The impact of implementing nationalistic education on primary school teachers

The importance of implementing nationalistic education has been stressed by many scholars and Chinese officials before and after the return of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China so as to help students build up a sense of citizenship identity which is different from that in the period of colonial rule. The 1996 Civic Education Guidelines included the topic of National Community in the hope that teachers in primary and secondary schools can systematically implement nationalistic education in the classroom. This article attempts to examine the impact of promoting nationalistic education on 112 primary school teachers who were attending an in-service Bachelor Degree program. Findings indicated that a lot of them did not read the guidelines and more than 50% of them lacked knowledge of the political dimensions of their motherland. Measures for remedying the situation are discussed. Copyright © 2000 Pacific Circle Consortium for Education.