In 2017, Hong Kong included Arts and Creativity as a learning area in the official kindergarten curriculum framework (Curriculum Development Council [CDC], 2017). This learning area requires teachers to provide young children with learning experiences in four art forms: visual arts, music, drama, and dance. Due to the influence of globalization, the learning objectives and expectations for Arts and Creativity draw upon Western educational notions such as self-expression, free exploration, originality, and imagination. However, the literature shows that these notions are not fully aligned with the values of Chinese societies, in which creativity tends to be appraised based on children's skills to create art products (e.g., drawings, songs) that are aesthetically beautiful and useful (e.g., to decorate the classroom). We therefore claim that Western educational notions are not culturally appropriate in Hong Kong local kindergartens, which often face practical challenges and contradictions between the official curriculum framework and actual practices (Bautista et al., 2025a, 2025b). Drawing on Chen's (2022) theoretical framework, we believe it is essential for Hong Kong kindergarten teachers to design Arts and Creativity activities that are both inspired by global educational trends and culturally situated, that is, contextualized in the middle ground. This chapter first describes the local curriculum (CDC, 2017), presenting the Arts and Creativity learning area in detail. Based on existing literature, we then examine how some of the educational notions proposed by this curriculum may not fully align with local values. To address this situation, we propose examples of teaching and learning activities in visual arts, music, drama, and dance that align with the local understanding of creativity. These activities are designed following the thematic approach, the one currently adopted in most local kindergartens, which involves the selection of a specific theme for integrated teaching and learning. The chapter concludes by identifying five key characteristics of glocal pedagogies in Arts and Creativity: (1) are carefully planned and easy to follow by teachers who are not specialized in the arts; (2) allow children to explore and learn with an appropriate level of teachers’ guidance; (3) employ easily accessible and affordable materials that are not difficult to prepare; (4) foster learning across different learning areas, not only the arts; and (5) improve children's knowledge/skills and showcase their learning. As such, we argue that activities such as the ones proposed in this chapter have high potential in the local kindergarten context. Practitioners are recommended to design activities based on similar pedagogical characteristics. We also suggest that the current curriculum should be revised and glocalized, aiming to find the right balance between global and local perspectives of creativity.

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Arts and Creativity in Hong Kong Kindergartens: Examples of Culturally Situated Activities in Visual Arts, Music, Drama, and Dance

  • Jerry Yeung,
  • Alfredo Bautista,
  • Suzannie Kit-Ying Leung

摘要

In 2017, Hong Kong included Arts and Creativity as a learning area in the official kindergarten curriculum framework (Curriculum Development Council [CDC], 2017). This learning area requires teachers to provide young children with learning experiences in four art forms: visual arts, music, drama, and dance. Due to the influence of globalization, the learning objectives and expectations for Arts and Creativity draw upon Western educational notions such as self-expression, free exploration, originality, and imagination. However, the literature shows that these notions are not fully aligned with the values of Chinese societies, in which creativity tends to be appraised based on children's skills to create art products (e.g., drawings, songs) that are aesthetically beautiful and useful (e.g., to decorate the classroom). We therefore claim that Western educational notions are not culturally appropriate in Hong Kong local kindergartens, which often face practical challenges and contradictions between the official curriculum framework and actual practices (Bautista et al., 2025a, 2025b). Drawing on Chen's (2022) theoretical framework, we believe it is essential for Hong Kong kindergarten teachers to design Arts and Creativity activities that are both inspired by global educational trends and culturally situated, that is, contextualized in the middle ground. This chapter first describes the local curriculum (CDC, 2017), presenting the Arts and Creativity learning area in detail. Based on existing literature, we then examine how some of the educational notions proposed by this curriculum may not fully align with local values. To address this situation, we propose examples of teaching and learning activities in visual arts, music, drama, and dance that align with the local understanding of creativity. These activities are designed following the thematic approach, the one currently adopted in most local kindergartens, which involves the selection of a specific theme for integrated teaching and learning. The chapter concludes by identifying five key characteristics of glocal pedagogies in Arts and Creativity: (1) are carefully planned and easy to follow by teachers who are not specialized in the arts; (2) allow children to explore and learn with an appropriate level of teachers’ guidance; (3) employ easily accessible and affordable materials that are not difficult to prepare; (4) foster learning across different learning areas, not only the arts; and (5) improve children's knowledge/skills and showcase their learning. As such, we argue that activities such as the ones proposed in this chapter have high potential in the local kindergarten context. Practitioners are recommended to design activities based on similar pedagogical characteristics. We also suggest that the current curriculum should be revised and glocalized, aiming to find the right balance between global and local perspectives of creativity.