Abstract
An interdisciplinary subject, liberal studies, was introduced as a compulsory and core subject into the New Senior Secondary Curriculum in Hong Kong in 2009 with the purpose of expanding students’ knowledge base and increasing their social awareness through investigation into a variety of issues. However, transforming curricular innovations into real classroom settings and maintaining them is a complicated process. This study aimed to investigate, during its first round of implementation, teachers’ pedagogical practices in 21 local schools through in-depth interviews and documentary analysis. The results reveal that the school administrators and teachers were more likely to adapt their teaching approaches and teaching materials than their teaching content and assessment. Both good practices and examination-oriented practices in the process of curriculum implementation were evident in this study. These findings contribute to our understanding of the implementation of an interdisciplinary curriculum in examination-oriented systems and inform the practitioners of school-based practices of curriculum implementation.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: A Sample of a Skill-Based Curriculum Plan in Secondary4 (School 20) (Originally Written in Chinese)
Appendix 2: Guidelines on Answering “do You Agree” and “to What Extent” Questions (School 12) (Originally Written in Chinese
Appendix 3: Rubrics for Marking “to What Extent” Question (School 5)
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Zhan, Y., So, W.M.W. & Cheng, N.Y.I. Implementation Matters: Teachers’ Pedagogical Practices During the Implementation of an Interdisciplinary Curriculum in Hong Kong. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 25, 527–539 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-016-0278-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-016-0278-1