ABSTRACT
In 2000, the Education Commission (EC) issued the document Learning for Life—Learning through Life: Reform Proposals for the Education System in Hong Kong and the Curriculum Development Council (CDC) announced the consultation document Learning to Learn: The Way Forward in Curriculum Development (2000b), which later led to the Learning to Learn: Life-Long Learning and Whole-Person Development (2001). This chapter is divided into four sections. The first briefly discusses the trends of curriculum development and the status of the school system on or before the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. The second section highlights the socio-cultural background and changing socio-political, post-colonial contexts since the late 1990s, which are illustrated by fluctuating demographic changes, increasing emphasis on national education and building up a knowledge-based and lifelong learning society. The third section gives a snapshot of the implementation of the four key tasks as illustrated examples of curriculum reforms, and the final section analyzes the tensions/balance considerations in curriculum review.
