Values Education

Suggested learning time: approximately 1 hour

Key Rationale

Values education is an essential component of all-round education and an integral part of the school curriculum. It encompasses cross-curricular domains emphasising the cultivation of proper values and attitudes, including national education (covering Constitution and Basic Law education, national security education and patriotic education), civic education, law-abiding education (covering integrity), human rights education under the legal framework, moral education (covering personal virtues and conduct, interpersonal and family ethics, social ethics, etc.), life education, sex education, health education (covering anti-drug education, resistance to harmful substances and promoting physical and psychological well-being), education for sustainable development, media and information literacy education (covering Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy), and financial education. In the curriculum guides of kindergarten, primary and secondary education, values education is stipulated as one of the important learning goals.

The implementation of values education in schools should not be limited to specific lessons. Instead, it should be carried out through the approaches of "organic integration", "natural connection", "diversified strategies", "mutual coordination", "learning within and beyond the classroom", and "whole-school participation". Through different learning activities within and beyond the classroom across various subjects, life-wide learning and the creation of a positive campus atmosphere, schools help students understand proper values, develop a positive attitude towards life, and practise appropriate behaviour.

Equal Emphasis on Cognition, Affect and Action

Values education should be a comprehensive, interactive, authentic, cross-key stage and cross-curricular learning experience, with emphasis on reflection and practice. It integrates the learning content of various cross-curricular domains in values education through learning activities within and beyond the classroom, covering the facets of "cognition", "affect" and "action":

1. helping students enhance their understanding of proper values and attitudes, as well as their ability to make moral judgment and decision (cognition);
2. touching students' emotions, and cultivating their identification with the relevant proper values and fostering a firm will (affect);
3. providing students with authentic learning experiences through which they understand how to put proper values and attitudes into practice (action).

"Cognition", "affect" and "action" are not independent but interrelated facets of learning: cognition fosters emotional identification; through emotional experience and deepened understanding, motivation and determination are developed, which in turn lead to action. Through continuous feedback, students' existing cognition and affect are reinforced, enabling them to gradually establish firm and enduring proper values and attitudes, and to put them into practice in their words and deeds in daily life.

Priority Values and Attitudes

Schools could promote values education through nurturing in their students the twelve priority values and attitudes (PVAs): "Perseverance", "Respect for Others", "Responsibility", "National Identity", "Commitment", "Integrity", "Benevolence", "Law-abidingness", "Empathy", "Diligence", "Filial Piety" and "Unity", as the direction for promoting values education. Under the principle of school-based management, schools may amalgamate their school-based advocated values and attitudes with the PVAs in accordance with the Values Education Curriculum Framework (2026) as well as their school vision and mission, uniqueness, religious background, school context, student needs and societal expectations, etc., with a view to planning and enriching their values education curriculum in different grade levels holistically. Schools should also integrate the learning context and content of Chinese culture and different cross-curricular domains in values education to provide students with comprehensive, interactive and real-life learning activities that emphasise reflection and practice, thereby deepening students' understanding and recognition of the PVAs, and enabling them to practise and promote the PVAs in daily life.

In addition to the PVAs, different subjects also encompass proper values and positive attitudes towards life. Schools should integrate elements of values education into different subjects according to the respective uniqueness and curriculum content of these subjects, incorporating relevant values education elements into the teaching of relevant topics. They should also adopt various teaching strategies, such as questioning, group discussions, and drama in order to help students recognise the values embedded in different life situations and facilitate their reflection.

Values Education Curriculum Framework (2026)

In 2021, the Education Bureau promulgated the Values Education Curriculum Framework (Pilot Version) (the Pilot Version). During the pilot period over the past few years, the progress and achievements of primary and secondary schools in promoting values education have been evident.

In the light of education policies and curriculum development of our country and Hong Kong, changes in the social environment, technological advancement, and students' learning and developmental needs, the Standing Committee on Values Education under the Curriculum Development Council has compiled the Values Education Curriculum Framework (2026) (VECF) based on the Pilot Version, so as to provide schools with clear and forward-looking directions to further optimise values education.

The VECF (2026) upholds the core mission of education – "cultivating values and nurturing people", and revolves around the "Key questions for implementing values education" — "What kind of people should be nurtured?" (the goal of education), "For whom should people be nurtured?" (the mission of education), and "How should people be nurtured?" (the strategies of education). It enables schools to have a clear understanding of the goal and direction of values education, that is, to nurture students to become self-disciplined, committed and aspiring future pillars of society with an affection for Hong Kong, a sense of belonging to our country, as well as an international perspective.

(Chinese version only)

With "Taking root in Chinese Culture, Connecting with the World, Embracing the Future" as its overarching direction, the VECF recommends schools to continue:

• strengthening the learning of Chinese culture;
• strengthening national education and life education;
• strengthening the relevant content and learning elements of sex education, health education, and education for sustainable development; and
• fostering students' media and information literacy, international perspective, and awareness of "Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind".