'Teachers Stressed Out Over Revamped Liberal Studies'

Teachers of the revamped liberal studies curriculum are feeling very stressed because there’s not enough reference material for them to prepare for class, and no guidance on what students can or cannot discuss, a survey has found.

Youth Ideas, a think tank under the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups interviewed around 400 teachers of the four senior secondary core subjects – liberal studies, Chinese, English and mathematics – and found those in charge of liberal studies feel the least prepared, least confident and most stressed out about going back to school.

Liberal studies will be renamed “citizenship and social development” when the new school year begins in September.

“Teachers in general think that there’s no detailed curriculum, or textbooks, and the new subject was introduced hastily… they are not sure what the key assessments will be,” said Dickson Kwok from the think tank.

He told an RTHK programme that 73 percent of the teachers felt the most difficult chapter for them to handle will be “Hong Kong under One Country Two Systems”.

“They have to start teaching it on September 1 but there’s not a lot of content available. Also, the social atmosphere makes them feel even more worried and concerned. Some teachers told us they don’t know how much is allowed to be discussed. They feel worried when they prepare for class since the national security law came into force,” he said.

Kwok also said no textbooks have been approved so far, and the reference material provided by the Education Bureau is not sufficient to cover the entire academic year.