Reconstructing Religious Education in Postcolonial Hong Kong: A Curriculum Analysis of "Ethics and Religious Studies"

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Formal and Informal Religious Study in Homogenous as well as Pluralistic Contexts

Proposal

Background and Purpose: After Hong Kong's handover, significant educational reforms described as "a paradigm shift in teaching and learning" (Lam & Wong, 2016, p. 112) were initiated. These reforms overhauled various aspects of secondary education, including student evaluation processes, public examinations, and instructional methods. Introduced in 2009, the New Senior Secondary (NSS) curriculum faced initial skepticism regarding its practical implementation and its alignment with the diverse educational needs of Hong Kong's post-1997 student population (Adamson et al., 2010, pp. 122-124). The involvement of various religious bodies—Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, and Muslim organizations—that have managed over half of the city's schools since colonial times (Ho, 1996; CHSC, 2023) added layers of complexity to the secular educational reforms. Concurrently, a new framework for religious education, the "Ethics and Religious Studies" (ERS) elective, was introduced at the senior secondary level, integrating major Hong Kong religions into compulsory and elective parts and modules. This study explores the development of the ERS curriculum from its inception, examining its pedagogical objectives and their implementation amid these extensive reforms, and investigates how Hong Kong’s postcolonial educational policies address challenges related to religious freedom, plurality, diversity, and secularity within the curriculum, all while meeting the neoliberal demands of a contemporary education system in a globally connected Asian metropolis.

Method: The study utilizes Morris’s conceptual framework for curriculum analysis (1995, p. 4) to trace the evolution of the ERS curriculum through its 2007, 2014, and 2019 iterations. This method provides an in-depth examination of the curriculum's adaptation to shifts in educational policy and societal changes in Hong Kong SAR over the past two decades.

Core Structure, Aims, and Content: Established in 2007 and updated in 2014 and 2019, the ERS curriculum aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the major religions practiced in Hong Kong. It strives to seamlessly integrate "learning from religion" with "learning about religion," equipping students with the skills necessary to make rational and informed judgments about religious and moral issues (CDC, 2019, p. 2). Including both compulsory and elective components, the curriculum aims to deepen students' understanding of moral principles and religious practices. Despite its ambitious goals and progressive design, the curriculum has undergone only modest evolution, reflecting ongoing challenges and maintaining a consistent assessment framework that includes both formative and summative evaluations.

Conclusion: This study suggests that the development of Hong Kong's ERS curriculum has been an extensive and intricate process, influenced by the region's evolving governance and path-dependent nature (see Tse & Lee, 2017) of its educational institutions. The variations in how the curriculum addresses different religions reflect global educational trends (e.g., Andreassen, 2014), underscoring complexities that enrich comparative educational research. This analysis suggests that the evolution of Hong Kong's curriculum could potentially influence broader educational policies and scholarly debates, particularly in areas of cultural diversity, secularity, and religious pluralism.

Keywords: Curriculum analysis, Hong Kong, religious education, Ethics and Religious Studies (ERS)

References
Adamson, B., Tak-Shing, J. L., Wai-Ming, Y., Kin-Sang, J. C., Hau-Fai, E. L., & Wai-Lun, A. L. (2010). Making Different Sense of Reform: School Leaders' Perspectives on the New Senior Secondary Curriculum in Hong Kong. Planning and Changing, 41, 110-127.
Andreassen, B.-O. (2014). Christianity as culture and religions as religions. An analysis of the core curriculum as framework for Norwegian RE. British Journal of Religious Education, 36(3), 265-281. doi:10.1080/01416200.2013.873388
Curriculum Development Council. (2019). Ethics and Religious Studies Curriculum and Assessment Guide (Secondary 4 - 6). Hong Kong Education Bureau
Ho, K. K. (1996). The Past, Present and Future of the Religious Schools in Hong Kong. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 26(1), 51-59. doi:10.1080/0305792960260105
Lam, C.-C., & Wong, N.-Y. (2016). Curriculum reform: why, how, what and where it is headed for. In Making sense of education in post-handover Hong Kong (pp. 124-138): Routledge.
Morris, P. (1995). Hong Kong School Curriculum: Development, Issues and Policies (2nd ed.. ed.).
Tse, T. K.-c., & Lee, M. H. H. (Eds.). (2017). Making sense of education in post-handover Hong Kong: achievements and challenges. London: Routledge.

Author

• Alexander Fedorov, The University of Hong Kong