Since the release of the official document on education reform, special schools in Hong Kong have been making efforts to develop their own school-based curriculum to echo the spirit of 'one curriculum for all' (Curriculum Development Council, 2001). However, there are several concerns when working towards this spirit: (1) it is difficult to help students with special educational needs (SEN) access the central curriculum due to the lack of guidance; (2) a common language has not been developed with agreed performance standards to describe students' attainment and learing progress; (3) and low expectations for students is common due to high emphasis on skills training oriented education and (4) a lack of direction in teaching and the understanding of the key learning areas. This article is, therefore, an attempt to (1) review the trends and related studies on 'accessing the central curriculum' from an international perspective; (2) discuss the concerns on assessment and curriculum development for improving access to the central curriculum for students with SEN in Hong Kong with respect to the "one curriculum for all' spirit; (3) describe a project (the SAME Project) in Hong Kong in this related topic and to highlight the accomplishment of the Phase 1 of the project. The implications to the field are also discussed. 自從教育改革文件發表以來，香港不少特殊學校都會致力發展校本課程去回應「同一課程」的精神。在過程中，遭遇不少問題，例如︰(1) 缺乏指引去協助有特殊教育需要學生學習中央課程；(2) 缺乏一個共通語言及共同同意的表現標準去描述學生的能力及學習進度；(3) 由於過份重視技能訓練引致對學生期望偏低的普遍現象；(4) 缺乏對主要學習領域的認識及教學方向。就上述情況，本文會 (1) 從國際視野檢視「接受同一課程」的趨勢及研究；(2) 就「同一課程」的精神討論如何評估及課程發展去改善香港特教學生接受中央課程的機會及 (3) 描述一個與此題目相關的計劃(「融通計劃」及介紹這計劃第一階段的成就。最後會討論此計劃對業界的含意。
[Copyright of Hong Kong Special Education Forum is the property of Special Education Society of Hong Kong Ltd.. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
https://sites.google.com/a/seshk.org.hk/seshk-org-hk/c_publication]

It is agreed that many children with disabilities benefit from instruction in social skills. This literature review looks at various approaches to the teaching of social skills to students with disabilities that significantly impact behavior, discusses the rationale behind social skills training, and questions the wisdom of limiting particular approaches to students with specific disabilities. The authors urges special educators to consider the overall efficacy of social skills training in general, the effectiveness of particular approaches, and the wisdom of sharing procedures and techniques across categories of disabilities. 很多人相信殘障的兒童都能夠在社交技能訓練中獲益。本文探討最為影响殘障兒童行為的不同社交技能訓練方法及社交技能訓練的背後理念。文章並質疑將某類社交技能訓練方法局限於處理某種殘障類別的理據。作者目的是鼓勵特殊教育工作者持開放態度，考慮社交技能訓練的整體效益並從不同社交技能訓練方法中針對性地找出最適合處理不同殘障類別的方法。
[Copyright of Hong Kong Special Education Forum is the property of Special Education Society of Hong Kong Ltd.. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
https://sites.google.com/a/seshk.org.hk/seshk-org-hk/c_publication]

This study aims to deliver a school‐based mode of training for in‐service teachers of students with ASD in Hong Kong. The training is delivered following the phases of implementation science, namely, exploration, installation, and implementation. The project team used the theory of mind approach, which enables teachers to engage with students with ASD and to focus on recognizing and reacting to emotions. Participants in this study included four educators from a teacher education institution, three expert teachers, and 19 in‐service teacher trainees. The most salient responses came from trainees who were provided with the opportunity to apply learned skills in their own classrooms immediately and to share the knowledge and skills in dealing with students with ASD in the post‐conference meetings.
[Copyright of Support for Learning is the property of Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9604.12199]

In the previous literature on gifted education in Hong Kong, there has been little mention of special schools for gifted and/or talented students in Hong Kong except for GT College, Hong Kong's first college for the gifted. Some notable researchers in gifted education in Hong Kong have described the college briefly with regard to its admission policy but have not discussed its programmes. The present article aims to provide a more extended introduction about how GT College successfully nurtures its gifted and/or talented students to become future leaders in Hong Kong. The present article comprises a systematic overview of the historical developments of gifted education in Hong Kong. This is followed by a historical review of GT College. Then, GT College's learning and teaching philosophy is addressed followed by its innovative curriculum for gifted and/or talented students--Talent Development Programmes and Youth Development Programmes.
[Copyright of Gifted Education International is the property of Sage Publications Ltd..]

This study examines the development of education and the curriculum for children with mental handicap in Hong Kong, the influence of the Target Oriented Curriculum (TOC) reform on the development of the curriculum for these children and its implementation in a special school over a period of two years. Three research strategies were used: historiography, naturalistic evaluation and a case study. Data was gathered by means of document collection, interviewing and observation, and analysed by the method of constant comparison. The findings are considered in the light of political, technological and cultural factors in the developments of education and curriculum for children with mental handicap, in the introduction of the TOC to these children, and in the school personnel's interpretation and views towards its implementation. The extent of implementation of the TOC in the case study school was examined with regards to changing practices in materials, teaching approaches and teachers' beliefs. Five key themes emerged from the study: the extent of TOC implementation at school and classroom levels, the Education Department's commitment towards the education of children with mental handicap, whether curriculum reform was truly considered necessary, the ethos of teaching and the culture of special education/schools. It was concluded that the implementation of the TOC for children with mental handicap was a poor example of effective change, given the problematic nature of the reform, in particular the inadequate management of the change process. It was also evident that this reform repeated many past failures, making long term success of the TOC in special schools somewhat doubtful.

It has been estimated that over 37,000 students with special educational needs (SEN) study in ordinary mainstream school in Hong Kong, with an average of 37 students with SEN in a school. Since 1997, inclusive practice in Hong Kong has been implemented with great determination and wide school coverage. The Chief Executive of Hong Kong, in his 2015 Policy Address, further announced a HK$200 million three-year programme titled "Provision of funding for ordinary schools to arrange special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs)". Taken together with the previous policy implemented by the Education Bureau in 2008, of funding additional leadership positions in shaping school-wide development in inclusive education, it has become clear that the SENCOs will play an increasingly important role in strengthening the implementation of inclusive education (IE) in Hong Kong. By using qualitative semi-structured interviews of the SENCO, school principal and six students from each participating school in this pilot study, this paper explored effects of the new SENCOs’ role on and values added to inclusive practices in support of special educational needs in the pilot schools in contrast to the current practices in non-pilot schools. The contextual difference in support of SEN by the pilot and non-pilot schools was particularly noted. Preliminary findings that have a direct bearing on the effectiveness of SENCO’s role, responsibilities and support in the pilot schools that could provide empirical evidences of defining value-added inclusive practices will be discussed.

This study examined the self-efficacy of TAs in Hong Kong. Quantitative method was adopted. 463 TAs had participated in this study, and their self-efficacy had been tested in 5 domains: teaching support, learning support, behavior management, cooperation and administrative support. The findings were obtained by the means of “Teaching assistant efficacy scale” which was developed by Yan, Lum, Lui, Chu and Lui (2015). Data indicated that TAs were most confident in cooperation and least confident in teaching support and behaviour management. Training to support students with special education needs (SEN) were found to contribute to TAs’ self-efficacy in all 5 domains. However, no differences were found among different training hours because the training cannot meet the needs of TA. This paper suggested reforming the TA training program to increase TAs’ self-efficacy.

School-based learning community is widely supported by educators as an effective professional development strategy to improve teaching and learning. With reference to the collaborative and supportive features, the professional learning communities (PLCs) are further recognized in schools. Teachers in different schools work collaboratively to solve the actual problems that they come across in their classrooms and improve their teaching practice. With the support of school teachers, education officers and tertiary academics, PLCs was widely adopted as a strategy to enhance teacher professional learning. The tripartite partnership offers a platform for teachers to actively engage in professional sharing about teaching and learning. The paper illustrates the outcome of the lesson study in a two-year project of University-School Support Program (USP). It is evident that the Lesson Study was an effective collaborative mode of professional development for teachers of special schools in Hong Kong.
[Copyright © The Hong Kong Special Education Society].