The purpose of this pilot study was to test the reliability of a game-based assessment tool to assess the four dimensions of career adaptability (i.e., Curiosity, Control, Confidence, Concern, hereafter called “4C”) among students with special educational needs (SEN). The 4C tool is a board game developed in relation to the short form of the career adaptability scale (CAAS) for SEN adolescents. Unlike self-reported CAAS without specifying career-related scenarios, the board game provides researchers and practitioners with an assessment platform to evaluate SEN students’ 4Cs in multiple employment-related scenarios. Participants in this pilot study were 44 secondary school leavers with SEN. They were studying in a training course organized by Youth Academy for SEN. They were assessed through the board game assessment tool before and after the training in the year. Statistical analyses included spearman’s rho coefficient and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). It was noted that the 4Cs assessed by the board-game are 1) positively correlated with each other (correlation coefficients ranged from .42 to .63, p<.05), 2) with good inter-rater reliability, rs= .688(92), p<.01, 95% CI [.565, .797], and 3) with moderate test-retest reliability, ICC = 0.66, p<.001, 95% CI [.433, .805]. These findings supported the reliability of this game-based assessment tool for assessing the 4Cs of SEN youths. Aside from self-reported data, this game-based assessment tool can provide supplementary information on the 4Cs of school leavers with SEN from other assessors (e.g., teachers and practitioners) across career-related scenarios. The presentation will further discuss limitations and further direction of research. Copyright © 2023 The Education University of Hong Kong.

The mixed-method study reported here was designed to evaluate a strengths-based career intervention program for secondary school students with mild special educational needs (SEN). A sample of 32 SEN students (19 boys: 13 girls) from 5 inclusive schools in Hong Kong were recruited to a treatment group. An additional 32 SEN students (19 boys: 13 girls) were selected to form the control group matched for age, gender and parents’ education level. The special needs exhibited by both groups were in areas of literacy and numeracy, attention deficits, and social-emotional problems, but did not include severe or complex disabilities. Participants in both groups responded to pre- and post-intervention questionnaires covering career development self-efficacy, personal and social development self-efficacy, and meaning in life. As a follow-up, two teachers and three social workers providing support to SEN students, and the 32 participants were interviewed several months after the intervention. Interviews also took place with teachers, social workers and students to evaluate the perceived effects of the intervention. Findings indicated significant interactions between Time 1 and Time 2, and between groups (control vs. treatment) in personal goal-setting, career goal-setting, and the presence of meaning in life. Additionally, several themes were identified from the interviews suggesting that the intervention did have positive effects on SEN students’ career, personal and social development self-efficacy, and acquisition of meaning in life. Copyright © 2022 The International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS) and Springer Nature B.V.

Although extracurricular music activities are common in Hong Kong, private music teachers’ perceptions of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are underexplored in research in this context. This study examined private music teachers’ knowledge of ASD and their attitudes toward students with ASD in Hong Kong, and the relationship between these two factors. The study collected data from a questionnaire survey (n = 200) and eleven individual interviews. Unexpectedly, the findings showed that the teachers had a good understanding and a marginally positive perception of ASD, despite some anxiety about teaching students with ASD. Furthermore, knowledge of and attitude toward ASD were positively correlated. Teachers with previous training in special education needs had a better understanding of ASD and a more positive attitude toward ASD than those without related training. These results imply that further formal and public education could promote acceptance of and equal learning opportunities for students with ASD. Copyright © 2021 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

This paper aims at extending the understanding of principal leadership in support of teachers' development of robot-based pedagogy for students in a cross-school professional learning community (PLC) of Hong Kong's special education. Sixty representative teachers from over 30 special schools, that is 50% of the total number of special schools, participated in the community over the past 2 years. The teachers not only developed the pedagogy but also observed and collaborated in the schools regarding their technological, pedagogical and content knowledge. The development of robot-based learning for individual students' different special educational needs is an innovative differentiated approach to fostering socially just learning in schools. The key research question is: How could teacher professional development of robot-based pedagogies for all students build a social-justice school? We adopted a qualitative cross-case study of four schools participating in the PLC. Although the professional development did not aim at principals' and teachers' social-justice practices for all students, the case study demonstrated the principals' leadership support and the teachers' enthusiasm for learning to change their pedagogies with the use of new robotic technology for socially just differentiated teaching. Implications of the cross-school PLC for building social-justice school communities are also discussed. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

香港政府倡導融合教育，照顧學生多樣化，亦鼓勵學生達致全人發展，但教師工作繁忙，如何同時達成二者目標實屬挑戰。本文旨在為初高中和專上教育教師提供能夠糅合二者的教學方法，文章介紹了「服務學習」概念，強調教學時需「服務」和「學習」並重，給予學生機會設計和帶領活動，學習理解不同群體的需要，深入反思社會現況。研究團隊有系統地建立了一套「服務學習」框架，並以香港教育大學和香港浸會大學的合作計劃為參考示範。The advocate of inclusive education and whole person development has been one of the major missions of Hong Kong government, but to fulfill the goal of such mission in the classroom poses a great challenge to teachers. The present paper aims to provide a pedagogy for teachers of secondary and tertiary educations that achieves both the purposes of inclusive education and whole person development. The concept “Service-Learning” which emphasizes the importance of “service” and “learning” in teaching is introduced. Teacher following such pedagogy offers student chances to organize and undertake activity, to learn to understand the needs of different people and to have a deep reflection about the society. Our team, based on the concept, has developed a structural framework to operationalize the concept in teaching and a project co-organized by The Education University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist University is provided as case demonstration for reference. Copyright © 2019 香港教師中心.

While the relationship between self-determination and the academic achievement of students has been widely tested across cultures and groups, limited research has examined the antecedents of self-determination and their impacts on school engagement, which is the pre-requisite of academic achievement. The present study, based on the self-system processes model of motivation, tested the relationships between peer support, school support, self-determination, and school engagement in 118 secondary school students with special needs integrated into mainstream schools in Hong Kong. The results showed that school support has a significant indirect effect on school engagement via self-determination as a mediator. The correlations between school support, self-determination, and school engagement are all positive and significant, whereas peer support did not correlate with school engagement. Controlling for the factors of peer and school support, self-determination was the strongest predictor of school engagement for students with special needs. The current findings may highlight the importance of school support and self-determination interventions to enhance the school engagement of students with special needs in inclusive educational settings. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

作為凝聚有特殊教育需要子女家長的處所，特殊學校是有責任組織適切的活動，支援家長克服子女的學習及成長困難。本文概述一所收取中度智障學童的學校，如何透過發展性小組去支援校內的家長，並探討如何就這些孩子家長的需要、家校合作的現況、家長參與的層次與區分、家長賦權歷程、學校背景、朋輩輔導及小組發展歷程等概念，去全面理解不同持分者在籌辦家長互助小組過程中，要準備的工作及注意事項。透過有層次地去組織支援家長的「伴你同行」小組，除能夠支援更有需要的家長，加強他們處理子女學習、行為、情緒問題，增強親子關係並完備家庭與學校合作的同時，亦促使家長間建立一個非常規的支持和朋輩網絡。 Special schools being a place for gathering parents of students with special educational needs bear the responsibility of organizing supporting services for these parents to overcome difficulties encounter by their children. The paper describes the efforts of a special school for moderate intellectually disabled students in applying developmental group work to support the parents of the school. While considering the needs of these parents, current trends of home-school cooperation, differentiated levels of parental involvement in a school, parent empowerment process, school background, peer tutoring and group development processes for enhancing the understanding of different stake-holders of the school to plan and organize parent groups of such purposes are examined and applied. In the end, not only that the parent support group supported the more needy parents in strengthening their methods of coping with learning, behavioural, emotional difficulties and parent-child relationship. The support group too facilitated home school cooperation process, an informal peer support network amongst these parents is formed as another source of support for parents of the school.
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Students with special educational needs (SEN) are at an elevated risk of psychological and behavioural dysfunctions. In this study, we conducted a survey of parents of students with SEN in Hong Kong to examine the impact of two school practices – learning support and school climate – on the psychological and behavioural functioning (PBF) of students with SEN. We also examined the mediating effects of social participation and academic engagement. Questionnaires were distributed to 586 parents in 139 primary schools. The results of structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis show that perceived school climate has a direct effect on perceived PBF, while perceived learning support does not. Perceived learning support has two indirect effects on perceived PBF, with perceived academic engagement or social participation as a mediator. The findings have implications for the effective use of educational resources to support the inclusive education of students with SEN.
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A pilot study explored the effectiveness of art therapy in improving the self-motivation and emotional and behavioral adjustment of children with special educational needs in Hong Kong. Six children aged between 6 and 10 participated in an art therapy group for 14 weekly sessions. Results from a range of standardized tests administered before and after the session block indicated that the art therapy group had little impact on the children's sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in their learning. However, in-session observations showed that the art therapy facilitated the fulfilment of these three areas, and parental reports via interview indicated that art therapy had improved the emotional and behavioral adjustment of their children. Issues in facilitating art therapy groups for children with special education needs are discussed.