Learning for achievement as a collective goal in re-culturing learning and teaching in Hong Kong classrooms

This chapter discusses the attempt to re-culture learning and teaching in Hong Kong classrooms as part of the initiatives proposed in the comprehensive educational reform the Hong Kong government proposed in 2000. The main challenge in the development of a new culture of teaching and learning lies with articulating a new conception of achievement. The current reform has ignored the sociocultural basis of achievement and narrowly defined it in terms of competitive performance. Based on a sociocultural perspective, this chapter argues that ‘learning for achievement’ is a legitimate shared motive for schooling within Hong Kong’s specific sociopolitical context, and therefore should be acknowledged in a positive way in the educational reform. ‘Learning for relative achievement’ as one of the possible diverse representations of this collective motive could also be accommodated as a worthwhile strategy to engage all students in learning.