Life planning education and life education:
Lifelong learning perspectives
John Chi Kin LEE
Department of Curriculum and Instruction and Centre for Religious and
Spirituality Education, The Education University of Hong Kong
Chris Hin Wah CHEUNG
Centre for Religious and Spirituality Education, The Education University
of Hong Kong
Michelle Yin Hung LI
Vice President (Academic) Office, The Education University of Hong Kong
Abstract
In the 2014 policy address, the Hong Kong SAR government decided to offer a grant for expanding the support of life planning education in secondary schools. It aimed to help students be better prepared for the transition from education to work. However, globalization and innovation of technology have increased future uncertainties. Students are suggested to have better preparation for different stages of life. Moreover, the expectations toward schools and education have changed. It is not limited to knowledge transfer but also whole-person development. Therefore, they were urged to provide life-based education to help students cope with various challenges in their life. This article discusses Life Planning Education promoted by the Education Bureau in terms of a Lifelong Learning perspective. It suggests expanding the current Life Planning Education to Life Education for covering all aspects of life and for achieving the goals of Lifelong Learning and whole-person development. It helps the student to be prepared for 21st century challenges.Keywords
Life Planning Education, Life Education, Lifelong Learning, educational reformIntroduction
In the 21st century, the speedy innovation of technology and globalization have intensified the competition and frequency of knowledge updated. It also changes the expectations toward education and school. The role of education is not only limited to the training of professional skills and knowledge. Schools are also suggested to facilitate students to have whole-person development and preparation for lifelong learning. Various bodies and scholars proposed different issues about the development of new generation should have to handle the 21st century challenges. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2005, online material) suggested individuals to equip with more advanced knowledge and skills to cope with the challenges from the shift of a global economy to a knowledge-based economy. Kim and Trzmiel (2014, p.5) also analysed the literature on 21st-century skills and identified various “transversal skills”. In terms of “transversal competencies”, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defined it as five aspects including, “critical and innovative thinking”, “inter-personal relations”, “intra-personal skills”, “global citizenship” and “physical and psychological health” (UNESCO & UNESCO Bangkok Office, 2015). Moreover, McKinsey proposed the seven essential elements of lifelong-learning mindset such as “building your personal brand and network”, “stretch” and “stay vital” (Brassey, Coates and Dam, 2019, p.2). The Partnership for 21st century (2008, online material) also proposed three important skills including, “Life & Career Skills”, “Learning and Innovation Skills” and “Information, Media & Technology Skills”. Education is inextricably linked with social, economic and personal development. The role of schools and educators are suggested to not focus only on knowledge transfer but also on supporting students to cope with the challenges in life including, life planning and lifelong learning. Students are also suggested to develop the values and attitude toward continuous learning to cope with the speedy development of technology. Therefore, Lifelong learning is getting greater concern around the world for supporting the new generation to handle the challenges in the 21st century and the sustainability of social development. And, it is often linked with the teaching of attitudes of adolescents toward their development in life. The expectations of society towards education and school have also changed and are not limited to knowledge and skills training. In the past, the roles of school and education were mainly concentrated on knowledge transfer and development. Due to global and social development, both education and schools are expected to support adolescents to have better preparation for future challenges. The aim of this paper is to discuss the about Life Planning Education in Hong Kong for supporting students to have better preparation for future challenges. It is suggestedto link up with Life Education in the perspective of Lifelong Learning and also whole-person development. It also meets the fundamental goal of education proposed by different schools of educational philosophy. The first part will explore the Life Planning Education proposed by the Hong Kong SAR government in relation to Lifelong learning. The second part is going to discuss the philosophical foundation of education in terms of Lifelong Learning and the importance of Lifelong Learning from a practical perspective. The third part will explore the relation between Life Planning Education and Life Education by definition and implications generated from philosophical perspectives. Lastly, the authors suggest connecting Life Planning Education to Life Education with consideration for the importance of Lifelong Learning. It will help adolescents cope with challenges in the 21st century.
1. Philosophical foundations of education: What is the
purpose of Education?
The following is going to investigate the ultimate concern of education at philosophical level. It helps to have reflection about the function and purpose of education. It also helps identify the purpose of education for Hong Kong adolescents and the way forward. “What should be the aims or purposes of education?” (Noddings, 2007, p.1) is the core question and had been discussed in various schools of education philosophy for long time. “Philosophers of education are interested in analyzing and clarifying concepts and questions central to education” (Noddings, 2007, p.1). “Education” is a word developed from the Latin word “educare” which implies “to bring up” (Chen, 2001, pp.3-4). Thus, the aims and purposes of bringing up a child are one of the fundamental concerns of education. Different schools of philosophy, however, have different ways of defining and delivering education. There are many schools and categories of philosophy on how they define education and curriculum studies. Among various philosophies and education discussed by Knight (2018, pp. i-iii), we have not selected traditional philosophies (e.g. Idealism, Realism and Neo-scholasticism) which hold the common belief that “both truth and value are eternal and unchanging” (Knight, 1998, p.58). We note that traditional philosophies have a profound impact on the emergence and development of Essentialism, Perennialism, and Behaviorism (Knight, 1998, p.58) which are to some extent compatible with the technical, perennial analytic curriculum paradigm and academic and cognitive curriculum conceptions (McNeil, 1990; Schubert, 1986; Lee & Wong, 1996). On the other hand, we are not explicitly engaged in the discussion of postmodern philosophies because there have been criticisms of their objections to metanarratives and their literature has included concepts such as “tolerance”, “democracy” and “justice” not only as preferences
but as the key criteria for judgment. Nonetheless, we, like some supporters, appreciate the postmodern stance of highlighting moral education and emphasizing social ethics (Knight, 1998, pp.92-93) (See Appendix A Table 1). Pragmatism tends to endorse some of the Judeo-Christian beliefs and suggests that individuals should learn how to make difficult moral decisions which are relevant to life education and career and study choices in life planning education. Regarding existentialism, it advocates individuals to become a “choosing”, “free” and “responsible” agent (Knight, 1998, pp.66-67 & 77). “Educational humanism” has some linkage with the humanistic perspective, humanistic conception of the curriculum as well as an interpretive paradigm, while Futurism is partly related to social reconstructionism of curriculum conceptions and a critical curriculum paradigm (McNeil, 1990; Schubert, 1986). Educational humanism advocates self-actualization and the importance of warm interpersonal relationships. This implies that for life education and life planning education, it is important for individuals to have self-worth and develop their own potentials (Knight, 1998, pp.103 & 106). Futurism and future-oriented approaches to education and curriculums (e.g., Longstreet & Shane, 1992) tend to highlight a “preferable future” (Knight, 1998, p.124; Shane, 1973, pp.83-91) which depends on our understanding of future trends and exploration of ways and approaches to eradicate injustices and inadequacies through personal and social transformation. In short, Dewey highlighted the importance of “growth” as the aim of education in Pragmatism (Noddings, 2007, p.26). Existentialism in education concerns helping students explore themselves and to develop their own characteristics to cope with different stages in life. Humanism emphasizes individual development and self-actualization. Futurism focuses attention on helping students prepare for their future in order to cope with the challenges in economic, social and cultural changes. All these show that education is suggested to support adolescents to cope with challenges in different stages of life. Education and learning are not supposed to be bounded by the age of adolescents and schools. More importantly, they are suggested to be a lifelong and continuous process. Although not all schools of education are covered due to the constraint of space, they also reflect the importance of lifelong learning as the aim of education. In this case, what position would this paper adapt? Would it be a mix and why? How could it be linked with Lifelong Learning?
2. Education Reform and Lifelong Learning
2.1 Local Education Reform & Lifelong Learning
The education reform proposal for the education in Hong Kong, Learning for Life,
Learning through Life, published by the Education Commission in September 2000
report was published and it may be time to re-visit the aims and reflect on the relevance of these aims to the changing society of the 21st century. In the summary of that document, it stated a “common wish for Hong Kong to be a diverse, democratic, civilized, tolerant, dynamic and cultivated cosmopolitan city” and the vision of educational reform was to “build a lifelong society”, “to acknowledge the importance of moral education” and “to develop an education that is rich in tradition but cosmopolitan and culturally diverse” (Education Commission, 2000, pp.3 & 5). Moreover, the concept “Leaning to learn” is also emphasized by The Hong Kong Curriculum Development Council as the way forward of education reform (Hong Kong Curriculum Development Council, 2001). The authors opine that these aspirations and vision for Hong Kong education are still important directions and parameters but there may be new policies or alternative jargon for interpreting these directions. In 2014, The former Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR government, Mr. Leung Chun-ying also decided to offer an additional grant to promote life planning and expand support towards career guidance in all secondary schools in 2014 (Leung, 2014, paragraph 105). This decision has acted as a catalyst for facilitating the change in career guidance practices in Hong Kong (Wong, 2017, pp.125-126). The role of career guidance programmes in smoothing students' transition from education to work has been emphasized (Wong, 2017, p.139). It also enhanced the level of concern on career and life planning education (Lee & Kong, 2015, pp.90-91; Wong, 2017, pp.125-126).
Furthermore, Life-wide learning in the school curriculum arena and moral education is now managed under the umbrella of Moral and Civic education in the Education Bureau. Moreover, the attention on Life Education, Character Education and Positive Education is enhanced as highlighted in the Chief Executive Mrs. Carrie Lam's 2018 Policy Address (Lam, 2018, paragraph 156). There is also more attention and resources devoted to cultivation of diversified, enlivened and enriched life-wide learning experiences among students which “will not only enhance their interest in learning, but also help them develop positive values and attitudes, enhance their spirit to serve and sense of responsibility, and foster positive thinking and good character” (Lam, 2018, paragraph 158). Preparing our students to face the future with values and skills in a lifelong perspective is indispensable. According to a review report of EDB about the implementation of Life Planning Education in Hong Kong schools, there are changing understandings and expectations of Life Planning Education. Various school stakeholders generally endorsed that “Life Planning Education should be included as the way on cultivating personal interest, positive values and a sense of direction in life, in addition to the acquisition of knowledge and preparation for career development” (EDB, 2019, pp.13-14). Life Planning Education should go beyond counselling on future study and employment (Lee & Kong, 2015, p.100). In 2017, The School Curriculum Review
team set up by the Education Bureau (EDB) had launched a consultation on initial recommendations on various key aspects of local education (EDB, 2019). The team suggested to place Values Education, strengthening Life Education in particular, as well as launching the Life Planning Education in early school stage to be essential for nurturing students with preferred values and qualities for the challenges in 21st century. However, under the packed curriculum in schools, knowledge- and skills-oriented learning activities are still commonly found. Leung suggested that a Whole School Approach could help to improve the quality of Life Planning Education (Leung, 1999, p.33). There may not be a uniform orientation of the Whole School Approach, when looking into the cases of Hong Kong secondary schools (EDB, 2019, p.14; Lee & Ho, 2018, pp.177-178). By adopting the Whole School Approach, it helps to know about the influence of Life Planning Education at different levels such as school culture level, organization level and engagement level (Leung, 1999). In the school level, the Life Planning Education is treated as one of the core objectives as school development rather than a sole subject or short-term activity. Some schools made efforts in building a positive school culture by strengthening teachers' beliefs, creating an atmosphere of respecting life and pursuing the meaning of life. Career and life planning teams were established and the practice of multi-disciplinary collaboration among different functional groups was increasing. As schools were aware of their resource limitations, it has become more common for schools to expand their networks to community and business partners. Also, the engagement of teachers, parents and the community are recognized as effective strategies in implementing Life Planning Education (EDB, 2019, pp.13-18). Further to Leung's suggestion, a three-dimensional model suggested by Lee and Kong of school-based curriculum development in Life Planning including approaches on whole-school engagement, cross-subject teaching, the use of “class teacher sessions”, linkage with life experience and collaboration with parents and community (Lee & Kong, 2015, pp.100-101). Based on the above view, the concept of lifelong learning should also be taken into consideration as a core teaching approach to support students in their life planning (Lee & Hui, 2019, p.82). An effective teaching approach should be lifelong learning-based, together with learning activities in a cross-subject approach, with inquiry-based/ theme-based learning and diversified assessments. The designated learning activities equip students with 21st-century competencies, help students understand their personal skills and abilities, and guide them in setting life goals and planning for the future. In the meantime, schools should enrich the curriculum by engaging diverse partners, global themes, advanced technology and authentic life and work experience (Lee & Hui, 2019, p.81).
2.2 Global vision for the importance of lifelong learning in the 21st century
importance is also emphasized by UNESCO in a practical sense on supporting new generation to have better preparation for the 21st century.
Delors et al. (1996) published a UNESCO report known as Learning: The treasure
within which advocated four inter-linking pillars of education: “Learning to know”, “Learning to do”, “Learning to live together” and “Learning to be” (Delors, 2013, p. 321). “Learning to know” implies obtaining the basic knowledge and the capability on lifelong learning. “Learning to do” is related to “skills” such as 21st-century skills under a learning society. “Learning to live together” is essential to build up a tolerant society where individual not only respect others but also have a cultural, religious and spiritual understanding of self, others and other societies. (Delors, 2013, pp.321-322) “Learning to be” is about life planning and life education where students are guided to “understand themselves better, without sinking into despair or delusion” (Delors, 2013, p.323). In addition, Delors (2013) is fully aware of the impact of media and technology, the challenges of globalisation and unemployment as well as the acceleration of individualism, deterioration of traditional and personal relationships and the dominance of market and human capitalist ideologies which might be echoed by new thinking away from career-oriented and short-sighted life planning education and individual-based life education under an unprecedented changing globalized world and a context of a lifelong learning society.
3. Life Planning & Life Planning Education
The concept of “Life Planning” was generated from Parsons' discussion of career guidance and job advice in the early twentieth century in the United States (Lee, Kong & Chan 2019. p.51). Various scholars have different ways of explaining it. Initially, Parsons aimed to help young people develop better self-understanding before job seeking (Lee et al., 2019, p.51). After several decades of development, Nathan proposed to apply psychology in career guidance such as through personality tests and various ways of therapy and counselling (Lee et al. 2019, p.51). The aim of that was to help young people understand themselves better as to set proper goals for job searching (Lee et al. 2019, p.51). Both experiences and skills also became the foundation of “Life Planning” nowadays. “Life Planning” has been highly promoted as an eye-catching issue in education and youth work in recent years. It is treated as an effective way of helping students prepare for the transition from education to work. It is also an important task for helping the new generation to find their way out in terms of the responsibility of the government in social development (Cheung, 2018, paragraph 2). In Europe, the European Communities treated Life Planning as a method on improving quality of education, employment and social
structure (Hui & Mak, 2019, p.27). Therefore, helping students identify their goals and the way out became the focus of both education and youth work. The discussion of Life Planning covers various aspects including, “the purpose of education, the way on supporting students in apply knowledge, the pressure on transition from education to work, personal development and future preparation” (Hui & Mak, 2019, p.27). Based on the explanation stated in the website of Hong Kong's Education Bureau (EDB) (2017, online material), Life Planning is suggested as: “an ongoing and
lifelong process for personal fulfilment, with different foci at different stages of the lifetime”. It shows that the fundamental aim of Life Planning is for the sake of students' self-actualization and sense of satisfaction in life. By having proper planning at different life stages, it helps students achieve these goals. Rather than static, Life Planning is a continuous activity for students. Students may continuously change their personal goals and expectations in life at different stages and scenarios such as personal life and job development. Even changes in the external environment (economic, political and social aspects) may also affect students' Life Planning. Therefore, Life Planning should not be treated as a “one-off” mission or limited to schools and youth work agencies. There is no doubt that everyone has a unique life. A standardized life plan with common objectives and similar ways to achieve such objectives for all students would be unworkable and impractical. Students may have their own pursuits in life and differences in personal life such as the family background. However, the implementation of Life Planning mainly focuses on two major aspects, “choice of further studies” and “job seeking”. It is short-term and ignores the importance of personal aspects of students such as their family background, understanding of the meaning of life and preferred future. It also lacks consideration for the ever-changing social and economic conditions and how to help students to prepare for it. Life Planning is suggested as a continuous process and static and short-term based. Life Planning education is also promoted as shown by the EDB statement on its website (2017, online material):
Life planning education fosters students' self-understanding, personal planning, goal setting, reflective habits of mind and articulation to progression pathways. It links up school curriculum and interests, abilities and orientations of students to make a wise choice for their future.
The implementation of Life Planning Education and Career Guidance in the past was rather short-sighted and students only received little benefit such as better self-understanding and goal setting. The promotion of Life Planning Education helps to solve the problem as it facilitates Life Planning becoming a long-term continuous process.
Students can make their own Life Plan at different stages based on individual needs and social context. Life Planning and Life Planning Education aim to help students carry out proper planning of life and have well preparation for future challenges including, the development of appropriate skills, knowledge, values and attitudes. Although Life Planning Education is long-term and supposed to help students cope with future challenges, its focus is still limited to planning future studies and career options. It may help students transit more smoothly from school to the workplace. However, the emergency of knowledge-based economy, globalization and the speedy development and innovation of technology make the 21st century full of uncertainty and challenges such as the disappearance of traditional jobs and more vigorous competition. Students are suggested to have better preparation for it to achieve their preferred future. Life Planning Education may not be adequate for students.
3.1 Life Planning Education and Life Education: Philosophical Perspective
Both Life Planning Education and Life Education echo the different perspectives of Existentialism, Humanism, Futurism and Pragmatism. “Pragmatism” and “existentialism” are components of modern philosophies and education as well as “educational humanism” and “futurism” which to some extent echo progressivism and reconstructionism respectively to illustrate meanings for Life Planning Education and Life Education (See Appendix A Table 1). From the perspective of existentialism, the meaning of human existence and life depend on the contexts and values attached to understanding incidents in life. Adolescents are offered autonomy to make choices for their own lives and are encouraged to be responsible for the choices they make (Knight, 2018, p.90). It provides implications for Life Planning Education on choice making for future career paths and the importance of self-reflection and understanding in Life Education. Moreover, Humanism highlights the importance of self-actualization. It suggests that education should help students develop their own potentials towards the ideals (Knight, 1998, p.123). Humanism believes that every student is inborn with their own intelligence and learning should not be bonded by pre-determined goals and curriculum or even school (Knight, 1998, pp.124-126). It accepts the variance in ideals of life among students. In terms of Life Planning Education, it emphasizes the importance of uniqueness on supporting adolescents in career choice and preparation. For Life Education, Humanism echoes the importance of supporting adolescents to develop their own set of values. In terms of aim, Futurism aims to help students prepare society in the future. Although Futurism focuses on the aspects of skills and knowledge, the fundamental aim
of it is to prepare for future challenges. It supports Life Planning Education on guiding adolescents to have better preparation of skills and knowledge for future challenges such as the transition from education to work. For Life Education, it motivates adolescents to develop their own values and attitudes for dealing with challenges in different stages of life. In relation to Pragmatism, Dewey (1986, p.251) emphasizes the importance of life experience as both a means and goal of education. Experience comes from the actual life of students. It implies the interaction between students and life incidents in different aspects. After reflection and integration, it becomes students' “knowledge and skills”. Moreover, Pragmatism highlights the importance of students' experience in practise (Knight, 1998, pp.81-82). Life Planning Education encourages adolescents to develop different skills and knowledge for future challenges through practice. About Life Education, Pragmatism highlights the importance of reflection and consolidation of experiences in different stages of life. Furthermore, Life Education also highlights the importance of “Unity of theory and practice” (Sun, 2009, pp.6-7). Life Planning Education and Life Education contain elements of different schools of educational philosophy. Life Education even contains more than Life Planning Education due to the span of coverage in life. Moreover, Life Education also contains elements of Asian traditional philosophy. As stated by Li (2010, p.1), “The Philosophy of Life Education is to help students to explore and experience their meaning of life and value”. Nonetheless, it still relies on the core values behind the interpretations of life, life experiences, life planning and life choices. Individuals could draw on these values from their religions and faiths and/or based on their cultural virtues. In the context of Confucian Heritage Culture, we could consider the relevance and insights from Ren (benevolence), Li (ritual) and Yi (righteousness). Life Education may also draw on elements of some Chinese cultural values on the discussion about values and philosophy of life such as “harmony” (Li, 2001, p.17). The major idea of harmony is to strike a balance between all aspects to achieve holistic life development (Li, 2001, p.17). For example, relations with the external world are part of life including, “relations with self and others” (know about human), “relations with science” (know about nature) and “relations with supernatural” (know about heaven) (Li, 2001, p.18). Compared with Life Planning Education, Life Education covers different life stages, from the cradle to the grave. In terms of various Education philosophy schools, Life Education and Life Planning Education cover various elements of these thoughts. Life Education even covers elements of Asian philosophies.
3.2 Connecting Life Planning Education with Life Education
What is Life Education? Life Education was first introduced in the 1990s based on moral education in a Taiwan Catholic secondary school (Stella Matutina Girls' High School), focusing on four aspects – “Understanding Life”, “Treasuring Life”, “Appreciating Life” and “Respecting Life” (Chen, 2004, p.3). Other than shaping students with moral values, it also aimed to promote the importance of life as to deal with the increase in Taiwan student suicides at that period (Chen, 2004, pp.1-3). In the past several decades, education professionals, the government and communities have made huge contributions to Life Education development. Nowadays, Life Education is a well-organized professional subject. Since 2008, Life Education has become a core subject with 1 credit in the curriculum of Senior High school (Sun, 2009, p.2). Moreover, various research centres in higher education institutes and communities were established to incorporate elements of Life Education into teaching training (Chen, 2004, p.16). All these measures further facilitated the Taiwan Life Education development. Thus, what are the major concerns of Life Education? There are several definitions summarized as below:
“Life Education is the core of holistic education. It guides students to build up their values to look for the infinite possibilities of life and empower their life development and energy to achieve the goal.” (Li, 2000, p.47)
“Life Education is to help students to answer three core questions about life including, ‘What do we live for?', ‘How should we live?' and ‘How should we achieve our ideal life?'.” (Sun, 2009, pp.3-4)
“The aim of Life Education is to explore the fundamental issue of life and leads students in life practice to achieve unity of knowledge and behaviour.” (Taiwan Ministry of Education, 2008, online material)
From these three definitions, the core purpose of Life Education is to guide students to get prepared for handling different life issues at different stages. Rather than skills training and knowledge transfer, Life Education is highly focused on self-reflection, values and attitudes. Students are guided to have reflection on the meaning of life, the way of living and to also prepare for their way of life. As mentioned above, three key questions are proposed for learning Life Education including, “what do we live for”, “how should we live” and “how should we achieve our ideal life” (Sun, 2009, pp.3-4). It is suggested that these three fundamental questions guide students to enhance their self-understanding and get prepared for the future. Life Education is not only limited to a certain stage of personal development such as the school-to-work
transition but also other aspects of life, including ethics, the meaning of life and life and death (Chen, 2004, p.10).
4. Suggestions for the way forward: From Life Planning
Education to Life Education
Both Life Planning Education and Life Education emphasize the importance of Lifelong learning. Education and Learning should not be limited to career choice. Whole-person development is suggested for preparation to cope with challenges in different stages of life. It is proposed that the connotations of Life Planning Education and Life Education could be integrated in the context of a lifelong society. Connecting Life Planning and Life Education will facilitate schools to view Life Planning Education macroscopically, emphasizing the whole-person development of students, the establishment of positive values and even psychological traits. Knowledge and skills are essential for students to cope with future uncertainty, but they may not be enough. The capacity for handling stress, overcoming unpredictable challenges, bouncing back from failure as well as regaining courage and confidence in making a decision is more valuable and worth nurturing (Lee & Ho, 2018, p.179). Some Hong Kong schools have improved their life planning curriculum, not only applying the approaches mentioned above but also integrating the ideas of Life Education. For example, students in junior forms are guided to explore their own potential and the meaning of life. It enables students to think from different perspectives and improves their future decision making. Promotion of positive values and character strengths are also integrated into life planning activities. It is suggested that using problem-based learning and incorporating subject topics with issues about values are effective instructions in teaching values and options (Schuitema, Dam & Veugelers, 2008, p.74). Integrating life values into the life planning curriculum stimulates students to explore their personal objectives and the meaning of life. It could also enrich their understanding of career planning and choices. Life Education has, therefore, become a steering force in supporting students to reshape their perception towards their life and career. It also helps students cope with the challenges in the 21st century by better understanding their ways of life and the meaning of life.
Conclusion
To conclude, this paper discusses Life Planning Education initiated by the Hong Kong SAR government for supporting students for having preparation on Lifelong Learning. To achieve this, it is suggested to connect Life Planning Education with Life Education. Referenced from the implications of different schools of educational philosophy, it helps to link up Life Planning Education with Life Education. It does not only help students dealing with challenges on the transition on education to work but also in different stagesin life. In the 21st century, globalization and speedy development of technology enhance competition and the level of uncertainty. Students require more quality preparation. It is not only limited to technical skills but also values and attitudes. Further exploration about the promotion of Life Education in Hong Kong is recommended. It helps to make substantial contribution for the discussion and suggestion on teaching practise for this topic.
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Table 1 Educational philosophy and their implications for life planning education and life education (adapted from Knight, 2018)
Types of educational philosophies (adapted from Knight, 2018) Pragmatism
(pp.75-95) Existentialism(pp.85-95) Humanism(pp.122-166) Futurism(pp.142-166) Philosophical assumptions • Nothing is remaining unchanged and static • Values and Ideas are in the process of change and may change • Knowledge is sourced from life experience • Existence precedes essence • Every human is unique and free to choose • Values of the individual are created by himself not others • Each child is unique • People are born to be clever and curious • People are motivated to be self-actualized. • Future is projected • Future can be made by man • People should have preparation for the future Examples of literature and theories • Dewey, J. (1986). Experience and education. The Educational Forum, Vol. 50, No. 3, 241-252. (p.94) • Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and Education. New York: The Macmillan Company. (p.94) • Dewey, J. (1997). How we think. Courier Corporation. (p.94) • Van Morris, C. (1954). Existentialism and Education. Educational Theory, 4(4), 247-258. (p.95) • Illich. I. (1970). Deschooling and Society. Italy: KKIEN Publishing International. (p.92) • Rogers, C., & Freiberg, H. (1994). Freedom to learn (3rd ed.). New York: Merrill. (p.92) • Glasser, W. (1968). Schools without failure (1st ed.] ed.). New York: Harper & Row. (p.126) • Kozol, J. (1972). Free schools. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. (p.162) • Kohl, H. (1977). The open classroom: A practical guide to a new way of teaching. New York: Random House. (p.162) • Toffler, A. (1971). Future shock (Bantam ed.). New York: Bantam Books. (p.164) • Toffler, A. (1974). Learning for tomorrow: The role of the future in education. New York: Vintage Books. (p.164) • Shane, Harold G. l. (1973). The Educational Significance of the Future. Bloomington, Phil Delta Kappa. (p.165)
Implications for life planning education • Development of 21st century skills and knowledge of the workplace through diversified learning experiences • Development of proper values and attitudes toward uncertainty in the changing world such as life-long learning • Development and reflection on aspirations and destinations of work and study based on personal autonomy and choices • Importance of teaching the way of making choices and being responsible for the choice • Understanding of personal potentials and continuous formulation of life goals • No standardized goal and preparation pathway; each student is unique • Understanding the changing world of the workplace and society • Enhancing competitiveness for future challenges by equipping related skills Implications for life education • Integration of knowledge, skills and values for personal growth and success • The importance of reflection and consolidation of experiences in different stages of life • Meaning of life and life incidents to one self and others taking up different roles • The importance of self-recognition and identification to cope with challenges in life • The importance of value and attitude development to cope with challenges in different stages of life • The Importance of self-understanding and self-actualization of personal ideals • Preparation for living and working in future society and world • Importance of development of values and attitudes for future challenges Educational implications • Emphasis on provision of life-wide enriched life experiences • Teaching students the way of learning is more important than teaching knowledge • Learning by doing • Emphasis on self-understanding and reflection on the meaning of life • Learning should be based on the interest of individual students' choices ·• Emphasis on the importance of developing students' values and attitudes. • Learning should be free • Emphasis on receptivity to change and understand future trends • Learning of students should be based on individual needs for the future
