Liberal Studies / Life and Society
“Learn actively and co-construct knowledge with one another.”
Concept-based learning in an inquiry-based curriculum
Our school has redesigned the curriculum from the 6 modules in Liberal Studies and the 29 modules in Life and Society to develop a concept-based curriculum plan. Through reorganising the order of the modules, our curriculum emphasises the importance of cross modular teaching and learning so as to facilitate students to systematically integrate generic skills relevant to this subject.
Critical thinking in Liberal Studies: debate competition / youth forum
When teaching certain topics, debate competitions or youth forums are held during lessons. Students are divided into the affirmative and opposition teams (for debate competition) or different stakeholders (for youth forms) respectively to weigh in on different social issues. These learning activities increase students’ interaction and engagement during lessons, providing them opportunities to develop their critical thinking, collaboration and communication skills.
Promoting Assessment as Learning
Senior form students are required to keep an ‘error logbook’ to analyse and generalise their own common mistakes so that they can sharpen their learning skills and stretch their abilities. As for junior form students, they need to complete a “follow-up and reflection worksheet” after each assessment to develop their self-reflection skills. Through analysing their own weaknesses, students can reflect on their studying methods for future improvements.
Cross-curricular Learning
The Liberal Studies Department has provided cross-curricular learning opportunities for junior form students to learn in an inquiry-based approach by visiting different places. With specific topics, students need to break through the traditional subject-based framework and apply knowledge from different subject areas to explore the recent development of the community, Hong Kong and even China.
| Level | Topic | Visiting Venue | Collaborating Departments |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | One World One Family | Areas around Kowloon Walled City Park, Food Angel | Chinese, Chinese History, National and Social Caring Committee |
| S2 | The socio-economic development of Hong Kong | City Gallery | Geography |
| S3 | National development and climate change | Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change | Geography |
Learning outside the classroom
In order to enrich senior form students’ learning experiences, the Liberal Studies Department arranges different experiential learning activities outside classrooms. Students are given chances to understand the development of Hong Kong in context. Through applying knowledge and experience to the study of Liberal Studies, students can train their critical thinking skills and analyse different situations in society.
| Level | Topic | Visiting Venue |
|---|---|---|
| S4 | The quality of life of the disadvantaged | Different social enterprises |
| S5 | Rule of law and socio-political participation | Legislative Council Complex |
Inter-House Debate Competition
The competition is held each year for S4 and S5 students to nurture their higher-order thinking through debates on different social issues. The audience can also raise questions to the debaters on the stage. Students can engage actively through interactions. Examples of debate topics in the past include ‘Hong Kong should not promote e-sports’ and ‘Priority seats should be abolished in Hong Kong public transport vehicles’.
Youth Forum
The Liberal Studies Department and the National and Social Caring Committee jointly host a youth forum each year, inviting student representatives from different schools to join. Each team represents different stakeholders and voices their opinion on set topics. Examples of topics in the past include land supply options, arrangements of maternity and paternity leave and the constitutional review of the raised age requirement for CSSA.
Liberal Studies Elite Training Programme
Our school chooses 10 students each year, from each form, who are interested in, or have outstanding performances in Life and Society and Liberal Studies to participate in a series of experiential learning activities outside the campus.
Junior forms: participating in activities in areas related to rule of law, history, culture, project learning, ecological environment and disadvantaged groups.
Senior forms: joining the Indigenous Experience Course held by the Society for Indigenous Learning to learn about concepts in Liberal Studies through farming experience.
Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (HKFYG) Leadership Institute Overseas Ambassador Programme
We were honoured to have invited global leaders from different countries to have sharing and host workshops at the school. Two groups of students even participated in the Overseas Ambassador Programme 2019, winning the 1st and 2nd places respectively in the competition.
Social Enterprises Experience Day
As an enrichment for the topic of Quality of Life in Liberal Studies, the Liberal Studies Department holds the Social Enterprises Experience Day for the whole form of S4 students each year. Led by our Liberal Studies teachers, students are divided into 4 groups to visit different social enterprises for local guided tours or observing the operations of social enterprises. Through experiential learning, students can gain more understanding about the situation of women, grassroots, ethnic minorities and the elderly in Hong Kong so as to probe into the quality of life in Hong Kong.
Consumer Cultural Study Award
The Liberal Studies Department encourages students to join the “Consumer Cultural Study Award” programme held by the Consumer Council to discuss different issues related to consumer culture. Our students have been awarded the Special Mention (Topic Choosing) Award in a past event.
Wofoo Millennium Entrepreneurship Programme
The Liberal Studies and BAFS departments select students to join the Wofoo Millennium Entrepreneurship Programme each year. Students need to write business proposals and present their ideas to the adjudicators. Our students won the 3rd place and Outstanding Award in previous years.
Local visit and field trips
A series of visits and field trips are held each year to broaden students’ horizons. These include field trips to Kowloon City, North Point, Cheung Chau, visits to Mei Ho House, landfills, Tai Kwun, Legislative Council and Court of Final Appeal.
Simulation Activities
Students participate in different learning activities held by different organisations to experience the roles and jobs such as financial secretaries, children councillors, legislative councillors, UN representatives and so on. These activities include:
1.Junior Financial Secretary 2.Children’s Council 3.Model Legislative Council 4.Model United Nations
Cross-border field trips and overseas exchange
Vietnam Liberal Studies and Cultural Study Tour: In collaboration with the Geography Department, the tour is held to study the opportunities and challenges by urban development in Vietnam. Students have the chance to meet with local scholars and university students and probe into the operation mode of the “new world factory”.
Greater Bay Area Study Tour: Planned by the HKUST South China Research Centre and Interface Education, the tour enables students to interview local residents and study in the field so as to deepen their understanding of the social, economic and environmental developments in China.
The ‘Formation of Community’ Taipei Study Tour: Through meeting youths in Taiwan, students have the chance to explore the community and create a community map.
‘Gift from Earth’ Indigenous Experience Tainan / Kaosiung Study Tour: Students have the chance to visit Chang Jung Christian University in Tainan and study the environmental education and policies in Taiwan.
Education Bureau School-based Curriculum Development (Secondary) Section
- Joining the On-site Professional Support Services and Professional Learning Community in the year of 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18.
- Meeting with senior school development officers to discuss refinements in the areas of curriculum planning, learning and teaching, assessment and feedback and so on.
- Starting the cycle of mini-lesson study to improve learning and teaching strategies
- Liberal Studies Panel Head / Assistant Principal Mr. Ng King Fai was on part-time secondment in the year of 2018/19 and provided professional support, including sharing on different topics and opening up lessons for professional exchange, to different schools.
Education Bureau Curriculum Development Institute
- Our school is a member school of the Liberal Studies School Network Scheme (Kowloon West), Learning Communities of ‘Catering for Learner Diversity’, ‘Professional Learning Communities (EMI)’ and ‘Personal, Social and Humanities Education’.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
- We joined the Inter-School Learning Community under the Quality School Improvement Project in the year of 2015/16.
The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (HKFYG) Leadership Institute
- Partnership school
Partnership with other secondary schools
- We co-organised a joint school mock exam with Wa Ying College and Pui Ching Middle School.
- We invited Munsang College, Cheung Sha Wan Catholic Secondary School, Pui Ching Middle School, Pui Ying Secondary School, Wa Ying College, Christian and Missionary Alliance Sun Kei Secondary School and Mission Covenant Church Holm Glad College to the youth forum hosted by our school.