Curriculum Objectives

• To enhance students’ understanding of themselves, their society, their nation, the human world and the physical environment;
• To enable students to develop multiple perspectives on perennial and contemporary issues in different contexts (e.g. cultural, social, economic, political and technological contexts);
• To help students become independent thinkers so that they can construct knowledge appropriate to changing personal and social circumstances;
• To develop in students a range of skills for life-long learning, including critical thinking skills, creativity, problem-solving skills, communication skills and information technology skills
• To help students appreciate and respect diversity in cultures and views in a pluralistic society and handle conflicting values; and
• To help students develop positive values and attitude towards life, so that they can become informed and responsible citizens of society, the country and the world

Curriculum Structure

Liberal Studies and the Three-year Senior Secondary Curriculum

Our Liberal Studies Department uses cross-module issues to reorganize all enquiry questions included in the curriculum. It helps encourage our students to make connections between different modules and understand its inter-disciplinary and multi-perspective nature.

The curriculum structure of Liberal Studies in our school is as follows:

Grade	Major modules covered	Other modules covered
10	Module 1: Personal Development & Interpersonal Relationships Module 2: Hong Kong Today	Module 5: Public Health Module 6: Energy Technology & the environment
11	Module 5: Public Health Module 3: Modern China	Module 4: Globalization Module 6: Energy Technology & the environment
12	Module 3: Modern China (Theme 2) Module 4: Globalization	Module 5: Public Health Module 6: Energy Technology and the environment

Medium of Instruction
To let students explore different social issues with their most familiar language, A-School started to provide both EMI (English as the medium of instruction) and CMI (Chinese as the medium of instruction) classes for students to choose since 2012-2013.  Students can apply to enroll in LS (EMI) class in Term 2 of Grade 9 according to their personal preference and language proficiency, while Grade 10 new students can do so when they are completing their registrations. 

 

Citizenship and Social Development

Curriculum Aims

The aims of Citizenship and Social Development are to help students:

• To enhance understanding of society, the country, the human world, the physical environment and related knowledge;
• To develop multiple perspectives on contemporary mature topics in different contexts (e.g. cultural, social, economic, political and technological contexts);
• To become independent thinkers; be able to adapt to the ever-changing personal, social, national and global circumstances and construct knowledge; understand the complexities of the topics and the challenges and processes involved in decision-making for making law-abiding, rational and affective analysis, and learning how to handle conflicting values;
• To inherit Chinese culture and heritage in a pluralistic society, deepen understanding and sense of identity of individuals with Chinese nationality and Chinese citizenship, and at the same time appreciate, respect and embrace diversity in cultures and views;
• To develop skills relevant to life-long learning and strengthen their ability to integrate and apply knowledge and skills, including critical thinking skills, creativity, problem-solving skills, communication skills, collaboration skills, data management skills, self-management skills, self-learning skills, and information technology skills
• To develop positive values and attitudes towards life, so that they can become informed and responsible citizens of society, the country and the world

Curriculum Framework

The curriculum comprises three themes, namely “Hong Kong under ‘One Country, Two Systems’”, “Our Country since Reform and Opening-up” and “Interconnectedness and Interdependence of the Contemporary World”. They serve as platforms for students to explore related topics for a more coherent understanding of situations of the society, the country and the contemporary world. Students should also participate in the Mainland study tour, as it is an integral part of the curriculum of Citizenship and Social Development.

The curriculum framework for this subject covers three themes:

Grade	Theme	Topic
10	Hong Kong under “One Country Two Systems” (45-50 hours)	The meaning and implementation of “one country, two systems” The situation of the country and sense of national identity	Characteristics of the cultural diversity of Hong Kong society
11	Our Country since Reform and Opening-up (45-50 hours)	Change in people’s life and overall national strength The development of our country and the integration of Hong Kong into the overall national development	Participation in international affairs
12	Interconnectedness and Interdependence of the Contemporary World (45-50 hours)	Economic globalization Technological development and information literacy	Sustainable development Public health and human health

Mainland Study Tour (Not involving public assessment)

In order to let students know more about the recent development of China, students will have the chance to have a mainland study tour within these three years programme.

Theme	Topic	Learning Focus
Chinese Culture and Modern Life (10 hour learning time)	Nature of traditional Chinese Culture	Online self-learning of articles introducing the special characteristics of traditional Chinese culture Conservation and inheritance of cultural heritage (including tangible and intangible cultural heritage), including applying technology in conservation works
	Introduction to the Mainland study tour	Study tour to the Mainland to experience the conservation and inheritance of Chinese culture in society Detailed planning and reading information before the study tour Methods of on-site collection of information Study tour report drafting requirements

​​​​​​​Learning Activities
Allowing students to experience social phenomena discussed in class is one of the key learning strategies of Liberal Arts. Through different types of learning activities like school-based project-based learning, inter-school creative design thinking competitions, inter-school debate competitions (Chinese debate team), Shatin Flower Belt and Taiping Qingjiao Cultural Studies, Hong Kong Basic law Secondary School Quiz and Project learning Competition and the visit of Legislative Council (LS Club). They allow students to get out of campus and know more about the society.

Debate

A-School has long been integrating debate into the curriculum of Liberal Arts and Liberal Studies. To promote the atmosphere for debate, LA and LS classes hold debating activities regularly and the inter-chamber debate competition in Humanities Week (previously known as the LA & LS Week) every year. Moreover, our teachers led the Chinese Debate team to take part in different inter-school Chinese debate competitions to boost students’ critical thinking and broaden their horizons.

 

Social Experiential Learning

Experiential learning is one of our key learning strategies. Liberal Arts and Liberal Studies departments collaborated with LS Club to organize different visits, such as:

• Participating in the Hong Kong outdoor real-life puzzle game “West venture” to lead students to experience the reality of poverty hidden in the community through observations and live mystery games.
• Visiting the Legislative Council and sitting LegCo meetings.
• Experiencing extreme poverty by spending $30 on food for one day organized by Oxfam.

 

Humanities Week (Co-organized with PSHE departments)

Liberal Arts and Liberal Studies departments organized a series of vivid activities in Humanities Week every year:

• Inter-chamber Debating Competition

Participants had to debate on different world issues to win the Debating competition championship.

• Olympics Mascot Design Competition

Through this competition, students devised their creativity and design skills, and had an in-depth understanding of the cultural characteristics of China and Hong Kong. Students enjoyed this competition so much and their designs are fruitful.

• Through watching movies, playing board games and visiting special exhibitions, students understand more about contemporary social issues such as poverty and sustainable development

Students’ Achievements

Our students’ outstanding performance was well recognized and awarded in various inter-school competitions:

Competitions		Organizers	Awards
Debate competitions	The 36th Sing Tao Inter-School Debating Competition (2020-21)	Sing Tao Daily, The Standard and EDB	Best Debater  8B Kwok Chi Ching Best Debater & Best Interrogative Debater 11E So Wing Kiu
	The 10th Fun Cup (2020-21)	Holly Trinity College	Best Debater 　8B 14 Leung Yeuk Hei
	The 20th Basic Law Debating Competition (2021-22)	Joint Committee for the Promotion of the Basic Law of Hong Kong	Best Debater　9B 11 Kwok Chi Ching
	The 3rd Hong Kong Schools Debate Competition (2021-22)	Hong Kong Schools Debate Federation	Best Debater　9D 20 Mak Cin Yee
Design-thinking competitions	2020-2021 Youth Impact Award	The Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong and  D.H. Chen Foundation	Merit Award 9E Chu Wing Ting Jennifer  9B Fu Cheuk Yiu 9B Chu Ka Yee  9B Gilbert Lewis James
	The 15th Consumer Culture Study Award	EDB and Consumer Council	Special Recognition Award & Special Recognition (Topic) Award
Basic law competition	“Understanding the Constitution, the Basic Law-Walking with the Rule of Law” Hong Kong Secondary School Quiz and Project learning Competition	Hong Kong Shine Tak Foundation & New Territories School Heads Association	Overall Performance – Merit Award Individual Online Quiz – School Merit Award  8A 16 KWOK Lok Yao