Hong Kong Students’ Perspective on Educational Inequalities in the Context of the New Educational Reforms

Abstract

The structural reforms of the curriculum implemented by the Hong Kong administration in the field of education at the beginning of the 2000s had profound implications for the future perspectives and ambitions of students and graduates. This article tries to investigate the key constraints posed by the reforms and their direct influence on the perception of Hong Kongese local students on their future careers. The employment of a qualitative research method with semi-structured interviews allowed the study to reveal how the majority of the students internalised the theoretical basis of the reforms as a given, accepting the hyper-competitive system created as a stimulus for their improvement. Their concerns mainly focus on the precarious nature of their future prospects, but they generally do not question the underlying structure of the reforms themselves. Students exhibit acceptance of the challenging circumstances they face, seemingly involved in the new idea of the social environment brought about by the new administration.