Values orientations in the primary Chinese textbooks

According to the Primary Chinese Subject Curriculum guideline (課程發展委員會，1990), the Chinese subject aims at developing moral values and to enable students to have knowledge of Chinese culture. Emphasis on values in education is also found in various Government policy documents and curriculum guidelines. This study aims at investigating the values embedded in the Primary Chinese curriculum in Hong Kong. The theoretical framework and the scale of value studies of this research are based on the already developed framework and instrument being employed by other researches. The methodology used in this study is content analysis. The major theme of each text is identified and classified into different categories of values at the level of self-oriented, group-oriented, society-oriented, nation-oriented, world-oriented, or a category that has no clearly identifiable value themes. Results lead onto the discussion of the scope of values covered in the curriculum content and of the relevance of the part they play on towards reaching the aimes of education as stated in the blueprint of Hong Kong education in preparation for the challenges in the 21st century. Implications are also drawn for teaching values in primary schools in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.