Preservice teachers’ interpretations of culturally responsive teaching in Hong Kong: beyond benevolent integrationism

This study investigates how preservice teachers in Hong Kong interpret culturally responsive teaching (CRT) and what conditions might shape their interpretations. The findings indicate preservice teachers’ orientation towards benevolent integrationism in interpreting CRT, featured by a primary focus on linguistic mediation between English and Cantonese and a strong ethos of benevolent interpersonal care by teachers to facilitate ethnic minority students’ integration in mainstream classrooms and society. The underlying values of this orientation resonate with Confucian discourses of care, harmony, benevolence and relationality noted in international research on education in Chinese contexts. However, in reference to the Western-based theorisation of CRT, preservice teachers’ interpretations represent a synthesis of the celebratory and integrationist stances, while the critical, equity-oriented stance remains largely absent. Therefore, we argue that recourse to Confucian discourses in education for ethnic minority students risks obscuring or perpetuating systemic inequalities and discuss how teacher education and institutional efforts might extend the orientation of benevolent integrationism among preservice teachers towards critical engagement with inequality. Overall, the findings demonstrate how global educational paradigms, such as CRT, are interpreted in specific socio-cultural contexts and show how local interpretations and socio-cultural contexts can serve as foundations for a more equitable education for ethnic minorities.