Helping the bottom 10% students in secondary schools

Helping the bottom 10% students in secondary schools

• Chan, Kwok Kuen
• Chan, Hung Ki The Hong Kong Institue of Education
• Sin, Kuen Fung Kenneth The Hong Kong Institue of Education

1996

• E Special Education
  • EH Education for Students with Learning Disabilities

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Secondary Education

After the introduction of the nine-year compulsory education in 1978, educators are not satisfied with just a quantitative growth in education but request for a better guarantee in the quality of education. The demands for improving the mixed-ability teaching and meeting the diversified needs of students are well known. Services provided for children with special educational needs (SEN) have been reviewed in the Education Commission Report (ECR) No.2 while additional learning support for students in mainstream secondary school with a large intake of the bottom 10% students has been also will discussed in the ECR No.4. Suggestions on providing extra learning support have been highlighted in the ECR No.4. For example, the introduction of a school-based remedial support programme in secondary schools with a large intake of Band 5 students, the design of the core curriculum for academically low achievers and the establishment of more Practical Schools and Skills Opportunities Schools for students of low learning motivating arc well noted. In the report, it spotlights that approximately 14% of school population in Hong Kong experience difficulties in learning or adjusting to their school life. However, only 2% of them are provided with special educational service and support in special education classes or special schools. Considering the limited special education provisions and the policy of integration, Winter (1993), a local educator, predicted that it is likely that the above ratio of SEN children in mainstream schools and in special schools (6:10 will persist or even increase rather than decrease in future years). As most SEN children in mainstream schools find difficulties in school learning and adjustment, a great proportion of them are described as the academically low achievers or children with learning and behavioral problems. The notion of the behavioral problem and developmental issue in mainstream schools has attracted the public attention in both the ECR No.4. (Nov. 1990) and the Final Report of the Working Group on Support Services for School with band 5 Students (June 1993) (FRWG). A survey carried out by K.K.Yung (1995) reveals that most academically low achievers may have attained only P.2 level at S.I. They may reach P.4 level by the end of the junior secondary education. On the other hand, the intelligent score of those academically low achievers is average when compared with the children of the same age. The above results clearly indicate that we have a group of children with average intelligence but low attainment in mainstream schools. Regarding the successful implementation integration, the symposium aims at discussing the controversial issue in depth, to review the present support system and to explore ways in helping the bottom 10% students in mainstream schools.

Paper presented at the Hong Kong Educational Research Association (HKERA) 13th Annual Conference: Restructuring Schools in Changing Societies

• English

Conference Papers

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/2c2ea07a

2015-10-08