| This is a comparative study of eighth grade students' citizenship education in Hong Kong and Shanghai, China. Paper-based surveys are administered in public schools in both cities and analyzed to examine students' citizenship perception, civic value, civic attitudes towards three special social issues: legal justice, domestic migration and environmental protection, and their civic engagement. Individual and school factors are used in regression analysis to understand the relationship between these factors and students' civic attitudes and engagement. Both Shanghai and Hong Kong students think positively towards legal justice, domestic migration and environment protection, and Shanghai students' attitudes are more favorable than their Hong Kong counterpart with statistically significant differences. Citizenship perception and civic value are the strongest predictors of students' civic attitudes, while classroom climate and participation in extracurricular activities have mixed. The study addresses the social aspects of citizenship education and provides implication for both policy making and research on citizenship education. It fills an important gap in the citizenship education research on Asia Pacific area and also provides important lessons to understand the role and outcome of school education on formation of young people's civic understanding, beliefs and engagement. |
