School Choice in Hong Kong: Peking Ducks or Rich Expats?

• In Event: Constructing Educational Possibilities Through Normative Case Study Conversations

Abstract

Set in a Hong Kong food market, “School Choice in Hong Kong: Peking Ducks or Rich Expats?” follows a conversation among six friends. When one friend announces her pregnancy, the discussion turns to the educational landscape in Hong Kong, as the friends debate whether it’s best to send children to local schools, international schools, or direct subsidy scheme (DSS) schools. While local schools provide strong academics and local language education, is the heavy workload and pedagogical approach best for children? While international schools may open up future opportunities for students beyond Hong Kong’s borders, does the lack of Cantonese instruction limit their sense of belonging in Hong Kong society? Can DSS schools provide a middle ground between the two educational approaches? In the conversation following the case, a diverse group that includes both native Hong Kongers and immigrants draws on their own experiences as educators, scholars, and parents to discuss parents’ rights and the different schooling options available in Hong Kong. In particular, they examine the multicultural and multilingual nature of Hong Kong society and the complex role that education plays in shaping both individual and national identity.

An important insight that results from the case conversation method is that reasonable multiple perspectives exist that lead to different conclusions in relation to ethical decision making. But elaborating this insight in an educational case requires making choices about which voices and perspectives to include and which ones to exclude. In developing a case about Hong Kong I had to be cognizant, firstly, of tensions surrounding people openly debating educational policies in the post-National Security Law era, where free speech about government issues has become a complex arena. Second, I was mindful of two audiences who could learn from this case. Today I see much of my work as a love letter to Hong Kong and my students. I wanted the case to be authentic to them, and thus useful to them. However, everything about the context of Hong Kong is, especially in the details that make a situation a realistic ‘case’, fairly opaque to an average student in education in the United States! So I struggled to find a balance between highlighting perspectives and voices from Hong Kong while somehow making them relatable to a western-oriented international audience. Beneath the surface here are broader dynamics about choices about who to speak for and to, who to teach to, who is at the heart of this, and who is in the periphery. In some ways these issues were resolved through the complementing conversation. Here I could include internationally-oriented Hong Kong locals in dialogue with diverse international Hongkongers (including co-presenter Emma E. Buchtel). Their voices helped round out the discussion, relating the context of Hong Kong to the global sphere, while also adding in a few perspectives that did not make it into the fictional case. Thus, the case conversation takes learning through cases to the next level.

Authors

• Liz Jackson, University of Hong Kong

• Emma E. Buchtel, The Education University of Hong Kong