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Sociopolitical culture and school music education in Hong Kong

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2009

Wai-Chung Ho  and
Wing-Wah Law
Wai-Chung Ho*
Affiliation:
Department of Music, Hong Kong Baptist University, 224 Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, Chinatediwch@hkbu.edu.hk
Wing-Wah Law
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, Chinawwlaw@hkusua.hku.hk
*
Corresponding author: Wai-Chung Ho
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Abstract

In the last two decades, educational and curricular reforms in Hong Kong have been designed to prepare students for the challenges of the return of Hong Kong's sovereignty from the UK to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1997. This paper focuses on students' and teachers' attitudes towards a multicultural music education, which includes Chinese music, in response to this socio-political change. A mixed method design, involving a content analysis of relevant official educational and music documents, a questionnaire survey to 3,243 school students, and semi-structured interviews with 20 music teachers have been employed to further understanding of the development of politics and culture in Hong Kong society, which was investigated between winter 2006 and spring 2007. This paper argues that access to various musical cultures is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the development of music education in Hong Kong. Questions of how to integrate both Chinese music and other musical cultures in music education will remain a challenge for the future.

Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Music Education , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , March 2009 , pp. 71 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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