The preparation of teachers for regular schools has clearly needed to undergo quite significant change in recent years. One major adjustment has been the necessity to prepare teachers for progressively more diverse student populations as they will increasingly be required to teach in inclusive classrooms. Many teacher education institutions are, therefore, offering units of work that aim to tackle this. Utilizing an international data set of 603 pre-service teachers, consideration is given to the effect of a range of demographic differences on changing pre-service teacher attitudes toward inclusion; sentiments towards people with a disability and in reducing their concerns about inclusion when involved in a focused unit of work. Pre- and post-training comparisons are made which identify a range of variables that impact on changing pre-service teacher perceptions about inclusion. The discussion focuses on the importance of differentiating teacher preparation courses to address these different needs of pre-service teachers.
[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/10.1080/13603110701365356]

This paper reports research that evaluated the efficacy of training for education assistants and its impact upon changing practices in a group of private international schools in Hong Kong, China. Two cohorts of education assistants received training through an education institute. The focus was on supporting and fostering inclusive practices in schools. The expectations and perceptions of the education assistants regarding the training was recorded through survey and focus group interviews and discussed alongside international literature in the area of classroom support and inclusive schooling. The paper concludes that the provision of training was successful in meeting education assistants' expectations and in increasing personal confidence and raising self-esteem, but that they face many challenges if their learning is to be applied. The research further reveals that education assistants within Hong Kong schools lack clarity in their role and a narrow understanding of how they may be most appropriately utilised within schools has led to a limiting of their deployment. Implications for training providers and the teaching profession are 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/10.1080/13603110802504895]

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 ]

背景：香港教育改革著意鼓勵學校引用校本課程發展模式推行融合教育。
目的：本研究探討教師在發展校本融合課程所遇到的挑戰。
研究對象：參與香港教育學院舉辦的融合教育培訓課程的教師。
研究方法：包括訪問和問卷調查。
研究結果：本研究發現教師是與同級教師進行共同備課或通過校內課程發展組調適現行的課程；在設計和實施校本融合課程時，教師遇到的挑戰主要有：班內融合生的數量過多、教師缺乏相關的專業知識與能力、實施課程時因要配合課堂時間的編排而產生混亂、評估上的公平問題與及學校資源的不足。
總結：要面對校本融合課程發展的挑戰，參與的教師必須先行接受有關課程發展的培訓；學校也須委任融合教育的統籌教師，負責領導校本融合課程的發展；學校之間也須建立融合教育的網絡，讓教師互相支持和解難，從而有效地提升融合學生的學習。
Background: Education reform in Hong Kong emphasizes the use of school-based curriculum development mode to implement inclusive education.
Aims: To explore the challenges teachers had in developing school-based inclusive curriculum materials.
Sample: Those teachers who had been involved in the inclusive education programmes organized by the Hong Kong Institute of Education.
Methods: Interview and questionnaire survey.
Results: The results indicated that teachers prepared their lessons with those colleagues who were teaching at the same class levels or used the teaching materials already adapted by the School Curriculum Committees. The challenges teachers met in developing and implementing school-based inclusive curriculum materials mainly included: there were too many special need students in a class, teachers possessed inadequate relevant professional knowledge and skills, confusions caused by insufficient time arrangement in class in implementing the curriculum materials, the problem of unfairness in the use of assessment methods, and lack of resource support.
Conclusion: To face with these challenges, teachers should have prior training before they are involved in inclusive education. An inclusive education coordinator is needed. He/She should undertake the work of leading the development of inclusive education and monitoring the quality of inclusive curriculum in the school. Additionally, schools should develop inclusive education network through which teachers could support one another. The purpose is to ensure the effectiveness of inclusive education that