Guiding Principles for School-based Curriculum Planning and Adaptation at Primary and Junior Secondary Levels

The five-stage cycle of curriculum planning provides a basic road map for schools to follow in planning, implementing, evaluating and improving their PSHE KLA curricula. The following guiding principles are also proposed for schools’ reference.

• Capitalising on the flexibility provided in the PSHE KLA curriculum

- The PSHE KLA curriculum is prescriptive in certain aspects and flexible in others. For both the primary and junior secondary levels, this Guide prescribes the directions for the PSHE KLA curriculum development in schools, in particular the need to offer the core elements/essential content for learning and use diversified learning and teaching strategies to provide relevant learning experiences to students.

- Each school, with its unique characteristics of teachers, students and school conditions, may need to vary in the organisation of core elements/essential content for learning, learning and teaching contexts, learning and teaching strategies, and criteria and modes of assessment to help students achieve the expected learning outcomes.

- To facilitate schools’ organisation of their PSHE KLA curricula, the curricula of some PSHE subjects at the junior secondary level, such as Life and Society (Secondary 1 - 3) and Geography (Secondary 1 - 3), have been organised around modules. Schools can adopt these modules as a whole or in part. If adopted as a whole, these modules give a coherent structure. If adopted in part, these modules allow schools to flexibly organise their junior secondary school-based integrated humanities curricula.

• Paying due attention to a balanced and sufficient coverage of the strands and associated core elements/essential content for learning

- The core elements/essential content for learning are primarily covered by different PSHE subjects. Apart from Chinese History, schools may offer these learning elements through independent subjects (i.e. the independent subject mode) or the arrangement of combining an independent subject(s) and a school-based integrated curriculum (i.e. the mixed curriculum organisation mode).

- Irrespective of the mode, the PSHE KLA curriculum at the primary and junior secondary levels in schools should cover the core elements/essential content for learning under the six strands to achieve the curriculum aims and learning objectives. Schools should refer to the lists of core elements/essential content for learning in Chapter 2 of this Guide and the relevant subject curriculum guides in parallel in the process of curriculum planning and evaluation.

• Connecting learning experiences with KLA curriculum aims

- When planning learning experiences in the PSHE KLA, both the KLA level and subject curriculum aims should be taken into consideration to enhance coherence between learning experiences and curriculum intentions.

- The planned learning experiences at each year level should be regularly reviewed to promote variety and connection with the curriculum intentions.

A holistic and well-coordinated curriculum plan incorporating life-wide learning experiences, such as community studies, local or cross-boundary visits, community service and community improvement programmes, will help students connect the real world with the topics studied, enrich their knowledge base and foster their active involvement in the learning process.

• Adopting the seven key focuses for curriculum development in the PSHE KLA in an integrative manner

- Most of the seven key focuses for curriculum development in the PSHE KLA have been taking place in schools in some form or other, and at both the primary and secondary levels.

- Building on current practices of promoting these key focuses, school curriculum leaders and PSHE KLA co-ordinators and teachers could seek to further promote the key focuses in an integrative manner in their planning of the PSHE KLA curriculum.

- For example, in the “Sensible Consumption” module of Life and Society (Secondary 1 - 3), students will learn from an economic perspective, how to spend money sensibly (related to entrepreneurial spirit); and from a social perspective, how sensible consumption can reduce waste and protect the environment and the earth’s resources (related to humanistic qualities).

- In Geography (Secondary 1 - 3), the module “Changing Climate, Changing Environments” is expected to enhance students’ concern for the environment (related to humanistic qualities) and what our country and other countries do to tackle climate change (related to promotion of national and global understanding).

- All strands in the PSHE KLA curriculum provide opportunities for achieving the objectives of the key focuses for curriculum development.

Due to the varied nature of the subject matter in different strands in the PSHE KLA curriculum, some strands are expected to provide richer contexts than others for achieving the objectives of these key focuses. Thus, the degrees of emphasis to be placed on these key focuses in each strand needs to be prioritised, depending on the nature of the subject matter in different strands in the PSHE KLA curriculum.

• Catering for students’ learning needs and embracing learner diversity

- To suit students’ learning needs, abilities and interests, the PSHE KLA calls

for schools to continue adopting relevant curriculum contents and a wide range of learning and teaching strategies and assessment modes in their curriculum planning.

- At the primary level, the General Studies curriculum offers a flexible framework to enable schools to provide various learning experiences to meet the diverse needs of students.

- Similarly, the curricula of PSHE subjects at the junior secondary level provide flexibility for schools to cater for learner diversity. For example, Life and Society (Secondary 1 - 3) and Geography (Secondary 1 - 3) have been organised around modules, including core and elective ones, to provide students and teachers with choice, as one way to cater for learner diversity.

- In addition, the core modules of these subjects are made up of foundation and extended parts. The foundation parts, which cover the basic knowledge and essential concepts, are intended for all students. For more able students or students who show greater interest in learning the extended parts, schools may further adopt the extended parts of the core modules or the elective modules to deepen or broaden discussions on issues related to the core modules (see Section 4.4 of this Guide for more details on learning and teaching strategies to cater for learner diversity).

• Integrating learning with assessment

- Curriculum and assessment planning should be well- coordinated and carried out so that assessment facilitates learning. Assessment practices with diverse modes and levels of difficulty can be adopted to allow students with diverse aptitudes and abilities to exhibit their potential, and achieve the goals of assessment of learning, assessment for learning and assessment as learning.

- Schools can use e-assessment to collect instant assessment data about students’ learning progress and to adjust and review the curriculum contents and teaching strategies for enhancing learning and teaching effectiveness.

• Strengthening lateral and vertical collaboration among PSHE subjects

- Students’ meaningful learning, which promotes students’ deep learning simultaneously, can be promoted by strengthening cross-subject collaboration in the PSHE KLA. The lateral links among PSHE subjects can be facilitated through building a collaborative culture in schools. Co-planning of lessons, developing and sharing of teaching materials and planning of cross-curricular PSHE activities to enrich students’ learning experiences are some of the effective ways to promote professional collaboration among teachers.

- Careful planning should also be made to enable learning to be properly

sequenced, connected and developed so that smooth progression in learning at different levels and between key stages of learning can be achieved (see Section 3.4 of this Guide for more details).

• Promoting cross-KLA links

- The PSHE KLA can be connected to other KLAs in various ways. Through drawing on the knowledge areas, learning processes and skills in other KLAs, the PSHE learning can be enriched and broadened.

- Examples include: personal and social issues related to different KLAs; the historical, social and cultural background of themes/issues in different KLAs; the concern for people-environment relationships and citizenship education in the contexts of different KLAs; and STEM education (see Section 1.4.2 of this Guide for details). These areas provide a basis for collaboration between the PSHE KLA and other KLAs in the organisation of learning activities and studies of an integrative nature.

• Fostering positive values and attitudes via the PSHE KLA curriculum

- According to the revised Moral and Civic Education Curriculum Framework (2008), seven priority values and attitudes¹⁶ are identified for students’ whole-person development. In addition, the PSHE KLA curriculum also covers a host of positive values and attitudes. Schools are encouraged to focus on the values and attitudes that align with their school visions and missions and school contexts, and integrate them into the school curriculum. Due attention should be given to developing students’

ability to apply and reflect on the positive values and attitudes in different situations when making judgements and decisions.

16 The seven priority values and attitudes are perseverance, respect for others, responsibility, national identity, commitment, integrity and care for others.