Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T23:08:42.262Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Don’t Ask, Do(n’t) Tell: Homeschooling in Hong Kong

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2018

Esther ERLINGS
Esther ERLINGS*
Affiliation:
College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Hong Kong’s history of compulsory schooling (as opposed to education) commenced under colonial rule and has been maintained by the local government following the 1997 Handover. Beyond the exception of “reasonable cause,” homeschooling, or elective home education, is in principle prohibited under the laws of Hong Kong. However, there is evidence of a growing homeschooling community in Hong Kong that relies on loopholes in the law and an apparent de facto government policy to operate. This article sets out the background, legal framework, and homeschooling practice in Hong Kong. It criticizes the current situation from the perspectives of legal certainty and children’s rights. The author suggests that the government should take action to devise clear laws and public policy in relation to elective home education.

Keywords

homeschoolingeducationchildren’s rightscolonialismHong Kong
Type
Research Article
Information
Asian Journal of Law and Society , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , November 2019 , pp. 307 - 319
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Lecturer in Law at College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University. The author thanks Amy Barrow and Samantha Kontra for encouragement and comments on earlier drafts. All opinions expressed (and mistakes made) are my own. Correspondence to Dr Esther Erlings, 2.10 Law & Commerce Building, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia, Australia. E-mail address: esther.erlings@flinders.edu.au.

References

REFERENCES

Chan, Johannes, & Lim, Chin L. (2015) Law of the Hong Kong Constitution, 2nd edn, Hong Kong: Sweet & Maxwell.Google Scholar
Cheng, Winnie, & Ho, Janet (2014) “Brainwashing or Nurturing Positive Values: Competing Voices in Hong Kong’s National Education Debate.” 74 Journal of Pragmatics 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheung, Cam (2014a) “HKGCC The Bulletin: Homeschooling in Hong Kong,” https://blog.ediversity.org/hkgcc-the-bulletin-homeschooling-in-hong-kong-2cc3b3a11a40 (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Cheung, Cam (2014b) “Status of Homeschooling in Hong Kong,” http://files.meetup.com/296523/Legality%20of%20Homeschooling%20in%20HK%20for%20EDiversity.pdf (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Chief Executive [of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region] (2017) “We Connect for Hope and Happiness,” https://www.policyaddress.gov.hk/2017/eng/pdf/PA2017.pdf (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau (2016) “Minutes of the Twenty-Sixth Meeting of the Children’s Rights Forum, Year 2015–16,” http://www.cmab.gov.hk/doc/en/documents/policy_responsibilities/the_rights_of_the_individuals/child_forum_20160121Minutes.pdf (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Education Commission (2000) Learning for Life, Learning through Life: Reform Proposals for the Hong Kong Education System, Hong Kong: Printing Department, HKSAR Government.Google Scholar
Epochtimes (2002) “Forbidding His Daughter to Go to School, a Father May Be Charged with a Criminal Offense” [“Jin nv shangxue, fuqin keneng bei konggao”], http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/2/8/20/n209638p.htm (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Erlings, Esther (2011) “Human Rights Education in Home-Schooling Policies” Presented at 2nd International Conference on Human Rights Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 14–16 November 2011.Google Scholar
Homeschool (2015a) “About Homeschool in HK—Apply Daily,” http://www.homeschool.hk/#/homeSchoolInHK (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Homeschool (2015b) “HK Laws about Homeschool,” http://www.homeschool.hk/#/hkLawsAboutHomeschool (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Hong Kong Information Services Department (2015) “School Must Be Attended: Eddie Ng,” http://www.news.gov.hk/en/categories/school_work/html/2015/08/20150825_140340.shtml (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Hong Kong Legislative Council (1971) “Official Report of Proceedings [Debates],” 18 August, http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr70-71/h710818.pdf (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Hong Kong Legislative Council (1979) “Official Report of Proceedings [Debates],” 25 April, http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr78-79/english/lc_sitg/hansard/h790425.pdf (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Hong Kong Legislative Council (2001) “LEGCO Question No: 17 (Written Reply): Allow Children to Receive Education at Home,” 14 February, http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/about-edb/press/legco/replies written/2012/20040129117071.html (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Hong Kong Legislative Council (2014) “LEGCO Question No: 11 (Written Reply): Home-Schooling,” http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201410/15/P201410150219.html (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Irving, Frances, & Hewitt, Philippa (2011) “The Law in Relation to Children,” in P. Hewitt, ed., Family Law and Practice in Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Sweet & Maxwell, 251–301.Google Scholar
Lam, Jeffie, & Zhao, Shirley (2017) “Why Do Chinese History Lessons Get a Bad Reputation in Hong Kong?,” South China Morning Post, 1 November.Google Scholar
Lau, Tracy C., Tse, Thomas K., & Leung, Yan W. (2016) “Dynamics of Chinese Nationalist Education in Hong Kong from 1945 to 2012.” 42 Oxford Review of Education 677–691.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong, The (2005) “Report: Child Custody and Access,” http://www.hkreform.gov.hk/en/docs/raccess-e.pdf (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Leung, Beatrice (2005) “Church, State and Education,” in M. Bray & R. Koo, eds., Education and Society in Hong Kong and Macau, Dordrecht: Springer, 99–108.Google Scholar
Luk, Bernard H. (2005) “Religion in Hong Kong History,” in L. Pui-Tak, ed., Colonial Hong Kong and Modern China, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 39–55.Google Scholar
Morris, Paul, & Vickers, Edward (2015) “Schooling, Politics and the Construction of Identity in Hong Kong: the 2012 ‘Moral and National Education’ Crisis in Historical Context.” 51 Comparative Education 305–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ou, Dongshu (2016) “The Universal Provision of Primary Education: Who Benefits?” 24 Education Economics 511–535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riley, Gina (2016) “Unschooling in Hong Kong: A Case Study.” 10 Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning 1–15.Google Scholar
Sieh, Mabel (2015) “‘Twisted, Inhuman System Fails Our Children’: Why Hong Kong Parents Homeschool Their Kids,” South China Morning Post, 15 September.Google Scholar
Social Welfare Department (2015) Procedural Guide for Handling Child Abuse Cases, Hong Kong: Social Welfare Department.Google Scholar
Springer, Kate (2015) “School of Thought.” 11 Expat Parent 20–23.Google Scholar
Steimle, Brynn (2015) “Hong Kong Education Bureau (EDB) Contacts Our Family—and Our First Three Visits with the EDB,” http://homeschoolinginhk.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/hk-education-bureau-edb-contacts-our.html (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Steimle, Joshua (2014a) “Home-Schooling in Hong Kong,” South China Morning Post, 7 October.Google Scholar
Steimle, Joshua (2014b) “Homeschooling in Hong Kong,” http://files.meetup.com/296523/Legality%20of%20Homeschooling%20in%20HK%20for%20EDiversity.pdf (accessed 2 December 2017).Google Scholar
Sweeting, Anthony (2004) Education in Hong Kong, 1941–2001: Visions and Revisions, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.Google Scholar
Sweeting, Anthony (2007) “Education in Hong Kong: Histories, Mysteries and Myths.” 36 History of Education 89–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sweeting, Anthony, & Morris, Paul (1993) “Educational Reform in Post-War Hong Kong: Planning and Crisis Intervention.” 13 International Journal of Educational Development 201–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tang, James T. H. (1994) “From Empire Defence to Imperial Retreat: Britain’s Post-War China Policy and the Decolonization of Hong Kong.” 28 Modern Asian Studies 317–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, Shirley (2014) “Frustrated Hong Kong Parents Turning to Alternative Education,” South China Morning Post, 8 August.Google Scholar