History 'has key role' in curriculum
History education will play a more important role after the introduction of the new senior secondary curriculum, an academic said this week.
Baptist University's department head of history Chow Kai-wing said it was important to rethink the role of history subjects.
'Some may think there is no need to study more history subjects after everyone is required to study liberal studies,' Professor Chow said. 'But history education will see more scope for development with liberal studies being a compulsory subject under the new curriculum.'
His comments come ahead of a forum next month to discuss how history education will change after the implementation of the new senior secondary curriculum.
Under the new system, senior secondary students are required to study Chinese language, English language, maths and liberal studies as core subjects. They will also study two to three other subjects as electives.
However, Professor Chow believed history and Chinese history would help broaden and deepen the knowledge that students would gain from liberal studies as they were closely related.
'Half of the topics in liberal studies are related to daily lives and the other half are related to historical knowledge.
'If students are only studying liberal studies, they are only getting limited knowledge about the society and the world,' he said.
He said new history education would include new perspectives such as comparative history, heritage, popular culture and the roles of women.
