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ENQUIRE PROJECT DETAILS BY GENERAL PUBLIC |
| Project Details |
| Funding Scheme : | General Research Fund | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Number : | 18612819 | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Title(English) : | National education as cultural education: Developing students’ Chinese cultural identity with learning and teaching Cantonese opera in Hong Kong and Guangzhou | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Title(Chinese) : | 文化教育作為國民教育 : 透過學習粵劇發展香港和廣州學生的中國文化身份認同 | ||||||||||||||||
| Principal Investigator(English) : | Prof Leung, Bo Wah | ||||||||||||||||
| Principal Investigator(Chinese) : | |||||||||||||||||
| Department : | Department of Cultural and Creative Arts | ||||||||||||||||
| Institution : | The Education University of Hong Kong | ||||||||||||||||
| E-mail Address : | bwleung@eduhk.hk | ||||||||||||||||
| Tel : | 29487063 | ||||||||||||||||
| Co - Investigator(s) : |
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| Panel : | Humanities, Social Sciences | ||||||||||||||||
| Subject Area : | Education | ||||||||||||||||
| Exercise Year : | 2019 / 20 | ||||||||||||||||
| Fund Approved : | 531,100 | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Status : | Completed | ||||||||||||||||
| Completion Date : | 31-12-2021 | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Objectives : |
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| Abstract as per original application (English/Chinese): |
Since the return of Hong Kong’s sovereignty to China in 1997, Cantonese opera has been included in the SAR's school music curriculum. Recently, the People’s Government of Guangdong Province (2017) issued an ordinance to promote the transmission of the traditional music genre through all channels, including school education. Cantonese opera has been officially included in the policy agenda of both Hong Kong and mainland China, to preserve it and to promote cultural education in schools.
Hong Kong people have been facing a challenge of identities. The initiative to develop Moral and National Education as compulsory subjects in schools in 2012 was opposed by younger generations. This was one of the reasons for the protest event “Occupy Central”. At present in the Hong Kong community, there appears to be conflict between younger generations striving for their “Hongkongese” identity, and another group that embraces and defends their Chinese national identity.
A broad-based concept of national education has been proposed, which is a comprehensive model that should include national, political, social and cultural identity. As Cantonese opera is an art form replete with Chinese cultural elements, and thus suitable for promoting Chinese cultural identity, this study aims: 1) to investigate the current state regarding teaching and learning Cantonese opera in the schools of Hong Kong and Guangzhou, 2) to examine the extent to which variables such as teachers’ musical preference and teacher education in Hong Kong and Guangzhou may contribute to the teaching of Cantonese opera in music classes; and 3) to examine the extent to which learning Cantonese opera in schools may contribute to the development of Chinese cultural identity in students. Based on the Social Identity Theory, this study is in two phases employing a sequential explanatory mixed-method design. Phase I will be a questionnaire survey to investigate the current ways in which Cantonese opera is taught in schools. A hardcopy/online questionnaire will be designed and disseminated to all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong and Guangzhou for music teachers. Phase II is a multiple-case study in which eight schools from both cities will be involved. Researchers will observe the classes over three months in each school and interview teachers and students for feedback and reflection on students’ development of Chinese cultural identity. This study will reflect the current situation in terms of teaching and learning of the genre, which will provide insights for future development.
自1997年香港回歸中國以來，粵劇已被納入香港學校音樂課程。 最近，廣東省人民政府（2017年）頒布了一項法令，通過各種渠道，包括學校教育，促進粵劇的傳播。 粵劇已被正式列入香港和中國大陸的政策議程，以保存傳統文化，並促進學校的文化教育。 香港人一直面臨著身份認同的挑戰。 2012年，學校將德育和國民教育作為必修科目的倡議遭到了年輕一代的反對。 這最終導致了一系列事件，包括“佔中”。 目前在香港社區，年輕一代正在爭取他們的“香港人”身份，而另一群人則擁抱和捍衛他們的中國人身份認同。 研究文獻已經提出了一個基礎廣泛的國民教育概念，這是一個應包括國家、政治、社會和文化特徵的綜合模式。由於粵劇是一種充滿中國文化元素的藝術形式，因此適合推廣中國文化認同。本研究旨在：1）調查香港和廣州學校粵劇教學現狀 ; 2）研究香港和廣州的教師音樂偏好和教師教育等音樂教師變數在多大程度上可以促進粵劇在音樂課堂上的教學 ; 3）研究在學校學習粵劇對學生中國文化認同發展的影響。建基於社會認同理論，本研究分兩個階段，採用順序解釋混合方法設計。第一階段將進行問卷調查，向音樂教師調查香港和廣州學校粵劇教學的現狀。第二階段是一個多案例研究，其中涉及兩個城市的八所學校。研究人員將在每個學校觀察三個月的課程，並採訪老師和學生，以反饋和反思學生對中國文化認同的發展。本研究將反映該類型的教學和學習方面的現狀，為未來的發展提供見解。 |
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| Realisation of objectives: | The first and second objectives have been achieved by a survey to Hong Kong and Guangdong music teachers. Both hard copies by mail and a link to e-copies by email were sent to all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. The PI asked the Co-I, two university professors and one music inspector from Guangdong to help deliver the questionnaire through their personal contacts. A snowball sampling was also used to maximize the response rate. As a result, a total of 1,974 valid questionnaires were collected, of which 524 were from Hong Kong (319 primary schools and 205 secondary schools), and 1,450 from Guangdong schools (1,056 primary and 394 secondary schools). For the 3rd objective, it is achieved with limitations. I observed two primary schools in Hong Kong (School A and School B) and had one semi-structured interview with a teacher and four focus group interviews with five randomly selected students from School A. I went back to School A again three months later to observe their interdisciplinary week, an activity integrating different elements of Cantonese opera (e.g., designing Cantonese opera masks and creating scripts) through Chinese language, Visual arts and music lessons. I visited School A for a total of nine times. For School B, I had two interviews with a teacher and one focus group interview with five randomly selected students from School B. I visited School B five times. I observed two secondary schools (School C and School D) in Hong Kong. I visited School C for four times, during which I conducted one semi-structured interview with the music teacher and a tutor together and two focus group discussions with four randomly selected students. For School D, we interviewed two music teachers (of whom one was the music panel chair) together and I conducted a focus group interview with five randomly selected students in one visit. The Co-I, who worked in Guangdong, and five of her students conducted data collections in schools in Guangdong Province, China. They visited two primary schools and one junior secondary school. They visited those schools E for six times. All the interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed for analysis. However, many local schools refused the visits due to the pandemic, since all Hong Kong schools were closed for online teaching for a substantial period of time. Thus the data collection was limited. The original plan was that the PI would collaborate with the Co-I in visiting the schools, observe the classes and interview with the teachers and students. Due to the pandemic, the PI could not visit those schools in Guangzhou. Thus, the PI invited the Co-I to involve a few research students from her university to help with the school visits. Before the visits, the PI had briefed them on the techniques and methods of undertaking observation and semi-structured interviews. However, the data collected was insufficient due to their limited knowledge and skills in evidence-based research. On the other hand, school teachers and administration of the Guangdong schools tended to provide positive aspects only. This is another constraint for the investigation. | ||||||||||||||||
| Summary of objectives addressed: |
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| Research Outcome | |||||||||||||||||
| Major findings and research outcome: | Findings reveal that 75% of Hong Kong respondents taught Cantonese opera while only 48% of Guangdong respondents did so. In terms of teaching time, in total, only about 8% of teaching time in both regions is contributed to teaching Cantonese opera; Hong Kong primary teachers (10%) taught more than secondary teachers (6%) while Guangdong secondary teachers (10%) taught more than primary teachers (7%). Teachers' age and teaching experience are not correlated to their allocation of teaching, while their education background is not a factor affecting the time allocation. However, teachers' musical background is influential; findings reveal that teachers with Chinese music background allocate more time significantly to teach the genre than those with Western music background. Their music background is related to their interest in Cantonese opera and their perception on their cultural identity. In general, all respondents tend to express a low level of knowledge of, interest in, and confidence about teaching Cantonese opera. In comparison, Guangdong teachers possess higher levels in knowledge, interest and confidence than Hong Kong teachers. Guangdong teachers are of higher interest and confidence in teaching the genre than Hong Kong counterparts. In general, it is found that in Hong Kong schools, music teachers tend to focus on teaching the knowledge and skills about Cantonese opera. They would teach tangible knowledge including the types of music and speeches, gong-che notation, the roles and singing types etc. Some teachers might involve students in singing but this is not common. Based on my observation, no music teachers would consider involving students in reflecting on Chinese culture and how Cantonese opera could contribute to nurturing students' cultural identity. In general, teachers do not consider nurturing students' cultural identity an important teaching objective. | ||||||||||||||||
| Potential for further development of the research and the proposed course of action: |
Music teachers in Hong Kong needs to learn about the ultimate goal of music education. Since they are music lovers, their only goal to teach music is to motivate students to love music with provision of music skills and knowledge. However, it is not the responsibility of school music education to generate musicians and music lovers. Instead, school music education should cultivate students in developing their national and cultural identity. Future research should be implemented on investigating what strategies in teaching Cantonese opera (and other Chinese music genres) should be developed in order to help nurturing students' national and cultural identities. On the other hand, we should also investigate if there are any effective strategies and policies adopted in overseas for our reference and comparison. | ||||||||||||||||
| Layman's Summary of Completion Report: | This project aims to investigate the current situation of teaching Cantonese opera in Hong Kong and Guangdong schools, and to examine if students' Chinese cultural identity could be nurtured by teaching Cantonese opera. Findings suggest that both Hong Kong and Guangdong music teachers have allocated a modest amount of teaching time in teaching the genre. More importantly, the music background of music teachers are significant in affecting teachers' decision and extent in teaching Cantonese opera. Music teachers with Chinese music background tend to teach more Cantonese opera. This implies that the curricula in school education, tertiary education and teacher education are critically important in determining the decision of school music teachers. While most of the secondary graduates with Western music background enters into music programs of tertiary and teacher education, they will tend to focus on Western music. Consequently, university graduates may focus on Western music and they will do so in their school teaching. This will formulate a vicious circle, which is difficult to change. The value of this study reveals the shortfall of the music curriculum, music teachers' and teacher education institutions, which need to be improved. A balance between Western and Chinese music should be sought. | ||||||||||||||||
| Research Output | |||||||||||||||||
| Peer-reviewed journal publication(s) arising directly from this research project : (* denotes the corresponding author) |
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| Recognized international conference(s) in which paper(s) related to this research project was/were delivered : |
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| Other impact (e.g. award of patents or prizes, collaboration with other research institutions, technology transfer, etc.): |
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| SCREEN ID: SCRRM00542 |