Document Type: Conference Papers
Year published: 1996
Conference: Hong Kong Educational Research Association (HKERA) 13th Annual Conference: Restructuring Schools in Changing Societies (1996: The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, China)
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