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<p>In Hong Kong, the Education Bureau (EDB) regularly assesses the quality of services provided by publicly subsidized kindergartens to children aged 3 to 6. Quality Review (QR) reports are written by government officials and published on the EDB’s website. This study analyzes the feedback pertaining to Arts and Creativity to better understand the role this learning area plays in Hong Kong kindergartens. Lexical and content analyses were applied on 164 QR reports published between 2017 and 2020. Findings showed that: (1) the role of Arts and Creativity in the QR reports is relatively minor, which suggests that this learning area is somewhat secondary in Hong Kong kindergartens; (2) presence of the various art forms differs significantly, with Music and Visual Arts being more frequent than Drama and especially Dance; and (3) classroom activities seem to be teacher-centered, product-oriented, and reproductive. Findings suggest that the Arts and Creativity pedagogies enacted in Hong Kong kindergartens are not fully consistent with the official kindergarten Curriculum Guide, which draws on a Western conceptualization of creativity in the arts. We argue that this curriculum/practice gap reveals the need for local stakeholders to embrace a “glocalization” paradigm. Limitations, future research, and implications are discussed.</p>
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In Hong Kong, the Education Bureau (EDB) regularly assesses the quality of services provided by publicly subsidized kindergartens to children aged 3 to 6. Quality Review (QR) reports are written by government officials and published on the EDB’s website. This study analyzes the feedback pertaining to Arts and Creativity to better understand the role this learning area plays in Hong Kong kindergartens. Lexical and content analyses were applied on 164 QR reports published between 2017 and 2020. Findings showed that: (1) the role of Arts and Creativity in the QR reports is relatively minor, which suggests that this learning area is somewhat secondary in Hong Kong kindergartens; (2) presence of the various art forms differs significantly, with Music and Visual Arts being more frequent than Drama and especially Dance; and (3) classroom activities seem to be teacher-centered, product-oriented, and reproductive. Findings suggest that the Arts and Creativity pedagogies enacted in Hong Kong kindergartens are not fully consistent with the official kindergarten Curriculum Guide, which draws on a Western conceptualization of creativity in the arts. We argue that this curriculum/practice gap reveals the need for local stakeholders to embrace a “glocalization” paradigm. Limitations, future research, and implications are discussed.

Arts and Creativity in Hong Kong Kindergartens: A Document Analysis of Quality Review Reports

Department of Early Childhood Education, Faculty of Education and Human Development

Creativity. Theories – Research - Applications

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

In Hong Kong, the Education Bureau (EDB) regularly assesses the quality of services provided by publicly subsidized kindergartens to children aged 3 to 6....

Arts and Creativity in Hong Kong Kindergartens: A Document Analysis of Quality Review Reports

Published Online: Sep 02, 2022

Page range: 87 - 107

Received: Feb 14, 2022

Accepted: Jun 21, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ctra-2022-0005

Keywords
arts and creativity, kindergarten education, curriculum, pedagogy, educational policy, document analysis

© 2022 Jerry Yeung et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Arts and Creativity in Hong Kong Kindergartens: A Document Analysis of Quality Review Reports

Published Online: Sep 02, 2022

Page range: 87 - 107

Received: Feb 14, 2022

Accepted: Jun 21, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ctra-2022-0005

Keywordsarts and creativity, kindergarten education, curriculum, pedagogy, educational policy, document analysis

© 2022 Jerry Yeung et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
arts and creativity, kindergarten education, curriculum, pedagogy, educational policy, document analysis