Weak assessment, strong power: governing citizenship education in Hong Kong under securitisation

Assessment occupies a central yet often overlooked place in policy enactment, determining what counts as legitimate knowledge and transforming state power into pedagogic power. This article explores the enactment of Citizenship and Social Development in Hong Kong following the 2019 political crisis under the National Security Law. Replacing its more progressive predecessor, Liberal Studies, the subject combines strong ideological direction with a weakened assessment regime marked by a low-stakes pass/fail outcome, a high passing rate, and the removal of school-based assessment. Drawing on classroom observations and interviews with student teachers undertaking school practicum placements, this article delineates how this assessment regime changes which meanings are recognised as legitimate and how they are realised in classroom practice. It narrows pedagogic openness, collapses pedagogy into teacher-centred and textbook-driven modes, and renders the compulsory subject largely inconsequential. Pedagogic governance acts not only through coercion or self-censorship, but also through producing a common sense of what is sufficient, examinable and worth teaching, thereby normalising superficial learning, political ignorance, and teacher demoralisation. The article contributes to debates on citizenship education and policy enactment by theorising how strong governance can be enacted through weakened assessment under conditions of securitisation.