A flexible value carrier: reframing Buddhist Education in superdiverse Hong Kong

How does Religious Education (RE) maintain viability and legitimacy in a superdiverse society? This article addresses this question through a qualitative case study of a Buddhist-sponsored secondary school in Hong Kong navigating simultaneous pressures of structural inequality and cultural superdiversity. Drawing on participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and content analysis, we examine how the school reframes its Buddhist Education through a ‘framing chain’, a causally linked sequence of reframing actions in which a subsequent framing process builds upon the conditions created by a preceding one. First, the school amplifies the Buddhist value of equality in its mission and admissions, broadening access to marginalised students as a strategic response to Hong Kong’s competitive educational market. This diversifies the student body, which necessitates a second reframing: transforming the Buddhist Education course into a ‘well-being programme’ that thins explicit Buddhist dogma while thickening universal values and pluralistic respect. Through these linked processes, Buddhist Education is reconceptualised as a ‘flexible value carrier’ which is capable of embracing a multifaceted array of values to facilitate inclusive schooling in a superdiverse school context. This article contributes to broader understandings of how faith-based institutions adapt RE to address inequality and diversity in pluralistic societies.