香港回歸中國已25年了。但是香港人的「人心未歸」問題仍是非常明顯，而對國民身份的認同更是在2008年後每況愈下。而教育是建構年青人的身份認同的重要手段，因此探討回歸以來的教育政策與香港年青人的國民身份認同低迷之因果關係是本研究之目的。
本研究以安德森的「想像的共同體」為主的族群建構理論及葛蘭西的「文化霸權」為理論基礎，以檢視香港的教育政策與香港人之身份認同的歷史發展及變化的關係。
本研究首先發現，相對於香港特區政府的教育政策，回歸前的殖民地政府用以建構香港居民的本土身份認同的教育政策更能經得起建構論及文化霸權理論的驗證。研究也發現特區政府教育政策制定者缺少推行國民身份認同的主動意識及動機，政策只集中在認識祖國的表面硬知識，而且仍是呈現殖民政府時期傳承下來的思維。課程中強調「香港人」的本土身份認同比「中國人」的國民身份認同篇幅更多。教學語言仍以英語及粵語為主；「中國歷史」科被定為非必修；「通識科」教學及教材欠缺審查，過於自由放任的政策等等皆無法使香港年青人建構與中國大陸對「中國人」身份的共同想像。
香港特區的教育政策多以功能主義為主導，培養學生國民身份認同的課程內容篇幅太少，故回歸二十多年來的國民身份認同建構，終究未竟全功。2021年開始推行的改革政策包括「公民與社會發展」科；國安教育及價值觀教育等是否能重構香港年青一代的國民身份認同，應該會是後續研究的重點所在。
Hong Kong has returned to China's sovereignty 25 years. However, the national identity has been at a low level, especially the "Chinese" identity of young people has kept getting worse after 2008. Education is an important means of constructing the identity of young people. The Hong Kong SAR government has also introduced many education reform policies since its return to China. The purpose of this study is to explore the causal relationship between the education policy since the return and the downturn in the national identity of Hong Kong's young people.
This research is based on Anderson's "Imaginative Community" theory of ethnic group construction and Gramsci's "Cultural Hegemony" as the theoretical basis to examine the historical development and changes of Hong Kong's education policy and the identity of Hong Kong people.
This study finds that the education policy formulated by the Hong Kong Colonial Government to construct the local identity of Hong Kong residents can withstand the verification of constructivism and cultural hegemony theory. The study also finds that the educational policymakers of the SAR government lack the initiative and motivation to promote national identity, and it still presents the thinking passed down during the colonial government. All reformed educational policies are unable to make Hong Kong young people construct the common imagination of the “Chinese” identity of people.
The reform educational policies implemented in 2021 include the "Civil and Social Development" subject; national security education and value education whether it can reconstruct the national identity of the younger generation in Hong Kong or not, should be the focus of follow-up research.
