Implementing moral and character education policy through music integration: Perspectives of school leaders in Hong Kong

Abstract Schools have been considered crucial social contexts for character formation. Hong Kong’s recent education policy has put moral and character education on the agenda of early childhood education (ECE); it states that moral and character education should be integrated into the major kindergarten subjects. However, questions remain on how it should be integrated into the ECE subject areas. Music has been officially identified as part of kindergartens’ daily activities. Scholarship has established the inextricable interconnection between character development and music participation. This study aims to explore subject-based implementation of the moral education through the lens of musical instructions. Literature confirms school leaders’ impact on shaping the implementation of policy, hence, school leaders’ perceptions and challenges regarding the implementation of this newly emphasized policy was explored through semi-structured interviews with 12 purposively selected principals. The results reveal that the principals valued using music education to teach children about morals and ethics, but found that they faced hurdles in the implementation, e.g. teachers’ insufficient pedagogical content knowledge and parents’ attitude. This study identifies traditionalism as the most prevailing view in kindergarten principals’ conceptualizations of moral education. Musical activities for moral education that principals support are play-based but adult-guided.


Introduction
The Kindergarten Education Curriculum Guide 1 (Curriculum Development Council [CDC], 2017) emphasises that moral and character education should be prioritised during early childhood education (ECE) in Hong Kong because the "kindergarten stage is a crucial time for children to be nurtured in their moral development" (CDC, 2017, 21).In 2021, the Hong Kong SAR government further emphasised moral and character education policy by publishing the Values Education Curriculum Framework (Curriculum Development Council [CDC], 2021), specifying the high-priority moral values and attitudes that should be cultivated through school education, such as "respect for others", "responsibility", "national identity", "integrity", "care for others", and "empathy".While there are no specific subjects on moral and character education in the ECE curriculum, the government indicated that moral and character education should be integrated into the major learning areas of ECE.
According to the curriculum guide of Hong Kong's ECE (CDC, 2017), "Arts and Creativity" is a major learning area in the early childhood curriculum, and music is officially recommended as a core daily activity for kindergartens.Further, the curriculum guide stated that "play" should be the focus of the curriculum.Accordingly, similar to other subject areas in ECE, musical activities should be shaped by a play-based learning (PBL) framework (Piaget, 1962;Vygotsky, 1978).The curriculum guide states that kindergarten teachers should assume the roles of provider, observer, participant, intervener, and inspirer during PBL in different subject areas (Rao & Li, 2009).Fröbel (1899) indicated that play is the highest expression of human development in childhood because it is the free expression of what is in the child's soul; and in play, children construct their understanding of the world through direct experience with it.While some scholars have argued that it is hard to define "play" in ECE (Johnson et al., 2005), others agree that play should embrace intrinsic motivation, freedom of choice, enjoyment, and an emphasis on the process of learning rather than its outcome (Campbell & Scott-Kassner, 2009;Fleer & Hedegaard, 2010;Niland, 2009;Young, 2016).Among different conceptualizations of play, free play and adult-guided play have increasingly dominated the focus of current research in early childhood education.Free play is frequently considered child-directed, voluntary, and flexible (Holt et al., 2015).Adult-guided play embraces both direct instruction and free play, with teachers enhancing the learning outcomes by playing the role of commenters, co-players, questioners, demonstrators, and facilitators (Fisher et al., 2013).
Despite moral education being in the spotlight in Hong Kong policy in recent years, most studies to date in Hong Kong have focused on primary and secondary education (e.g., Feng, 2019;Lee et al., 2021;Leung & Shek, 2021).Surprisingly, research into moral and character education in ECE is a novelty and research focusing on the interrelationship between moral development and subject-based implementation (e.g.music education) is rarer still.This study seeks to fill this important gap which is of recent interest, while responding to the current policy agenda in Hong Kong's kindergarten curriculum.As one of the very few studies on moral education in this field, Chan (2020) identified the inadequacies of the Hong Kong kindergarten curriculum guide and that there is a lack of consensus about the moral values that preschool children should develop.In light of this, Chung (2022a) conducted a study of the perceived moral attributes that kindergarten practitioners should teach in kindergartens; the findings revealed that "hard virtues" (Goodman, 2000) such as "patriotism" and "following the rules of society" were more prevalent among kindergarten principals, whereas "soft virtues" (Goodman, 2000) such as "caring," "patience," and "friendliness" were more prevalent among the teachers.The study also identified some characteristics of implementing moral education policy using musical elements in ECE, such as extensive use of musical games and storytelling and the emphasis on resolution of conflicts and law-abidingness through musical drama (Chung, 2022a).
Through the lens of music education, this study aims to explore the subject-based implementation of the moral and character education in Hong Kong.Despite the policy emphasis, the curriculum guide's specifications on how moral and character education should be implemented are rather brief.Thus, decisions on how to interpret, shape, and position this policy in kindergartens, or whether to implement it at all, often fall to school leaders.Numerous studies have highlighted the vital impact of principals on influencing the visions, curriculum planning, and pedagogical practices of schools (Chang, 2012;Wood, 2005).Chang (2012) showed that principals' technological leadership positively impacts teachers' technological literacy.Wood (2005) identified principals' vital leadership roles in education reform within schools as culture builder, instructional leader, facilitator of school mentorship, teacher recruiter, and teacher retainer.The main purpose of this study was to illuminate the driving forces that may inform or influence principals' implementation of moral and character education, and identify potential bottlenecks regarding its implementation within the specified ECE curriculum framework in Hong Kong.The following two questions guided this study: (1) How do the principals perceive subject-based implementation, i.e. music integration, of moral education policy in ECE?
(2) What are the principals' perceived challenges, if any, in utilizing music integration to implement the current moral education policy in ECE?If they do see challenges, what solution(s) do they propose?

Normative ethics and teaching strategies in moral and character education
Moral and character education is generally defined as the intentional effort to develop ethical values and character in young people and guide them to follow social standards and norms (Althof & Berkowitz, 2006).Globalization has broadened the cultural spectrum of society, rendering it increasingly diverse (Chung, 2023).Hence, there has been a continuous decline in traditional coherent value systems and an increased focus on the individualization characteristic of modern Western society (Schuitema et al., 2008).This raises questions about how school education should prepare students to become ethical citizens in society, what ethics should be taught in schools, and what strategies should be used for the implementation of moral education (Chung, 2021b).
Regarding moral and character education in ECE, Goodman (2000) argued that normative ethics presents two polar views: traditionalism and progressivism, presenting two prototypical positions in the history of character education.Traditionalism argues that moral values are eternal and universal, prioritizing cultivating "hard virtues" in education, including willpower, obedience, courage, resisting temptation, discipline, and restraint.Progressivism prioritises the cultivation of "soft virtues", which include "other-regarding" moral values such as sympathy, benevolence, caring, tolerance, modesty, and humility (Carr, 1991).The most dominant ethical frameworks include utilitarianism, deontology ethics, and ethic virtues (Fabiano, 2021).Utilitarianism defines pleasure and/or the avoidance of pain as the criterion for establishing ethics, emphasizing that the right thing to do is to maximise happiness.Deontology argues that a defensible ethical position can be understood by the degree to which one follows principles, rules, or duties, rather than the rightness and wrongness of consequences of actions.Virtue ethics-which has its origin in the work of influential philosophers like Aristotle and Plato-argues that having good character (such as courage, prudence, rationality, or temperance) is more important than knowing about the rules or principles of ethical judgements (Bessant, 2009).
To cultivate moral values and characters in school contexts, the existing research has shown that curriculum-oriented moral education has engaged in a broad range of subject areas, including music, drama, language, physical education, and history.Pangrazi and Beighle (2019) highlighted that physical education provides opportunities for children to learn a wide range of cooperation skills.By citing historical topics, Santisteban et al. (2018) argued that the learning experience helps children view social issues from different perspectives.Feng (2019) used language teaching as a relevant subject domain for teaching morality.Scholars also argue that musical dramas provide a stimulating context for children to think about and reason with moral dilemmas (Schuitema et al., 2008;Wijayanti & Rukiyati, 2021).However, the pitfalls and limitations of moral education are often criticised (Chen et al., 2023;Peters, 2015).For instance, moral education is sometimes used to promote governments, schools, and adults as sources of legitimate moral authority while ignoring or hiding differences or conflicts (Althof & Berkowitz, 2006;Feng, 2019;Winton, 2008).For example, Feng (2019) reveals that the textbooks are more concerned with the didactic education of good citizens and promoting the government than with nurturing children's critical thinking.Given the lack of a coherent value system in modern society, scholars are increasingly concerned about how to deal with moral dilemmas in moral and character education (Ye, 2022).For example, scholars have questioned whether moral programs that promote core values, such as obedience and citizenship, have arrived at a consensus within the community; they express concern that the promotion of such moral values might be at the expense of other values, such as critical thinking and scepticism, which are significant for human growth and development (Baghramian & Caprioglio Panizza, 2022;Motos, 2010).

Music, music education, and moral development
Philosophers and scholars have affirmed the robust impact of music on the moral and character development of young generations (Chung, 2022a).Plato identified the powerful role of music in shaping human character and larger society and stated that music could promote harmony in the soul (Woerther, 2008).Jean-Jacques Rousseau maintained that language and music were originally intended to communicate morality and passion (Scott, 1998).Aboriginal Australians used music to convey lessons on morality and other subjects (Ellis, 1974).Other influential Western philosophers, such as Herbert Read, Friedrich Schiller, and Immanuel Kant, all contended that the arts represent the good and are crucial for nurturing moral values and shaping character (Carr, 2003).Eastern philosophers like Confucius asserted the powerful impact of music, poetry, and arts education on moral development and social harmony, recognizing that music education could support the government to achieve universal harmony (Ho, 2017).Confucius embraced songs and music in his curriculum to cultivate the sensibility and ethical commitments of his students (Tan, 2017;Wong, 2015).
Scholars have examined how musical experiences shape human moral characters in modern society.For example, Higgins (2018) found that many features of music affect ethics, such as creating feelings of solidarity among people and inciting action.Riedl et al. (2017) showed that music causes the release oxytocin, which increases feelings of trust.Suzuki (1983) highlighted the inextricable interrelationship between music and children's moral development, indicating that music education during early childhood could foster good character.Southcott (2007) identified a strong interrelationship between Orff Schulwerk, experiential learning, and character formation.Lee (2016) highlighted six major themes concerning the benefits of integrating musical activities (including singing and movement, listening and performance, and musical games) designed for a character education program in Taiwan: "caring for others," "valuing courage," "cooperation," "respect," "responsibility," and "honesty."Scholarship has established that early childhood is a decisive stage in moral and character development.Piaget (1965) conceptualised character development among young children as a constructivist process through which the interplay between actions and thoughts builds moral concepts.Building on Piaget's work on the construction of morality, Kohlberg (1976) developed a theory of moral reasoning based on three levels and six stages, wherein children progress through pre-conventional (based on personal needs and others' rules), conventional (based on others' approval and expectations), and post-conventional (based on social contracts and individual principles) moral reasoning.According to Kohlberg (1976), moral development is based on children's self-reflection and intellectual development, which is an incremental process of discovering universal moral principles, observing others' actions, receiving feedback from others, and discussing moral dilemmas.

Methodology
This section provides an explanation of the design of this study, including sampling of the participants, the process of conducting the interviews, and data analysis.The design used in this qualitative study was semi-structured interviews.In this study, 12 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain insights into the interviewees' perceptions of the role of music education in implementing moral education policy.Qualitative interviews can provide in-depth information about participants' experiences and views on a particular topic (Turner & Hagstrom-Schmidt, 2022).Interviews were used in this study as conducting interviews is the primary way for researchers to "investigate an educational process through the experience of the individual people who carry out the process" (Seidman, 2013, p.9).Specifically, as Thornberg and Oğuz (2016) suggested, qualitative methods are more sensitive to education professionals' normative assumptions concerning moral education.

Participants
Maximum variation sampling (Suri, 2011), a type of purposive sampling method, was used to select participants of different ages, years of experience, program duration (half-and full-day), and type of profit structure (non-profit and private independent), to ensure a diverse sample.
All 12 selected participants were women, which aligns with the overwhelming majority of kindergarten principals in Hong Kong being female.They all served as kindergarten principals when the interviews were performed.Table 1 summarises the demographic data of the participants.To maintain anonymity and protect the identities of interviewees and schools, pseudonyms are used and no identifiable information is reported in this article.

Procedure
This study was approved by the Survey and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.The participants were invited through emails and informed about the purpose and significance of the study.They were sent the open-ended questions ahead of time so they could prepare for the interview.Once the participants had signed the formal consent form, interview schedules were arranged according to the participants' availabilities and preferences.Prior to the interviews, participants were asked for their permission for the interviews to be audio recorded for transcription and data analysis.
All interviews were held onsite in the schools, either in the participant's office or in another private or quiet area in the kindergarten; the interviews lasted for between 45 min and 1.5 h.The semi-structured interviews included three pre-determined questions and further in-depth questions ("second-level questions") based on the interviewees' responses (Daymon & Holloway, 2002).This kind of interview provides a useful framework of questions as a focus while allowing the interviewees' views and perceptions to emerge through their responses (Turner & Hagstrom-Schmidt, 2022).
The following four major questions were asked: (1) The recent education policy has put moral and character education on the agenda of ECE in Hong Kong.How do you perceive the meaning of moral and character education in ECE?
(2) The latest kindergarten curriculum guide states that moral and character education should be integrated into major areas of study in ECE.How do you perceive the integration of music education with moral education in ECE? (

Data analysis
The study employed a six-phase analytical framework constructed by Braun and Clarke (2014) as it offers a systematic and theoretically flexible approach to qualitative analysis.In the first stage, the researcher analysed the data through repeated reading, taking notes for coding purposes.In the second stage, initial codes for the entire data set were generated through colour-coding to indicate the potential patterns, after which they were gathered with the relevant data extracted.
In the third stage, axial-coding was undertaken to identify the relationship between initial coding and then categorise the codes.The coloured codes were then combined into broader potential themes that covered recurring statements and opinions.In the fourth stage, the levels of coded data extracts and the entire data set were reviewed to ensure that they were interconnected with the research questions.For the fifth stage, theme names were reviewed for clarity and accuracy and to confirm that there was no overlap between themes.Lastly, a final report of the themes was produced in which only the extracts which captured the essence of the arguments that linked to the research questions were selected.To ensure credibility, the thematization, interpretations, and conclusion of this paper were shared with the study participants for verification, and necessary revisions were made.Further, the use of participant quotations helps illustrate the categories and themes articulated and enhances the trustworthiness of the reported findings, demonstrating that they are based on participants' authentic responses and are unbiased (Pratt et al., 2022).

Music education being perceived as an appropriate means to cultivate virtue
Every interviewee (N = 12), to varying degree, agreed that moral and character education is important and should be integrated into the early childhood curriculum, indicating that good moral values and behaviours need to be cultivated as early as possible during a person's life.Additionally, all participants agreed that it is of children's developmental benefits to use music (particularly with a play-based approach) to teach moral values, noting that "[m]usic itself is a natural and relaxing language for teaching children a broad range of moral values" (Amy) and that "[m]oral concepts can be very abstract for young children.However, through music and a play-based approach, these moral concepts can leave a much deeper impression through such age-appropriate learning experiences" (Mandy).In utilizing music to teach moral values, some interviewees suggest that, with appropriate use of resources, teachers should be able to help children grasp a range of moral concepts.For example, one participant said: I think teachers should integrate some moral concepts into their daily music classes.For example, through making good use of the educational rhyme for children which are included in our textbooks, children can easily learn various moral concepts like respectful, politeness, caring, and following the rules, in an enjoyable and stress-free dynamic.Those abstract concepts are not easy to be taught in other subject areas.
(Janet) Brownlee et al. (2012) revealed the interrelationship between education professionals' personal epistemologies of morality and their pedagogies for moral and character education.As gatekeepers and interpreters of education policies, principals' perceived meaning of moral and character education may shape the direction and contents about how moral and character education will be implemented in ECE.Hence, principals' perceived meanings of moral and character To educate children to act according to the correct value systems of society by integrating these concepts into the curriculum, with teachers and principals presenting themselves as role models.

Edith (T)
Moral education is all about developing a positive value in order to nurture responsible citizens who following rules and regulations.It is not necessarily to be integrated into various subject areas.We can also do it as a hidden curriculum.

Louisa (T)
In my opinion, most importantly, moral education should foster children's love of and loyalty to their nation and ultimately becoming responsible citizens who contribute to the city as well as the nation.

May (T)
To nurture positive values, observe the norms and rules of society, and foster the subsequent ideal behaviours.This should be done as a joint effort of school and family.

Katy (P)
The core idea of moral education is to excavate "the true, the good, and the beautiful" (a Chinese proverb, "真善美") from within the child, shaping them into a moral self ready to help others.

Kitty (T)
To nurture correct and appropriate moral values that are accepted by society and to behave accordingly.

Mandy (T)
Moral education is teaching children to become well-behaved citizens, understand the norms and rules of society, and be able to differentiate between what is "good" and what is "bad", and what is "right" and what is "bad", through school education.

Claudia (T)
To foster children's positive values, i.e. to be responsible citizens in the city in which they live, through age-appropriate approaches, such as storytelling, PBL, games, musical activities.

Janet (T)
To teach the correct and appropriate behaviours, civic responsibility, attitude, and values.

Jessica (T+P)
Through moral education, particularly in Chinese society, teachers should teach the attitudes of the four cardinal Chinese principles (lǐ 禮, yì 義, lián廉, chǐ 恥) and, importantly, how to care for others.

Judith (P)
Through a well-planned moral education curriculum, children should be able to learn a wide range of attitudes, including respect, appreciation, tolerance, sharing, politeness, and friendliness.

Natalie (P)
To foster such attitudes as caring, respectfulness, and politeness.
education were examined and analysed in this study.Principal informants' verbatim responses are documented and analysed in Table 2. Principals' perceived definitions of moral and character education were categorised as traditional, progressive, or a blend of the two (Dishon & Goodman, 2017).
The analysis of principals' perceived meanings of moral and character education suggests that most (n = 8, 67%) expressed a stronger commitment to traditional goals, emphasising the importance of adhering to social norms and rules and the development of moral citizens; only three (25%) revealed goal preferences with a progressive approach, emphasising soft virtues such as politeness, tolerance, and caring.One (8%) principal revealed a blended goal preference concerning moral and character education, embracing her strong belief in the cardinal Chinese principles, which tend towards hard virtues, though she did also value such soft virtues, such as caring for others.

Music-related activities
The principals were also asked what music-related activities they perceived as appropriate and potentially aligning with their perceived interpretation of moral education.The interviews reveal that the principals believe that moral and character education should be accomplished through an adult-guided, play-based approach, which encompasses both child-directed practices and adults' direct instructions, during which teachers enhance the moral learning outcomes by acting as facilitators (e.g., selecting the activities and explaining the moral values).Further, most principals suggested that these musical activities should be integrated in both music classes and other kindergarten's daily routines in a natural, age-appropriate, and stress-free manner.
When the participants were asked to describe music-related activities for moral and character education that they supported for the implementation within kindergartens, most were able to recommend and describe one or more musical activities in some details and identify how they could be used to develop certain moral values.For example, Edith noted: Peter and the Wolf is a very good example . . .role-playing with the musical piece Peter and the Wolf can foster many good characters in children.For example, children learn from the musical tale that bravery is an admirable trait as Peter shows tremendous bravery in capturing the wolf and facing the hunters.
May also cited the story of Peter and the Wolf, particularly, highlighting the importance of teacher intervention.
Through acting along with the music of Peter and the Wolf, they learn about the moral value of respect.That is, children learn that the duck and the bird should not quarrel and make fun of each other because of their differences.Instead, they must accept these differences and respect each other.This is the attitude we need in society, in order to achieve social harmony.However, to achieve this, teacher intervention and guidance are necessary.

Natalie mentioned how musical activities help children develop respect for others' rights:
During the musical activities or games, children learn to respect the rules, take turns, and respect other children's ideas or choices.Likewise, when performing in an ensemble or singing in a group, they learn the importance of respecting each performer's role, cooperating with other team members, and respecting the team's rules . . . . . .After all, respecting the rules is very important in citizenship education.

Kathy commented on the impact of popular theme songs on motivating children to develop morality:
Singing popular theme melodies from the Superman cartoon series with actions delights children and emboldens them.Children gain a sense of satisfaction through the adventure of helping others and saving their own world.They truly admired Superman, wanted to pretend to be Superman, and offered help to their friends.

Generalists' insufficient pedagogical content knowledge
First, most of the principals interviewed were concerned with teachers' insufficient theoretical and pedagogical knowledge about how to utilise music to teach moral education.Aligning with global practices, early childhood teachers in Hong Kong were largely trained as generalists and thus had little training in music and music education (Barrett et al., 2019).Katie and Louisa both discussed this: Teachers are uncertain about how to teach those abstract moral values to the children through music in interesting and age-appropriate ways.For instance, some of them claimed that they adopted a play-based approach, which is the current focus of our education policy, to teach moral values, but I do not think they did.(Katy) When teachers tried to teach moral values through music, they mostly just chose some songs with positive values, and that was all.However, I suppose that moral education should go deeper, involving thoughtful lesson planning that facilitates the processes of selfreflection.I think teachers' insufficient background in music has unfortunately limited their imagination and creativity.(Louisa)

Inabilities to choose appropriate teaching resources
Some interviewees recounted instances of teachers' inabilities to choose appropriate teaching resources (e.g., songs and other musical pieces) to teach morality.To address this, Katy purchased extra teaching resources to support teachers' implementation of moral and character education, hoping that it would make it easier for the teachers to present the topic in an age-appropriate, joyous, and natural environment.
I notice that some teachers often repeatedly using the same songs or music materials.Consequently, I ordered extra teaching resources, such as CDs, musical scores, and music textbooks.However, thus far, the teachers do not seem very enthusiastic about using them.I guess it is because even if there are teaching materials, they still need to spend time reading, understanding, and assimilating them, to ultimately be able to integrate them into their teaching successfully.

Being undervalued by important stakeholder: Parents and teachers
Second, another major concern regarding the utilization of music education in implementing moral and character education is the attitudes of important stakeholders, such as parents and teachers.Eight of the interviewees emphasised the point that they could not assume this responsibility alone, and families had to share in this task to optimise its impact.As stressed by Berkowitz et al. (2020), schools must recruit parents as full partners in the character-building process by providing parents with specific methods (such as home-based activities) through which they can support the values that the school is trying to teach.One principal noted: Frankly, based on my interactions with parents, many do not care much about moral education or character development.They mostly care about their children's academic achievement, with the hope that academic achievement will lead to their children's future careers and financial success.In our parents' days, when we introduced home-based music activities that aimed at teaching morality, the parents showed very little interest.(Claudia) Our school has adopted Orff Schulwerk, a widely used music education approach.We usually give CDs to the children and ask the parents to listen to the CDs and enjoy the Orff music with their children [e.g., by singing and moving in time with the music].In many cases, we later find that the CDs have not even been unpacked when their younger siblings bring the CDs back to the school.On the other hand, they are often eager to read the books that relate to the learning of vocabularies with their children right after receiving them at school.(Edith) Considering parents' related attitudes toward moral and character education, some principals identified parental education as a possible solution; two of the interviewees (Amy and May) reported that they made efforts to initiate a dialogue on the role of character education in the early years, and educate parents by introducing the fundamental concepts of moral and character education through organising parent education programs, such as workshops and parents' meetings.
Some principals also highlighted that it is not only parents who undervalue children's learning of music and morality; regrettably, many professional early childhood teachers also held similar attitudes: I notice that many teachers in my school set high expectations for their own professional goals.However, when it comes to music education or moral development, their attitudes are not serious.I think their attitudes were influenced by the parents to a large extent.As a principal, I think that in the long run, the curriculum will become unbalanced, which is not a good sign.I keep reminding teachers of the importance of a balanced ECE curriculum.(Judith)

Lack of sufficient teacher education to accompany the policy
Finally, the participants repeatedly remarked that, although the current policy emphasises moral education as a compulsory component of ECE, pre-service training in this area is highly insufficient or even non-existent in many ECE teacher education providers in Hong Kong.Many interviewees commented that current teacher education programs should be carefully designed and tailored to address teachers' urgent professional needs in addressing the recently emphasised moral and character education policy.
The teacher preparation programs should introduce the strategies for integrating music to teach morality; for example, they should be taught how to select appropriate music [and] plan the music activities through a PBL approach.For in-service teachers, on-job training is also very important.(Kitty) Some interviewees also noted that moral education is a top-down education policy, and clearer guidance should therefore be provided to the kindergarten principals by the government to ensure the successful policy implementation.
The policymakers should provide schools with clearer guidance about implementation, for example, the expected learning outcomes, time allocation, and how the learning outcomes should be measured.In fact, we, as school principals, also need guidance regarding how we should incorporate different subject areas into moral education.As a principal, frankly, sometimes I am not that confident in introducing the policy to the teachers, regarding its application and pedagogical approaches.(Mandy) To cope with the issue of insufficient teacher training, four of the interviewees (Amy, May, Kitty, and Natalie) organised PD programs or events (e.g., workshops and talks) for their teachers regarding how to utilise music education to foster children's moral development.While the interviewees found these PD activities useful for enhancing teachers' teaching competency, they highlighted the financial and administrative challenges incurred in relation to the extra costs involved for hiring experts, including inviting university professors or music specialists to offer workshops, and the administrative efforts they exerted to acquire external funding (e.g., preparing grant proposals).

Discussion
Based on the two research questions and the data drawn from the interviews, this discussion section examines two primary issues: (i) the principals' perception regarding implementing the newly emphasised moral and character education through music integration in Hong Kong, and (ii) the perceived challenges or drawbacks of the implementation of moral and character education through music integration in Hong Kong.
First, every participant, to varying extent, perceived moral development and character formation as important and necessary for the early childhood curriculum.The traditional-progressive lens (Dishon & Goodman, 2017) identified that principals' conceptualisation of moral education consist of traditionalism, progressivism, and a blended approach, with traditionalism dominant in this study.For example, the goals of traditionalist views were reflected in the teacher-directed roleplay designed to "nurture responsible citizens who follow rules and regulations" (Edith) and music appreciation activities (e.g.traditional music) designed to "foster children's love for the culture" (Louisa).The findings concur with Thornberg and Oğuz's (2016) study which reveals that teacherguided and role-modeling approaches are valued by the Swedish and Turkish early childhood teachers as effective for moral and character education.Nevertheless, this finding contradicts those of previous studies which suggest that ECE is oriented more towards "progressivism" (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997), in which authority is minimal and cooperative adults encourage children's self-regulation by means of self-constructed principles.This may be explained by the existence of cross-cultural differences regarding moral education.Scholarship indicates that Western culture tends to emphasise unique personalities and individual values, whereas Eastern cultures support collectivism and conformism (Stanley & Anderson, 2013).Culture is unquestionably a universal phenomenon that plays a crucial role in determining how people view various pedagogical practices, including the teaching of morality.Bergen and Davis (2020) highlighted that every culture has specific information, features, themes, and actors of moral development.Doan (2005) suggests that curriculum and pedagogical practices of moral education are highly related to the historical background and social standards of different cultures.For the majority of principals who had a traditionalist perception of moral and character education, their views may reflect Hong Kong's substantially inherited Chinese cultural values and Confucian culture (Chung, 2022b), which emphasises self-discipline, social harmony, collective well-being, loyalty, and ethical conduct through the observance of hierarchical relationships and moral values (Wong, 2015;Xiao et al., 2022).
This study reveals that kindergarten principals in Hong Kong generally acknowledged the value of music education to facilitate the teaching of morals and ethics.However, proactive actions to augment these practices are limited; only four principals in this study organised workshops, hired music specialists, or submitted funding proposals to the government.To enhance educational practices and implement education policies, school leaders should act as instructional leaders, having direct involvement in the design, delivery, and content of professional development (PD) (Alkaabi et al., 2022); and assessing the PD outcomes (Bautista et al., 2022).Given that kindergarten principals are usually veteran education professionals with extensive educational and administrative experience, they are in the right position to act as early childhood teachers' "instructional leaders" in supporting PD within the school context.One possible strategy for PD within this context is the provision of conditions that can facilitate work-embedded learning (Múñez et al., 2017), through which teachers (both beginner and experienced) engage in dialogue about moral and ethics development in early years, exchange ideas about strategies using music education (e.g., music resources, music-specific pedagogies, and innovative activities) to address various developmental objectives (e.g., character development) (Yim & Ebbeck, 2011), and how music education may play a role in instilling social and cultural values to children.
Secondly, principals' concerns about the implementation of the current policy regarding moral and character education are twofold: (i) the attitudes of parents' and (ii) teachers' insufficient pedagogical content knowledge in subject-based implementation due to insufficient or "nonexistent" teacher training in moral and character education and its integration with ECE's major subject areas.
While the school leaders in this study perceived parents' attitudes as an important driving force in the implementation of moral education policy, they found it challenging to involve parents as partners in the character-building process (e.g., participation in home-based activities) because many parents in Hong Kong had undervalued "non-academic" areas, such as musical and moral development.International studies have asserted that parents generally value the benefits of musical participation for young children (Rodriguez, 2019).The findings of this study, however, contradict this; participants stated that the benefits of music education were often undervalued by Hong Kong parents who (excessively) focused on academics.In the context of Hong Kong, the findings are not surprising as music education is often regarded as a non-academic luxury (Ho, 2020), and many people in a non-Western society such as Hong Kong regard the value of education as an investment for career or financial success.Given arts education has been put on the education agenda of ECE in Hong Kong, this study recommends that parental education with clear content, target population, and goals aimed at fostering or changing parental role performance should be organized at the school or government level as a platform to educate parents about the meaning and implications of arts education in the early years, as well as parents' roles as critical stakeholders in children's character development.
Further, issues have been raised regarding the insufficient or non-existent teacher training in moral and character education to accompany education policy, which has hindered school leaders' implementation of moral and character education.This raises the question of how to provide teacher training that can facilitate the implementation of moral education policy through music.In view of the complexity of normative ethics and moral education, first and foremost, it is important that different perspectives on the role of the teacher, considering the differences between moral objectivists, relativists, and subjectivists, should be incorporated into teacher training programs (Carr, 2003).Theoretically, the interrelationship between music, music education, and children's character development must be introduced through the teacher education programs (Chan, 2020;Lee, 2016).Pedagogically, it is important for early childhood teachers to understand how music teaching can be strategized to address the developmental objectives (e.g., character development) in ECE in an age-appropriate manner (Chung, 2021a;Lum & Wong, 2021).Specifically, PBL, which was widely identified by the school leaders as appropriate when integrating musical activities for teaching moral values, should be more explicitly incorporated into teacher-training programs to address early childhood teachers' urgent professional need to understand the interplay between moral development, music education, pedagogies, and curricula.

Conclusion
This study contributes to scholarship on the interplay between moral education policy implementation and music integration in early childhood by highlighting perspectives of school leaders-who are the interpreters and gatekeepers of this new policy for Hong Kong's ECE-on the subject-based implementation of moral education through music integration.The perspectives of kindergarten principals are crucial for policy implementation because they possess operational expertise, contextual knowledge, stakeholder engagement capabilities, monitoring and evaluation insights, and leadership influence (To & Yin, 2021).Their insights may ensure that policies are effectively translated into practice at the kindergarten level.Importantly, this study addresses how music education may inculcate social and cultural values to children.The principals in this study discussed how simply presenting nursery rhymes and stories to children's learning was insufficient; to achieve the goals of moral and character education, adult intervention to highlight themes and learning was necessary.To accomplish this, principals should provide support for the teachers, such as resources, guidance, and work-embedded mentorship.Given culture is a universal phenomenon that plays a crucial role in determining how people view various pedagogical practices and many countries rely on their philosophical or social backgrounds to teach children the foundations of ethical citizenship, this study provides international researchers with insights into the implementation of character education and how music education may play a role in instilling social and cultural values in children within an Eastern context.
The recommendations for future research stem from the limitations of this study.First, findings are only based on individual interviews.The use of interviews was considered to be the most suitable approach to address the research questions of the study as this study focuses on participants' views and perceptions.Future research should draw on other data sources (e.g., questionnaire survey and focus group interviews) to reach a higher number of participants and triangulate findings.Secondly, the perceptions of other stakeholders such as teachers and parents regarding moral and character education through arts education should also be investigated in future studies.Finally, while this study focuses on ECE in Hong Kong, similar studies should be conducted in other contexts to examine whether the findings identified herein could be generalized.After all, at present, research into moral and character education in ECE is novel and those focusing on the interrelationship between moral development and music education is even rarer.Hence, this study recommends that more varied research should be conducted, including how to enhance teaching and learning, how teacher education may better prepare early childhood teachers, and how other arts education areas (e.g., visual arts) may be used to address the major developmental objectives of ECE, such as character development.
In conclusion, the results indicate that the kindergarten principals generally held positive attitudes towards the subject-based implementation of moral education through music integration, recognizing music education as an age-appropriate and natural means to cultivate various moral values and positive attitudes among young children.However, the principals also identified several challenges in implementing this approach.These challenges included insufficient pedagogical content knowledge among generalists, limited curriculum resources, and concerns about the attitudes of important stakeholders such as parents and teachers.Although some principals in this study took certain measures to advocate for the subject-based implementation of moral education policy through music education, proactive action to further enhance such practices was limited.This study argues that principals should adopt a proactive approach in the process of fostering a more robust and comprehensive approach to moral and character education in early childhood settings.Furthermore, the principals could strengthen teachers' educational practices in relation to education policies by facilitating work-embedded learning regarding the interconnection of moral education and music.It is hoped that this study may serve as a reference regarding subject-based implementation of moral and character education in ECE, with wider implications for other creative arts subjects globally.

Table 1 . Kindergarten principals' personal profiles Pseudonym Gender/Age Years of experience as a principal Size of kindergarten Duration of programmes Kindergarten type
3) In your school's experience or own opinion, what moral areas can be effectively taught through musical activities, if at all?If any, which teaching strategies or approaches would you perceive as effective?
(4) What are your concerns or challenges, if any, in adopting the current moral and character education policy in early childhood music education?If any, what solution(s) do you propose?