General Studies for Primary Schools

Position of General Studies (GS) in the School Curriculum

GS provides students with opportunities to integrate knowledge, skills, values and attitudes across the Key Learning Areas (KLAs) of Personal, Social and Humanities Education (PSHE), Science Education (SE) and Technology Education (TE). It promotes creativity through hands-on and minds-on learning experiences and problem-solving process. It emphasises student enquiry and the development of skills for learning to learn.

Rationale and Direction of Development

The GS curriculum is designed in the notion that students' learning experiences should be connected and not compartmentalised, so that students can develop a holistic view of themselves as individuals in the community, their place in the natural world, and the interaction of human beings with the environment. To ensure that students benefit from the curriculum, this Curriculum Guide has been developed with the following emphases:

• Broadening the learning space
• Strengthening the interface with pre-primary and secondary school curricula
• Integrating students' learning experiences
• Promoting life-wide learning
• Developing students' independent learning ability
• Enhancing interest and curiosity in science and technology
• Putting emphasis on students' affective development

Schools are advised to

• allocate not less than 11 % of students' learning time to the learning of GS
• enhance the role of GS in moral and civic education
• strengthen independent learning in GS through the Key Tasks, e.g. through project learning and IT for interactive learning
• provide more opportunities for life-wide learning and investigative and hands-on learning experiences
• use learning resources beyond textbooks, such as an extensive reading scheme and web-based materials
• create more space for teachers to participate in collaborative lesson preparation, experience-sharing and learning resource development