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ABSTRACT
Numerous studies have noted the difficulties in promoting a common national identity curriculum due to increasing tension between the concepts of local autonomy and national cohesion. Hong Kong’s promotion of Moral and National Education provides an interesting case to examine two aspects of this tension – what national identity education goals can be selected when local people enjoy different rights, and how local education agents can select content and pedagogy to address such goals. This article analyses two sample textbook lessons, two teachers’ teaching plans for this subject, and memos from related curriculum development meetings. The comparisons reveal that textbook adaption is a consistent and important part of teacher-textbook interaction, with three major patterns emerging from Hong Kong teachers’ interactions with textbooks. These can be attributed to the influence of micro- and macro-level powers over teacher-textbook interactions in Moral and National Education.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Widely known patriotic music in mainland China. Composed by Xian Xin Hai and Guang Wei Ran in Chinese Communists’ headquarter Yan’an, in 1939, during the second Sino-Japanese War. Both were Chinese Communist Party members. The Yellow River Cantata includes eight movements detailing of the Chinese people’s oppression under the Japanese and calls on all Chinese to defend China.
2. Music to eulogise the ancestor of Chinese culture, the Yellow Emperor.
3. Also known as the Yangtze River Delta, it generally comprises Shanghai, southern Jiangsu Province, and northern Zhejiang Province and has emerged as one of Asia’s leading centres for commerce. The area is the heart of Jiangnan (South of Yangtze River). Shanghai is the area’s centre.