Abstract
Based on the data collected from focus groups and individual interviews with secondary school students and civic education teachers, this article explores how young people are transformed to become active and participatory citizens. The findings show that the roles and personal beliefs of civic education teachers are of critical significance at the very first stage whereas their teaching methods help enable students to construct the notion of active and participatory citizenship at the second stage. Eventually students gradually develop a strong sense of civic responsibility and competence through social inquiry and political action in the transformation process.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Benn R. (2000) The genesis of active citizenship in the learning society. Studies in the Education of Adults 32(2): 241–257
Biesta G. (2007) Education and the democratic person: Towards a political conception of democratic education. Teachers College Record 109(3): 740–769
Bottomore T. (1992) Citizenship and social class, forty years on. In: Marshall T. H., Bottomore T. Citizenship and social class. Pulto Press, Concord, MA, pp 55–93
Butin D. W. (2008) Service-learning and social justice education: Strengthening justice-oriented community based models of teaching and learning. Routledge, London
Carpenter J. (2006) The development of a more intelligent citizenship: John Dewey and the social studies. Education and Culture 22(2): 31–42
Cho W. K. T., Gimpel J. G., Dyck J. J. (2006) Residential concentration, political socialization, and voter turnout. The Journal of Politics 68(1): 156–167
Davidson C. (1997) From subject to citizenship: Australia citizenship in the twentieth century. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Dejaeghere J. (2003) A conceptualization of citizenship as privilege and power: Local, national and international variations. Pacific Asian Education 15(2): 44–55
Fairbrother G. P. (2005) Power and right in Hong Kong’s citizenship education. Citizenship Studies 9(3): 293–308
Flanagan C., Gallay L. S. (1995) Reframing the meaning of ‘political’ in research with adolescents. Perspectives on Political Science 24(1): 34–41
Giroux H. (1980) Critical theory and rationality in citizenship education. Curriculum Inquiry 10(4): 329–366
Hahn C. (1998) Becoming political: Comparative perspectives on citizenship education. State University of New York, New York
Hatcher J. A., Bringle R. G. (1997) Bridging the gap between service and learning. College Teaching 45(4): 153–158
Hyman H. (1959) Political socialization: A study in the psychology of political behaviour. Free, Glencoe, IL
Kennedy K. J. (2007) Student constructions of ‘active citizenship’: What does participation mean to students?. British Journal of Education Studies 55(3): 304–324
Kennedy K. J., Hahn C., Lee W. O. (2008) Constructing citizenship: Comparing the views of students in Australia, Hong Kong and the United States. Comparative Education Review 52(1): 53–85
Kerr, D., Nelson, J., & Ireland, E. (2006). Exploring the meaning of ‘active citizenship’ in England, Europe and beyond. nfernews summer 4–5.
Kiwan D. (2005) Human rights and citizenship: An unjustifiable conflation?. Journal of Philosophy of Education 39(February): 37–50
Kurth-Schai R., Green C. R. (2003) Re-envisioning education for global citizenship. Pacific Asian Education 15(2): 33–43
Lee, W. O. (1996). From depoliticisation to politicisation: The reform of civic education in Hong Kong in political transition. In Chinese Comparative Education Society, Taipei et al. (Eds.), Education reform—From tradition to post-modernity (pp. 295–328). Taipei: Shih Ta Publishers Co.
Lee W. O. (2003) Students’ concepts and attitudes toward citizenship: The case of Hong Kong. International Journal of Educational Research 39: 591–607
Leung Y. W. (2006) How do they become socially and politically active? Case studies of Hong Kong secondary students’ political socialization. Citizenship Teaching and Learning 2(2): 51–67
Leung Y. W., Ng S. W. (2004) Back to square one: The re-depoliticizing of civic education in Hong Kong. Asia-Pacific Journal of Education 24(1): 43–60
Lincoln Y. S., Guba E. G. (1985) Naturalistic Inquiry. Sage, London
McIntosh H., Hart D., Youniss J. (2007) The influence of family political discussion on youth civic development: Which parent qualities matter?. Political Science and Politics 40(3): 495–499
Morse J. M., Stern P. N., Corbin J., Bowers B., Charmaz K., Clarke A. E. (2009) Developing Grounded Theory: The second generation. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA
Ng S. W. (2000) The impact of implementing nationalistic education on primary school teachers. Pacific Asia Education 12(1): 48–59
Oxfam G. B. (2002) Global citizens—The handbook for primary teaching. Chris Kingston Publishing, Cambridge
Patrick J. J. (2002) Political socialization of youth—reconsideration of research on the civic development of elementary and secondary school students in the United States and abroad. The International Social Studies Forum 2(1): 59–65
Pettersson, T. (2003). Basic values and civic education—A comparative analysis of adolescent orientations towards gender equality and good citizenship. Retrieved 1 Apr 2008, from http://margaux.grandvinum.se.SebTest.wvs/articles.folder_published/publication 504.
Ross J. A. (1996) Creating strategies and conditions for civil discourses about controversial issues. Social Education 60(1): 15–21
Sapiro V. (2004) Not your parents’ political socialization: Introduction for a new generation. Annual Reviews of Political Science 7: 1–23
Strauss A. L., Corbin J. (1998) Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Sage, London
Terren E. (2002) Post-modern attitudes: A challenge to democratic education. European Journal of Education 37(2): 161–177
Torney-Purta J. (2002) The school’s role in developing civic engagement: A study of adolescents in twenty-eight countries. Applied Developmental Science 6(4): 201–211
Torney-Purta J. (2004) Adolescents’ political socialization in changing contexts: An international study in the spirit of Nevitt Sanford. Political Psychology 25(3): 465–478
Torney-Purta J., Richardson W. (2004) Anticipated political engagement among adolescents in Australia, England, Norway, and the United States. In: Demaine J. Citizenship and political education today. Palgrave, London, pp 98–130
Torney-Purta, J., Schwille, J., & Amadeo, J. (1999). Civic education across countries: Twenty-four national case studies. From the IEA civic education project. Amsterdam: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.
Tse T. K. C. (1998) Preparing students for citizenship? Political education in Hong Kong. Education and Society 16(2): 5–15
White G. (2004) Civil society, democratization and development: Clearing the analytical ground. In: Brunell P., Calvert P. Civil society in democratization. Frank Cass, London, pp 6–21
Write P. (1989) Educating courageous citizens. In: Merighan R., Harber C. The democratic school. Mastaprin, Nottingham, pp 7–16
Yates M., Youniss J. (1998) Community service and political identity development in adolescence. Journal of Social Issues 54(3): 495–512
Yuen T., Byram M. (2007) National identity, patriotism and studying politics in schools: A case study in Hong Kong. Compare 37(1): 23–36
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ng, S.W. Transformation of students into active and participatory citizens: an exploratory study in Hong Kong. Educ Res Policy Prac 8, 181–196 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-009-9072-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-009-9072-7