Programme Information

Programme Aims

The programme aims to cultivate students with professional ethics and a global perspective for teaching the subject of history in secondary schools. To achieve this aim, graduates of the programme are expected to:

On successful completion of the programme, students will be able to:

• be competent in pedagogical and curriculum development skills as well as disciplinary knowledge with an emphasis on historical issues of modern times;
• possess critical thinking skills to solve problems in a logical and creative way;
• communicate and interact effectively with others in social and professional contexts; and
• demonstrate global awareness with high standard of morality.

Programme Structure

History Major

The major courses are designed to foster students’ knowledge in history across the broadly conceived areas – Foundation of Historical Studies, History of Modern Hong Kong, History of Modern China, History of Modern Southeast Asia and Japan, Conflicts and Peace in the Twentieth-Century World, Cooperation and Prosperity in the Twentieth-Century World and Advanced Historical Studies.

Education Studies

Education Studies gives students the chance to study teaching and learning from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students will study early childhood/school education from psychological, sociological, philosophical, pedagogical and other perspectives. Students will develop a range of skills necessary for professional practice, such as problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, communication, social interaction, ethical decision making and global perspectives. Education Studies helps students appreciate the importance of professional excellence, ethical responsibility and innovation to the role of a teacher. We aim for our graduates to become beginning teachers who are caring and competent, intellectually enthusiastic, socially committed, and globally aware.

List of History Major Courses

• Introduction to Historical Ideas and Practices
• Life in the Ancient World
• Origins of the Modern World
• Modern Hong Kong: From Opium War to Basic Law
• China: Reform and Revolution from Late Qing to 1949
• Revolution and Modernity: History of the PRC
• Modern Japan and its Neighbors since the mid-19th Century
• The Making of Modern Asia: Decolonization and Independence
• World War and World Peace
• The Cold War
• International Cooperation after World War II
• Historiography

Education Studies

Education Studies gives students the chance to study teaching and learning from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students will study early childhood/school education from psychological, sociological, philosophical, pedagogical and other perspectives. Students will develop a range of skills necessary for professional practice, such as problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, communication, social interaction, ethical decision making and global perspectives. Education Studies helps students appreciate the importance of professional excellence, ethical responsibility and innovation to the role of a teacher. We aim for our graduates to become beginning teachers who are caring and competent, intellectually enthusiastic, socially committed, and globally aware.

List of Education Studies Core

• Basic Psychology for Educators: Useful Concepts from Educational and Positive Psychology
• Philosophical and Socio-cultural Issues in Education
• Effective Teaching and Positive Classroom Learning Environment
• Curriculum and Assessment
• School Guidance and Managing Diversity
• Teachers and Teaching in Context

List of Pedagogy for Major Courses

• History: Curriculum and Methods I
• History: Curriculum and Methods II

Minor – Liberal Studies

Students are required to take a compulsory Minor in “Liberal Studies” which will equip students with essential knowledge on various social issues.

Final Year Project

Student will complete a 3-cp Research Methods Course in Year 4, and a 3-cp Honours Project or Capstone Project in the final year of study.

Field Experience

Students will be accorded the valuable opportunity to experience and teach in schools. They will benefit from an early introduction to the teaching profession through the Field Experience Foundation Course. Under the guidance and support of professional tutors, they will understand the roles and expectations of a teacher and build teacher’s identity and mission in education, whilst adapting to the changing role from a student to a teacher. Students will also practice teaching in local schools, which are important sites for learning to teach and where they will interpret, generate, interact and experiment with theory. Evidence of our students’ learning will be recorded in an e-portfolio to facilitate continuous reflection and professional growth.

Field Experience arrangement

• Field Experience Foundation Course
• Block Practice I and FE Professional Learning Portfolio I
• Block Practice II and FE Professional Learning Portfolio II

Important Note: The University will ask students of our full-time teacher education programmes (e.g. Bachelor of Education programmes) to declare whether they have been convicted of or are being prosecuted for any sex-related offence in Hong Kong or elsewhere, and to provide relevant details prior to undertaking teaching practice. Such information may be released to their placement schools. The University reserves the right not to allow these students to attend the block teaching practice. If so, they won't be able to meet the graduation requirements of the programmes.

General Education

The EdUHK’s General Education programme prepares students to be active agents of change, by broadening their intellectual horizons, helping them make connections among different areas of knowledge and between their formal studies and life outside the classroom, and strengthening their capacity for sound thinking and good judgement. It offers a varied but balanced mix of individual courses across a range of subject areas and disciplines, set within an integrated structure of (i) General Education Foundation Course, (ii) Experiential Learning, (iii) General Education Breadth Courses, and (iv) University ePortfolio with a total of 22 credit points (cps).

Language Enhancement

Students are expected to develop the ability to communicate effectively in English and Putonghua as well as Chinese. To assist them in meeting this goal, the Centre for Language in Education (CLE) will offer a comprehensive package of credit-bearing and mandatory non-credit-bearing language enhancement courses.

Electives

Students can freely take courses outside their majors to suit their career aspirations and interests. Here are the options for students’ choice in the Electives Domain:

• course available in the Elective Course List and General Education
• Second Major^#
• Minor (other than the compulsory Minor in Liberal Studies)
• any combination of the above

# students opting for a second major will need to take at least additional 15 cps to fulfill the credit point requirement for a second major.

Career Prospects/Professional Qualifications

The programme aims to produce committed secondary school history teachers with qualified teacher status (QTS). The programme covers a broad range of topics, and will provide students with ample opportunities to observe history teachers, teach in the field, and evolve into competent history teachers. Graduates of the history programme should also be capable of taking up non-teaching positions in editing, journalism, or curatorship.