Curriculum resources and support services

 Schools in Hong Kong and various sectors of our society have been paying much attention to MNE. The EDB and other government departments, tertiary

institutions, school sponsoring bodies and non-governmental organisations (such as voluntary organisations, civic groups, professional societies, academic bodies, community associations and commercial organisations) have provided various moral and national education resources and support services.

Teachers can make appropriate modifications and use the resources flexibly to enhance learning and teaching effectiveness.

6.2.5.1 Curriculum resources and support services provided by the Education Bureau

 The EDB has been providing schools with various types of curriculum resources (e.g. teaching plans for life events and learning resources websites) and support services (e.g. professional training courses for teachers, mainland visits and exchange activities) to support MNE learning and teaching needs.

Teachers can adopt appropriate resources and support services based on MNE learning objectives and content to enhance learning and teaching effectiveness.

Teaching plans for life events

 To support the active use of life events in secondary and primary schools to develop students’ positive values and attitudes, the EDB has been continuously compiling teaching plans for life events covering various domains (including personal, family, social, national and global domains) to provide references for teachers in lesson design.

 The EDB has so far compiled over 360 teaching plans for life events, each of which includes details of learning and teaching objectives, learning key points, teaching flow, course materials and suggestions for extended activities for teachers to tailor and adopt, helping achieve different learning objectives (see Appendix VIII for the “List of teaching plans for life events”).

Learning resources websites

 To cope with the development of the society, the EDB has made use of the Internet to create learning resources websites of different themes. These websites provide schools with timely and appropriate learning and teaching resources to enrich students’ learning experience in MNE through information technology.

 The learning resources website of each particular theme provides relevant

learning materials (such as teaching plans, worksheets, graphics, animations and video clips), teaching strategies, suggested learning activities, practical experiences of schools, etc. Moreover, many learning resources websites also include a parents’ corner to guide parents to collaborate with school teaching to provide a comprehensive learning environment for children to develop moral and national qualities. These resources websites, together with the teaching plans for life events, provide an adequate and useful supply of practical curriculum resources (see Appendix IX for “Examples of MNE learning and teaching resources available online from the Education Bureau”).

Suggestions for the Selection of Learning and Teaching Resources

Teachers may consider the following principles in selecting learning and teaching resources for MNE:

 Whether the learning and teaching resources meet the requirements of values education?

Teachers may study the content, activity design, organisation and arrangement of the learning and teaching resources to consider whether their objectives focus on the exploration of values. Teachers and students can work together to identify, demonstrate and realise the positive values. If the learning and teaching resources focus only on displaying information, teachers should make modifications to meet the requirements of value education by adopting a values-centered perspective to analyse the materials.

 Whether the learning and teaching resources can inspire students to think about issues from the values perspective?

Teachers may study the learning and teaching materials to consider whether they are able to lead students into discussion about the underlying values or related conflicts of values of people and events, and whether they can provide adequate room for discussion in classroom teaching to enable students to use independent thinking to analyse issues that may involve values judgment. Through such frank and open discussion, it is hoped that positive values can be internalised.

 Whether the learning and teaching resources are appropriate for students’ levels and interest?

Teachers of younger students may consider whether the content of the learning and teaching resources are solid and applicable to daily life, and whether their languages are simple and lively so that students can understand and master them easily. In teaching students of different learning stages, teachers should also consider whether the learning and teaching resources are appropriate for students’ growth and daily life needs, psychological development conditions, learning interest, etc.

 Whether the learning and teaching resources are objective and unbiased?

Teachers may study the contents of the learning and teaching resources to consider whether the content is objective and unbiased. Desirable learning and teaching resources should contain both positive and negative opinions, or be able to enhance the students’ knowledge of a topic from different perspectives, and present ideas in a more comprehensive way.

The materials should not just propose individual, unidirectional, biased or restricted viewpoints, and should not only express an individual’s subjective opinion.

In conclusion, it is more desirable for teachers to select learning and teaching resources according to the principles of values education and student-centred education, in order to provide students with learning experience in line with the essence and interest of MNE.

Professional Training Courses

 The EDB provides a series of support measures to cope with the needs and development of MNE. Besides holding different focused and serial training and professional exchange activities for stakeholders, the EDB actively cooperates with teacher training institutions to provide relevant professional development courses for teachers and support various needs such as curriculum leadership and management, learning and teaching strategies, assessment, selection and compilation of learning and teaching resources, enhancement of subject knowledge so as to improve professionalism and the quality of teaching teams.

Mainland Visits and Exchange Programmes

 The EDB provides opportunities for teachers and students to pay visits to mainland China and participate in exchange programmes through various means (such as organising visits and exchange programmes, subsidising students to participate in exchange programmes, and running joint programmes with various organisations). The 2010 Policy Address announced that it was the government’s target to subsidise every student in primary and secondary school to join at least one mainland exchange programme. It is desirable to supplement national learning in MNE with visits and exchange programmes to allow students to have the opportunity to understand the different aspects of China in an authentic setting on the mainland and develop affection for their country, contributing to the enhancement of national identity.

6.2.5.2 Other related curriculum resources and support services

 The curriculum resources and support services provided by various government departments can also be adopted as MNE learning and teaching resources to enhance teachers’ and students’ understanding and experience about the curriculum content. For curriculum resources, government departments or related organisations such as the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, Home Affairs Bureau, Narcotics Division of the Security Bureau, Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Radio Television Hong Kong, Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption, Equal Opportunities Commission have provided MNE related learning materials (including those available online) for teachers’ use. Support services are also

provided by some government departments or related organisations. For example, the Antiquities and Monuments Office and various museums of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department provide guided tour service for schools, enabling students to deepen their understanding of history and culture.

 Some tertiary institutions, non-governmental organisations and voluntary groups have also provided MNE-related support services such as exchange programmes, school-based on-site support, study programmes, visits and guided tours. Teachers can make the best use of the support services to cater for the curriculum, school and student needs.