Background: Recent government initiatives in Hong Kong have focused on raising the participation of students from South Asian backgrounds in mainstream schools, to encourage their further integration into Hong Kong's educational system and society. These students' learning in mainstream schools takes place within the context of the central curriculum and, thus, students face the challenge of learning Chinese as an additional language. Mainstream schools sometimes provide additional support, including the provision of bilingual teaching assistants to address the specific needs of the students from South Asian backgrounds.
Purpose: This exploratory study aims to investigate the roles of bilingual teaching assistants in Hong Kong.
Method: Interviews were held with two bilingual teaching assistants from the South Asian community in Hong Kong who were working in a mainstream secondary school. Teachers from the school were also interviewed. Open-ended interview questions focused on perceptions of the roles and responsibilities of bilingual teaching assistants in Chinese-language-medium classes. The data were analysed to identify any emergent patterns and themes.
Findings: The research findings indicate that the bilingual teaching assistants from the South Asian community not only took on the role of helping the learners from South Asian backgrounds in Chinese language acquisition, but also acted as cultural mediators between mainstream school culture and the culture of the South Asian community in Hong Kong.
Conclusions: This small-scale exploratory research study suggests the importance of the role of bilingual teaching assistants in promoting equal access to quality education for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong.
[Copyright of Educational Research is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2010.524753]

Dyslexia appears to be the most prevalent disability of students with special educational needs in many mainstream classes, affecting around 9.7% of the school population in Hong Kong. The education of these students is therefore of great concern to the community. In the present paper research into dyslexia in the Chinese language is briefly reviewed, with emphasis on the cognitive characteristics of dyslexia and its manifestations, in the hope that understanding the profiles of students with dyslexia may help to lay a solid foundation for assessment, curriculum development and intervention. Recent progress in the study of the cognitive deficits of Chinese-speaking readers with dyslexia in Hong Kong and the development of assessment and intervention framework for early identification and intervention is presented. These developments shed light on dyslexia in the Chinese language and provide grounds for further work on research and practice.
[Copyright of Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19404158.2010.495830]

Inclusive education is one of the most important issues in education in Hong Kong, China. Because the role of teachers is critical to the success of inclusive education, this study investigated some of the elements that determine the success of implementing inclusive education. Teachers' perceived definition of inclusive education, the opportunities for teachers to receive training in inclusive education, and the attitude of teachers were examined through responses to questionnaires. The sample consisted of 51 primary school teachers from two schools participating in the 'New Funding Mode'. Results were analysed using content analysis and Chi-square tests. Implications of the findings are also discussed.
[Copyright of International Journal of Inclusive Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13603110902748947 ]

This article briefly describes the Hong Kong education system, discusses the policies and efforts for education quality and school improvement, and reviews the development of school effectiveness research in Hong Kong. Hong Kong people have shown their strong commitment to educational reform for better societal development in the coming decades. A number of important policies have been issued to improve educational practice and school management. Even though some drawbacks and difficulties have inevitably been encountered in policy formulation and implementation, numerous good opportunities have been created for policy-makers, school practitioners, and educational researchers to conduct educational innovation, school improvement, and school effectiveness research. The ongoing education experiments, reform experiences, improvement practices, and effectiveness studies at both the system and school levels may not only benefit Hong Kong people but also make a contribution to international concern for school effectiveness and improvement.
[Copyright of School Effectiveness and School Improvement is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1076/sesi.10.1.10.3517]