Hong Kong primary teachers’ perceptions and attitudes towards the infusion of values education in English Language teaching

Cross-curricular learning (CCL) seeks to integrate knowledge and skills across different subjects, thereby promoting cohesive and holistic learning experiences for students. This small-scale study explores the perceptions and attitudes of Hong Kong primary school teachers in regard to embedding values education into English teaching and evaluates the effectiveness of such an integrative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three frontline teachers. The findings reveal mixed feelings experienced by the teachers towards the approach. Although the importance of values education was recognized, feelings of confusion and stress were also expressed, indicating the possible tension between teacher agency and the policy imposed on the integrated curriculum. Further, the results indicate that they encountered three major practical challenges in infusing values education in English teaching: limited class time for covering both content and values, the absence of a consistent evaluation system for assessing values education and inadequate institutional or administrative support. This study highlights important implications for the feasibility of embedding values in the teaching of English and shed light on the future development of values education and integrated approach across subjects.