The Revised Civic and Moral Education Curriculum Framework (2008) recommends schools to nurture in their students the seven priority values and attitudes, which are “perseverance”, “respect for others”, “responsibility”, “national identity”, “commitment”, “integrity”, and ”care for others”. In order to select appropriate contexts for the learning activities to develop these values and attitudes among students, teachers referred to their school-based English Language curriculum and identified relevant themes of textbook units related to the seven priority values.

Seven Priority Values and Attitudes

(Source: Basic Education Curriculum Guide (P1-P6) - 3A Moral and Civic Education)

Life events and issues relevant to the themes of the textbook units or the related writing tasks were selected as the context of the learning experiences. Special attention was paid to ensure that these life events were related to students’ daily lives and interests. Some current issues that drew the attention of the community were also selected to ignite students’ interest and encourage them to care more about the world around them.

"The writing tasks in the selected units were designed to create meaningful learning experiences for students at cognition, affection and action levels. At cognition level, teachers helped their students identify the values and attitudes embedded in life events and issues and make rational analyses and judgements. They also nurtured their students’ affective domain by developing their empathy, empowering them to uphold their values against challenges with perseverance and courage. Through action, students could build up and reinforce positive values and attitudes in real-life situations.

Integration of Cognition, Affection and Action

(Source: Basic Education Curriculum Guide (P1-P6) - 3A Moral and Civic Education)

Efforts were made to provide holistic and balanced learning experiences for students through making use of classroom activities, daily experiences and a conducive learning environment in covering the values education component of the teaching units. Learning activities such as students holding discussions to share ideas and making self-reflections were employed to deepen their understanding of the target values embedded in the life events and issues selected. Teachers also provided opportunities for their students to put the target positive values into practice in their daily lives. As for creating a conducive learning environment for developing their students’ positive values and attitudes, teachers not only did so during English lessons but also solicited parents’ participation at home so that students’ learning environment could be extended outside class time.

Major Components for the Implementation of Values Education

(Source: Basic Education Curriculum Guide (P1-P6) - 3A Moral and Civic Education)