Two degrees, one bright future: your future deserves more than one choice

When the marketing team for the new double degree curriculum in Sociology, Community Studies and Primary Humanities brainstormed ideas for promoting the programme through video, genres such as testimonial, behind-the-scenes footage, and comedy emerged. After exchanging ideas, they decided to use animation instead, resulting in a one-minute Japanese-style anime that they believe will resonate more strongly with today's generation.

“We chose the anime style to reflect the vision of happy classrooms we aim to create in Primary Humanities. We also love portraying our campus in anime style as the backdrop. We are particularly pleased with the animation’s tagline: Your future deserves more than one choice. I think it lets the advantages of our double degree programme stand out well,” said Professor Stephen Chiu Wing-kai, Programme Leader of the new Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in Sociology and Community Studies and the Bachelor of Education (Honours) in Primary Humanities (BSocSc(SCS)&BEd(PHM)) programme. The new double degree programme is offered by the Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies (SSPS).

Dr Benjamin Li Yuet-man, Associate Programme Leader of the new progamme who led the video-production marketing initiative, said that one of the key concepts behind the animation is students should have more than one choice upon completing their degree. “The double degree programme not only teaches students education-related knowledge, it also provides many learning opportunities for students to acquire skills, knowledge and experiences outside educational fields. Students enrolled in the new programme will have many experiential learning opportunities like overseas exchange programmes and internship placements. These experiences will open up their eyes,” Dr Li explained.

The young sociologist emphasised that while graduates are well equipped for the teaching profession, the curriculum also prepares them for potential career changes through a variety of sociology courses and experiential learning opportunities. “Upon completing their studies, students can make decisions about whether they want to join the teaching profession or explore non-teaching career paths,” he said.

Two anime characters – a schoolboy symbolising choosing a career path in teaching and a schoolgirl hinting at a career choice in community work – are designed to reflect such thoughts in the animation. The opening scene of the promotional video along with several subsequent shots, evokes memories of famous Japanese animation films. “We considered modelling our animation on the Taiwanese illustrator Jimmy Liao (幾米)’s picture book ‘Turn Left, Turn Right’ (向左走, 向右走). However, we thought Japanese animes have a greater appeal among university applicants. And both Professor Chiu and I are anime fans, so our production ended up that way,” Dr Li recalled.

To help primary school students develop their understanding of individuals, families, our country and the world while nurturing their humanistic qualities, all primary schools in Hong Kong will implement the Primary Humanities curriculum at primary one and four, starting from the 2025/26 academic year. The new Primary Humanities curriculum covers six topics: Health and Living, Environment and Living, Financial Education and Economics, Community and Citizenship, Our Country and I, and The World and I.

In response to the design of the curriculum, teachers of the new Primary Humanities curriculum need to understand all these six areas. “Acquiring knowledge in a piecemeal unconnected manner can lead to a fragmented understanding of many different concepts within these six topics. This may result in difficulties when integrating information and teaching the subjects at schools. For an effective teaching and learning, prospective teachers need a discipline that helps them integrate knowledge from subjects ranging from personal health and finance to environment and national history,” Dr Li explained.

“Sociology provides a foundation for understanding ourselves and the world. We believe that our new double degree programme can help prospective teachers connect the diverse subject areas of the Primary Humanities curriculum. The first line of the promotional video states: ‘There is not just one direction in life’. The sociology knowledge taught by this double degree programme also enables our graduates to pursue careers in other non-educational fields according to their strengths and interests,” Professor Stephen Chiu Wing-kai, Chair Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean (International Engagement) of FLASS, said.

Click here to understand more about the five-year programme, and click here to view the anime.