Education Reforms and Social Outcomes : The Impact of the Reforms on Hong Kong Students’ Concerns and Future Perspectives

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 thesis tries to investigate the key constraints posed by the reforms and their direct influence on Hong Kong local student’s perception of their future careers. The employment of a qualitative research method with semistructured interviews allowed the study to reveal how the majority of the students interiorized 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, contemporarily, not questioning the overall underlying structure of the reforms itself. 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.