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]

This editorial provides an overview of the articles which are featured in this issue of Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice. This issue includes a number of contributions which deal, directly or indirectly, with teacher learning, and particularly with the development and role of teacher professional learning communities. It also addresses the issue of learning from teaching as teachers describe, analyze and reflect upon their teaching experiences in the classroom, including the connection between their behavior and beliefs and student learning. One of the ethnographic studies focuses on the development of a community of practice for sustainable professional development among 18 teachers of English as second language in Hong Kong. Another article discusses the complex role of special education teachers in Israel. All seven papers included in this issue, in a way or another, look at the complexities of teaching and learning. Overall, a number of overarching themes may be identified: the importance of analyzing teachers beliefs and practices; the key role of professional communities in enhancing teacher learning and change; the need for relevant professional development opportunities to support teacher learning and commitment to teaching; the pedagogies of teaching and their role in fostering teacher reflection and growth as well as student learning taking into account the diversity and guidance provided to them; and the link between the complexity of teaching and the dynamic of classrooms and school culture.
Copyright of Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2014.928118

The present paper examines the experiences of teachers in teaching children with special needs in mainstream schools and how they see and evaluate the feasibility of the new integration initiatives in Hong Kong. The data are based on individual and focus group interviews with general class teachers, resource class teachers and principals of mainstream schools admitting students with special needs. Teachers reported difficulties and problems in maintaining classroom discipline and ambivalence in meeting the competing demands between students with and without special needs. The structural constraints of implementing a rigidly defined curriculum and being accountable for good academic results regardless of student competence pose formidable obstacles in achieving the goals of integrated education. There is a conflict at the systemic level between the philosophy of academic excellence defined by grades on the one hand and the philosophy of equality and inclusion on the other. Improving parent participation, having an ample supply of binds, the provision of necessary equipment arid facilities, the availability of pre- and in-service training to teachers, and additional manpower in counselling are the most urgently needed resources in facilitating teachers to engage in teaching students with special needs alongside others.
[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/10.1080/1360311032000160599]