Promoting “student-centred” learning experiences

Rather than simply delivering knowledge to students, the MNE curriculum aims at allowing students to understand more deeply about positive values and attitudes. Moreover, it aims to help them recognise their identities and put positive values and attitudes into practice at different stages of their life.

Therefore, the MNE subject advocates learning and teaching that emphasises both “affection” and “rationality” to help students develop the determination in upholding positive values (“affection”) and the ability to discern positive values in life events (“rationality”).

The learning and teaching of the MNE subject should be student-centred.

Students should be encouraged to explore, think about and judge different life events, and instil positive values that are sustainable, so that desirable moral and national qualities can be well demonstrated. Therefore, the role of teachers is not

One school makes great efforts to promote traditional Chinese culture and has set up various interest clubs such as a Chinese orchestra, a lion dance group, a dragon boat team and a Chinese martial arts club.

Teachers may capitalise on such strengths and invite members of these interest clubs to share their learning experiences and knowledge in classes that touch on the MNE content related to Chinese culture so as to increase students’ interest in Chinese culture.

Another school has formed a sister-school relationship with a special school. The two schools organise frequent exchange learning activities.

Such an arrangement allows teachers to hold discussions and simulations during class time and enhance students’ knowledge about government policies on helping the disadvantaged integrate into the society. This cultivates students respect and care for people of different abilities.

instilling in students a set of designated values to replace the existing ones but to guide students in achieving the following objectives:

 enhancing students’ sensitivity to life events related to moral and national education

 guiding students to identify the values embedded in life events

 helping students master the skills of using positive values as standards to comprehend, discern and judge matters

 encouraging students to uphold and put positive values and attitudes into practice

How to develop positive values in students through the discussion of controversial life events

Encourage students to search for information about different views and standpoints, and discover and identify the different values and attitudes underlying them

Value the thinking and judgment process experienced by students. Provide them with a conceptual framework, discussion skills, analytical perspectives and decision-making models, etc.

Emphasise the importance of independent thinking to avoid thoughtlessly taking the side which happens to be the view more accepted by the public. Take different perspectives into consideration and embrace “independent thinking” as the principle of judgment and understand the values behind these perspectives and avoid following suit.

Teachers may have their own standpoints and views, but they need to create an open ambience and make sure that students holding different views are treated equally without bias and given equal opportunities for expression throughout the discussion.

Teachers should not play the expert, conclude a discussion by accepting opinion from a single perspective, or suppress diverse opinion through the use of public pressure.

The focus of a discussion should be the promotion of thinking and differentiation of the right from the wrong, instead of winning a debate or instilling teachers’ own views and values in students.

During discussion, if the class is indifferent to the subject of discussion or come to a thoughtless or unjustified consensus on a topic, teachers may play the devil’s advocate and challenge students’ opinion or point out the contradictions in their opinion. It can stimulate thinking and raise their learning incentive.

During discussions, teachers may act as a facilitator for learning through questions and simulation activities. This helps students analyse a topic from multiple perspectives, and make decisions by incorporating positive values to the topic discussed.

For example, when discussing the topic “Shall we report to the teacher if we find our good friend cheating in an exam?”, we hope answers that our students would go beyond individual-oriented answers such as “His parents will punish him hard if they find out.” or relationship-oriented answers such as “He is my good friend. I am not going to turn him in.” We want students to provide answers based on the judgment of values, such as justice and honesty, and agree that “If everybody cheats, the exam will become meaningless.”, or “Being his good friend, I cannot allow him to continue making the same mistake. It will do greater harm to him if he is “bankrupt of honesty”

The learning experience should help students make reasonable judgment when they face the ever-changing events at different stages of their life and uphold positive values and attitudes as the basis for their judgment and action. Therefore, the learning experience must be enlightening and students’ prior knowledge and values should, to a certain degree, be challenged so that students are driven to make attempts to find new knowledge and perspectives to adjust their own values, and strengthen their competence in moral judgment as the foundation for future judgment to make.