropriate and empirically supported. Copyright © 2016 Taylor and Francis.