EDD 5229Liberal Studies in Knowledge Society

Lecture 1 Relating Liberal Studies to Knowledge Society:

A Sociology-of-curriculum Perspective

Wing-kwong TsangHo Tim Bldg. Rm 416

Ext. 6922wktsang@cuhk.edu.hk

WWW.fed.cuhk.edu.hk/~wktsang

The Development of Liberal Studies in Post-Compulsory Education of HK

Sixth-form education reform 1982; Llewellyn Report (Report by a Visiting Panel) proposed to set up a

working group to review the education and organization of the Form 6 and 7

The Development of Liberal Studies in Post-Compulsory Education of HK

Sixth-form education reform 1982; Llewellyn Report (Report by a Visiting Panel) proposed to set up a

working group to review the education and organization of the Form 6 and 7 1986; Education Commission Report No. 2 proposed to reform the Sixth-form

curriculum by retaining the two-year Advanced (A) Level examination, to abolish the one-year Higher (H) Level examination, and to create the Intermediate (I) Level.

The Development of Liberal Studies in Post-Compulsory Education of HK

Sixth-form education reform 1982; Llewellyn Report (Report by a Visiting Panel) proposed to set up a

working group to review the education and organization of the Form 6 and 7 1986; Education Commission Report No. 2 proposed to reform the Sixth-form

curriculum by retaining the two-year Advanced (A) Level examination, to abolish the one-year Higher (H) Level examination, and to create the Intermediate (I) Level.

1989; Report of the Sixth-Form Work Group proposed to set an Intermediate Level subject called Social and Human Subject

The Development of Liberal Studies in Post-Compulsory Education of HK

Sixth-form education reform 1992; Liberal Studies at Advanced-Supplementary Level was offered in Sixth-

form to prepare students to sit for the 1994 AS Level examination. In 1994, a total of 886 students sat for the Liberal Studies AS Level

examination. In the mean time, all the local universities refused to take Liberal Studies as a required subject in their admission of their degree-programs.

Through out the years, Liberal Studies in AS-Level examination has remained an unpopular subject. In 2004, only 1,279 students sat for LS AS-level.

The Development of Liberal Studies in Post-Compulsory Education of HK

Sixth-form education reform Through out the years, Liberal Studies in AS Level examination has remained

an unpopular subject. In 2004, only 1,279 students sat for LS AS-level.

1994 1995 1997 1998 1999 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2008

Candidates sat for Liberal Studies

AS-Level

886 924 995 1144 1202 1272 1280 1193 1279 1370 1861 2950

The Development of Liberal Studies in Post-Compulsory Education of HK

Liberal Studies as core subject in new Senior Secondary Curriculum in the 334 Education Reform

In 2004; EMB published the consultation document entitled Reforming the Academic Structure for Senior Secondary Education and Higher Education, in which Liberal Studies was proposed to be one of the four core subjects in the new senior-secondary curriculum.

The Development of Liberal Studies in Post-Compulsory Education of HK

Liberal Studies as core subject in new Senior Secondary Curriculum in the 334 Education Reform

In 2004; EMB published the consultation document entitled Reforming the Academic Structure for Senior Secondary Education and Higher Education, in which Liberal Studies was proposed to be one of the four core subjects in the new senior-secondary curriculum.

The proposal was subsequently accepted in the EMB policy document in 2005. However, the syllabus of LS has been substantially scaled down.

1st DraftFinal Version

The Development of Liberal Studies in Post-Compulsory Education of HK

Liberal Studies as core subject in new Senior Secondary Curriculum in the 334 Education Reform

In 2004; EMB published the consultation document entitled Reforming the Academic Structure for Senior Secondary Education and Higher Education, in which Liberal Studies was proposed to be one of the four core subjects in the new senior-secondary curriculum.

The proposal was subsequently accepted in the EMB policy document in 2005. However, the syllabus of LS has been substantially scaled down.

In the school-year 2009-10, Liberal Studies will be taken as one of the core subjects by all senior secondary students in HKSAR. They will sit for Senior-Secondary Education Examination in 2012.

Locating the Liberal Studies in Perspective: The Perspective of Sociology of Curriculum

Statement of the problem: Why a particular school subject such as Liberal Studies rises to such a prominent position in the new Senior Secondary Curriculum at this point in time in HKSAR society?

Locating the Liberal Studies in Perspective: The Perspective of Sociology of Curriculum

Knowledge and Control (1970): Perspective of Sociology of curriculum emerged in 1970s

“Formal educational knowledge can be considered to be realized through three message systems: curriculum, pedagogy and evaluation. Curriculum defined what counts as valid knowledge, pedagogy defines what counts as a valid transmission of knowledge, and evaluation defines what counts as a valid realization of this knowledge on the part of the taught.” (Bernstein, 1970, p.74)

“How a society selects, classifies, distributes, transmits and evaluates the educational knowledge it considers to be public, reflects both the distribution of power and the principles of social control. From this point of view, differences within and changes in the organization, transmission and evaluation of educational knowledge should be a major area of sociological interest.” (Bernstein, 1970, p.74)

Locating the Liberal Studies in Perspective: The Perspective of Sociology of Curriculum

Critical sociology of education: Perspectives constituted in the US in 1980s

“A critical sociology of curriculum … called into question the production, organization, transmission, stratification, allocation and evaluation of knowledge with schools. And in doing so, it made school knowledge problematic. …This problematic can be characterized by a series of questions that became the basis for a new model for educational theory and research.

Locating the Liberal Studies in Perspective: The Perspective of Sociology of Curriculum

Critical sociology of education: Perspectives constituted in the US in 1980s

They included: What counts as school knowledge? How is school knowledge organized? What are the underlying codes that structure such knowledge? How is what counts as school knowledge transmitted? How is access to such knowledge determined? What kind of cultural system does school knowledge legitimate? Whose interests are served by the production and legitimation of school knowledge?

(Giroux, 1985, p. 145, my numbering)

Locating the Liberal Studies in Perspective: The Perspective of Sociology of Curriculum

The Curriculum of the Future (1998): Perspectives for the knowledge society

“It was argued that current economic changes could provide the basis for a very different curriculum for the future. Such a curriculum, it is suggested, would need to build on and give specificity to the principles of

breadth and flexibility connections between both core and specialist studies and general (academic) and

applied (vocational) studies opportunities for progression and credit transfer a clear sense of the purpose of the curriculum as a whole.” (Young, 1998, p.79)

Locating the Liberal Studies in Context: Liberal Studies in Knowledge Society

From Industrial society to knowledge society From Fordist-industrial economy to Flexible-knowledge economy From industrial society to knowledge society

Educational changes in knowledge society Divisive specialization by discipline in industrial society Flexible and connective specialization by module and task in knowledge society

Locating the Liberal Studies in Context: Liberal Studies in Knowledge Society

The relative definitive features of Liberal Studies

Liberal Studies Traditional Subjects

Curriculum Content

- Interdisciplinary - Weak classification

- Disciplinary - Strong classification

Curriculum form - Modularized or issue-based

- Inquiry-oriented - Weak frame

- Structured & systematic - Acquisition-oriented - Strong frame

Curriculum objective

Liberated and critical mind Disciplined mind

Curriculum text Hyper-digital text Fixed-typographic text

Assessment Continuous & non-standardized assessment

Single & standardized assessment

Locating the Liberal Studies in Context: Liberal Studies in Knowledge Society

Liberal studies in the Senior Secondary Curriculum (SSC) of HKSAR Liberal Studies in contrast with all the discipline-based traditional school subjects in

SSC Liberal Studies as a core subjects in contrast with all the discipline-based

traditional subjects relegated to elected subjects in SSC Delivering Liberal Studies in HK secondary school context, which organizes

teaching in divisive-specialization and discipline-based curricular structure Implementing Liberal Studies in SSC, which is organized in academic/vocation

division and discipline-based structure.

Lecture 1 Relating Liberal Studies to Knowledge Society:

A Sociology-of-curriculum Perspective

The End of The Beginning